The Distant Wind...

Right away it is clear that Black Circle has come along way since the debut even though they are released with a fairly short amount of time between them. The first thing i hear that have changed for the better is the production. On the debut it was just flat and very thin which made the album very boring. Here on "The Distant Wind" the sound is much more thick and full but without taking away the coldness which is very much present, so is the rawness. Allright, that covers the production. On to the music. There has been progress here as well. The songs are very well written and sounds and feels much more though through than before. What makes this album much better than the debut is that this is more diverce as the tempo changes often and does so with great finess. The contrast between the raw high paced moments and the slow melancholic moments are what really lifts this album way up. The riffs are kept simple but without being bad nor amateurish and the melodies holds such honest sadness and despise that it is almost scary! The drums are as they should be in black metal which means that they are there to hold the beat. Nothing more nothing less. Simplistic drumming well handled. Who needs anything more from black metal. The vocals are also better than on the first album and they sound more honest but most of all they, like the guitars, shifts effortlessly between raw hate and sorrow melancholy.

Finale: As you can see I have no complaining to do here. I would love to give this album 90-95 rating but I can´t because this has all been done too many times before. Both in better versions(Judas Iscariot) and many much worse(too many bands to mention). There are some brilliant parts that sounds like nothing but Black Circle and it is a mystery to me why more effort was not put into creating of that. Instead this album is like a Northern version of Judas Iscariot...sad but true