Black metal from Kiev, Ukraine.

THE FLAMES OF SODOM (2003, 2005) BOMBWORKS

It's not every day that you come across a Scandinavian sounding black metal band from Ukraine. And if I add that this particular band also have Christian lyrics, it makes it all the more unique. If you can look passed the cheesy looking cover art, you will find an interesting album. Evroklidon delivers a cold sounding black metal, that is kept interesting with just the right amount of variation. The albums opens with a church-bell-chiming-in-the-thundering-wind intro, with some spoken words in Russian (if I'm not mistaken, all the clean vocal parts are narrations in Russian all throughout the album). Then the first song hits you with it's old school black metal sound. Easily likened to Darkthrone, Burzum (style and sound wise, not quality or message wise) or maybe Stronghold, but without the rickety production. Artyom's grim vocal shrieks in English is a perfect match for this kind of music. Several things makes this album a good listen for fans of this style; the mentioned variety in songwriting (from slower tracks to blast beat infernos), the mood bringing use of keyboards in various places, and I really like the acoustic guitar-parts here and there. The only complaint I have for 'Flames Of Sodom' would have to be that some parts can get a bit repetitive. It is obvious that the boys from Ukraine are more skilled as mood creating songwriters that they are musicians. Still, this doesn't really ruin an otherwise solid black metal release. The more I listen to this CD, the more I like it! I own both a promo-version (with the horrid cover to the right, and the official album (with the cover art to the left).

Killer tracks: Legend Of Old Men - Wisdom Of The Ancient, Burial Of Dead Souls