Band:	Arafel
Album:	Through The Flame Of The Ages
Style:	Melodic black metal
Release date:	November 2005
A review by:	Jeff

01. The Rise
02. Wrong Future
03. The Saga Of Vengeance
04. Color Of Death
05. Serpent Land
06. The Call Of War
07. Purification Of Wisdom

Even if the musicians of Arafel are Russians, the band actually comes from Israel and "Through The Flame Of The Ages" is the 2nd releases of the combo. I know that a lot of you discovered them on the 13th releases of the Metal Storm sampler and as I know a lot of you seem to like them too. So maybe that I should write this review right?

For sure "Through The Flame Of The Ages" is not an album of true Black Metal, at the opposite it is something really Symphonic and Epic. In addition of those two predominant orientations I cannot forget the numerous Folk Influences that give this little thing in addition, that a lot of people (me the first) enjoy with this release.

The lyrics talk about Russian legends and battles and actually it fits perfectly with the music of the album (I cannot evidently talk about the meaning of the lyrics but the Russian sound good). When I listen to "Through The Flame Of The Ages" I have the feeling that someone is telling me the story of an Epic legendary saga, it's really enjoyable and to be honest, since that I like Folk Metal too, I'm happy to find those Folk sonorities in the release. The breaks with the violins, the piano and the numerous arpeggios like the one on "The Rise" give something more to this release and all the ones that don't only want to listen to classic Black Metal will love the release.

The production is really good, the booklet and the layout are classy. The musicians are all really good from the singer to the guitarist that are able to do some good damn soli, really there is nothing to say and it's hard to find some negative points expect maybe with the length of the release, 7 tracks for only 41 minutes but really that's the only bad point that I can see with on this release "Through The Flame Of The Ages".

As you can understand I think that all the ones who like this kind of really melodic Black Metal will have to find this release somewhere because it clearly rocks. Evidently some of you will say that it is not a real Black Metal bands and that's right but it's good so who care?