Band:	Lithica
Album:	Invokation Of Satan Within
Style:	Symphonic black metal
Release date:	December 21, 2008
A review by:	Baz Anderson

01. Invokation Of Satan Within
02. Retaliation On Heaven
03. With Prosperity And All Power
04. Grominsloft (Essence Of The Devil's Path)
05. Vigor Of The Satanic Mantra
06. Clairvoyance Of The Glorious Ruin
07. Beyond Humanity
08. Unrestrained Darkness
09. The Fires Of Purity

Lets venture deep into the dark forest, put some corpsepaint on, the corpsepaint being black and white face paint purchased from the Early Learning Centre, and prance around pretending we are grim and evil black metal fiends. Sounds like a great idea in theory right, but you wouldn't actually do it. Canada's Lithica on the other hand would, and have done that.

"Invokation Of Satan Within" is the band's first full-length release, and with respect to the band have pushed it out without any label support, but it is this lack of label and proper production that is the downfall of the album. This is as cliché as black metal gets, comically enough a scream of "Satan!" is the first vocal to be heard on the album.

The songs aren't bad at all, most have been written really quite nicely and are enjoyable to hear, but it is the production of the album that is neither clean or the classic raw black metal sound that ruins and magic this album could have evoked. The whole mix sounds thin, there is no power behind the vocals, no rawness behind the guitar, the bass sits contently unaware in the middle, but the drums are the worst. The band do cite a real human drummer in the booklet, but especially as the drums kick off the first song of the album "Retaliation On Heaven" they sound strikingly and suspiciously similar to a drum machine or computer, and do so for the duration of the album. If this entity called "Thoth" is human, and this is the drumming of a real, mortal human being, he has my respect and the production of the album severely takes away from his performance, but alas, my Frosty sense doth tingle and suspects wizardry. The keyboards used to create the organ sounds of songs like "Grominsloft (Essence Of The Devil's Path)" also sound thin and artificial.

Lithica as far as can be told are taking this seriously, but unfortunately the air of the album is as menacing and grim as Cradle Of Filth's weaker moments. The band do have the right state of mind, they have the Satanic dedication of Gorgoroth, but the album's unprofessional production takes away from the genuineness and authenticity of the black metal. Unfortunate but true, the band need support from a label and from there may flourish into a believable black metal band. They have the potential, they just need the opportunity.