I absolutely love discovering small, young, unsigned bands, especially from countries not readily known for their metal scene. Slovenia's extreme / Black Metal band CONDEMNATIO CRISTI have recently released their second full-length, "Soundtracks", which contained a surprisingly wide range of tracks of varying sound and elements, however short-ish and sweet the record's length is.

The record's epic and uplifting intro track pays no heed to part one of "Black Water". The track is rife with battle storm passages of tribal drumming, drowned in truly blackened-sounding guitar riffs; parts of the track feel like a veritable sonic typhoon. The vocals are a little hard to get used to; they alternate between screams, and strained, half-growls, that sound more like a throat infection. However, the real screams present (of which there are not many, unfortunately, on this track) are as black and can be. All in all, I was truly impressed with the musicianship presented on this track; first impressions on openers are extremely important. "Cross for the Masses", oddly enough, features an almost totally-different sounding mix; each and every instrument cuts through more cleanly. I feel as if the song is superior overall, and is much closer to what I would call a black metal track; a Black Metal track with excellent production quality. I could already tell that "Deathmarch" would be my favorite track on the album, simply by the name, what one hell of a track it was. Opening up with a traditionally hellish blast riff reminiscent of old IMMORTAL, I was graced by an unexpected guitar solo, before the song evolved into a much more thrashy track, that took an even stranger turn towards an 80's Heavy Metal sound, before quickly burning up in a technical thrash riff. Most of the end of the song was cut right down in tempo and dominated by a basic, but beautiful, piano track.

The oddly-named "Soundtrack" sounds like exactly that; a soundtrack for a movie. Not too unexpected, since the band is apparently available for recording soundtracks, interestingly enough. In and of itself, it is a relatively enjoyable track, with a basic, spacy and dreamy drum 'riff' overlaid with smattering of piano and atmospherics, and a gorgeous, unidentified female voice, quickly descending into a growling, quietly-raged male voiceover. Part two of "Black Water" feels completely, stylistically different, once again in the vein of thrash, but with a more melodic twist, and begins with a lengthy, blood-curdling scream, clawing out through the blistering guitar riff. Unfortunately, the rest of the vocals on the track sound strained and... To put it bluntly, annoying; luckily, the astounding musicianship from the rest of the band does not let this take away the spotlight from the song.

I genuinely found it difficult to develop a rounded opinion of this album as a whole; it indeed included some deliciously devilish Black Metal tracks, with smatterings of thrash and melody thrown in, but many of the 'songs' were soundtracks. I understand that the band also produces these, and while I found them all enjoyable, I was still at a loss for wondering why they were included on the album.