Adrian de Crow and David Grimoire have released their second album as OPERA DIABOLICUS. When the name of your extreme metal project is OPERA DIABOILICUS it's hard to mislead people as to what they can expect. The album, "Death on a Pale Horse," is a horror musical (gasp) and features an army of studio and guest musicians. Well, technically more like a section or patrol, but upwards of a dozen, so yeah, precisely a lot. The album was issued by Season of Mist on November 26, 2021.

Narrative-wise, the album is touted as "an epic tale of witchcraft, the black death and revenge." The vocals are clean and separated well enough that you won't need the lyric sheet to follow the storyline. A dark room, a good set of headphones, and maybe a bottle or two of fine red and an imagination unrestrained should do you well enough. I should add that the cover art by Gyula Havancsák (Hjules) is stunning and certainly captures the essence of the album. Suitable for framing level.

Apparently, Adrian and David enjoy something of a rivalry, that tension helps to fuel the creative drive behind the musical of this project. The massive amount of supportive talent they brought in also helps. And the engineering is fantastic-a lushly mastered album to say the least. Truly an enjoyable listen. The album is best consumed straight through, and each track depends on the other for context and build, so I won't call out standout tracks. (Okay, well, "Night Demon" completely kills, so I'll make one exception). As a musical, the songs do have a level of thespian pomp and that over-earnest cadence that attaches itself to theatre-like the composers were trying to put paint a musical veneer over the wordcount of a novel rather than compress and intensify the words to fit the musical palette. But that may just come with the territory, so not so much of a criticism as an observation.

Altogether, "Death on a Pale Horse" is an excellent offer for its subgenre. Interesting story, some incredible performances, superlative mix. It's Theatrical Metal-if that's your thing, you'll love this album. Would be hard to find better. If Operatic, Symphonic, story-driven metal isn't for you, then you probably should avoid it-though you could expand a little. I mean it is 2022 and COVID and resolutions and we could all use a little more culture.