This is a Great album, I fuckin love it!!!!

Probably the most mature album made by the band, in terms of songwriting, vocals, compositions, musicianship.....in short, everything !!! hehehe....

I have been going through the discography and reached this yesterday, it is just marvelous. made me realize how much I'm into BaN

Hauntingly beautiful album with some really nice atmospheres.

What an amazing piece of art...

Although the execution is good, this such a piece of generic melodic black metal it is unbelievable,. I would rate this as one of BAN's three worst. The other two being MVI and Ultima Thulee. It doesn't even come close in quality to the rest of their brilliant discography.

This is one of the highest rated BaN records? :|

Written by mz on 17.10.2013 at 03:47

This is one of the highest rated BaN records? :|

yes, just like all generic melodeath gets rated high here, the worst BAN albums get the highest rating (I think Memoria Vetusta I is also rate extremely high) because of their middle of the road generic melodic black metal contents. It's easy listening music for most people so it gets rated highly.

I found the production a bit on the tinnier side of this record, and the vocals are bit muffled. If the production found that perfect balance, the record would have sounded more amazing than it was.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.10.2013 at 12:15

Written by mz on 17.10.2013 at 03:47

This is one of the highest rated BaN records? :|

yes, just like all generic melodeath gets rated high here, the worst BAN albums get the highest rating (I think Memoria Vetusta I is also rate extremely high) because of their middle of the road generic melodic black metal contents. It's easy listening music for most people so it gets rated highly.

I am not the type of person who bashes albums and bands because of their melodic/accessible approach but the fact that BaN's greatest quality is pushing the boundaries and not producing well played generic music is undeniable. Without their experimental side, they could well be a band similar to tones of generic bands out there.

Written by mz on 17.10.2013 at 14:19

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.10.2013 at 12:15

Written by mz on 17.10.2013 at 03:47

This is one of the highest rated BaN records? :|

yes, just like all generic melodeath gets rated high here, the worst BAN albums get the highest rating (I think Memoria Vetusta I is also rate extremely high) because of their middle of the road generic melodic black metal contents. It's easy listening music for most people so it gets rated highly.

I am not the type of person who bashes albums and bands because of their melodic/accessible approach but the fact that BaN's greatest quality is pushing the boundaries and not producing well played generic music is undeniable. Without their experimental side, they could well be a band similar to tones of generic bands out there.

there are loads of melodic/accessible and also generic albums I find absolutely great. But BAN's strong points is pushing the boundaries as you say and imo their accessible/melodic/generic stuff is just really average.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.10.2013 at 12:15

yes, just like all generic melodeath gets rated high here, the worst BAN albums get the highest rating (I think Memoria Vetusta I is also rate extremely high) because of their middle of the road generic melodic black metal contents. It's easy listening music for most people so it gets rated highly.

Don't know what to say really. I enjoyed this album immensely and wouldn't say this is generic at all. Even though their industrial approach is more original (obviously), it doesn't necessarily mean their melodic approach is average. I know you're aware of this, but I just felt like pointing this out.

But I agree that it's easy-listening music. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, and definitely not in this case.

^This.

Some people look down on the MV albums for the simple reason it is not as original as the industrial stuff. Yet they seem to forget that within the meloblack genre, they are among the best ones ever crafted (MV:I for sure; MV:II not that much though, it's actually my least favorite BaN album ). Both sides of the band are excellent in their own field.

But I still do agree that MS is quite terrible when it comes to ratings, one should never take them as a valid reference unless you fall into the biglabel/proggy/melodeath fan category of metalhead.

I'd still much rather listen to The Eye than BaN's meloblack stuff.

I actually enjoy this album a good amount, but I agree that it is rather generic compared to the rest of BAN's discography. Very well done, and when I'm in the mood for it, it's great, but otherwise it's not one of the albums I go to when I think "I want to listen to Blut Aus Nord today".

Written by Jaeryd on 23.10.2015 at 22:36

I actually enjoy this album a good amount, but I agree that it is rather generic compared to the rest of BAN's discography. Very well done, and when I'm in the mood for it, it's great, but otherwise it's not one of the albums I go to when I think "I want to listen to Blut Aus Nord today".

I agree with this. Also, "...The Meditant (Dialogue With The Stars)" is the best atmoblack song they ever wrote.

This is a great listen when I'm in the right mood for some Atmospheric Black metal, but unlike MV1 this has more of a majestic feel to it, and also has a slight cosmic/spacey feel to it. MV1 on the other hand had a different atmosphere which was more medieval and haunting.

I equally like both MV1 and MV2 in their own unique way (when in the right mood), but I've never been fond of MV3 that lacked both atmosphere and melody and was a bit of a mess in comparison to the first two, although MV3 had a stunning album cover.