Dark Fortress - Stab Wounds

Dark Fortress' Stab Wounds is probably the strongest melodic black metal album I've ever heard. I love this album.

Cheesy spoken word opening, strong production, occasional deep keyboards (a la Nightside Eclipse), musicianship, and catchy, catchy melodies and hooks.

At first I was disappointed. Dark Fortress is clearly on the pop end of black metal. But a couple of tracks in I realized that this was really GOOD pop black metal. For one, the keyboards are sparse and controlled - only used occasionally and to great effect, like Ihsahn used to play 'em. Second, no clean vocals. But the big thing is simply straight up songwriting. The riffs on this album are pure gold. Not one song drags. It's a remarkably consistent effort.

Dark Fortress: "Stab Wounds" 2004

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