Band:	Count De Nocte
Album:	Luctisonous Dolor
Style:	Black metal, Death metal
Release date:	2005

01. WaRomance
02. The Proximity Of The End
03. The Mirror And Phobic-Sanity
04. Siivetön Suojelusenkeli
05. While My Heart Burns To Dust
06. From The Hope Towards
07. Vertical Horizon
08. For My Fleshed Angel
09. Luctisonus Dolor

Melodic Black Metal is one of the most "hard to digest" genres out there, if you can't achieve the highest ground in the style then you're mediocre, if you reach the top then you're selling out and if you're in the middle then you're a poser. Count De Nocte falls in the first category to be perfectly honest.

This band plays Black Metal with some agressive undertones, they do use keyboards though; so you can see how Count De Nocte becomes a bizarre mixture of romantic lyrics, agressive riffs, blackish atmospheres and gothic keys! The whole album works in the same line, the songs repeat themselves in some parts but the songwriting twists itself in other segments.

The band has good ideas actually, they don't fully develop them though and that's the main issue; Count De Nocte focuses on being fresh and innovative so bad that ends up sounding like Dimmu Borgir on uppers, the whole album isn't a solid statement at all, it never falls into a "main course" and just creates a concept that's very hard to follow.

"Luctisonus Dolor" is well executed that's for sure; the musicians take their instruments and blow them to the max with insane power and battering sound, if only the songwriting was more demanding or more solid they would have created a great album in the whole extent of the word.

This is a good album, if you're into Melodic Black Metal you'll enjoy this experience I'm sure, but the spastic plateau won't let any song stick to your head and the replay values will drop to the ground unfortunately. Not memorable but I'll spin it again someday.

Best Tracks: "The Mirror And Phobic-Sanity"