What a wonderful album. When this writer came to hear Swedish band NETHERBIRD, it really astonished him a lot, for "The Ferocious Tides Of Fate" could be not a masterpiece of the gender (they play a melodic and symphonic way of Black Metal), but it's almost perfect album.

High pitched harsh voices alternating with low grunts, heavy and excellent guitar riffs (with some solos), bass and drums doing their duties in the right way. It's harsh, melodic and elegant the way they must sound, no doubt about that. And one curiosity is that NETHERBIRD prefers to use their guitars to create a more darkened and somber atmosphere in their songs instead of keyboards. Nothing new at all, but rescues sounds forgotten for 10 years, or even more, since greater part of bands who did this kind of Metal transcended to a more Progressive / Experimental sound, like ULVER did.

A raw sound production is heard, but even with this, the band's music flows heavy and strong, with all instruments sounding heavy and clear in the same dose. Obviously, the sound engineering could be a little better (especially for the guitars), but is good enough. The artwork is very good, function like it must.

5 long songs awaits us all (one of them is just an intro to create an atmosphere), all lasting for more than 5 minutes, but don't pull out your hair (I personally can't, for I have none at all), for the band's is so full of variations that they never sound boring.

The higher scores: "Elegance and Sin" (with beautiful calm moments, and guitar solos do a very good work), the heavy weight "Ashen Roots" (the drums and vocals are at best form here), the long and full of changes "Along the Collonades" (more than 11 minutes of pure pleasure, in a track well worked, where bass guitar and vocals are giving a show themselves), and the strong "Of the Setting Sun".

Powerful, pumping with life, so, almost perfect, nothing more than that!