album : Under a Frozen Sun
artist : Thulcandra
genre : Black/Death Metal
year : 2011
I love my Dissection, and I miss them for everything they composed. If you think Reinkaos wasn’t good enough, well then fuck you! If Jon Nödtveidt were alive today he would have taught everyone how much of a difference an esteemed black/death metal band can do to the metal world. He is resting in peace now, and it seems like before he shot himself he passed on the bag containing Dissection‘s secrets to these three gentlemen from Germany. They called themselves Thulcandra, did a whole lot of research on everything that is Dissection and set out to make Dissection part II. Now I ain’t mocking them or anything because it takes balls to do what they are doing and this has also largely got to with Dissection‘s absence today.
Thulcandra is a three-piece band from Germany who were formed in the year 2003, and did not release anything until 2010 when they released their debut Fallen Angel’s Dominion. They made it very clear that they are here to speak Dissection‘s language and I say that with confidence as they even had a cover of The Somberlain on their debut. Immediately the next year, in 2011 they have their second album out that’s titled Under a Frozen Sun. This is where Thulcandra are ready to break free of all that I have said (which was all good, by the way) about them till now.
Eight originals and one cover track. Instead of going track-by-track I’ll give it to you in brief as to what the entire album is all about. There is a rush of darkness on the tracks and here we are looking at an enhanced and updated edition of their previous release. The songs measure both black and death genres just so we have world peace and the term for it is balance.
Fans of black/death genre are with me when I say we do not get to hear such stuff where justice is completely done and at the same time those dark solos that are only adding to the final rating. This is what defines blackened death metal for me. No one cares about your definition anyways.
On Under a Frozen Sun, the German black/death outfit carry only a shadow of Dissection and show their middle finger on the rest of the parts. By all means they are one band that I am going to ardently follow over the years unless one of them decides to commit suicide. From where I am can see, it seems like the plan has worked for Thulcandra. They got it right, and it’s all about getting right, whether you do it this way or that way.
Rating : 4/5
Absurd History 