After a four year break, the darkened ones are jumping back into the Eastern European underground scene with their brand new output, Heritage of Satan. This new work features special guest's appearances by infamous artists such as: Blasphemer (ex-Mayhem) on guitars; Nergal (Behemoth) and Erik (Watain) on vocals, as well as the Czechoslovakia Church of Satan's founder, Jiri BigBoss Valter.
On his 9th (first on Agonia Records) release, Root are kicking major seating apparel with 10 black metal anthems. Here you have some juicy guitar work from beginning to end. Their take is more leaning towards the black and roll style than the all-furious and vicious genre, thankfully. As a long time running band having been around since 1987, these guys have acquired maturity and songwriting skills, as well as good musicianship. Their Satanist philosophy is well present, as one can see from the track list. The pace is more on the moderate side with occasional faster ones. The guitar is definitely the leading instrument on this disc and all of its roles are very well done. I mean you have everything to please a musician like: crushing & juicy riffs, great distorted arpeggios, solos (some crazy ones) and even a bit of acoustic playing. They use a touch of electronics and keyboards to add an extra touch of ambience. Various vocals are being resorted to from harsh to rasps and even going into the choirs or the narrative ones at times. This is tasty black metal with a special mixture of spirituality and melody; all of which ends up as being a nicely twisted musical venture. I could point quite a good number of great compositions but to name just a few: "Revenge of Hell" (juicy riffs, acoustic arpeggios), "His Coming" (wicked down-tuned guitars) and the cool closer "The Apocalypse" (acoustic arpeggios, twisted choirs, crazy solo, beastie vocals and introduction to Satan…)
You won't go wrong with Heritage of Satan if you are into high quality black metal.
Track listing:
1. Introprincipio
2. In Nomine Sathanas
3. Legacy of Ancestors
4. Revenge of Hell
5. Darksome Prophet
6. Fiery Message
7. Son of Satan
8. His Coming
9. Greetings From The Abyss
10. The Apocalypse