LORD BELIAL - The Black Curse Digi-CD

I always considered Enter The Moonlight Gate as the one and only masterpiece of Lord Belial. It still is a timeless piece of art, but frankly, it doesn’t represent the style Lord Belial is known for: melodic black metal, which started off with The Unholy Crusade. This was a great album as well, but in my opinion things went downhill after this. Except for The Black Crusade, which is an outstanding album.

The guitar work is awesome: it's fierce, inspired, variated. This is Chuck Shuldiner gone black. Check the riffing on Trumpets, Inexorable or Lilith, or the solos on Sworn or Catharsis. Granted, Dimmu Borgir influences are obvious, but Lord Belial makes up by adding an extra layer of technicality and speed.

There is, however, one major issue with this album, and that is the sound of the drums. They have been digitally polished to an extent that the difference between the toms and the snares is almost inaudible. Especially when the pace goes up, you'll find it hard to hear the difference. At the same time, in some tracks this creates for a unique sound effect, a sort of galloping drum roll, that can be heared in both the opening 'Pazuzu' as the closing 'Soul Gate'.