Review 25/03/10- Beltane "...Through Darker Seasons"

SCREAMLITE RECORDS LTD REVIEW FORM
Band Name: Beltane
CD Title: ...Through Darker Seasons
Press Pack Included: No
Review: This album was sent through to the hotmail address.
Again, like Laceration, this is not a genre we claim to know much about. But Beltane are one of the bands we’ve heard of in the genre. As one of the bigger names in black metal we were honoured that they contacted us, so thank you to Beltane.
Once the slightly starstruck nature of their emails sunk in, we got stuck into “...Through Darker Seasons.” Right from the off, “Sentinel Ov Death,” hit hard with blast beats and guitar licks aplenty, tearing apart everything in their wake. Even the haunting whistling found a place in the mix, which unlike many bands in the genre, is very well done. Hints of Inkubus Sukkubus and Cauda Pavonis come into the second track “Call The Ships To Port,” with the well executed synth lines in amongst the crushing guitar. The vocal line is hidden by some great production making this track a more EBM style song, something that would not be out of place in London’s Slimelight club, somewhere it’s probably been played! This really shows off Beltane’s dynamics and their genre bending capabilities. People into their black metal will enjoy the song for the guitar lines and drums, while EBM heads will love the synth production. “Winter Forest,” reverted back to the force and fury of “Sentinel Ov Death,” but with another fantastic drum line which bounded along rather than blasting during most of the song. Again, Beltane demonstrated that they can veer off the standard black metal path by changing tempo quickly and freely. “Satanic Reawakening MMVI,” throws both Beltane’s black metal fury and their EBM stylings, making this a louder, faster and much better alternative to the emo-lite pretenders such as Enter Shikari and really puts Beltane up there with the best in both genres.
The rest of the album veers between both confidently and brilliantly, making this a thudding, pounding, roaring record with enough moments for music fans new to the darker side of metal to ease them into it with a good contingency of EBM tracks. Overall, a great album by a great band.