Band:	Dark Millennium
Album:	Ashore The Celestial Burden
Style:	Progressive death metal, Death doom metal
Release date:	1992
Guest review by:	ylside

01. Below The Holy Fatherlands
02. Spiritual
03. Black Literature
04. Inside The Sunburnt Thoughts of Frost
05. Father Legatus: Of Symbols, Nature And Birth
06. Beyond The Dragon's Eye
07. Wizardry Assemblage
08. Medina's Spell
09. Disillusion
10. The Atmosphere

Dark Millennium is a German Doom/Death Metal band that was active in the early nineties. They made two demos and two albums. Each release is special and has it's own sound.

"Ashore The Celestial Burden" consists of songs from the demo "Of Sceptre Their Ashes May Be" in addition of some new songs. The whole set may sound bland and too polished (compared to Of Sceptre), however it offers a special ambiance all throughout it. Hilton Theissen and Michael Burmann did some excellent work on songs like "Beyond the Dragon's Eye," "Father Legatus," and "Medina's Spell" which are really unique in the overall doom/death sound, i.e. the songs sound very light, weak and not that heavy, but yet it seems to work, after some time you begin to feel the dark atmosphere of this great overlooked album. The major disappointment in Ashore The Celestial Burden comes from the vocals... oh how it could have been better if they were appropriate Death Metal growls!! Taking in consideration that the lyrics aren't the boring gory kind at all but more about personal/epic and fictional stories, it enhances that feeling that it could be better. The production of this album is debatable too, it isn't that bad but it's nothing mind blowing at all. Clean and distorted guitars could have been better. For most of those who heard Of Sceptre Their Ashes May Be this album will really sound strange compared to Dark Millennium's masterpiece (that demo indeed).

This album is a must, a little jewel like those you find somewhere in shadows hiding from everyone's sight. I strongly recommend this album and this strongly overlooked band in general. A special doom/death sound with extraordinary ideas, despite the little disappointment and that "incomplete" feeling somehow.