Countess – Fires of Destiny

a0986702807_10  The number of underground bands that were going around in the 90s and 80s have, understandably, drastically gone down in recent times with many of them having to deal with life, family, and all the other kind of s**t that us lame people do. Yet those who are still around manage to bring at least that original flavor of the supposed glory days of metal, and Countess prove that after 14 years they’re still very much able to kick all the ass. Straight from that cover art you can tell that “Fires of Destiny” is an album of epic proportions, and within it are tracks that could very well be the overtures to bloody battles of widespread death, disembowelment, along with fire and brimstone to match, and you’d happily be along for the entire ride. The vocals have a sound as if they’re being shouted from a metal cone of sorts with how they sound, and initially it was off putting to me but the more I heard them the more I thought they were a decent match for the rest of the band that compliment each other quite well. Then there’s the keyboards that for a second I accidentally mistook them for vocals coming from the background because of their sound, but then my brain actually started to work and they add this really nice little bit of ambiance that many bands utilize, but Countess uses them sparingly within “Fires of Destiny” for only a few seconds at a time but they always have a magnificent feel and sound that permeates every one of their notes. The rest of the band has an impeccable sound as you might expect as they present to us a black metal sound straight out of the 90s yet not too raw or too composed, but just intense enough to where you can hear the sound of a era long gone. “Fires of Destiny” truly is a legacy worth talking about and Countess have earned all the bragging rights with this album with it being the culmination of over two decades of hard work and devotion coming to the excellent fruition that this piece is.

You can purchase “Fires of Destiny” via iTunes here, and you can listen to the album on Bandcamp here.

Track Listing:

  1. Runenlied
  2. Fly the Battle Flag
  3. Fires of Destiny
  4. Rise of the Horned One
  5. Plague Upon the Pious
  6. Today Is a Good Day to Die
  7. Choir of the Valkyries
  8. Treason of Kings
  9. See the Ravens Fly
  10. Bard Van Het Verleden