▀▀▀▀▀███ ▀▀▀▀▀███ ▀▀▀▀▀███ ▀▀▀▀▀███
███ ██▀ ███ ▀▀▀ ███ ███ ███ ▀▀▀
███▀███ ███▀ ███▀██▄ ███
███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███
███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███
███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███
███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███
███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███
███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███
███▀███ ███▀███ ███ ███ ███▀███
███ ███ ███ ███
███ ███ ███▄ ███
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Artist : Limbonic Art
Album : Phantasmagoria
Year : 2010
Genre : Black Metal
Label : Candlelight Records
Cat.nr : CANDLE275CD
Source : CDDA
R.date : 30.07.2010
Size : 116,7 MB
Encoder : LAME 3.97 -V2 --vbr-new
Bitrate : avg. 229kbps
Quality : 44,1kHz/Joint-Stereo
Website : http://myspace.com/officiallimbonicart
Tracklist:
01. Prologue / Phantasmagoria 05:03
02. Crypt of Bereavement 05:53
03. Curse of the Necromancer 06:22
04. Portal to the Unknown 04:23
05. Dark Winds 05:41
06. A World in Pandemonium 06:43
07. Flight of the Minds Eye 03:49
08. Apocalyptic Manifestation 04:02
09. Prophetic Dreams 05:41
10. The Burning Vortex 06:55
11. A Black Sphere of Serenity 08:24
12. Astral Projection 08:14
─────
71:10
Release Notes:
The departure of Morfeus last year has left
Limbonic Art a one-man project, something quite
audible from a listen to this, the band's seventh
album. It's long, repetitive, self-indulgent and
ultimately something of a disappointment if you're
expecting a return to the glory of the band's
early years, yet as ever Limbonic Art create so
intense and compelling a world for fans of the
subgenre that you can't help but enjoy what you
hear. Opening song Prologue/Phantasmagoria bursts
in like Solefald having regressed to their
earliest Black Metal pastures, and from then on
you can really only sit back and enjoy the ride,
Crypt Of Bereavement especially attacking like
Dimmu Borgir meeting latter-day Anaal Nathrakh.
Fans of the band will be instantly at home,
although newcomers may take a little time to
settle into its rather user-unfriendly world. It's
worth noting that they get as much help as
possible, the riffs coming thick and fast and
sometimes striving for catchiness - the opening to
Curse Of The Necromancer a prime example.
Otherwise, the likes of Portal To The Unknown
rattle along, atmosphere not so much lightly
applied as dumped all over everything, backing
keyboards an important part of the band's sound.
Slower, more grandiose cuts like Dark Winds and A
World In Pandemonium march along sorrowfully, the
latter speeding up partway through to something
very like early Emperor. Most songs are above the
four-minute mark, Flight Of The Mind's Eye the
shortest at just under, and strangely it's one of
the best, showing what the band is capable of when
it directs its purpose rather than meandering
around the place. The scissoring assault of
Apocalyptic Manifestation is sadly the exception
here rather than the rule - dropping a few of the
longer, more pointless tracks would have resulted
in a tighter, more focused album. As it is, it's
hard to get enthusiastic for over seventy minutes
of this style of music, and that ultimately is
where Phantasmagoria fails.
However, if you're a fan (and who isn't?) it's
easy to concentrate on the stomping likes of
Prophetic Dreams, which is like Slayer set to an
orchestra with a wonderfully epic finale, and is
as awesome as it sounds. The biggest
disappointment is that the band STILL haven't got
a human drummer, and although the backing clatter
is actually not an important part of the
guitar-and-keyboards-driven sound, how much better
would it have been with a capable blaster (Trym?)
on the drumstool? As ever, when faced with a
Limbonic Art album you have to downplay
expectations in order to fully enjoy what you
actually have, and looked at from that angle,
Phantasmagoria is an above-average album from the
Norwegian legend that will please fans and make
others wonder what the fuss is about.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────