Opera IX - The Black Opera: Symphoniae Mysteriorum In Laudem Tenebrarum review
| Band: | Opera IX |
| Album: | The Black Opera: Symphoniae Mysteriorum In Laudem Tenebrarum |
| Style: | Symphonic black metal |
| Release date: | 2000 |
| Guest review by: | Dark Cornatus |
01. Act I: The First Seal
02. Act II: Beyond The Black Diamond Gates
03. Act III: Carnal Delight In The Vortex Of Evil
04. Act IV: Congressus Cum Daemone
05. Act V: The Magic Temple
06. Act VI: The Sixth Seal
07. Bela Lugosi's Dead [Bauhaus cover] [bonus]
Opera IX as a Black Metal band and are definatly one of the more unique bands in the scene that seem to go by unknown to most. Their 3rd full length album titled "The Black Opera: Symhoniae Mysteriorum in Laudem Tenebrarum" released in 2000 is quite simply a blessing to the ears. It consists of 6 tracks (separated into Acts) and one bonus track. I cannot really pick a fault in any of the first 6 songs. The riffing is an exquisite part of Opera IX, there are rhythm changes, surround sound (ie. Some guitar from one speaker, then switches to the other speaker) and crunchy riffs. The Keyboards haunt the music; they really have a great effect in mystifying the sound to an even darker level (you can hear what I mean at the very start of the album, as an example). The biggest bonus of this album is Cadaveria's wide vocal diversity, which ranges from extreme growling to clean singing, even to haunting shrieks.
The first six songs are all brilliant, they contain no faults and (I'm not exaggerating) there is simply nothing wrong with them. So why is the review rated 9.5/10? That lies ahead with the cover song "Bela Lugosi's Dead"; its a good song, just nowhere near as good as the previous ones. It's very slow and is more of a Doom style song.
Production wise it is not the clearest album, but not in a bad way, for some Black Metal acts often like this style because it fits the music. It is still quite clear sounding though. The cover is quite odd, but cool.
All in all I put this album in my top ten favourites of all time. It is consistant and unique, which I think is very important for a masterpiece album, and most fans know it is their masterpiece of their time in the Metal scene.
There are two sample links on their site, unfortunatly not of the greatest quality, but here they are:
http://www.operaix.it/media/Track02.ra
http://www.operaix.it/media/Track04.ra
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Dark Cornatus | 08.06.2006
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 13
Visited by: 102 users
| KwonVerge Odysseus Elite Posts: 5068  |
Good review! I always wanted to check Opera IX but i never had the chance or was forgetting about it, this is the album i will check when the urge to listen to them arrives! I am curious though how they made the cover of Bela Lugosi's Dead of the cult goth influencial dark/new wave act Bauhaus, i'm highly curious! 
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| Dark Cornatus Powerslave Elite Posts: 4330  |
Thanks mate This album they definatly show their gothic side morseo than on other albums, at the same time though, they still cary their Black metal elements through. I never heard of Bauhaus prior to picking up this album, so i dont know what the original sounds like. Its quite a good song, just i think the rest of the album is perfect, so its hard to beat.
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| Proud Autumn Account deleted |
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| DeathChrushed666 Posts: 8  |
Great group I think that the cover of Bela Lugosi's Dead is almost as good as allthe other songs but if we talk about covers the one they did to iron maiden ( rime of the ancient marineer) its just a masterpiece 13 minutes of magnificense
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| Dark Cornatus Powerslave Elite Posts: 4330 |
@Death: It is a fantastic cover, likewise their cover to One Rode To Asa Bay by Bathory
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| Damnated Churchburner Posts: 4943  |
Great album, one of the best in the genre, so thick atmosphere. I'm allways looking forward for female vocals in the extreme genre, and Cadaveria is very good.
---- Blessed is he that murders Christ in himself and in his fellow men.  Written by TheBigRossowski on 10.02.2009 at 16:01
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| Linak I Own You Bitch Posts: 4173  |
They deserve that ranking, this album is a fucking masterpiece it even hurts to express how much I LURVE it >.< lol
---- Stick this up your fucking pee-aitch-dee.
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| Jason W. Razorbliss Staff Posts: 3523  |
Great disc and review. There isn't anything in the metal world that sounds like this CD. It's difficult music, but always accessible enough to keep the listener interested and curious. And the vocals are masterful, Cadaveria's best performance IMO.
---- "After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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| Sanvean Posts: 51 |
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
i have to say.. i didnt like the two previous albuns at all.. but this one gets better. Its just that the kinda ''raw'' sound doesnt fit with this style... like epic and very long songs. Cadaveria vocals doesnt help at all, her screams are horrible. The great problem with Opera IX is that they almost doesnt use their Folk metal ''face'', it is very concentrade on the heavy riffs. And by this.. they just get too similar to another 100000 bands. The best song in this album is the Bauhaus cover.
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62012  |
Those sample don't work, someone must delete those
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Dark Cornatus Powerslave Elite Posts: 4330 |
Wow, this review sucks. Who wrote this garba.... oh. It's funny because my tastes have changed so much since writing it. Having said that, i still call it a masterpiece to this day.
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| bddidier Posts: 70  |
Written by DeathChrushed666 on 15.06.2006 at 05:53 Masterpiece? The worst Iron Maiden cover ever. The woman singer is just shouting out of tune most of the time, horrible.
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