Norwegian Bloodthorn decided to get more brutal on their third album 'Under the Reign of Terror'. Earlier albums were more about fantasy styled atmospherics, but this one deals with the mankind's primal needs: To war. Still, 'Under...' features fantasy lyrics, even though brought to modern ages. The blood shed in countless wars awake an ancient evil race from its slumber, to destroy the mankind for good.

Mixture of black metal and death metal is what Bloodthorn dealed with this one, on the whole weighing more toward the first style. I can't say that there's one original thing in Bloodthorn's music, nor has it been composed with individuality. Majority of the riffs are familiar from some occasion (say, Hades Almighty and Gehenna, for example, but the possibilities are many), and same can be said about other elements, too (eg. Dimmu Borgir-esque synthwork). It is easy to guess the name the band's homeland. So how much damage Bloodthorn does with this one? While this is performed with fury, the damage is left on average level. The atmosphere isn't as desperate as on Gehenna's 1998 masterpiece 'Adimiron Black', or brutal enough. The song material varies from good to very average, and on these average songs I simply loose my interest as the music does not absorb me with any emotion. Mayhem's Necrobutcher guests on bass on his own creation 'Deathcrush', which isn't a bad cover version at all.

The sound is a mixture of death and black metal. The biggest problem is the flatness and it's also somewhat muddy, not ripping enough. Snare drum sounds feeble at times. J-P Fournier provided the good-looking cover artwork. Booklet is adorned with pictures of war and destruction. The lyrics have been written in death metal manner, by the way.

'Under...' is a a bold step from the past stylings, but the band haven't found the force they might possess. Didn't rip my bowels out or make me tremble under the reign of terror.

Rating: 5½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
10/30/2006 11:46