Dragonlord - Rapture

I can't understand why this isn't in the top 200. This is amazing! Rivals the greats of Norway and Sweden, and this is a project with an old school American thrasher from Testament... Guitar and vocals!

Just straightforward symphonic black metal taken from the (unholy) book of Dimmu Borgir and early (ish) COF. The band manage to make the blackened riffs and epic atmospheric elements convincing but it somehow just fails to deliver with songs like 'Tradition and Fire' and 'Judgement failed'. That said, when the orchestral sounds are absolutely beautiful, as on 'Born to Darkness', the result is excellent.