Plagued Be Thy Angel

I like this band very much. I was browsing through the past reviews made by contributors of Metalreviews and found out that none of the four albums had been reviewed so far, so I figured that it would be cool for the band to get a review of their latest recording. Unlike other bands from Napalm Records, Siebenbürgen doesn't look for easiness recording in Sound Suite Studios with Terje Refsnes, but instead use the Six String Studio with producer Micke Bergström. There's little difference though if you compare their sound with bands recording in Sound Suite Studios. Just like others bands from Napalm Records, Siebenbürgen works with Tor Soreide for artwork, and the result on Plagued Be Thy Angel is just amazing. This angel looks so pure and innocent that I tried to get in touch with her (unfortunately with no result). On their latest two recordings Delictum and Plagued Be Thy Angel, their black metal has become some vampiric heavy metal. They also added more female vocals. All songs are catchy, full of melodic riffs, and sometimes bombastic. Vocals are typical black metal vocals, but not too harsh. The female vocals are not typical gothic-black-metal such as Tristania, The Sins of Thy Beloved or even Trail of Tears. I couldn't really give any comparisons since I can't remember a band with such female vocals. On the other hand, I can't really say that she sings, since she acts more like another instrument for the music. Unfortunately (or fortunately), they fired her after the recording of Plagued be thy Angel. I can't tell you more about the new female vocals since I have not seen the band live on stage. The songs are melodic, but more varied and catchy than those on Delictum. I can't imagine how good could be the next record if they keep on improving like this. This time the songs are shorter, which makes them more concise and efficient. The melodic lines of the female vocalist are stronger and definitely getting along better with the music, combined with acoustic guitars and organ (Angelic and For Those Who Sleep). On their previous albums, Delictum, they had made that cover of Wasp Animal (Fuck like a Beast), faithful to the original, but with the touch à la Siebenbürgen. This time they decided to do Jawbreaker from Judas Priest. Don't ask me to give my opinion about this one since I hate Judas Priest. I don't really like that cover.