Peccatum - Lost in Reverie

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Forest: Sold Out
Jul 5, 2003
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Peccatum – Lost in Reverie
The End Records – May 25th, 2004
By Jason Jordan

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I think we can all agree that it’s good to hear from Ihsahn again. Peccatum, his main venture since Emperor’s demise, are back with their first full-length album in three, long years. Lamentably, Lost in Reverie is the epitome of the “mixed bag.” Some compositions are innovative works of art while others just fail miserably.

"Desolate Ever After” opens the disc and sounds like it should be on the soundtrack of a horror movie, or in a game such as Silent Hill...if it weren't so bad. Its rapid changes from piano only to industrial synths and overbearing vocals makes this piece an exercise in tediousness. Don’t let this song turn you off though; it does get better. “In the Bodiless Heart” starts with some magnificent, acoustic passages while jazzy drumfills follow in the background. Ihriel sings passionately over the troupe. It gets heavier around the two-minute mark with guitar leads and quasi-electronica keyboards coming in here and there. Ihsahn’s clean vocals enter the scene for the first time, and they’re fantastic. He reaches high pitches successfully and melds his melodies with the song perfectly. “Parasite My Heart” is most notable though because it’s almost as if we’re witnessing the return of Emperor, or an eccentric remix of a formerly unreleased song. The piece quickly silences into piano and accompanying voice.

“Veils of Blue” sounds like it was taken from a Final Fantasy game, or Chroma Key. “Black Star” dips into black metal about a quarter of the way through, and ends solemnly. “Stillness” is entirely filler, while “The Banks of This River is Night” is perhaps the most beautiful piece on the record. It is completely docile, unfortunately, but it also doesn’t fail to mesmerize.

The most enticing things about Peccatum are the moments when Ihsahn returns to his former black metal self. Hearing faint recreations of Emperor are enough to draw even causal fans of the band in. This group, however, doesn’t seem overly interesting and they don’t present us with anything revolutionary or remotely brilliant. But, I guess I can give a half-hearted recommendation simply on the basis of listening to Ihsahn’s latest creation.

7/10

Official Peccatum website
Official The End Records website
 
I also cant say that's a very good album though I like Amor Fati, Strangling from within and Star of Ash album, which is quite familiar to Peccatum albums
But you cant miss listening to Ihsahn’s latest creation :)
 
Bleakest Harvest said:
I still think they're pretty poor to be honest, everything seems to be kind of pasted together or something.
Hah the album's pretty good, but not for everyone's taste I suppose ...
 
in my opinion this album is something great. Ishan is returned to do something really sick and mad. Listen the third song (for example) to understand what i mean. This album need a lot of listening to be totaly assimilated from the listener, but in my opinion, if you dedicate a lot of time tothis album, it will open in front of you some new ways as Emperor did in the past. Something great IMHO