Troll - Neo-Satanic Supremacy

February 6, 2010

Reviewer: Kesh

Is it me, or are all the children on the black metal playground seemingly trying to sound like Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth these days? Troll has come a long way from their original sound and have improved by leaps and bounds to achieve the cleanest and most melodic sound they have had to date. The downfall is that it sounds more like a Dimmu Borgir album than the Troll I discovered back in 2000 with The Last Predators. To be blunt, while I can tell that it is vocalist Nagash singing (barely), it almost sounds like an entirely different band. Makes me wonder how much his tenure in Dimmu Borgir affected the sound of Neo-Satanic Supremacy.

All that said, Troll’s latest offering is their best to date.

It has the cleanest production ever on one of their releases. The group of musicians that has gathered around Nagash are the best that have ever played in the band - and his experience in both Dimmu Borgir and The Kovenant have contributed to a maturity in his lyrics that has set this newest album to be the first good album release of 2010. Whether the album actually sticks in people’s minds is another matter and remains to be seen. Yet there is a definite potential for this new sound that Troll has come up with - mainly to cater to the starved Dimmu Borgir fans who are desperately waiting for a follow up to Dimmu’s In Sorti Dioboli.

The synth and keyboard arrangements are highly structured in their composition, while the guitars and bass follow along with a fast intense pace and blasting beats of the drums to keeps the music’s pace going at an intensely fast speed that most fans at a concert would exhaust themselves to keep up with. Guitar-led tracks like “Burn the Witch” and “Age of Satan” are positioning statements for Troll, which I am sure would become crowd-assisted anthems in the live arena if they ever tour in support of this album. In “Age of Satan,” they somewhat relive their youthful days of raw aggression and production with very little key board arrangement.

There aren’t any real standout songs, but the previously mentioned “Burn the Witch,” “Neo-Satanic Supremacy” and “Age of Satan” have the potential to become long-standing classics in years to come. Only time will tell on this though.

While it is too early to tell if this will be one of those releases that sticks and grows with you over the course of the year, it is one that I can say will be worth the fifteen buck investment if you have a few extra bucks. Neo-Satanic Supremacy is a good album, and worth the risk of whether or not it will become a favorite.

Release Date: January 29, 2010
Label: Napalm Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Til Helvete Med Alt
2.  Alt for Satan
3.  Ga til Krig
4.  Burn the Witch
5.  Morkets Skoger
6.  Hvor Taken Ligger
     Sa Trist Og Gra
7.  Neo-Satanic Supremacy
8.  At the Gates of Hell
9.  Smertens Rike
10.  Age of Satan

Total playing time:  41:14

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