When I saw this album I just thought that I would have to deal with one more classic Prosthetic Records release. You know, all this modern Hardcore/Metalcore stuff is not exactly what I call a pleasant listening experience. The good thing is that BOOK OF BLACK EARTH is not exactly what I expected to hear and I guess that's a really good start.

The US metallers were formed in 2003. The band has already managed to have a demo, a split CD (with FALL OF THE BASTARDS) and a full-length album out. Their brand new album Horoskopus is their second full-length effort and as the band's vocalist/guitarist TJ Cowgill says, it is about hidden astrological elements of the Christian church. Anyway, let's see if their first album through Prosthetic Records will bring these guys any luck.

BOOK OF BLACK EARTH's music is surely something interesting, mostly due to the fact that the US metallers have managed to mix many different elements, all coming from the extreme side of Metal. Their music is mostly based on a brutal Death Metal foundation, having also fragments from the US Black Metal scene, as well as some early Swedish Death Metal elements. Throughout the album, I came across parts that reminded me of NILE, others that reminded me of AT THE GATES and others that slightly reminded me of the US LEVIATHAN. The only characterization I can think of right now about this album is that this is the work that Trey Azagoth would release today if he was 20 years old. Sounds kind of glorious, huh? Well, don't get too excited since there are some pretty negative points in this release...

First of all, the production is totally shitty. Imagine the above mentioned magnificent music dressed in a demo level production. Rotten guitar sound, 'empty' drums and vocals that needed some extra editing before the release of the album. One more thing is that without having huge song lengths (except from the last song which is almost 10 minutes long), the album manages to exhaust the listener at some parts. I guess Horoskopus is not the record you can listen to two times in a row without getting bored. So, I try to put the positive and the negative things together and what I see is a talented band that needs some slight improvement to make us shit our pants. These guys are pretty fresh and they have a long road before them. Give them a chance and be sure that the future hides many surprises.