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Ceremonial Castings - Salem 1692
 Ceremonial Castings is a melodic black metal band from Washington consisting of Jake Superchi (Lord Serpent, guitars & vocals), Nick Superchi (Old Nick, keyboards), Matthew Mattern (Bloodhammer, drums). According to their Wikipedia entry [link], Salem 1692 is a concept album about the Salem, Massachusetts witch executions in 1692CE. Lord Serpent and Old Nick claim to be descendants "...of the late Judge Ha(w)thorne...," a judge who presided over the trials. Meh.The Good The guitars carry their melodies quite well through the traditionally fast black metal riffing. The growled and screamed vocals are perfect for the atmosphere created by the music. Ceremonial Castings does a good job of mixing violent black metal with touches of epic sound and moments of moving slow-downs. The Bad Still, there were drawbacks to this release. The keyboards of "Old Nick" are adequate enough as background filler, but are mostly uninspired. The clean, operatic vocals, both male and female, sound hokey and forced. They feel more like an homage to other, more notable bands than an attempt to make their own mark. The Verdict Overall, Salem 1692 is listenable, and even enjoyable, if rather unoriginal. It stands up on its own but does not reach the anything exceptional to stand out from the very crowded barrage of melodic, symphonic black metal being released. I cannot justify giving this release more than three stars.  Ceremonial Castings website Ceremonial Castings MySpace profile Labels: cd review, music, Skot 0 Comments: |
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