Band:	Ceremonium
Album:	No Longer Silent
Style:	Death doom metal
Release date:	2000
Guest review by:	Ch'ti

01. No Longer Silent
02. Blessing Of The Flame
03. Forever Enthroned
04. Pillars Of Wisdom
05. Delusions Of Grandeur
06. Cromlech [Darkthrone cover]

We have here an album that presents us with the good and the less good: doom death metal without pretension, but without ambition either.

This review is going to be quite short; when an album is not inspiring, I am not inspired. I'll get the bad out of the way first by saying that there's nothing particularly memorable about No Longer Silent; I don't remember much right after listening to it. Of course I am a great pessimist, but try to listen to it, wait a few minutes after listening to it, and tell me what you learned from it. For me, there is nothing; I can only imagine what an average album in the genre sounds like, as if I had never listened to this specific record.

It's a shame, because in my vague memories it has good vocals, a good atmosphere built by the instruments, and is quite short, so it doesn't drag too much. Nevertheless, it doesn't stand out from the game, and instead drowns in a pond, a string, a plethora of albums in the genre. I may be a little virulent, and I may not have listened carefully enough, but that's my feeling on this album. Honestly, if anyone has listened or is going to listen to No Longer Silent, I'm rather curious, can they give me their feelings?

It actually has no other faults, but its only one is one of the worst, which does not allow me to judge the musical part more impartially, my opinion already being biased by the lack of personality to No Longer Silent; the effect of listening to it might as well be sudden amnesia.

The album is not bad, and that's a shame; we often remember bad albums more than we do passable ones. Still, it has solid music that is well constructed and well delivered, and it is not particularly annoying; it just doesn't really have an identity. If I was made to listen again to a piece of music or to the entire album I'm not even sure I could remember that I had previously listened to it. So I wonder if it wasn't me who just didn't pay attention to what the album offered. Is the album in fact a little-known gem, or does it deserve to be forgotten? It's not for me to judge.

In short, it's the first Ceremonium album that I listened to, and it didn't leave a particular impression on me, The music is not bad but not remarkable; if you're curious you can listen to it, if you're not, move on (or listen to it anyway and agree with my opinion or, on the contrary, oppose it).