Technicalities aside, _Revelation of Renounced_ (erroneous English in source) is actually not a new album. It is a re-issue of the band's debut from 2006, originally released by Stygian Crypt Records. Now re-mastered, in addition to the album cover having undergone somewhat of a facelift, it has been re-released by the diligent Russian label Solitude Productions, who must have realized the not-so-hidden potential of such an unheralded musical gem and have thus decided to grace us with this truly excellent musical work, for our enjoyment.

_Revelation of Renounced_ had been already reviewed in 2007 by our South African colleague, the very talented writer Quentin Kalis; however I thought the re-issue of such a fine album deserves another mention, and even though I'm not on good terms with the original release sound-wise and all, I have a hunch the re-issue bears at least this marginal addition of sounding, at the very least, better than the original, if nothing else. So excuse me if some of you might feel a bit of déjà-vu, but I couldn't resist making this fine album known to the masses.

Basically, if you take the work of Tiamat as showcased on their highly acclaimed _Wildhoney_, toss aside all the ballads and instrumental tracks, gather only the metallic stuff that's found on that semi-legendary album, and then dress it in a folk/pagan garment of sorts, you'd have a musical creature that is pretty close to _Revelation of Renounced_. Not the same thing, but a vague idea of the texture and colours of this album; an album with a strong affinity towards the Northern parts of the British Isles for some reason, what with the bag pipe sound governing half of the album and all, giving the album a very Scottish / Irish musical aroma that's easy to discern; a character that distances that album from the plethora of melodic doom/death releases that nobody remembers.

The songwriting ability, the long melodic passages, and the abundance of guitar solos done beautifully are the highlights of the album; and despite the fact it portrays not the ultimate in originality -- echoing the aforementioned Tiamat as well as many other bands using the same harmonies and folk-oriented paradigms -- _Revelation of Renounced_ offers 43 minutes of blissful, magical metal that while being enjoyed, summons into the mind's eye the natural elements and what should have been the ideal relationship between humankind and the biosphere.

_Revelation of Renounced_ is rooted deeply in the heavy metal or epic metal style, and if the growls of the vocalist were to be muted, this could have been easily a heavy metal album with a larger-than-life epic approach, ultra melodic guitars, strong keyboard lines and endless guitar solos that glue the different parts of the music together into a seamless, beautiful creature.

I'd easily recommend this album to any lover of good music, especially those who are into the more classic and melodic aspects of metal, be it pure heavy metal, folk metal, epic or traditional (doom) metal and the likes (sans the 'stoner' vibe, being completely absent from this recording). Never mind the occasional harsh vocals, as there's plenty of other good stuff in this album that overshadows the semi-growls (in addition to the spoken and clear sung parts), for those who refrain from listening to music containing this type of vocals; everyone is guaranteed to find something they will like in this magnificent album. Kudos to Solitude Productions for another wise musical decision!