By: Anders

Posted: Mar 7, 2006

The German force Mystic Circle is unstoppable, they have been churning out records for quite some years now, and this new effort marks their 7th full length album, and that is quite impressive. The band has been through some rough times, line-up changes here and there, and their albums have never been that well received by the press or the big part of the metal scene, though it seems like the band has a hardcore following, that supports Mystic Circle in thick and thin.

It's been a while since I have found a whole album from the band interesting, we need to go back to "The Great Beast" to find such, the 2 that followed that album, have been a tad too boring and trying to incorporate a heavier black/death metal sound, which I have had a hard time understanding, as it doesn't seem to fit the overall compositions the band makes. It is the same this time, though the songwriting seems more fitting and the brutal and smashing parts come better through, though the band still has tendencies to epic pieces, which they want to deliver while hell is breaking loose, beneath or on top of furious guitars, thundering drums and screaming vocals. In these parts, the synth and the rest kind of annoys each other, like in the track 'Forgotten'. It works better when the band is blasting away, like in the start of 'Unholy Terror', and then slows down, keeping it to guitars, bass and drums and then delivers atmosphere like that.

We are treated heavy riffs, crushing and straight ahead, some few good melodies and some good leads and solos. The vocals are okay, a fierce guttural scream, which may scare a kid or 2. The drumming is also approved, even though some parts of it sound processed, the press-material says that the old drummer Necrodemon was brought in to drum and produce the drums, though I tend to believe that a drum computer, using sampled drums are controlling the beat, the snare drum, the hi-hat and some of the cymbals sound very artificial. Besides that the production of the album is good, a heavy and big sound, with a lot of power and brute force behind it.

This is more or less the album I expected to hear from Mystic Circle at this point, a bit more brutal and relentless I guess, the album is very hard-hitting, it hits like a steam train. Though a lot of the material ends up sounding alike, as the record moves forwards, and one is slightly bored when the end is reached. Besides that the band has chosen to slaughter Celtic Frost's 'Circle Of The Tyrants', Mystic Circle has actually managed to make the track boring, it needs more power and madness from the vocals, than what Beelzebub can deliver, sadly enough. If you're into brutal melodic black/death metal, do check this album out, it might hit it off with you, there are moments on here, no doubt about that, and Ezpharess does deliver some really good guitar work throughout the album, the songs just don't keep it up in the long run.

Rating: 5½/10

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