Band:	Ancient
Album:	Night Visit
Style:	Melodic black metal
Release date:	July 13, 2004
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Envision The Beast
02. Rape The Children Of Abel
03. Horroble
04. Night Visit
05. Lycanthropy
06. Night Of The Stygian Souls
07. Fuel The Flames
08. The Truth Unveiled
09. The Arctic Mirage [bonus]
10. Out In The Haunted Woods [bonus]

Ancient is band that impressed many people back in 1996 with their album "The Cainian Chronicle", after that they released some more albums and Ep's but no one was as impressive as the after mentioned. Sincerely, this is my first encounter with the band, the only thing I knew about this Norwegian combo was that Kimberly Goss (Sinergy) was part of the band once, that's it.

Now I have their new album after a 3 year hiatus, the result, "Night Visit" a catchy but not so original album. The band is settled firmly on the roots of Norwegian Black Metal, with a melodic side to the music, the rest of the elements are here, the shrieks, the fast drum pattern, the grimness and the necro look?.

The artwork is pretty good I must say, the booklet lacks the same inspiration from the cover art, but hey, I didn't read anywhere that these guys were like graphic designers or anything.
Anyway, on with the Cd, things start off with "Envison Of The Beast" your typical Black Metal tune, pretty boring at first, but the break at the middle of the song captured my interest again, soothing and mysterious, next is "Rape Of The Children Of Abel" this song is more interesting, has a catchy rhythm and the pace of the song is very harmonic.

"Horroble" is a funny one, I love when the chorus comes and Aphazel stars singing HORROBLEHORROBLEHORROBLE!! The song has this "happy" sounding pace, maybe we're seeing a new genre? Happy Black Metal, anyway, I think this is my favorite song in the album. Title track "Night Visit" is a mid paced song, with no real interest to me, a video is featured in the Cd also.

Each song has some attractive factor, like the bass lines in "Lycanthrophy" or the Thrashy feel in "Fuel The Flames", but in a overall view, this is not a fantastic album, amusing might be, listenable, sure, but a masterpiece? Not a chance. The problem here is the lack of innovation, and not only with this band, but with hundreds of bands doing exactly the same, the same riffs, the same elements, and god damn! Same lyrics over and over again!

Not a masterpiece, not a complete waste of time, just a regular album from a regular band.