Ancient Rites - Dim Carcosa

Damn! This is more like it! Combining the best of black metal, power metal and just about everything in between including that Viking metal nonsense (the term, not the actual music that is), Ancient Rites has made on hell of a record! Starting off with the quite beautiful instrumental ';The Return';, I was starting to get worried that I just put in another pompous black or power metal record. But listening to the second track ';Exile (Les Litantes De Satan)';, I knew this would be killer. Killer riffing that borrows from modern black metal, trash metal and 80';s NWOBHM, every song is a memorable extreme masterpiece. Vocals range from ';North from Here'; era Sentence to modern Emperor (the cleaner stuff). Ancient Rites, unlike many black metal bands, know how to add the synth/keyboards at the right moment, to accent the right parts and not overpower the guitars or serve as flowery wallpaper. Add to that a killer production and a well laid out and nice to look at booklet, ad how can you possibly go wrong? Seriously, this review simply doesn';t do this disc justice, go out and check it out for your selves. You';ll not be disappointed.