THE ELYSIAN FIELDS from Greece, not to be confused with the American dream-pop band that goes by the same name, released their first album "Adelain" in the Summer of 1995. This album is resurrected twenty years later from our friends at Nuclear War Now! Records, included with it the demo recordings from the band's earliest efforts. After putting out a couple of full length albums in the late 1990's and early-2000's, THE ELYSIAN FIELDS have ceased production on music for the past decade and the re-release of "Adelain" is as close to a new release by the band their fans are going to get.

This album is what you would expect from a symphonic black metal album. There are lots of sappy electronic piano movements intertwined within the melodic guitar riffs. Its not a great album and but it is entirely listenable. "Of Purity and Black" is simple but still infectious. Other songs on the album like are like this where the heavy groove will take you away if you let it.

Some of the bigger flaws of "Adelain" that I found was the lack of focus on the bass guitar. I think if there had been more of an effort put into this instrument, it would've accentuated the already abundant layers of guitars, vocals, keys, and drum machine. The ripping riffs that sound like something from a NAGLFAR album really get undercut by those synthetic drums. At the slower, more goth-laden moments, the drums work exceptionally well. But whenever some blast beats arise in a song like "Elysian Fields" or "I of Forever", the curtain is pulled back for the listener and it becomes more than obvious that the drums are programmed and lack all human substance that I believe is important for any metal band to have. A human being playing drums will always surpass the dynamic and energy that programmed drums lack.

On the other hand, I really enjoy this sort of Symphonic Black Metal more so than anything recently from DIMMU BORGIR. I also have a huge amount of respect for the lyrical and thematic elements taken from classical Greek culture that the band chooses to incorporate into their music. The demo tracks are a nice touch because you get a much better sense that the listener is in the same room as ELYSIAN FIELDS than the polished LP remastered tracks. You can certainly hear this the best on the demo version of "Deicide - The Auspice."

I would easily pair this album up with any early AMORPHIS albums like "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" or any early SAMAEL album of your choosing. I find this sort of music mediocre at best. I could take it or leave it; either way, I am indifferent to this sort of extreme music.