Sweden's black metal veterans Satariel have been around the scene now for 13 years, but yet are only just now releasing their third album with Hydra. Satariel, along with bands like Old Man's Child, Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar, Arcturus, and Naglfar, have perfected the art of symphonic and melodic black metal, mixing the dark and mysterious metal tones with plenty of keyboards, clean male and female vocals, black metal screeches, crushing electric guitars, and folky acoustic guitars.
While much of what you will hear on Hydra will ultimately please the listener for the most part, there are a few standouts here. "Claw the Clouds" is a gorgeous slice of folky & progressive rock, with airy keyboards, lush acoustic guitars, and beautiful female vocals. The band mixes gothic overtones with dark black metal on "Vengeance is Hers", a song with both clean and harsh male vocals, tasty guitar leads, and symphonic keyboards. There's also some trance and techno beats to the dark melancholy of "Scattering the Timeweb", and for pure black metal, you can't go wrong with "300 Years Old" or the Dimmu Borgir influenced "Nihil Judgement".
For the most part, hardcore black metal fans will probably be confused by the assortment of sounds and styles on Hydra, but that is precisely why those into more melodic metal styles, and certainly the heavier progressive rock sub-genres, will eat this up. Satariel have put together a very adventurous and varied release here that will certainly surprise many people.
Track Listing
1) The Freedom Fall
2) Be You Angel, Be You Beast
3) Claw the Clouds
4) Vengeance is Hers
5) For Galaxies to Clash
6) The Springrise
7) Scattering the Timeweb
8) 300 Years Old
9) Nihil Juggernaut
10) No God Loves
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