Ancient Mastery
Chapter Two: The Resistance
While 'Chapter One' told about a group of adventurers and their travel to distant Valdura, 'Chapter Two' focuses on the arrival of Aryun and his companions in that mythical realm. Unexpectedly drawn into a long simmering conflict between the corrupt government and the resistance in Valdura's capital Tordal, they meet the female resistance leader Tabe who informs them of the plight they just encountered. For songwriter Erech the six songs on 'Chapter Two' are the logical continuation of the music on the debut, with perhaps a bit less overall focus on straightforward melodic black metal and instead playing with influences from power metal and atmospheric black metal sprinkled with classic folk songwriting. To that end, and more often than on the debut, the throaty, intoxicating voice of Circe takes center stage besides the raspy black metal vocals of Erech, and there she truly shines. The CD comes as collector's edition in 4-panel digipack with 12-page fold-out poster booklet with the lyrics on one side and a map of the territory on the other, limited to 500 copies.