The seemingly eternal wait is finally over. Yes we have waited, and heard promises after promises of finally being able to get our hands on the follow up to Kekal's first album Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams and well indeed Embrace the Dead was worth the wait.
I can't say that Kekal has changed very much from one album to the next, in fact this album really does feel like an extension of Beyond... which for me is a great thing! THT Productions brings us the same quality level we had with the first album, so it's not the squeaky clean sound that you get from other more affluent labels.
Yet despite all this I still rate this album a 9...why? Because this is just such a great black metal album! From the beginning track which features an acoustic intro and some more of the beautifully incorporated female vocals to the last track you are given just what you expected and anticipated. Frenzied, extreme black metal! I think the guitarist has really improved a good bit here, as he will bust out leads left and right with no regard to lyrics which just comes off as extremely cool! His double picking parts have been cleaned up a good bit too. As with the last album the drum tracks are credited to "The Black Box" and it's obvious a machine is being used, but as with the last album it's of so little consequence that I only mention it because people will be wondering about this.
The band didn't sway in the lyrics department either. Just as with the last album these lyrics are bold and praise our God in the Highest! This one is for all the black metal fans out there, and especially if you really enjoyed Beyond... you simply must have this album.
9/10
Other coverage for this album
Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by Hey YouI'm getting tired of traditional black metal. It annoys me. And this is even worse than most. I really really love Lengsel, but that's because it's the normal black metal. The music is very high pitched and uses a lot of treble. All you hear is the high end of the guitars and the cymbals. That's about it. The vocals are even hard to hear. When I can hear them, they are completely amazing, but…Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by GrindboyAhhh, this band just makes me smile -- and on so many levels! Firstly, of course the music. Not quite as blast-a-thon as their last album, but still very fast paced "primitive" sounding black metal. There are keyboards used, and with a little more variation than before, but this remains worlds apart from the Swedish sound of Sanctifica or Crimson Moonlight. Have no doubt, this is a guitar band.…Similar sounding releases
1996EmperorIn the Nightside Eclipse
1998VisionaireMystical Dominion
1996KohllapseKohllapse
1998ExcisionThe Quality of Mankind
1997GodFrom the Moldavian Ecclesiastic Throne
1998AntestorThe Return of the Black DeathMore from Kekal
20031000 Thoughts Of Violence
1998Beyond The Glimpse Of Dreams
2002Chaos & Warfare
2002The Painful Experience
