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LORD BELIAL ‘The Seal Of Belial’ (Regain Records) (2004)
Countless were the times that I’ve listened to a person using the name of this outfit in a music-related conversation, yet it is the band’s fifth studio release, 'The Seal of Belial', that is destined to finally introduce me to them.
It is guaranteed that it will take less than a minute and just a single guitar riff to help you realise that the origin of Lord Belial is from Sweden, a country with a great tradition in Death/Black Metal music. It will probably sound weird to you all, but I always had this idea in my head of Lord Belial being an Epic Death Metal outfit. Was it the name of the band, was it something else - I don’t really know - the thing is that I was subconsciously prepared for everything that I was about to receive from 'The Seal of Belial'.
Still I was less than impressed with the opening track of the album 'Prolusio: Acies Sigillum'- the reason? After an impressive and quite promising intro with a nice melodic guitar, a short but well prepared atmospheric narration and an epic guitar riff, came disaster! Why on earth would a band that has been around for the last twelve years want to sound like Cradle of Filth?
My dreams of enjoying an Extreme epic composition were in danger. Luckily that was only a bad moment for the band, since not only the rest of the song, but also the remaining seven compositions of 'The Seal of Belial' have more in common with bands like Bathory (Under the Sign of the Black Mark) and Immortal (Damned in Black), rather than with the English outfit whose name was previously mentioned.
The following two tracks of the album, 'Sons of Belial' and 'Chariot of Fire' are mid-tempo Death Metal compositions with many melodic moments that can make them accessible to a much 'younger' audience. At this point it would be wise to mention that the production of this album was handled by the one and only Andy La Roque of King Diamond fame – the quality of which is, as expected, of high standards.
The first good moments of this album, as far as I’m concerned, came with 'Abysmal Hate'. This song has a certain strength and moves in the direction that I originally hoped that this whole album would. Things became even better with 'Legio Inferi', the best composition of the whole album! That is the one time that this band managed to show its true face and also what they are capable of presenting.
Excellent guitar work, amazing double-bass drumming and a smart short use of female vocals made this composition the most memorable song of the whole album.
'Mark of the Beast', the following track of the album, is not a bad song but it is an attempt of the band to become more commercial. I am pretty sure that many young music fans will be singing the refrain of this song in some Metal party, but do not expect me to do the same. Finally the last two songs, 'Armageddon Revelation' and 'Scythe of Death' will definitely appeal to fans of commercial Black metal bands like Dimmu Borgir.
'The Seal of Belial' has left me with mixed emotions. Even though it’s not exactly the kind of album that I expected it to be (nor has it fulfilled its potential, in my opinion), it is still a very decent release that, if promoted correctly, will find its place in many people’s record collections.
Review by John Stefanis
***½
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