{"id":21648,"date":"2014-09-27T00:01:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T00:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=21648"},"modified":"2014-09-27T08:39:15","modified_gmt":"2014-09-27T08:39:15","slug":"album-review-thy-darkened-shade-liber-lvcifer-i-khem-sedjet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-thy-darkened-shade-liber-lvcifer-i-khem-sedjet\/","title":{"rendered":"THY DARKENED SHADE – Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

THY DARKENED SHADE
Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nW.T.C. Productions (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The A. and Semjaza are the mysteriously named members of Greek metal band Thy Darkened Shade and Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet<\/em> is their follow-up to 2012\u2019s Eternvs Mos, Nex Ritvs<\/em>. It\u2019s a record I\u2019ve eagerly anticipated and it\u2019s one which should gratify those with a ghoulish taste in music.<\/p>\n

Thy Darkened Shade plays atmospheric black metal where the scene is set from the off with the eerie chants of \u2018Holy Lvcifer\u2019 before the cutting barrage of \u2018Revival Through Arcane Sins\u2019. The duo displays elements of polished complexity and abrasive twists and turns with this rather original brand of twisted black metal upheaval.<\/p>\n

From its jarring drum structures to those piercing solos and engaging, multi-layered melodies, Thy Darkened Shade is not necessarily interested in creating distant, dissonant black metal, but something swaggering and arrogant in the face of God. The A.\u2019s vocals are a mix of gravelly, hoarse bark and enchanting, haunting chant providing chills for the spine as the music is spewed out in a quizzical, almost perverse manner.<\/p>\n

Clearly intent on spreading Lucifer\u2019s word and work, \u2018Revival Through Arcane Sins\u2019 is a trudging, yet brash cauldron of stirring black metal that combines barbed elements and passages of stark speed. \u2018Elixir Of Azazel\u2019 is surprisingly catchy in its gothic jarring; a shuffling drum gives way to speedier portions as the scathing chords move in chilly tandem with those bleak vocal strains.<\/p>\n

Thy Darkened Shade has successfully fused contemporary extreme metal with its incisive melodies, with a cavernous mid-90s harshness played out through deeply satanic washes of vehemence. This is certainly a vast progression from the debut opus, bringing with it a clandestine charm I\u2019ve previously witnessed with the weird, cold bellows of Tulus and the likes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Or She-ein Bo Mahshavah\u2019 is another frosty reception for the listener; a mid-tempo rumble sure to crack marble halls in God\u2019s kingdom as The A. vomits forth grey narration in truly arrogant fashion. The drums are relatively clean, as is most of the sound which is something I rarely adhere to, but in this instance that enables each instrument to rise in tandem like the separate heads of the lethal hydra, with drums striking first at the victim before the bass gracefully takes its bite, and what is left is consumed by the barbed guitar tone.<\/p>\n

Often melancholic in its tirade, Thy Darkened Shade as a force is one that evokes images of bizarre yet powerful secret societies encased within vast stone crypts, and their music is simply a soundtrack to such aristocratic evil. \u2018Nox Profunda\u2019 begins in grey, mesmeric fashion of gloomy drum plod and The A.\u2019s demanding bark before a rush of icy wind in the rhythm section is interrupted by haunting ceremonial chants.<\/p>\n

When the band isn\u2019t uncoiling itself as a complex tirade there are those brash bursts of speed too, and it\u2019s also fair to say that this album is not bereft of weight either. Both pace and weight are applied to the torrent that is \u2018Drayishn I Ahriman O Divan\u2019 and the evil chimes of \u2018Deus Absconditus\u2019 with its decadent guitar tone.<\/p>\n

Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet<\/em> should provide more authentic chills than the current ice-bucket challenge craze doing the rounds!<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THY DARKENED SHADELiber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet W.T.C. Productions (2014)Rating: 8\/10 The A. and Semjaza are the mysteriously named members of Greek metal band Thy Darkened Shade and Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet is their follow-up to 2012\u2019s Eternvs Mos, Nex Ritvs. It\u2019s a record I\u2019ve eagerly anticipated and it\u2019s one which should gratify those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1428],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-thy-darkened-shade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21648"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21654,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21648\/revisions\/21654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}