Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon

Some people may actually hate me now for posting this album, but it was on the one side my first album I've listened consequently 2 times a day for about a month I guess, on the other side it's just really awesome, even for Dimmu Borgir (yeah, I actually don't hear them anymore and ISD was a pile of crap...).
Nevertheless, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra did a great job, creating a dense atmosphere of awesomeness.

The facts:
• primarily released in 2003, re-released a few times
• 1:05:44 length, 12 tracks (incl. bonus, Bathory cover)
• fixed bitrate of 192 kbits/s

In case you like, buy here.

Bishop of Hexen - Archives Of An Enchanted Philosophy

And whilst we are on the Symphonic Black Metal train, you shouldn't miss the israeli version of it, Bishop of Hexen. Their debut album Archives Of An Enchanted Philosophy with very strange, serpent-like vocals which fits into their "satanized" lyrics, create a world of their own.

I think you already got the idea:
• released 1997
• 41:42, 8 tracks
• fixed bitrate of 128 kb/s

Dekadent - The Deliverance Of The Fall

Sometimes, music must be epic. And with epic, I mean bombastic, orchestral, almost hollywood-ready. Gladly, Dekadent created with The Deliverance Of The Fall one of the most epic albums I've ever heard. It's musically sort of a concept album (the trumpets are almost omnipresent) and has a very special atmosphere among other Symphonic Black Metal bands.
It may be slow at some parts, so it's sort of the opposite of Anorexia Nervosa's style of SBM, but music must not always be that aggressive.

Download facts:
• released 2008
• 42:53, 10 tracks
• VBR between 125 and 242 kb/s
• incl. bonus track (which doesn't really fit to the end after the epilogue, but who cares...)

In case you like, buy here.

Anorexia Nervosa - Drudenhaus

Hails..
lately, I've found some time to continue this blog, I guess it's about time so let's go on.

The french band Anorexia Nervosa were my first sort-of-underground Symphonic Black Metal band I stumbled across when searching for Dimmu Borgir songs back in 2007. I definitely heard them way too often, so I forgot about them until some random guy on last.fm reminded me of their awesomeness. Listening to them makes other Symphonic Black Metal bands look stupid. I always loved such orchestral backings (-> Dimmu Borgir, Death Cult Armageddon, which will soon follow) and they created a masterpiece, or rather, two (their follow-up album New Obscurantis Order is fantastic, too).

Some download facts, as usual:
• released 2000
• 46:36, 9 tracks
• fixed bitrate of 192 kb/s

In case you like, buy here.