Band:	VLE
Album:	Book Of Illusions, Chapter III
Style:	Ambient black metal, Doom metal
Release date:	2003
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Kano
02. The Arrival
03. Crimson
04. ...of Woods And Water
05. Ancient Song Set Ablaze
06. Diana's Rebirth
07. Now You Cry
08. Fornever
09. The Surest Path
10. I Will Return

Close your door and please turn off the lights, now, lit some candles and put this Cd on your record player, because I think this is the only way to enjoy at 100% the VLE experience.
First let me warn you that VLE is not exactly Metal, yes, it has some Black Metal outburst here and there, but mostly is experimental acoustic music with some cool keyboard moments and samples.

Let's go to the rough parts first, the Black Metal parts, some songs are "troo" Black Metal in the vein of early Burzum, the guitars sound horrible and the growling is undecipherable, that's the ugly part of it, if you like Burzum, I recommend to take a look at songs like "Crimson", "Of Woods & Water", "Diana's Rebirth" and "The Surest Path" , as many of you might figured out by now, I'm not such a big fan of noisy Black Metal.

But the interesting thing of this record is the bipolarity it holds within it's music, while we have in one hand those aggressive moments, to counter that, in the other hand we have soothing and relaxing music.
Funny thing, the 3 albums begin with a song named "Kano" is the same song? Well, I don't know, since this is the only VLE record I know and posses, but at least the "Kano" in this album is a great song with great keyboard use all over, it got some New Age music moments in it. great opener!. "The Arrival" is also a good song, but rather than relying on the keyboards, acoustic guitars do the job.

So, how should I define this? Maybe "New Age Black Metal", nah just kidding, some music don't need labels or definitions, they're just there. But something is for sure, The VLE (as this guys call himself -did I mention this was a one-man project?-), has been listening New Age music like Era, Yanni, Kitaro and some Burzum too! The result, a strange album, filled with calm and aggressive moments. I preferred the calmer ones, but that's me, you take your pick.