Behold My Visions and Wisdom

Swedish black metal...some love it, some hate it. I am right in the middle of things knowing that there are few good good bands outthere. Black Circle is from Sweden and plays melancholic black metal. When a release comes from THR you know that it is somewhat of guarantee of quality. This is no exception. Very, VERY cold guitars plays riffs that are simple but holds a great effect thanks to the primitive production.
Think Judas Iscariot around "Dethroned, Conqured and Forgotten" and you get the picture. This is also the problem. This album is very far from original as it has traces of Judas Iscariot everywhere. There is nothing wrong with the melancholic riffing that is offered here. It works really good along with the really cold and clean production. The changes in tempo are made very good withing the songs as well as between songs. However, this has been done already and anyone owning the albums of the usbm band i mentioned before has no reason to buy this album because then it has already been heard. It is easy to hear that Strijd have some talent and I am sure that things will get better in the future, to me the follow-up "The Distant Wind" also suffers from Judas Iscariot complex, if he just dares to go all out with his own riffs. There are some short parts where originality is shown but sadly these are very few and thereby not worth much among those of us who really are into black metal...