Building upon their debut CD “Infinite Titanic Immortal”, A Hill To Die Upon releases their sophomore album and there is no “sophomore plaque” to worry about with this release.

With the new release, A Hill To Die Upon have improved on the quality of their song writing, the production has improved, and in my opinion, the packaging has improved as well.

The CD kicks off with “Darkness That Can Be Felt”, a black death ‘n roll slab of metal that will satisfy both black metal and death metal fans alike.  This song made me feel like I was getting my head kicked in until the chorus hit, which then turned into an epic black metal masterpiece from the guitar work of Adam and Elisha, with a nice guitar solo, then back into it again.  Then we get to hear some fine thrash riffing along with great blastbeats on the drums courtesy of Michael.  The songs lyrics kick off with the following from the book called “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien:

“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt
it lies behind starts and under hills
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter”

As I listen to each song, I feel as if A Hill To Die Upon are taking me on a dark journey through through a dark land, such as Mordor from the Lord of the Rings, or even hell on earth via the fall of the serpent satan himself.  The lyrics throughout the album speak to the evils of the serpent (The Perfection of Evil), greek mythology, Heaven, darkness and the destruction of evil (the serpent, the devil).

Most of the songs fall into the 2 and ½ minutes to 4 minutes time frame, with the exception of “I Come As Black Fire, which clocks in almost 5 and ½ minutes.  The music overall is a great mixture of black and death metal, with some pretty good thrash riffs thrown in here and there.  In style, the music reminds me of bands like Skeleton Witch (blackened thrash), Amon Amarth and Hypocrisy.  Keyboards are used throughout several songs, but are not the centerpiece and used to enhance the setting of the music.  A piano is used at the end of “I Come As Black Fire”.
There is a also a good accoustic song titled “Nehushtan”

Overall, a great extreme metal record by a great extreme metal band that we’ll be sure to keep our eyes on.  I will be interested to see how the band progresses for their next album, as this album topped their debut in every way!

My favorite songs from the CD are:

• “May The Thing Be Destroyed”
• “Satan, You’re Kingdom Must Come Down” (strangely enough, the lyrics for this song aren’t included in the lyrics section of the CD insert – I’m curious as to why)
• “Ancient Enemy of Death”
• “I Come As Black Fire”

The album comes with a bonus CD containing A Hill To Die Upon’s 2008 Demo that contain 2 alternative versions of songs found on their debut album “Infinite Titanic Immortal”; “Season Of The Starved Wolf” and “This King Never Smiles”.  These alternate versions aren’t bad, but I do prefer the versions on the first album “Infinite Titanic Immortal”.  It was nice to hear these alternate versions, however, and see what the band started from in the demo and where they took the songs to their first debut release.

If you are a fan of black metal and/or death metal, my recommendation is to pick this one up!

Rating:  8/10

Tracklist:
01. Darkness That Can Be Felt
02. The Perfection of Evil
03. Adept In Divinity
04. The Chant of Mighty Offspring
05. Heka Primus (Ordo Norma Mysterium)
06. I Come As Black Fire
07. Nehushtan
08. May the Thing Be Destroyed
09. Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down
10. Ancient Enemy of Death

Bonus Disc
11. Season Of The Starved Wolf
12. This King Never Smiles

Label: Bombworks Records / 2011

The Titans:
Adam – guitar, bass, lead vocals
Michael – drums, vocals

Written by: Thrasher777

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