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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2016 9:07:27 GMT -6
Imperial Dusk - Northern Hordes Year: 2014 Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal A surprising amount can be learned about an album simply by looking at its cover. I invite you to do that with Northern Hordes. Take a look: Looks pretty cool right? A castle on top of a snowy hill with a full moon. The band logo in the upper left. The album title at the bottom. Wait, the album title...it's misspelled. "Northen Hordes". Whenever I see something like this, my expectations typically drop. The sound of Northern Hordes matches the album artwork quite nicely. It's cold, atmospheric, keyboard-laden black metal. I think they actually overdid the keyboards. The atmospheric synths sound good and sometimes have some good melodies, but they overpower the guitars way too much. It reminds me of the band Nocturnal Freeze, which featured two of the three members of Imperial Dusk. The problem is less severe here than it was on Transylvania though. It's not like the guitar riffs are really any good anyway. They're incredibly boring for the most part, only being interesting in a couple of times in the album. The intro riffs to "Lord of Frost", "Ritual of Blood", and the title track are pretty good though. The rest are primarily repetitive, but there are occasional moments where they become decent, especially when they speed things up a little and introduce some slightly thrash-influenced riffs. Whenever they do that, it's still not enough to remove the lethargic feeling of the album. It just feels tired and uninspired, as if the band had a really hard time with coming up with anything to write but also didn't spend much time on it. The vocals are easily the best thing about the album. There are two main styles used. The first is a typical black metal growl, but it sounds somewhat distant and cold and matches the atmosphere of the music wonderfully. There's also a lower, almost spoken growl, that is used more rarely but matches the atmosphere just as well. The drumming is unremarkable. One of the worst things about Northern Hordes is the piano that shows up every once in a while. The melodies it plays are super cheesy and get on my nerves (the intro of "Shadows Night" is the best example). If you want to know how to use piano well in black metal, look to Grave Declaration. Another major issue, and perhaps the thing that really makes this album bad, is the general lack of progression. Most of the songs feel way too similar, and the album as a whole feels like a long, tiresome journey that isn't worth taking. The songs are way too long, and I find myself counting down the seconds until the next song hits. There's nothing particularly captivating or entertaining. It's just boring. The only songs that I'd consider good (rather than bad or merely mediocre) are the title track and "Ritual of Blood". You can find the former on YouTube. The riffs in it are decent and the keyboards are fantastic. "Ritual of Blood" is similarly good. But only barely good compared to the rest of the album. I'll also mention that I find it funny that the band wrote a song in Norwegian called "En Skygge". I can't speak Norwegian so I have no idea if the grammar is any good, but their English grammar seems alright compared to some of the other bands I've seen. 68/100 -CrimsonWarrior Metal Helm still has copies, but it's way too expensive: metalhelm.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=1&products_id=1187&zenid=bmrrnari1upd5acfm9bcljrsf1
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Post by Deepfriar on Apr 23, 2016 15:31:19 GMT -6
I want to say, first and foremost, I always love reading your reviews and I am entertained each and every time. I agree with you on just about every single review on many matters. Okay, now this one is fun. I actually have things to say about your review more than voicing approval. I need to address a few things. (This is purely discussive and not argumentative; difference in opinion mostly). First, I have to disagree with you about seeing misspellings (I just looked up and made sure I spelled "misspellings" right) on black metal releases. I think it's totally acceptable and kvlt. I mean, they did all that hard work on making the music... can you blame them if they are tired by the time they design the cover and they make a mistake or two? I get excited when I see mistakes; it tells me they either worked hard on the music and were drained mentally, or they did not work hard on the music but even in these cases usually a primal brutality is communicated in the music. I don't know, most releases I own with printing mistakes are pretty kvlt. Also, I was appalled (spellcheck again) to see you mention "severe" problems with Nocturnal Freeze's masterpiece, Transylvania. I resent that, kind sir. Transylvania, since gracing my collection early last year, has found its way out of my speakers on numerous occasions. I keep coming back to listen to that album. It's quite good for those of us who don't listen to Emperor anymore. Sanctifica's Spirit of Purity is about the only other Christian black metal release that reminds me of Emperor. Lastly, I like the fact that one of the songs is in Norwegian. I plan on incorporating Norwegian into my music if I ever get around to goofing off with a CBM project myself. Who cares if the grammar isn't perfect... once again, it is kvlt when a black metal band tries to sing a song in a language that is not their native tongue. Google translate is good enough for me. (<- Norwegian Ninja!) Now let me be clear: somehow, despite my difference of opinion with you on a couple of matters I would probably agree with your score of the album itself. Your scoring system is out of 100 but I usually score with single digits so I would have probably given it 6/10 (which technically is slightly lower than your 68/100 but very similar). You must keep in mind I don't own the release myself so I don't know it intimately. I had checked out this band previously and wasn't compelled to purchase anything. You inspired me to go back and listen to it again after learning band members are common with Nocturnal Freeze. However, I think Nocturnal Freeze is a far superior project and I am still not compelled to add Northern Hordes to my collection. P.S. I'm listening to Nocturnal Freeze now. [roar]
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2016 17:34:52 GMT -6
Well...I guess there's no argument to be had, since all three of those things are opinion.
As for typos, I just don't like them. They're annoying to me. I'm not saying that an album with typos can't be good (I enjoy Beeroth's album, and it's full of typos), but it does seem unprofessional to me.
The only problem with Transylvania that I mentioned was that the keyboards overpower the guitars. I also believe it to be a better release overall though. I can't exactly call myself a fan of it though, and I don't listen to it very often. I just listened to a bit of it again and I will say that it is better than I remember.
I never said that I disapproved of the band using Norwegian; I just said that I thought it was funny.
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Post by Deepfriar on Apr 23, 2016 20:51:55 GMT -6
I know, I'm just jerking your chain. Lol!
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Post by Deepfriar on Apr 23, 2016 21:32:52 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2016 3:23:51 GMT -6
Well, nice review man, but now it's my turn What I really can't stand with this release is the fact that these guys from Imperial Dusk have literally stolen riffs from "Enthroned Darkness Triumphant" by Dimmu Borgir. It's just a copy/past fest, without any restraint. It's embarassing. I'm genuinely mad at this release. These guys didn't even try to create something of their own. No sir. Let's just rip some of those riffs from Dimmu Borgir instead, and we'll be fine! .... As an artist, I think this is the worst thing one can possibly do. I could pinpoint every single riffs they stole. And it's not that they were "inspired" by Dimmu Borgir. They simply had no clue about how to write a semi-decent album. And as if that's not enough, the album itself is just plain boring and overbearingly long. More than 70 minutes of this crap? Are you kidding me? It's a shame, really. And the fact that they are even remotely related to that other mess of a band called Nocturnal Freeze, which made another low-quality, embarassing rip-off of "Cruelty and the beast" by Cradle of Filth, ... well, that says a lot. This goes right in my top 10 worst metal album, and they are one the worst christian metal band of all times. My final verdict ? 20/100
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Post by Deepfriar on Apr 26, 2016 4:51:51 GMT -6
Hmm now I want to listen to it all the way through just to see what you are talking about. I haven't listened to Enthrone Darkness in years but I listened to it a lot and feel like I would recognize riffs.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2016 4:56:01 GMT -6
What I really can't stand with this release is the fact that these guys from Imperial Dusk have literally stolen riffs from "Enthroned Darkness Triumphant" by Dimmu Borgir. I've never listened to Dimmu Borgir, so I wasn't able to make that connection. But if Dimmu sounds this bad, I totally agree with everyone who says they're terrible.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2016 7:17:12 GMT -6
What I really can't stand with this release is the fact that these guys from Imperial Dusk have literally stolen riffs from "Enthroned Darkness Triumphant" by Dimmu Borgir. I've never listened to Dimmu Borgir, so I wasn't able to make that connection. But if Dimmu sounds this bad, I totally agree with everyone who says they're terrible. Hehe nice try! But no, Dimmu Borgir doesn't sound this bad. At least not the release I was referring to. This is a watered down, poorly executed version of it. Of course, not every song has got a dimmu riff, but I'd say at least half of the songs here on Northern Hordes have that issue. If I can get the time, I will make a compare list
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Post by Thomas Eversole on Apr 26, 2016 9:29:17 GMT -6
I'd say the comments to the review make the review all the more interesting.
I'm familiar with Enthroned Darkness Triumphant but only heard a small amount of the Imperial Dusk album.
Regarding typos, I can see how they happen. Both in rushing the artwork or focusing on the layout instead. Also, programs for designing covers don't have a spell check option. (At least mine doesnt)
As far as I know, only one of my CD releases has a typo. Something I didn't notice until many years after it was released and I felt like a bit of a doofus when I discovered it, but really doubted anyone else would have noticed. Both because I don't think anyone cared enough about the insert and it's also not a common word.
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Post by nocturnaliridescence on Apr 26, 2016 9:44:56 GMT -6
... Is the album really that bad? The replies are making this album sound terrible. Of course plagiarism is bad, but I mean in terms of sound. The only song I remember being able to even find from this album was the title track, and I thought it was really good. I just can't imagine the rest of the album being so much worse in comparison.
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Post by Deepfriar on Apr 26, 2016 10:37:47 GMT -6
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Post by Deepfriar on Apr 26, 2016 10:41:30 GMT -6
It's not completely awful. I certainly own worse music and still listen to it occasionally, but I cannot get into Imperial Dusk for some reason.
In those 3 tracks, I don't hear any blatant Dimmu rip-offs but I haven't listened to Dimmu in probably 5 years.
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Post by nocturnaliridescence on Apr 26, 2016 10:56:21 GMT -6
So it doesn't seem to sound very bad, just... standard.
I still don't like that they apparently plagiarized riffs, though.
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Post by Thomas Eversole on Apr 26, 2016 12:47:07 GMT -6
I wouldn't say they were the exact same riffs. They just use the exact structure and it even sounds like the same key.
Old Dimmu Borgir has some very basic riffs, but the Imperial Dusk riffs are even more basic.
It's a lot like comparing the Big King (from Burger King) and the Big Mac (from McDonalds). They're both meat, bread and cheese - both structured the same way, but the ingredients have different origins and don't taste like a carbon copy exact.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2016 0:40:21 GMT -6
Wow, you've just picked 3 songs where there's no evident sign of plagiarism hehe. There are other songs that I swear the plagiarism is there. But I can't find them on youtube.
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Post by Deepfriar on Apr 27, 2016 4:53:48 GMT -6
Wow, you've just picked 3 songs where there's no evident sign of plagiarism hehe. There are other songs that I swear the plagiarism is there. But I can't find them on youtube. Haha, well like you said it's the only ones I could find on YouTube.
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Post by Thomas Eversole on Apr 27, 2016 8:00:41 GMT -6
Wow, you've just picked 3 songs where there's no evident sign of plagiarism hehe. There are other songs that I swear the plagiarism is there. But I can't find them on youtube. YouTube is the only place I've heard this album. I'll take your word for it that they really do rip off riffs. I'd like to hear it!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2016 10:07:45 GMT -6
Ok , here we go. For those of you who own this album, I'll list the "plagiarized riffs". Each riff can be heard multiple times during the song. Enjoy my rant 1 - Lord Of Frost : the opening riff on this song is the same riff as the one heard in Dimmu's "Mourning Palace", which starts precisely at minute 3:46. SAME RIFF. It has even the same scream at the same right moment. What a shame... 2 - Shadows Night : The opening riff here has the same pattern as the opening riff on Dimmu's "In Death's Embrace". The keyboard melody on this one is slightly different, but it's still the same riff. 3 - Ritual of Blood : Opening riff and keyboards are the same as the opening riff on Dimmu's "Relinquishment of spirit and flesh". The only difference is that Dimmu Borgir uses blast beats instead of double bass. But again, same riff. No excuses on this one. 4 - Sleeping In Grave : Opening riff and keyboards are exactly the same as on Dimmu's "Spellbound". It might sound different only because the one on Sleeping Grave here is slighlty downtuned than the original. 5 - En Skygge : This one is tricky. The keys on the intro here are taken directly from the song "Det nye riket" , but this time from the album "For all tid". The melody can be precisely heard at the minute 2:16 on the original song. Well.... there are some more "references" to Dimmu Borgir scattered all over the place, but in the end I think this album is just bad. I mean, really bad. The songwriting is below average. Everything is poorly executed (just listen to the song "Lands Of Winter" and you'll know the unspeakable horror I'm talking about...). To me these guys, from an artistic point of view , have no decency at all. I know I'm being a bit harsh here, but seriously the quality on this release goes beyond the ridiculousness. Peace!
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Post by Deepfriar on Apr 27, 2016 12:18:07 GMT -6
Lol point taken. I don't plan on buying it so I will probably never know what you're talking about, but it's too bad that they executed it poorly because I'd LOVE me a Christian version of "In Death's Embrace" lol.
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Post by _ on May 29, 2016 17:05:12 GMT -6
I don't disagree with the 68/100 or perhaps even the lower reviews by others here. However, I still enjoy this album (I owe it and have listened about five times, though probably not very thoughtfully). I suppose I don't need a higher score to enjoy this album. Of course, I am not suggesting this is the case for others, especially given financial constraints or time constraints (i.e., you might rather listen to 1-2 other albums instead of this 75 minute one).
N.B. I loathe plagiarism. The aforementioned comparisons strike fairly heavily. This is very unfortunate. (I will never understand why anyone would plagiarize.)
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