Band's List Symphonic Black Hecate Enthroned Upon Promeathean Shores

For a first EP, this was a pretty good release and fairly original. Quite clearly soaking up the euphoria left by Cradle of Filth's arrival into the murky underworld. 17 years later, is it still good? Well, yes and no. Now that the vampiric gothic metal scene is as stale as Ms Havershams dinning table, it sounds very dated.

The main Cradle of Filth influences come with the high pitched screamed vocals combined with whispers and death metal growls, and church organ and orchestral keyboarding, although lacking the technicality of CoF. Not to mention the whole pentagram and corpse paint look is typical mid 90's. Hecate Enthroned do differ though in the fact that they're a bit more aggressive. Blast beats pretty much for 65% of the album, and a slightly more raw production and NO female vocals.

It's a good length release too, but being an EP, it's not going to be long. If it was a full album, I think it'd grate a little bit as the vocals will start to annoy. You'd think that you've heard it all before. Still, despite being part of a stagnant vampyric goth black metal scene it is still a fairly enjoyable CD. But to fully enjoy it, you'd have to think back to the mid 90's and think what else there was at the time in this genre.