Band: Be'lakor Album: The Frail Tide Label: Independent Rating: 10/10 Website: http://www.myspace.com/belakor BUY NOW

Before I get going with the review, I must firstly apologise to Be'lakor for not fully giving this the attention it truly deserves. As far as debuts go, they couldn’t have done it any better. Be'lakor may still be a very young band age and experience wise, what they have done on "The Frail Tide" is simply nothing short of magical. Avoiding all the modern trends and influences, Be'lakor have created an album of some of the finest and atmospheric Metal I’ve heard in a while. Featuring aspects of Amon Amarth and Amorphis with complex Opeth style song structures, I cannot recommend this album enough to you. Mikael Akerfeldt style Death grunts, some amazing dual guitar harmonies and interludes, and some predominant haunting piano and keyboard passages (Think of Amorphis' "Tales From the Thousand Lakes"). Even the occasional flute makes an appearance. They have been receiving a constant stream of very impressive reviews, and I am yet to see anything negative whatsoever, and I can see why. Lets hope someone will come along soon and pick them up and get this album out there as soon as possible, as albums as good as this have to be heard. In the meantime, for those of us in the UK, you can pick this up direct from the band for only £10 from their official Myspace page - http://www.myspace.com/belakor Despite the six tracks on here being fairly lengthy (ranging between 5 and 8 minutes), "The Frail Tide" is a captivating album that will have you hooked instantly. This is one that I won't be putting down anytime soon. Chris Rogers Back to Reviews