Ah, another reissue! Polish Black Metal group MASTIPHAL have decided to reissue their 1995 release "For A Glory of All Spirits, Rise For Victory" for its 20 year anniversary. Formed back in 1992 in Katowice, Poland, MASTIPHAL have been around the block a few times. They split up for a decade between the years of 1999 and 2009 having only released one full length album and two short, questionable demos before their hiatus. Once they came back they blasted us with some new material in the form of "Parvzya" before re-releasing their only other album "For A Glory of All Spirits, Rise For Victory". Why re-release an album when you've only released two is beyond me but hey ho. I'll roll with it.

The lengths of songs on this album vary tremendously with some being around the two minute mark and some hovering around the ten minute area. The first song which sticks out to me is "Flames of Fire Full Of Hatred". It features the classic raw, reverb filled Black Metal vocals along with a few curve-balls along the way. At around the four minute mark the song slows down into an eerie, melodic, clean guitar feature with some dark and sepulchral vocals. At eight minutes long this track does seem to go on for a while (although that's nothing compared to the nine minute specimen that is "Aim")

Two songs later we're eerily greeted with "Tęsknota Czasów Minionych" which I would barely count as a song, more of an intermission. Which leads us on a pathway to the next track "Calling From The Past" which is extremely melodic and has an abundance of synth sounds and tends to jump between tones and tempos a lot. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the changes don't come smoothly and tend to just come out of the blue which can make them seem messy.

This album is good, as good as it was when it was released 20 years ago. Polish Black Metal at its finest. Following in the steps of the greats such as CHRIST AGONY and MASTIPHAL will have no problem getting back into the swing of things after their hiatus. I just wish they'd have put more effort into writing new material rather than re-releasing an album that is their only other release. Will we have to wait another 20 years for a new album? Maybe they'll re-release "Parvzya". Nit picking aside, I really enjoyed this album and the way they blended an abundance of different musical elements and styles to create one dark and evocative album. They used the synth to their advantage without sounding too melodic and still keeping the raw Black Metal tone and feeling. This album is excellent and will take pride of place in my music collection.

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