CoC : Sacramentum - Thy Black Destiny : Review

Sacramentum - _Thy Black Destiny_
(Century Media, 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (7.5 out of 10)

The Swedish four piece are back with their third offering of Swedish death/black metal. Since 1997's _The Coming of Chaos_, Sacramentum seem to have dropped many of the black metal-isms of their sound and, today, sound considerably less like Dissection and considerably closer to Dismember or Unleashed. The band have also opted for a more frenetic approach on many songs ("Shun the Light", "The Manifestation"), really displaying their technical competency. This is not to suggest that the album is entirely fast -- in fact, _Thy Black Destiny_ has a better overall dynamic than _The Coming of Chaos_ did. The band have also thankfully opted to leave out of the equation any kind of pointless outro, a symptom _The Coming of Chaos_ -really- suffered from. Sacramentum have improved considerably in my eyes, and, although they still aren't a patch on classic old bands (Dissection, Dismember, etc.) or equal to the cream of the newer crop (A Canorous Quintet, Dawn), they occupy the middle ground of the scene with a certain degree of dominance.

(article published 13/2/1999)

ALBUMS
11/17/1997	P Schwarz	6	Sacramentum - The Coming Of Chaos
10/11/1996	B Meloon	8	Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun