Hollenthon

Opus Magnum
Napalm Records

I am a sucker for cool cover art and Hollenthon's latest dark epic has a great one. Picture this evil looking demonic creature with outstretched arms, that turn into hundreds of arms that almost look like wings. Oh yeah, I am digging it. However as the old saying goes, you can't judge a book, er... a Cd by it's cover. Anyway, Hollenthon's music falls into the grandiose, symphonic, black metal category which in itself is fine. The guitar riffs are excitingly evil and wicked (nothing less would be expected). The synths and background choruses are huge, giving it a larger than life feel. The vocals, while being growled (in true black metal fashion) are very discernable and all this with bombastic bass and drums make for fine metal fare.
So, what's that nagging feeling your having that there's some issue I have with this album? Well there is, but thankfully it's minor. Hollenthon, as good as they are, sound a little too much like Dimmu Borgir to be honest. However, I can overcome this small quibble because this Austrian band does everything dead on, despite the comparisons to their black metal brethren. I guess I shouldn't bitch that much, because it's hard as hell to be totally original, if not impossible. So, yes Hollenthon should definitely grace your Cd/Ipod or whatever type of music collection you have. If you don't buy it, these guys might send that creepy, fucking demon thing on the cover to kill you and that would suck.

- Craig Harvey