Label: Archivist Records
Catalog Number: ARC. vol. XV
Released: 2021, reissue
Recorded at Phoenix Studios 1990
Limited edition digibook with 8-page booklets with lyrics!
Designed by Sir Gorgoroth
Distributed by Musical Hall
New!
Dances of Death (And Other Walking Shadows) was recorded in 1990. The album became the fourth in the band's catalog. The first two albums - Mekong Delta (1987) and especially The Music of Erich Zann (1988) - brought the band great popularity and recognition in the music world. The third album The Principle of Doubt (1989) was received more coolly, because the band began to repeat themselves and demonstrated a lack of fresh ideas. Because of this, the musicians decided to spend more time on the next album and make it of higher quality.
The album begins with the title track "Dances of Death", divided into eight parts with a total duration of more than 19 minutes. The song begins with a strumming on an acoustic guitar, but then picks up speed and moves to a heavy guitar metal sound. The tempo and mood of the composition repeatedly change, so that some reviewers noted its excessive drag; at the same time, repeated fragments of sound made these disparate elements a single whole. In addition to the initial medley, the album contains three more songs: the original "Transgressor" and "True Believer", performed in the style of thrash metal, as well as "Night On A Bare Mountain", which is a rework of Modest Mussorgsky's "Night on Bare Mountain".
Frank Troyan, in his review published in No. 45 of the German magazine Rock Hard, rated the album 9 out of 10. In his opinion, despite the band's refusal to experiment with piano or orchestra in favor of pure thrash metal, the album can be considered the best record of the month. The editor of the metal.de website gave an even higher score of 10/10 and called "Dances of Death" an "outstanding work" in which the aggression of thrash metal is combined with the intelligence of progressive metal.
Archivist Records
