Throne of Katarsis - An Eternal Dark HorizonCandlelight Records
Cold and grim, Throne of Katarsis delivers an EP's worth of tracks at an LP's length with An Eternal Dark Horizon. The vein is occult, early 90's Norwegian Black Metal here, with the music taking the shape of a more mid-tempo version of Mayhem or Darkthrone. Also included are classical acoustic guitar passages, melodic leads, and some subtle guitar effects. The vocals have a slight echo effect and sometimes are doubled. At times vocalist/guitarist/bassist Grimnisse utilizes an enunciated scream or some De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas-era Attila Csihar groaning vocals, which he pulls off quite well.
Despite the hefty song lengths (3 of the tracks average around 12 minutes each and the other 2 fall just under the 10 minute mark), Grimnisse and drummer Vardalv keep it interesting. There are tasteful tempo changes, constantly moving chord progressions, the occasional break only to be followed up by a passage of venomous blasting, and (again) the varying vocals keep An Enternal Dark Horizon from growing stale.
Fiends take note! Throne of Katarsis' first full-length release will surely fit nicely between spins of the classics or amongst the current crop of orthodox black metal in your stereo.
