Ancient Rites - Rvbicon
- Released: 2006
- Label: Season of Mist
- Rating:
I have never been a big fan of black metal (unless you by this label set your mind for Venom’s masterpiece from 1982 with the same name). There is actually only one band that I really listen to when it comes to the black metal genre, and I know I´ll get picked on by all trooooo hardcores out there when I say that band is a certain Norwegian band with a Islandish name…but that’s another story…
Ancient Rites has been around since 1988 so the name kinda fits for this Belgian 7-piece. Rvbicon might be a little less black metalish than their earlier efforts. The vocals are a little more clear than the grunts we’re used to from Ghunter Theys, you actually hear what he sings pretty damn often and that is a good thing in my book.
Three guitars might seem to be a little bit of overkill, but I would guess they choose to go for axe-trinity just to pull off all the stuff live. The first thing that struck me was that there are actually some cool riffing going on, unfortunately some of the coolest guitar parts often disappear behind a bloody wall of keyboards, that for some reason infest this type of metal. I like the heavier parts with heavy riffing a lot, even the blasting parts are ok when they’re not being drowned in keyboards.
Lyricwise Ancient Rites tend to look back in time, both ancient times and more recent events, Rvbicon teaches history from the times of the Roman empire, the crusades, and up the more recent European battlefields of WW1.
If you are into this kinda black metal I´m pretty sure Rvbicon will taste pretty good if you grab just a bite of it.
As for my favorite and standout tracks on this album, I´ll pick “Templars” and the intro for that song, “Crusade.” The intro melts into the song and some themes are coming back now and then which is kinda cool. I also pick the song “Thermopylae,” which really shows the talent of Ancient Rites.
Pils | 06/16/2006