Alghazanth
Vinus Intus

March 2011
Released: 2011, Woodcut Records
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

One of the true pioneers of Finnish black metal, Alghazanth (formed in 1995, the band´s debut album THY AEONS ENVENOMED SANITY was released in 1999), have reached again one more milestone in their long lasting career: The band´s sixth studio album – carrying the name VINUM INTUS, was unleashed on January 1st 2011.



Somehow respecting the traditions of the band´s previous releases, Alghazanth continues to battle forward on VINUS INTUS with their majestically moving, epic and keyboard-driven black metal that has the darkness and grimness of the northern hemisphere beautifully wrapped around it. Reference points towards some other today´s acts could be made, but I guess it´s rather pointless to start any type of name picking because if you happen to dig black metal with more symphonic and atmospheric sounds, then undoubtedly you are also able to draw your own band comparisons to Alghazanth´s latest work.



As it´s been mostly the case with some other Alghazanth albums, they are very good at creating those big and catchy atmospheres for their songs – not only counting on the power of synths for bringing more depth into their stuff, but putting more emphasis on the guitars that tend to remind me of some of those early Scandinavian black/death metal acts that were signed to the Swedish No Fashion Records and Wrong Again Records during the 90s. In fact, melodic and nicely carried out guitar harmonies are all over the place on this record, kind of highlighting the importance of the guitars´ existence within the song structures – and revolving around all those essential things that are needed for building up an atmospheric and catchy black metal song.



Alghazanth´s VINUS INTUS cannot probably ever be compared to the classics of the same genre, such as IN THE NIGHTSIDE ECLIPSE or IN ABHORRENCE DEMENTIA, but nonetheless is certainly a good album that deserves your attention if you find symphonic, Scandinavian sounding black metal appealing to your tastes.