Erebus Enthroned "Night's Black Angel" CD

Debut album - Australian Black Metal
A ceremony of sinister magick before the heart of the great adversary!
Behold! A funeral whirlwind of chthonian darkness made manifest within the belly of the dragon.
Bled dry into the devils chalice flow nine sinister canticles of cruel black art. A new flame of Australian black metal
rises with sinister force in 2011 with their debut album, a mesmerizing ode to evil.

Before moving to Australia, I had never heard of these guys. When I first saw their logo on the flyer for the upcoming Absu tour, I just assumed the band was going to be your typical, amateurish, symphonic black metal mess...probably a combination of me associating the band's name with the UK's Hecate Enthroned and my assumption that Sydney wasn't exactly the most evil place in the world. Obviously, I was completely in the wrong, and have been consistently impressed with both Erebus Enthroned's performances both live (they're absolutely fucking intense) and on this debut album.
I was immediately surprised by two things when I heard "Night's Black Angel". First of all, the production matches that of any of your modern-day, European, blackened powerhouses (think Dark Funeral, Watain, etc.). While the drums are fucking loud and the vocals are slightly buried in the mix, it works with the overall atmosphere of the album very well...it would have ruined the album if everything had been given a production value similar to uber-polished stuff like Dimmu Borgir's latest albums. The rough, aggressive production was definitely a wise move, for sure. What also surprised me about this album was the fact that these dudes are quite good musicians and could easily hold their own as an international touring band should they choose to play any metal fests in Europe or South America, as their live show is an excellent representation of their recorded material. Soulful solos, furious blasts, Nihilifer's intense vocals and Satanic lyrics, these dudes pull it off both on and offstage.
My only criticism of this album would be that sound-wise it is fairly unoriginal. Yes, it will rape your soul, but at this point by listening to "Night's Black Angel" it's clear that the band is capable of playing really great stuff and really pushing it to the extreme while still retaining the genre's most orthodox elements and characteristics. Yeah yeah, it's somewhat of a reviewer cop-out, but I seriously expect their next album will be truly special and potentially push these guys into the internationally recognized black metal elite by combining killer songwriting with a nihilistic, dark intensity. Keep an eye out for these guys!

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...