Sorcier Des Glaces "Moonrise In Total Darkness" vinyl LP

First of all I must say that I've followed SDG for a long time being a friend of Sébastien, and I must say this is a project intended to be totaly underground, you'll notice the abscence of names in the cd credits. SDG is a side-project of the same guy who does Passage ( Can ) and Moonlyght. As a great fan of his works I'll start off buy saying that this album has a much better sound quality than the first, being that the budget was higher and he did not use a 4-track this time. SDG is what I call a tribute to all early norwegian black metal, being his influence during the recording of this album. I personally think this is a great offering considering the great bands he was influenced by. The structures of the songs sound more finished than on his first album. You can also feel a great cold shiver going through your body as you listen in on all the tracks. The quality of the recording makes it sound like old school BM and personally I am very appreciative of the genre. I cannot say that this is a masterpiece production wise but to me it's a masterpiece in it's genre and I hope SDG continue on this path because he is doing great at immortalizing a style of BM that we barely hear nowadays. If I took away 5 points it's not really cause it's not a good cd, it's just that I don't believe in perfection, I think this album sounds good, It has a good guitar, some strong vocals that maybe are just a little bit to much in front and have a bit too much echo. The rest is fine. The drum is pretty basic, not much blast beats but if you enjoy steady drumming, you're served here. The lyrical theme is pretty much based on cold mysanthropic evil from the northern canadian landscape. Being from the same place as SDG I think this really represents the sound of Québec. I highly recommend this album to anyone who still feels theres room for old 1990-1996 Black Metal in your discography. I suggest you all to start with this album and If you like it, get the first so you can see the evolution of a great to become artist. This album makes me wanting more. Hopefully SDG will let aside other projects for a couple months and work on a third installement from SDG.
Let's talk about the musical aspect of the album now. I'm not a musician so I might not have the best critical ear but here goes nothing. The guitars are very well tuned and procure the listener a cold feeling when listening the it. There are a couple keyboards who blend in very well with the hole of the instruments, the only thing as I said earlier is that the vocals sound a bit echo and are sometimes in front to much. In some tracks you really get the feeling of mysanthropy and sadness blended all together with a twist of evil, and I think that is what SDG wanted the listener to feel. The bass is not as present as I would've wanted it to be but don't forget this is SDG's second album and first made with a better studio. With that said, you can feel the feeling wanted by SDG and this is a true hommage to the early 90's Black Metal. In all, this is a great release that is worth the try, it's an album that last almost 40 minutes so there are no unnescessary long parts on the cd. For those who will have a first listen to this album might say, "ah damn, theres the typical intro, it sucks!" your wrong, keep in mind this is an old school black album and intro's were very muched ysed at the time and this artist works the old fashioned way, and to me this is just amazing that there are still artists out there dedicated to the old BM art. When you scroll through this album you get transported from one smooth cold track to the next which is totaly in another paste. Fast drumming, good guitar work, subtile bass lines and a harsh vocal all blending to create a style that is purely SDG's. So with that said, I didnt waste any cents on this which I bought for only 12 dollars canadian. This is very well spent! Good job for a multitalented artist which has 3 bands.

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