Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule (1996, Cacophonous)
Lineup: Byron (vocals), Johnny Maudling (drums, all studio keyboards), Chris
Maudling (guitar, all studio bass), Jason Porter (bass), Leon Forrest (keyboards)
Style: barbarian black/death metal
First, and most annoying, is the interactive CD-ROM track. I am invariably
opposed to this practice regardless of the quality of included material. I
never remember to skip it when I stick the CD in the player and so always
end up listening to 20 secs of silence before my muddled mind figures out
the reason. Second, and only partially less annoying, is the pretense of the
band. Although they cannot win the "Get Over Yourself" award (lifetime
subscription to Manowar), they are a worthy competitor. The problem is in
the lyrics. I admit to not having read most of them, it's like an entire
novel, the god-damned song titles are as long as your average lyric.
Although the music is actually pretty good as a peculiar mixture of power
and black metal, Byron's vocal renditions leave me uninspired. With ridiculously
long texts like this, it is little wonder that he can't sing but recites them
instead. The death/black narration going on seemingly forever, the otherwise
great music gets drowned and ends up being quite forgettable.
Verdict: if you can adjust to Byron, you probably will like this.
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