Lycan Twilight Sorcery is the debut mini-album from the Greek black metal duo known as Cult of Eibon, comprised of a handful of tracks steeped in lyrical themes about werewolves. Now, I'm a huge horror fan, and werewolves are totally my thing, so the band get major props right off the bat for tackling this topic. This music isn't your standard black metal fare, the band instead injecting plenty of classic metal riffs into spooky arrangements complete with blast beats and eerie vocal rasps. The raging title track is a perfect example of this, the ominous keyboards floating over the top of some serious guitar crunch, nimble bass, and acrobatic drumming. "The Dweller of the Woods" is also nicely done, atmospheric yet plenty powerful, while the kick ass "Wolf Blood Communion" at times sounds like a long lost track from the NWOBHM era, mixed with some fiery Scandinavian black metal. Really tasty guitar riffs, solos, and creepy keyboards on this one. "Xothic Bloodlines" also takes this one step further, the song constantly shifting from classic black metal to vintage metal and back again, the riffs straight out of Judas Priest/Omen/Cirith Ungol territory one minute, then Immortal the next. Bonus track "Dominions of the Serpent Moon" is another winner here, featuring chilling atmosphere, venomous raps, and a boatload of effective riffs.
Production on Lycan Twilight Sorcery is pretty lo-fi and raw, but that somehow fits the nature of the songs. You might say Cult of Eibon have somewhat of an identity crisis; do they want to be a black metal band or something else? Hard to say, as they do both the classic thing and the black metal thing quite nicely, even combining both elements successfully. I'd be interested to hear them go balls out into a vintage 1983 styled heavy metal album at some point, but either way this is a band to watch.
Track Listing
01 Τhe Final Transformation (intro)
02 The Dweller Of The Woods
03 Lycan Twilight Sorcery
04 Wolf Blood Communion
05 Xothic Bloodlines
06 Lykauges
07 Dominions of the Serpent Moon
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