Hordes Stood As One - Ancient Rites

This is a high quality live album from Ancient Rites, its only real failing being that it drastically favours their most recent material from 'Dim Carcosa' at the expense of the band's previous three studio albums. 'Dim Carcosa' was a strong album that showcased a newer Ancient Rites, but not one that integrated too well with their earlier, harsher sound; thus, we have eight of that album's eleven songs performed here - excellent, sweeping, majestic Viking metal with power metal overtones with clean vocals and high guitars - occasionally interrupted by the jarring contrast of an old-school black metal song. Once the listener gets past this obstacle, if indeed ...  Read the complete review