Seven years have passed since the third album, IV: Malice, for these blacksters from Greece that are well-known for their unique sound of the bass in their recordings and for the 'Satan' existence in their unholy sounds. All these elements are here, too, plus a more mature perspicuity upon their music that has its positive and negatives points.
For those that are not aware of this name, we must say that NECROMANTIA were into the first bands of the 2nd wave of Black Metal with perfect albums in their back-catalogue that are 'must' for the friends of the genre. From the split release with VARATHRON 'till the ultra-satanic Crossing The Fiery Path and the epicus Scarlet Evil Witching Black, both records were released under the label of Osmose Productions that had collected the elite of Black Metal back then. The third step was under Magus' label and now the German Dockyard 1 releases this one.
The beginning has the self-titled track inviting us and urging us to wield the swords or any other weapons against the Christian world. NECROMANTIA are back and ready for attack. This song mainly works as intro, clashes are everywhere and somewhere lurks a Wagner theme. The following two songs are classic NECROMANTIA stuff, close to Scarlet Evil Witching Black, if I had to say one album for comparison. I believe the best moment in Order Of The Sphinx is the theme with the clean vocals while the other has a remarkable work with the keys parts. Yes, this is not a surprise, Magus is an expert with the keys use: I mean, I could easily place him next to Mirai of SIGH, mainly for the inspired use of them. In this song you will hear strange themes; some of them reminded me of the soundtrack of the Necromantik movie and others classical composers. Both songs are good, but to tell you the truth I would like something better, sometimes I'm getting tired.
The best one is coming next and its name is Architecture Of Exquisite Madness. This is THE song. Starting as a storm with keys making it more intense, the vocals are perfect with laughing from a paranoid mind. Pure darkness and madness. Knights Of The Black And White Eagle is the most 'epic' one and very close to 'classic' Heavy Metal. From MANOWAR to OMEN, or even AXEHAMMER! The bass solo is the absolute highlight here.
The album continues with more good songs like The Invisible Empire or HellSeher, that give us the impression that the band tries to make different tracks with their own character inside. The surprise is the reincarnation of Les Litanies De Satan with the second part here. Maybe it's not as devil-ish as the old one but the clean vocals again are doing their job well plus a riff is the same. It's not based on Baudelaire's poem but on Huysmans (a French poet influenced by Baudelaire, probably close to pessimism and naturalism).
I expected something better, but (on the other hand) I'm thinking that it's impossible for NECROMANTIA to unleash something to burn me in hell's fires because I'm 14 years older since I heard them for the first time. Probably, if I would reverse the time and the albums this one would terrorize me more. Anyway, such questions don't have any meaning: The Sound Of Lucifer Storming Heaven is good and different from the majority of the Metal scene. If you don't know them, you must do something immediately.