CoC : Anael - On Wings of Mercury : Review

Anael - _On Wings of Mercury_
(Barbarian Wrath / Iron Tyrant, 2005)
by: Pedro Azevedo (6.5 out of 10)

Tortuous mid-paced riffs and drums, strained vocals, and a dank atmosphere permeating a sound that reeks of old-school: that is _On Wings of Mercury_ in a nutshell. Anael are hard to pin down to a specific genre -- in a similar way as Akercocke are, for instance, but for quite different reasons (i.e., it certainly doesn't involve being progressive). _On Wings of Mercury_ seems to be comprised of elements harvested from black, thrash and death metal caught in a time loop well over a decade ago, but even though it sounds decidedly old-school, it still avoids sounding simply dated. There's just a sense of something old and musty, but still quite alive, about Anael's music. However, over the course of ten tracks, the album does tend to grow a bit stale; it lacks some more bursts of real speed and viciousness, something to give the affair some more variety. _On Wings of Mercury_ is an album that generates an interesting atmosphere, and has enough character to justify its existence, but fails to be sufficiently exciting or memorable to really stand out.

Contact: http://www.anael.de

(article published 31/10/2005)

ALBUMS
1/23/2009	J Ulrey	7	Anael - From Arcane Fires