"Flyblown Prince" pulls you into a cinematic, dark and ghoulish landscape, guiding you past twists and turns into what can most accurately be described as a nightmare fantasy...a perverse fairytale...Alice on a journey through Dante's Inferno..." The band formed in 2002 in England, and "Flyblown Prince" is their fifth full-length release, and contains eight tracks.

The title track kicks off the album. Black Metal sounds form in the beginning, with horrid vocals, thunderous drumming, and a wall of guitars. The vile sounds continue, along with some nifty meter shifting. I like that you can hear Syhr's bass notes. "Clemency and Atrophy" begins with a slower sound, whispered vocals, and thick bass notes. The guitars come in slowly, building at atmosphere of the macabre. The sound thickens and comes to a crescendo at the end.

"By the Charred Stile" opens with a heavy guitar riff and some clean vocals. The juxtaposition between the two is marked. Wacian sings high in the register, with sad tones in his presentation. Harsh vocals make a brief appearance, and it sprints towards the finish line. "Rat King" begins with big, heavy and lumbering guitar strikes, and a guttural vocal utterance lets you know what you are in for. Harsh, harrowing vocals take over, along with some harmonic cleans. The intensity slowly increases, and it ends with double kick drum.

"From the Next Room" is over seven-minutes in length. It opens with whispered vocals, that leads to another grinding pace. Once the song settles in, it transitions to melancholy tones. At the half-way mark, it begins to get darker, with some emotional outburst in the vocals. Coming towards the end, the sound drops to just some soft vocals and instrumentation. "Dread Stridulate Lodge" begins with another slow, grinding pace, with some heavy guitar dissonance. The more emotional vocals really tug at you, while the harsh vocals pummel you over the head.

"Scolds Bride" is a faster track, with deep, thick guitars and vocals that could wake the dead. I picture an army of undead soldiers getting fitted with the final touches, and being prepared to march out of hell to take over the world. "The Mad White Hair" is a lengthy album closer. After some soft vocals, another grinding, lumbering pace takes over. Anguished screams are the musings of a madman, who suffers from outburst, coupled with longer moments of deep depression. The tortured soul shows his true colors towards the end of the song, as anger and rage come through.

This was an excellent album. It's Black Metal at its core, but the band dares to throw genre boundaries out the window and is not afraid to experiment. The clean vocals are a bit of a surprise...you don't often hear them in the genre. The mix of harsh Black Metal sounds with melancholy, depressing tracks is enough to keep the purists satisfied, but really offers more to those with a little more flair in their taste.