I completed my Elend collection recently, so a marathon was given. This is certainly a very dark album but also with plenty of beautiful and even epic moments.

Elend's later releases evoke a strong and alarming sense of the impending end of the world. With these ones (debut and sophomore) however, the focus lies in a more religious/occult/luciferian setting, lectures in darkness as the album title would say. They may have lacked the production skills and the contacts to get real orchestral instruments but the songwriting is definitely there. The times they actually use a real violin are gorgeous (like in The Reign Of Chaos And Old Night).

Also, the screams are often very disturbing and convincing in their approach which is a great thing for this album as the contrast is what makes it unique... Just listen to those final screams on the last track.

"In this Capital of Hell, the Temple,
Worship your Emperor,
WOOOOOOOORSHIP LUCIFEEEEEEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Fucking terrifying.