In the Land of Mordor, Where the Shadows Lie

I have read quite a bit of reviews on this album without really getting a true sense of the music being played so it wasn't on the high end of my want list. I took a trip to my local record store and they had a copy of this in the used bin for like 7 bucks and I thought, shit lets give this a go. When I got home I popped this on and had a full listen and my first first impression was that it wasn't horrible. The keys were atmospheric and well played, the guitars were a little fuzzy but had some interesting riffs. The vocals sounded a bit like Ares from old Aeternus albums which I like.

The album consists of instrumentals followed by a couple metal songs then back to instrumental etc, etc. So there are plenty of tempo and mood changes to be found so it varies things up a little bit. The intro sets the mood to this LoTR inspired album creating some dark tunes. The majority of the metal tracks follow a simple but enjoyable offering. My favorite would have to be The Lieutenant of Barad-Dur which creates the feeling of impending doom and really showcases the guitars, vocals, and keyboards combining to give a very dark atmosphere.

My only complaints I have with this album are the silly movie samples and the drum sound. I mean the use of the movie samples are few and don't really affect the music in a negative or positive way it's just kind of there. The drums though could have been recorded better cause they are so low in the mix and you can clearly tell they are not real. But they at least keep rhythm and the pace of each track. So in closing I would say this is not a Summoning clone at all but it's own entity with hardly any similarities to the latter. So check it out if you like LoTR you won't be disappointed.

If you spot a CD, what do you do first? Right, you go and check some reviews and try to find out if this release has already received some broader attention. In case of Hithlum this is certainly the case and a good number of reviews can be found in the net and most of them are correct.

In one review this band is compared to Summoning and there is some resemblance to this Austrian band, yet the three musicians from California try not to copy the style of this established band. Their approach is different and the goals they seem to have set for themselves for their first record are quite challenging. Not surprisingly they have some problems in achieving them and the quality of the music suffers from this.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect is the incoherence of the music as the band reaches moments in which nothing really fits together. Something is created for sure, but nothing consistent. Fragments are pieced together, yet they are not part of the same puzzle; therefore is the ‘final’ picture merely a collection of fragments. The reasons for this are three-fold: on the one hand are there the drums whose play is simply unable to give the music any kind of power; rather the contrary is the case as it often vanishes into plain and very monotonous motives which are repeated exceedingly. Then there are the vocals whose performance should be presented as an example on how too little variation in their style can ruin a record. Every time they are present, there is this croaking black metal style and never has the vocalist the will (or even courage) to abandon this approach and to try something new on a different song… in tempo, rhythm and tone pitch, a certain spectrum will never be breached. And finally are the flaws and short-comings in the song-writing, the inconsistency in the compositions of the songs certainly not an aspect that helps the band in their approach to create a dense and fascinating atmosphere; which they are able to do on some rare occasions.

One of those would be the second track. It breaks out of the general approach of mid- respectively low tempo with its fast played arrangements. They are a welcome counterpoint to the melancholy and plainness the music tends to drift into so often. Also has this track some slight aggressiveness in it, which is further emphasized through the play of the drums; some accentuated pondering with some resemblance to war drums. The whole song has some great catchiness and is the outstanding one on this album. Would Hithlum be able to write more in such a fashion and quality, the band would surely be able to draw more attention towards their music.

An interesting or odd aspect, how it is perceived depends on the person who listens to the music, are the samples, which have been taken from the Lord of the Rings movies. They are all very short and are not limited to one scene or film only, yet it is a little bit strange to listen to them as they do not fit entirely to the compositions; furthermore does their purpose in respect to the tracks remain unclear. If the whole LOTR was supposed to be recorded on the entire album, then surely too little of them have been used…

A lot of reviews exist on this release and most of them rate this demo as rather mediocre. This reflects its quality pretty well. It is possible to listen to it, it is possible to enjoy it, but to be fascinated by it will not likely happen. Hithlum has its short-comings in their music and perhaps they are able to overcome these obstacles on the next record. For now a score of 55 points should be adequate.