Repent. Believe. Salvation in Plague.

This is how symphonic black metal should sound. Guitars playing melodic riffs that are still raw and mean. Creepy, elegant keyboards that don't push the guitar off the lead position or make the whole thing sound pompous and grandiose. Add in some supporting choir vocal samples at just the right times, and you've got Shadar Logoth's recipe for spine-tingling evil hymns.

This regrettably short little EP opens with "Despair, Misery, Death". Weird synth intro gives way to an agonized wail that really suits the song's title. Guitars roar to life in an under-produced but still heavy style reminiscent of 2000s French black metal such as Antaeus. The verse riff has a very retro black-thrash vibe goin' on, for a rare bout of headbanging in this symphoblack sub-genre. In between verses, some really ghostly synth bridges serve perfectly to build you up for the next deadly verse. Then it all swirls into the abyss with mad dervish of a guitar solo in the last half-minute.

Don't expect to get a break when "The Maze of Aeon" starts either. The surprisingly full-sounding drums are unleashed right off the bat; and while they're not the most inventive, it's more than just leaning on the double-bass kick and spanking the cymbals. This song's simpler hook is often shared by the guitars and keys at once, and it works. "The Maze of Aeon" also brings in the subtle hymnal choir samples for added gravitas, without ever using it as a crutch; as well as a shorter but wilder scale-ripping solo toward the end.

Repent. Believe. Salvation in Plague is damn fine stuff, slight frog-in-throat tendency of the vocalist notwithstanding. It's also probably the most darkly sacramental title I've ever come across. I hoped this could have been a stepping stone to great things for Shadar Logoth, but sadly it's been 10 years and nothing more has happened.