Ok folks, I got to admit, I wasn't expecting much when I first heard of ZEMIAL a one man Black Metal band currently residing in Germany, But I have been proved wrong on one man bands before, so was a wrong not to expect much on ZEMIALs third full length? Well, yeah, this record surprised me in a very good way; this isn't your conventional black metal, far from it as a matter of fact.

The first noticeable difference from the style I thought it was to what it actually is jumps out as soon as the opening track "Ancient Arcane Scrolls" begins, the vocals are almost clean, with just a bit of a harsh edge to them, even the harsher vocals which kick in after an almost jazzy part of the song sound more like the late great Chuck Schuldiner than any Black Metal I've heard, there are also even more powerful Death Metal grunts in the record, but the changes in vocal style contribute to the experience of listening to this album. And really, if I was to compare The sound of this album to Black Metal, the closest thing that comes to mind would be bands like VENOM from the first wave of Black Metal, however ZEMIAL has far more musical experience and know how incorporating more progressive elements into the music as well as far better musicianship than early VENOM could ever dream of.

The comparison is very evident in songs like "Eclipse" and "Under Scythian Command". Indeed the album sounds far closer to 80's Thrash / Speed Metal than anything else. "Deathspell" I must say is a personal favorite, one of the faster and brutal songs on the record. There are negatives however, the production is a bit lacking with the sound at times slightly amateurish despite the excellent musicianship, and to be frank, I just think that despite being excellent songs "In The Arms Of Hades" and especially "Pharos" tend to overstay their welcome simply due to their length at over 11 and over 15 minutes respectively, But that's really more of my complaining than anything else as I personally am not a big fan of overly long songs.

I have indeed been impressed with this album, it's old school, but it's not a chewed up, copycat type of old school, this album is at times epic and at other times fast and furious, a very fun album to listen to.