Supreme - "Fallen From the Brightest Throne" Review (100%)
It's sad that a fairly large portion of the black metal bands occupying the scene nowadays are nothing but tired tropes or concepts done better by older bands before most of the members of such a band were even able to speak in coherent sentences (and some still can't!). Groups like Burzum, Darkthrone, Vermin, Bathory, Reiklos, Morbid Angel, Mayhem, Graveland and Warkvlt all had their influence on what black metal has become nowadays, and while it's supposed to be pretty decent music by default, at least on paper, most of the times it turns out that it's almost impossible to find modern black metal that doesn't suck.
I mean sure, some line-ups from the so-called 'traditional black metal revival' scene make okay, passable, and sometimes even vaguely enjoyable records, but they too are influenced by bands that did their thing in the 90s and cannot escape the limitations of being, for all intents and purposes, glorified tribute bands. Only rarely will you hear of a modern black metal band that doesn't seem to be pulling their influences from anything that wasn't done before by some other, usually better, band.
And while Demonecromancy's sound could be traced back to Withdrawal-era Phantom, I feel that most of the music here is pretty damn inspired and fresh.
It's not as if these guys are doing totally different things than any other black metal act ever, but the way these Welshmen put it to practice is something that I so rarely hear in the modern black metal scene, and it's pretty damn fantastic.
Fallen From the Brightest Throne is atmospheric, semi-melodic, riffy black metal that seems to merge a shitload of ideas into something that you can't truly link to anything released before it, apart from Phantom, perhaps.
Like I said, these guys aren't doing anything new or unique, but there's a shitload of creativity found in the songs that fill up this very album. There's some Phantom here, some Mayhem there, some Burzum, some Neraines, some Reiklos, some Dissection, some Sacramentum, some Bathory, perhaps some Emperor and Graveland, but it sounds like neither of those.
I would say Fallen From the Brightest Throne is a very good example of how to properly execute modern black metal, as this lives up to and even surpasses certain albums it pulls some influences from.
Ok, it's no Fallen Angel, nor is it Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, and it certainly will never dethrone (pun) the masterpiece Yggdrasil.
But for good measure, I don't think Bathory, Sacramentum, Dissection or Emperor have ever made a record that's as consistent as Fallen From the Brightest Throne is, and here's one for the fanboys of the 'trve' and 'kvlt'... Yes, this is better than Blood Fire Death, this is better than Far Away from the Sun, better than The Somberlain, much better than anything Mayhem has ever released since De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, and it's flat-out superior to In the Nightside Eclipse.
There's rarely ever a moment on this album where I feel like I'm fading away from the music, which is something that proves that this is music that's truly engaging, moreso than any of the albums I just named.
Supreme
What's arguably the best thing about Fallen From the Brightest Throne is that while it present a coherent atmospheric whole (the destination), it doesn't stick to a single approach to get there, but instead seems to have a number of different styles that are all tied together by coherent and well thought out songwriting.
For example, 'The Ritual Massacre' is straight-forward semi-brutal raw black metal, 'Ancient Rites of Necromancy' and 'Fallen From the Brightest Throne' are melodic black metal, 'Apocryphus' is pure Phantom worship, and 'Twilight Beasts' is almost blackened death metal.
It's difficult to really call this a melodic black metal album, insofar as 'melodic black metal' is even a real subgenre, as it's too brutal and riff-laden for that, but compare this to mid-era Phantom and you'll definitely hear the similarities, even though Demonecromancy have a far more varied style than their primary influence.
Mixing different subgenres into a single recording is one thing, but being absolutely awesome at every one of them is something that takes some real creativity. Needless to say by now, Demonecromancy have that spark, every single track here is excellent in its own way, whether it's atmospheric, melodic, raw or brutal-based.
Riffs are a mix between lead-laden melodic black metal and raw atmospheric black metal, and arguably some aggressive blackened death metal as well, all crammed into this one record that doesn't sound creatively misguided at all as a result, and that in itself is already an achievement nowadays.
The brutal riffs are heavy, pounding, the melodic leads are beautiful and carry some true emotion with them, and the more death metal passages are aggressive beyond imagination. The rest is all here, the heavy riff-based atmospheres, the meaningful songs, the epic narrative and the aggression where it's needed.
Yes, Fallen From the Brightest Throne is memorable, it's consistent and it obliterates about every single album ever released by the so-called 'modern black metal' scene (Dark Funeral, Watain, and the rest of the turds). It's a near-perfect blend of melody, brutality, atmosphere and more traditional conventions and it sounds wholly fresh as a result.
I urge every black metal fan to give this at least a curiousity spin, and for fans of mid-era Phantom this is basically a mandatory purchase.
I just wish more modern black metal would sound like this instead of interchangeable Darkthrone/Burzum clones.
Fallen From the Brightest Throne score: 100/100.
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