Setherial - Death Triumphant
2006 Regain Records

Track Listing:
1. Limbo Of Insanity
2. Death Triumphant
3. With Veins Wide Open
4. Aeons Of Bloodlust
5. Relinquishment From The Unlighted Chambers
6. Hellstorms Over The Empyrean
7. Inhale The Embers
8. Devilry, Wickedness & Scorn
9. Curse Of The Manifest

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Infaustus
Guitars:  Choronzon, Kraath
Bass:  Kraath
Drums:  Alastor Mysteriis

Website:  www.setherial.com

Shev's Rating:  D+
Overall Rating:  D+

Shev's Review:
At the beginning of their careers, Setherial had the makings of one of the elite in the black metal community.  Their first three full-lengths, 1996's "Nord", 1998's "Lords Of The Nightrealm", and 1999's "Hell Eternal" were far superior to the majority of black metal being all but mass manufactured back then.  Then, I suppose, the heavy workload took it's toll on the writing process, and Setherial did not come up with another album until 2003's "Endtime Divine".  Unfortunately, this was a completely lacking effort.  Tasteless and forgettable, a major blemish in Setherial's list of accomplishments.

As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me".  "Death Triumphant" is nothing more than paint-by-numbers black metal with a very few glimmering hopes of their classics in the form of a riff here and there.  The only song worth listening to more than once is "With Veins Wide Open", an interesting song with just the right amount of variation while retaining somewhat of a "Hell Eternal" style.  For everything else, it's just aggressive black metal with nothing else to do but put the corpse paint on display and kick at rocks while it waits for the bus.  Slightly above average vocals, above average black metal drumming, and intelligent strings...but these guys just can't put it all together in the form of a song.  The result is an incredibly boring and average album that everybody has heard a million times already from high school kids on MySpace.com.  Disappointing, to say the least.
Shev's Rating:  D+

Discography (last updated 9.21.06):
A Hail to the Faceless Angels demo - 1994
För Dem Mitt Blod EP - 1995 
Nord - 1996
Lords of the Nightrealm - 1998
Hell Eternal - 1999
From The Ancient Ruins - 2003
Endtime Divine - 2003
Death Triumphant - 2006