Antichrist Supremacy Domain

This album exemplifies classic Polish black metal. Not as epic as Graveland, but it has good production and doesn't sound like a demo tape. There are touches of atmosphere here and there, with short bursts of echo effects. Sometimes the guitar lines are straight out of Mayhem, but there's also some experimental minor key riffing. "Moonforest" has mid-paced vocal-guitar harmonizing that sounds a little bit like Alcest. The vocals tend to be slower, either Burzum-style anguished shrieks or doomy spoken words. No wall of screech here. The vocalist has some excellent moments, but overall he could have better effects by letting the guitars carry more of the weight.

Each song has a slightly different take on traditional black metal, to the point where one could almost point out a previous influence that the band has decided to interpret. The album gets above-average points for originality, though. The one part of the classic black metal package that they should have ditched is the often monotonous drumming. The drummer is clearly a speed demon and has excellent control, but the compositions often lack rhythm and the drum patterns are too simple and static for the interesting guitar work.

The weird, minor-key and almost emotional screams are the most compelling part about this record for me, and it was refreshing to listen to some classic christ-hatred without techno or over-brutal singing. It does seem weird that an anti-christian band uses church choirs for the intro, however.