Review by Michael on March 17, 2024.

I was pretty much flashed when I had the honor to attend Zwielicht's ('Twilight' in English) release-party for their second album. The guys offered some really harsh and brutal black metal and so there was no doubt I'll be checking out the album too and also thankfully this isn't a German metal soap opera version of this terrifying vampire saga.

The Aphotic Embrace takes the listener in with a very gloomy and interesting cover which reminds me a little bit of Benediction's “Dark Is The Season” with the birds flying into the sky. This is a very aesthetic cover artwork but of course what is inside is a little bit more important. After a two-minute intro you get your skull crushed instantly with hateful, shrieking vocals and some thunderous, pummeling drums. The double-bass really kicks ass and blows you away right from the beginning. Tremolo-picking and some repetitive riffing adds some slight depressive mood and a feeling between hate and desperation. 'Stench Of Rotten Deities' is a very straight statement towards all experimental black metal bands and stretches out a very huge rotten middle finger towards them. This is old school black metal and a great homage to some legendary bands as Emperor, Dark Funeral and so on. Although the guys have a very brutal approach in their song writing, they don't miss to offer some melodies in their music. Apart from that there is some space for atmospheric intermezzos like the 3 minute-piece 'Transcendental Salvation' that helps to calm down the hateful mind a little bit and to recharge the anger for the next black metal crushers.

Musically the songs don't differ in their style too much, they all have this icy tremolo-picking in common and also these extreme hateful vocals. Maybe the title track 'The Aphotic Embrace' falls out of the scheme a little bit because the riffing is more into death metal with the low-tuned guitars than the other ones. But still the vocals make clear that this is some dark and evil forces doing their sinister work here. With 'Babalon' the guys from the Ruhr Area also have a song with German lyrics which are pretty much philosophical and deal with some kind of equilibrium between all. But if I didn't get the booklet, I'd never would have gotten that the lyrics are in German. I guess they did put the words pretty well into some desperate music here.

In my humble opinion Ván Records did a very good job with signing the band and if you like some real harsh and uncompromising black metal, this might be the right thing for you. Apart from the undoubted quality of the songs the production is also very good. It is powerful and hammering; sometimes maybe a little bit overdriven but I guess it depends where you hear it. On my stereo it works well, my earphones, too but with some lower-quality speakers it might sound a little bit rough. The Aphotic Embrace is a very good debut and I am curious to see what the future will bring for the guys. And coming back to “Twilight”, if the books would kick ass that much as the album, they would be recommendable, too. There is only the German version Zwielicht that will find a way into my heart though.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 ass kicking vampires

Review by JD on July 28, 2013.

Heavy Metal has always been able to laugh at itself while keeping a strong sense of dignity and pride. An attribute that other genres of music in general never can, and that is taking everything too serious in the end. A great example of this remarkable ability is the Symphonic Power Metal act from the UK called Gloryhammer.

Started by the Alestorm Vocalist/Keyboard wizard, Christopher Bowes along with handpicked others to sort of parody the whole Symphonic Power Metal scene. The result was a humorous take on the whole SPM angle, while making some good metal at the same time. Melodic, powerful with memorability mixed with rib tickling sweeping lyrics makes for a fantastic time.

I loved the whole album (not to mention the video which is awesome) right through, but I have two favorites. One is the melodic romp called 'Angus McFife' and it is infectious yet rather heavy attack. The other is the equally catching 'Hail to Crail'. The other songs do blend together to weave a great and masterful tale, but musically I like the two songs as is. Love the story line though.

I love concept albums when they are done right, and I love a well-crafted tongue in cheek album as well – this album has both sides of this coin and then some. Take a chance to laugh at some of the more unusual ends of our metallic spectrum – buy Gloryhammer stunning opus and crack open a cold one. This one you can laugh along with while being able to headbang with pride. Can’t really go wrong with this purchase… it’s that good.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 9
Originality: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.1 out of 10