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Magister Dixit > My Anger Is an Eternal Field of Demonized Mercenaries > Reviews
Magister Dixit - My Anger Is an Eternal Field of Demonized Mercenaries

I like this album a lot - 85%

Noktorn, May 12th, 2007

'My Anger Is An Eternal Field Of Demonized Mercenaries' is probably the most kickass album title ever. Seriously, just look at it: it owns much harder than any similarly long Bal-Sagoth title merely due to the usage of 'Mercenaries'. Additionally, 'My Anger' leads you to believe that the rest of the title will be 'Is That Of A Thousand Suns', but no, it completely changes that shit up with bizarre, mostly nonsensical yet still epic imagery. It's an awesome title and we need more like it.

The music lives up to it as well. Just as the title would imply, the music is epic as fuck. Melodic black metal with an obvious and heavy influence from Emperor's entire career without being incredibly derivative. It's well produced and clear, as well as being fairly technically adept throughout. As a whole, it reminds me quite a bit of 'Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk', only with a less regal and more 'barbaric' feel. The title fits the music: it feels very vast and warlike, though that doesn't imply a typical breed of 'brutality' or rawness.

An extremely aggressive sense of melody is at work here. Whenever I give this album a listen, I find myself envisioning massive, fantastical battlefields with waves of men and monsters crashing against each other in violent conflict. And for those that don't know, that sort of thing is awesome, so I can't say I have a problem with it. While the music here does operate within the constraints of blasting/tremolo black metal, it's very well composed for such a breed, with no trite Dark Funeralisms making their way into the tracks here: yes, they're 'standard', but not repetitive nor uncreative, with riffs and leads and clever bridges bursting through at every moment.

On another note, perhaps also reminiscent of Bal-Sagoth, is the distinct 'fantasy' feel of this album. Fortunately, the band doesn't deign to indulge in the now-trite Tolkienisms of their forefathers, but instead enjoys a more self-made sort of canon. Surprisingly, such a theme isn't merely present in aesthetics, but in music: while I can't think of a band that such a style resembles offhand, you can most certainly grasp the fantastic feel of this band, probably aided by tasteful use of keyboards and clean vocals (don't worry, it never stops being a black metal album).

Magister Dixit has crafted a surprisingly good album with 'My Anger Is An Eternal Field Of Demonized Mercenaries'. I'd say that any fan of modern melodic black metal would be very smart to give this CD a listen, as it has all the elements that many of us are looking for: capable songwriting, atmosphere, technical skill, and quality production. Plus, it has the best title ever.

(Originally written for www.vampire-magazine.com)