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Enthral > The Mirror's Opposite End > Reviews
Enthral - The Mirror's Opposite End

Enthralling - 70%

head_flat, April 29th, 2005

This album has one of the most interesting productions for "black metal" that I can remember. The guitar amp sounds like it was accidently miked up from behind, the drums are sharp and crisp, and the keyboards on the whole add an atmosphere which is somehow appealing if you are in the mood for sappy melodic black metal. The keyboardist also helps keep the synth lines fairly restrained and simple on a whole, which I feel is a much better approach than overdressing it like later Dimmu Borgir. However, when it all comes down to it there is no shortage of cheese here on this release. It also has a tendency to slow down painfully at times and linger a little bit too much around the place but the drummer keeps it interesting with well thought out drum patterns and fills. Overall an interesting album worth investigating if your into this kind of material, overshadowed by other Norwegian outfits of the same era.

Atmospheric Black Metal - 90%

stian_aarstad, April 13th, 2004

This album is the second full-lenght release for this norwegian band. After the 1st release, "Prophecies Of The Dying" some changes modified the band's lineup. Espen Simonsen joined as 2nd guitar and Stian Aarstad joined as keyboardist. The result is not a "classic black metal" album: the songs are atmospheric, Kjetil's screaming voice isn't evil but very particular. Kjetil does also a great drums job. It's important the work of Stian Aarstad (I think he's the best keyboardist in the whole metal scene, better also than Sverd and Mustis), that contributes with great keyboard passages. The result is an album that reminds the great Dimmu Borgir's Stormblast, but without being a copy of it, thanks to very original riffs.
I think the best song is In Passion Swept, that contains Ingrid Skretting's session female vocals, giving to this song a "gothic" atmosphere. I think that the other highlights are Monochrome and When The Sky Touched The Earth.