There are times when we feel repentance for not knowing some wonderful bands. It is the feeling that haunts your Ol' Big Daddy here when he finds an experienced band that enters hiatus or ceases to exist having too much to say and to teach to newer generations to come. And it's the case from North American based band, CEREMONIAL CASTINGS, an ancient band of Symphonic Black Metal that entered in a hiatus some months ago, before this album, "Cthulhu", was released.

I never heard their work before, but in "Cthulhu", Ol' Big Daddy here finds one of the best bands of Symphonic Metal since the SWOBM started. Their music is darkened, epic and symphonic, with perfect melodies and musical arrangements, but being aggressive and thunderous all the time, using many ways to create a very particular musical work never done before. The vocalist, The Witcher, sings perfectly (he uses tunes that reminds Abbath, Shagrath, some moments of Dani Filth, and maybe some tunes of Ihsahn on epic moments, but keeping a very particular harsh tune for himself), as plays excellent guitar riffs and bass guitar. OldNick is a master on keyboards, creating perfect orchestrations and darkened atmospheres, and Blood Hammer is a talented drummer. This is a perfect proof of how a band can be creative in the middle one thousands of clones we find all days.

The sound quality is raw and harsh, but not to the point of affect the whole feeling and comprehension of what they are playing and creating. Yes, they are creating some songs in a way that no one did before. And to their music, this harsh quality fits very well.

The art is another masterpiece of Kris Verwimp for them, and symbolizes a lot what they play and they write in their lyrics (they use a lot the legendarium of H. P. Lovecraft and his horror chronicles about Cthulhu and other demons).

The band's capacity of creating long and interesting songs is something that astonishes all that hears their musical work. And when Ol' Big Daddy here says, "it's a perfect album", my nephews and nieces, it's truly a perfect album!

And in the case of all albums made to be jewels, "Cthulhu" cannot be described in simple words, and no music can be said as the best one, or the best ones. From "The Great Old Ones" to "Endless Oceans", it's a great exhibition of an excellent band, keeping the harsh and aggressive insight even on darkened and atmospheric moments. But in the case of this review, we have one more song, that is the one on second CD (yes, it is a double CD, dear ones of mine), "Cthulhu Unbound", a 60 minutes song with all the keyboards parts of the album in one single track. Something that never was done, something that marks a band that has no fear of doing different from the others and dares to create.

But as Ol' Big Daddy said above, the band entered a hiatus. But we hope that "Cthulhu" won't be an epitaph and that they will come back and bring us more of their darkened and beautiful music.<