Straasha / Numenor

That's it. The world needs more release like this split from Melancholia Records. This split is the joint work of Lord Barth , Emperor Xaelis and N. Sandoval. Emperor Xaelis mixed and produced both side of the split. I'll examine these two bands differently although their sound is not so different:

Straasha side: A journey through the sea - 100%

Straasha get this split going with their song entitled A Revelation Beyond Dream. This song starts this album powerfully with Lord Barth's chants emanating the background. Straasha play mostly mid-paced (with some faster parts) folky black metal that works as the perfect soundtrack of a journey through the sea. Vocals are of great variety as they range from clean chanting to black metal shrieks to death metal growls. The guitars play some nice riffs and a solo can be heard at 1:45 of the third song (...Drawing Near The Quest). All the songs on Straasha's side are of equal quality. There are no fillers here. Just push the play button, lay down and let yourself travel through vast oceans.

The lyrics are worth-reading as they are a concept story (written by Lord Barth and Emperor Xaelis) about Varg, a vagrant that roams the seas in order to find why his father, Vy'rr died.

Straasha's side closes nicely with an outro suitably called The End.

Numenor: A journey of honour - 100%

Numenor is the musical weapon of N. Sandoval. From the very first note of Journey Of Honour you can figure out that the music to be expected in this side is a bit different from the one heard on Straasha's side. Numenor's music draws influences from the doom / death genre especially in the vocal part. You can also here some clean chanting vocals on their side but the majority of the vocal work consist of deep death metal growls (especially in A Cosmic Revelation where the vocals sound completely guttural). Not much can be said for this band. A Journey Of Honour, Allegience To The Dark Spirit Of Elements, Engulfed In Eternal Majesty, A Cosmic Revelation are four songs that do not have any drawbacks. The chilling voice of N. Sandoval hear in the clean chanting passages is something I hear for the first time in such a release.

Overal: 100%

This is album won't make you dream about forests and cold landscapes. It'll make you dream about oceans. This album leaves you with a warm feeling deep in your heart. These two bands play black metal in its purests form. No trendiness, no political activism, no religious dogmatism is going to be found here. Just music to drown for.