Adversus - Principium Ascensionis (CD)

Review

The guitars range from fiery bursts of first wave influenced power chords to twining minor key passages. The drums follow suit with bursts of blasting freneticism followed by slower paced, clunky rhythms. The songwriting is a bit choppy, with the transitions between tempo changes happening quite abruptly (and seemingly without forethought). This is especially prevalent when the band switches between black metal and the few bits of melodic interludes, as the music just shuts off and starts back up with the second style. It actually comes across like the aural equivalent of a fade-out transition on amateur television commercials. That being said, when Adversus is focusing on primitive black metal, the result is quite entrancing. - Metal Observer 3/5