Triumph of Satan!

Albums like “Triumph of Satan!” of Anthro Halaust, heat again my appreciation and my interest about the Ukrainian scene. As you understand, this four-member band comes from Ukraine, it was formed in 2002 and along with “Triumph of Satan!” it has released two full length albums. In this album we come across nine compositions, two of which are ambient not so interesting tracks, and one awesome instrumental track, of thirty five minutes of duration. The music of Anthro Halaust has strong influences from old school Thrash, a lot of Heavy references, while regarding their Black Metal elements, those have their roots into the Scandinavian scene.

More specifically, the Black Metal riffs are fast and they have a majestic style and atmosphere which reminded me of Emperor. That Black Metal orientation combined with the very beautiful and interesting Heavy/Thrash riffs, they create a result that at least it can catch the listener’s attention easily. The tracks evolve fast, that can be seen also by their short duration, with frequent changes in the riffing, the atmosphere, which other times becomes melancholic, other times dirty – Thrashy and other times has that epic but cold magnificence that is emitted by Emperor. Generally the frequent and successful changes of the style during the tracks, make the overall result very interesting for the listener.

Regarding the instruments, the guitars are those which play the most important role in the compositions. They are played with accuracy and much passion, while their sound is distorted. Unfortunately the bass isn’t audible at all. The drums with their interesting lines, the changes and the solos make the compositions more powerful while they are played with confidence and certainty. The vocals are harsh, distorted Black Metal vocals that in some parts they become Death roars. On the contrary, what I didn’t like is the production and mixture. The production puts out a dirty, distorted and shallow sound which does not match the compositions. The mixture is not so bad in general, but it has buried the bass and that absence is quite important. The lyrics are not contained in the cd and if I understood correctly, they are written in English. They have Satanic subject but apart from that I don’t know anything else.

Despite all the problems with the sound, Anthro Halaust has done a very good job concerning the composition and performance of the tracks. So the listener is not affected by the sound and finally I believe that he enjoys the album. “Triumph of Satan!” is a versatile album which matches the different tastes in Black Metal of all the fans. I suggest you to buy the album.