ASTRIAAL - Renascent Misanthropy

[Erik]

Aftermath Music
2004

1. The Funeral Procession
2. Ritual Hate Construct
3. Revere the Labyrinth
4. Glories of the Nightsky
5. Ode to Antiquity
6. Arborescence
7. Acquisition of the Stars
8. Reaper of Dark Ages
9. The Halls of Perdition

From Australia comes ASTRIAAL, out to do something never done before: really fast-paced, well-produced black metal with melodic guitar parts, acoustics here and there, all topped off with a slight serving of keyboards for that extra atmospheric touch!

Oh wait, that's been done about three trillion times... in the last month. The music on Renascent Misanthropy carries obvious hints of the likes of DISSECTION, DAWN and SACRAMENTUM as well as EMPEROR ("Glories of the Nightsky" -- hm, "Majesty of the Nightsky" anyone?) and other similar bands.

I don't hate this. This is a well-crafted album where musicianship and production alike can be object to no complaints (the drummer is really fucking fast, and the production was apparently done by some high-profile dude, which kind of shows because everything is clearly audible, and this in a musical style where it's very easy for everything to just blur together,) but nothing really sticks out either, and frankly I'm getting sick and tired of albums like that. Boggle my mind with originality, or at least bash my skull in with great fucking songs that make up for your lack of the same! Being merely "good" or "adequate" will not hold anymore when there are hundreds of bands in the same position as you. Renascent Misanthropy: competent but forgettable. A shame, as always.

Rating: 6.5/10

 

[Black Winter Day]

Boggle my mind with originality, or at least bash my skull in with great fucking songs that make up for your lack of the same! Being merely "good" or "adequate" will not hold anymore when there are hundreds of bands in the same position as you.

Yep, that about sums it up for me too. The real question is: has the music scene always been so saturated with blandnedd that we are only recently becoming so disillusioned? Or has it all become so saturated only in the past couple of years?

Either way, non-brilliant, unoriginal albums can never merit a 7 or over in a review, IMO.