Black metal has been my flavor of the week this week, and Polish veterans Sorath find themselves in the crosshairs along with Lunaris, and the veteran act while solid, just can't seem to bring as much to the genre as Lunaris . Playing a form of epic yet synthless raging black/war metal, Sorath have some nice melodies going for them within their continual blastbeats, but otherwise for a band that’s been around since 1993, this is a pretty rudimentary album, but to be honest it’s what I expected from Polish black metal.

Going for a purely Scandinavia sound, Sorath’s delivery revolves around typically high register guitars and screams with nary Marduk like lack of restraint, but lacking the wall of sound production and pure sonic vehemence. I’ll admit though, there are a couple of tasty riffs here, just not enough of them to make the entire album worth listening to. Rousing opener “My Last Heraldic Sign” almost sets the tone for an impressive effort with grandiose riffage and breakneck speed, but that kind of clarity and blood-pumping precision is lacking for most of the following songs, even if the pace stays generally the same. Nothing really bad per say arises, but there is a distinct lack of depth to most of the songs. The clinical, treble heavy production keeps Sorath from entering Aeternus like realms of pounding anthems, even if their riffs sound slightly similar. “The Legions of Baphomets” is a break in the pace, but seems slightly out of place with its strangely off key early Paradise Lost solo work mired within the relentless blasting, so it's kind of a catch-22. At the album's mid point, Sorath return to their repetitive but sometimes catchy riffs with “The Curse of Balance” and “The Dream of Victory”. It’s more of the same, but one of those occasional moments worth returning too, especially the chorus of the latter.

The album just kind of cruises for the next few songs, lacking some of the epic moments of the previously mentioned songs, instead cruising along with characterless pacing and structures, that drags the album into mediocrity after a promising and rousing beginning. Only the warlike hymn “Dreaming Times” shows a glimpse of Sorath's talent, buried in the album's latter part, that features the short instrumental title track and by this time tired, familiar air of album closer “Finish of the Soraths Sword”.

For a band that’s been around for over a decade, I’d expect them to have Vader like influence over their home scene’s chosen genre and to being forward thinking and groundbreaking instead of predictable and safe. Instead Sorath only find themselves lumped in with a vast pool of mediocrity that may explain their lack of productivity over such a long existence. Hardly a necessary album, and it sometimes teases the expectant listener, but at the end of the day hardly impressive and looking way up and the standard set my many younger fresher bands.

Now read my Lunaris review.