Ne Obliviscaris
Citadel 10th Anniversary (Re-master) (Digipak)

For me, the Ne Obliviscaris group became a phenomenon, a revelation that struck me to the depths of my soul. Of course, you will say, you can find many similar mixes of death, prog, black, etc., and you will be right, but SUCH examples as this team, it seems to me, can only be found with fire during the day. So, the gigantic gates of the Citadel open before us with the heavy creak of the first part of the trilogy "Painters of the Tempest", and, as they slowly open, this creaking sound seems to echo in the huge gloomy rooms. The fantasy draws a gigantic, majestic castle, which, it would seem, has long been abandoned, it breathes cold and death, but as soon as the gates are opened by some invisible, but undoubtedly powerful force, we seem to be pulled inside, and with the roar of powerful riffs and crazy drumming at the beginning of the second part of "Painters of the Tempest" the gates slam behind us. Now we must survive an epic and exciting adventure to get out of the gloomy Citadel and return home to the cat and cookies. This album is somewhat shorter than its predecessor - less than 50 minutes against the over-hour "Portal of I". In fact, this album has only three full-length songs, the rest either precede or close them, standing like fortress walls around the castle. However, these three songs are whole stories that the inhabitants of the Citadel tell us, forcing us to shrink from fear and trepidation before the grandeur and grandeur of what is happening, then dreamily and almost sadly look out of one of the Citadel's windows at the cold dark sky, dotted with lazily twinkling stars. I have always loved such contrasts in music. The songs change mood several times: sometimes brutal death-black riffs, accompanied by infernal growl/scream and high-speed blast beats, sometimes very pleasant and soft clean vocals of damn Paganini, who often pleases the ear with stunning violin passages (not always, of course, consonant, as you can understand from the first track), and even an acoustic guitar in the flamenco style. And all this does not seem like a canvas, entirely consisting of ineptly and out of place stitched pieces, on the contrary - everything is harmoniously and organically combined. It is also worth noting the interesting mixing of the album. The bass guitar is very well heard, which in some places almost pulls the whole blanket over itself, giving the role of the rhythm section to the guitars and taking the role of the "first violin". In general, a very melodic, beautiful, diverse and epic work, like the previous album. But whether it is better than its predecessor - I will not undertake to say, because for me they are somewhere approximately on the same level