Nine years after their last epic, Troll return with a new delicious slice of Norwegian black metal in ‘Neo-Satanic Supremacy’. This is not your average second wave Norwegian sound, the production is high quality, there are many gothic and synth sections, in fact it is present on pretty much every song. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a wimpy synth band trying to play black metal, Troll are still rooted very much in the frantic drumming, icy riffing and rasping, hateful vocals that the genre generally includes. Think of much more angry and slightly stripped down Dimmu Borgir and you’re in the right area. 

Unfortunately, like the aforementioned Borgir, Troll do slip up on the lyrical front once in a while, the lyrics to ‘Burn the Witch’ are a bit shit really, and the song is probably the weakest on the album. A mid paced keyboard driven snooze, it is an example of a song that would have benefited from bad production. Luckily it is swiftly followed up by the blasting fury of ‘Morkets Skoger’, reminding me of a mixture of Lord Belial, Gorgoroth and Virgin Black, it is one of the strongest songs on the album. I have to say; despite what the press release said about ‘pitch black atmosphere’ I was left with the impression of a winter fantasyland, similar to how I feel after listening to a recent Immortal album. This is by no means a bad thing, but I get the feeling it wasn’t what the band intended some how. It is definitely down to the keyboards, they have that real sense of ‘Saffron’s Curse’ about them. Still, if you want a convincing gothic black metal album to start your year off, get your hands on this! 

Carl Sucharyna Thomas