Age of Capricorn

The Polish veterans of the 90s, playing a Northern European black metal style, return with a similar album in style to 2016's Lunaris. The band's days of innovation are far behind them, apparently; fans will see the same high quality in Age of Capricorn's output as in its recent predecessors, without seeing much of a change in Arkona's Burzum and Mayhem-influenced sound. While the album's ferocious blasting, combined with throat-shredding vocals, is the most noticable part of Age of Capricorn, there is a surprisingly symphonic aspect to the sound, especially on Alone Among Wolves. Piano arpeggios wind their way into several of the tracks, and choruses are finished off by background strings. Zaala's drumming provides a brutal counterpoint, reaching their maximum intensity on Deathskull Mystherium. This type of black metal is so traditional that it's easy to see what's coming next, but it's still nice to hear something this well-played. It doesn't seem to have as much of an atmosphere this time around, but the slow, melodic final track does give Age of Capricorn a certain sorrowful grandeur, with the drums hammering away at about eight times the riff speed, the tune moving with uncharacteristic slowness. A fairly unsurprising but rock-solid release from these old-timers, Age of Capricorn is more likely to appeal to those who prefer to leave experimentation alone and just hear old-school Second Wave done right. Bandcamp: https://arkona.bandcamp.com/album/age-of-capricorn.