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By the way, the Belgians formed 25 years ago, but the five long players during that time have passed me by. This sixth work will probably do the same, because as I said, it’s not necessarily my music. However, there are quite a few passages that I like, starting with the classical intro "Golden Path to Samarkand", which could also be used in monumental films. Then the double bass of Walter Van Cortenberg kicks in, beginning the second song "Carthago Delenda Est", but at the same time, this painstakingly built atmosphere is destroyed. This is, of course, subjective; metal fans will surely enjoy it, as well as the extremely distorted guitar solos by Erik Sprooten and Domingo Smets... I enjoy it less.
The following 7 songs are structured similarly. With the orchestral sound in the background, all songs sound extremely pumped up. It comes across really heavy until the "Extreme Metal" kicks in and what feels like 10 instruments sound simultaneously. The sound is not muddy, but in my opinion, simply oversaturated. This leads to the fact that I mostly do not understand what singer Gunther Theys is singing, not even in the German-language song "Von Gott Entfernt", at least not completely. And since I do not have a lyric sheet or booklet, that also earns a minus point.
The tenth and thus last song "Fatum" starts not only more calmly, it also stays that way. Here the folk side of the band comes out, and finally I can understand Gunther Theys too!
Despite this monstrous sound, I can only relate to "Laguz" in parts. Too often I stand in front of this opaque sound board and can't make sense of it.
