Akhenaten’s vocals are still the same extremely hate-filled screams, rasps, and moans that were heard on the previous album as well. At times, some lonely, wandering Burzum-inspired make their way into the songs, crawling along with a melancholic desperation that sounds excellent. The feeling emitted by these being one of disgusted misanthropy, portraying an all-encompassing hatred for mankind’s despicable existence. The guitars typically alternate between aggressive tremolo-picked sections and droning trance riffs, both being pretty reminiscent of trilogy-era Darkthrone. The core musical attributes here are more or less the same as they were on the first album.

There is a small stylistic change here, and it comes in the form of a stronger sense of melody and a slight tweaking of the music’s atmosphere, and I like the band’s sound a lot better with these changes. However, it may be because I heard, and became familiar with this album first (although I suspect a less innocent factor), and it does a lot of the stuff on the band’s debut better than it was done there, without changing the formula all too much. Don’t get me wrong though, I certainly don’t dislike it, it’s a pretty good listen, I just don’t enjoy as much as I thought I would. I constantly hear about how good it is, and, considering its influences and aesthetics, it really seems like the kind of thing that I would love, but try as I might, I just can’t fully appreciate it. I have to say, I’ve never truly gotten into “The Cold Earth Slept Below”.

Judas iscariot thy dying light review