Son of the Morning

I'd sound thoughtless or frivolous to some limits, but this release did give me the "goosebumps", I wouldn't say from the very beginning or from the first time after listening to it, since I'm positive sure that we've listened to such wave of symphonies and blast in the second generation of black metal, but after listening to this assault for more than once I started considering my opinions regarding this project - Elderblood - from the east side of Ukraine. This album is an absolute trip to give you the chance to hear the early wave of symphonic black metal in a great mixing, and a mastering of gold. I never thought that an act like Elderblood would come and place the same traces of the legendary bands that they did in the past, with such quality and performance Elderblood should gain more concerns for the example and proof of the astonishing talent, and the atmosphere of orchestration they place for us in a dish of gold.

Son of the Morning starts with an epic intro that overhauled the path in this release for the second track Dies Irea, which in return the second mentioned song absolutely resonated in my ears, and undoubtedly it came in the right place to steal the attention. the fourth and fifth tracks are my personal favorites, the drumming is non-stoppable here, it twisted my mind to the limits of not believing that a human like Mr. Sevruk until the moment I saw him playing these tracks live without a gleam of rest. Re-Birth is considerably the 10th track, the tracks comes with silence and emotional atmospheric symphonies with epic consciousness then suddenly changes into frost and grimness with blast and marvelous drumming.

The keys here are haunting, horrific and theatrical. The guitars are viciously evil, cold as ice in parts and a knife in butter in others yet there still are amazing solo parts and tremolos that completed the image of this successful onslaught by Elderblood. This band is not just another band from a random neighborhood in Ukraine, the band is based by skilled musicians and former members of legendary acts in this spot in earth, which this was and still one of the reasons for me to look more for an upcoming work that is already on the way for the next year, hopefully.

The minimum I have to say is my special regards and appreciation to Mr. Veryovkin (Astargh) for the kind offer of blazing symphonies and guitar riffs, to Odalv for the blasting that still ring in my thoughts over and over again, and to Hagalt for giving the album the needed background with his bass riffs. This project has a future not just in the east side of Europe but worldwide, it worth giving it a chance and wasting the time on, it's a gem for those who trace the past and the glory of the 90's in a modern way. You won't find this release in Paragon Records since it had already been sold out, but some other labels like Wolf Tyr Productions are giving you the chance to own this audible gold, and I mean physically.

When Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and Bal Sagoth were releasing there debut records almost 20 years ago, the term symphonic black metal was starting to spread throughout the underground. Combining guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and violins into one song was refreshing and innovative. By the late 1990’s early 2000’s, symphonic black metal was a bloated, pompous, overly produced mess. Elderblood’s debut album Son of the Morning combines the mid 1990’s symphonic sound with the brutality of today’s black metal scene.

Gates to Oblivion is a 45 second intro that goes into a superhuman track called Dies Irae. This track smokes! Throughout the song there is a great infectious riff that reminds me of Slayer’s Seasons in the Abyss album. Plenty of keyboards that form a feeling of doom and blasphemy. Elderblood come off the strongest when the tempo’s are slower. One example is the song My Death. I was blown away how Astargh, Odalv and Hagalth arrange these beautiful, dark melodic melodies. Around the 2.00 minute mark there is a piano part that’s haunting and atmospheric. The track reminded me of an orchestra performing with a metal band in the background. The Xi--Th Angle reminded me of The Gathering and Crematory. Heavy on the gothic, doom-death keyboards circa 1992. Also you will find a guitar solo on this track. You appreciate this, since the whole record is keyboard fueled. The song Naglfar ventures into some very fast black metal combined with keyboard parts that have a sinister carnival vibe. Early Arcturus comes to mind. Astargh also uses the keyboards to create spacey, ambient pieces that gives the song Egocide a completely different sound then the rest of the record. When the song Re-Birth came on my first impression was that this could become the future of Elderblood. There were some clean vocals on this track. A great contrast from the rest of the album. This made me realize that the band can venture into many other genre’s of metal.

Astargh and Odalv are former members of the mighty Nokturnal Mortum. Elderblood keeps there distance from sounding like a clone to the above-mentioned band. The creativity and brilliance in the song writing would make anyone believe that this is the bands third or fourth record. The production is solid. Listening to this with your headphones on will give you a greater appreciation for Elderblood.

The only downfall I have with the record is that the vocals at times smother parts of the songs. Astargh has a very harsh vocal approach and creating symphonic metal there should be a limit to the vocal delivery.

To describe Son of the Morning would be grand, wicked, cataclysmal and fiendish.