I happened to learn this band pretty recently after a suggestion from a guy in a forum. A few days after, this promo came in and I was more than glad to review it since I found something that intrigued me in ANTARES PREDATOR's music. What I didn't know was that this band is not new in the scene and surely isn't composed by any newbies.

Formed in 1994 (!), the band began its career under the name of WOLF327. In 1999 the band transformed into ANTARES PREDATOR (the name "Antares" comes from a star in the Milky Way galaxy), when Winther (KEEP OF KALESSIN) decided to turn his solo project into a full force band. Winther found the time to work on his project/band when KEEP OF KALESSIN were put on ice for a while and when he found a steady line up they started writing what would be their first EP "Banquet Of Ashes" (2008).

After signing a contract with Battlegod Productions, the band recorded and released its debut full-length album "Twilight Of The Apocalypse", a fine sample of melodic Black Metal which also incorporates various other elements like Thrash and Death Metal. The first band that comes in mind when listening to ANTARES PREDATOR is obviously DIMMU BORGIR. The good thing about this Norwegian quartet is that they can easily keep the balance between brutality, melody and epic atmosphere, something that helps them not end up sounding 'too much' or cliche. The guitar work by Wintheris pretty good and reminds of his ex band a bit, while the rhythm section is going nuts throughout the whole album!

What impressed me were the vocals of Steffan Schulze, whose abilities I had the chance to enjoy with his other band, the Norwegian thrashers HARM (and he has also been a bass player for SCARIOT). The production also helps the band unleash its music the best way possible, since the crystal clear and solid sound is exactly what this kind of music needs. Since there are not much more to say here and this kind of music is a bit misunderstood with some people loving it, while other people accusing it of being a sellout and stuff, I will cease fire here and let you decide. After all there is always a Myspace page with samples...