From the Past Yet to Come

Portuguese blacksters, previously known worldwide as THE FIRSTBORN EVIL adopted the simpler and shorter THE FIRSTBORN and released this nice piece of made-in-Portugal metal, their debut in CD, in the middle of 2000. The album was anxiously awaited and the release was said to be as new start for the band, that abandoned their previously raw black metal and bet into a much more melodic sound, yet grim and dark enough. I definitely appreciated this release (despite I only got it recently) and I must admit it that the CD rolls two times from the epic starting of "Stronger Than Blacksteel" to the last inches of "Draconian March", the last song on the album. The album can be defined (aargh! How ugly the word sounds...) as melodic black/death of high quality since the song structures are just fine, the guitar riffs always breaking the Hell-loose and the voice of Bruno ranging from the somewhat pitched black metal vocals to the soft and powerful clean voice. You have thirteen tracks to drink and ask for more! My highlight goes almost to all songs - I must admit it that I loved the album despite some flaws (the production of the guitar sound could be a little more elaborated in a way to improve even more the overall sound, but I'm just being too itchy...); my highlight goes to "Scourge" for the creepy intro and the musical thereafter, amazing! With this «From The Past Yet To Come», THE FIRSTBORN gave a huge forward step as they are instrumentally more mature and personalized and with an objective in view. If this is from the past yet to come, I will be blasted by the future...