(Black Metal, Folk/Viking Metal) [CD] Ancient Rites - Fatherland (Japanese Edition) - 1998, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 20. July 2014, 12:35
Ancient Rites / Fatherland
Used drive  : ATAPI   iHAS122   W   Adapter: 2  ID: 0
Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction                      : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks   : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations       : Yes
Used interface                              : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format              : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate                : 1024 kBit/s
Quality                         : High
Add ID3 tag                     : No
Command line compressor         : C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" -T"COMMENT=Ripped by  Ilijan" -8 -V %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
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        1  |  0:00.00 |  1:25.32 |         0    |     6406
        2  |  1:25.32 |  4:39.28 |      6407    |    27359
        3  |  6:04.60 |  5:31.40 |     27360    |    52224
        4  | 11:36.25 |  7:06.52 |     52225    |    84226
        5  | 18:43.02 |  5:35.10 |     84227    |   109361
        6  | 24:18.12 |  3:19.63 |    109362    |   124349
        7  | 27:38.00 |  7:17.40 |    124350    |   157164
        8  | 34:55.40 |  4:57.67 |    157165    |   179506
        9  | 39:53.32 |  3:56.53 |    179507    |   197259
       10  | 43:50.10 |  3:09.32 |    197260    |   211466
       11  | 46:59.42 |  4:00.23 |    211467    |   229489
       12  | 50:59.65 |  4:27.12 |    229490    |   249526
Range status and errors
Selected range
     Filename D:\Ilijan\Ancient Rites - Fatherland.wav
     Peak level 99.9 %
     Extraction speed 3.9 X
     Range quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 7D311FC3
     Copy CRC 7D311FC3
     Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
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Track  2  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [49D855A8]  (AR v2)
Track  3  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [25034F02]  (AR v2)
Track  4  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [DD8B21D4]  (AR v2)
Track  5  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [08BDCA00]  (AR v2)
Track  6  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [A050DC3A]  (AR v2)
Track  7  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [1C94F42F]  (AR v2)
Track  8  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [FFAF3780]  (AR v2)
Track  9  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [A83E9935]  (AR v2)
Track 10  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [CCDB077B]  (AR v2)
Track 11  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [AEDAE6DF]  (AR v2)
Track 12  accurately ripped (confidence 2)  [017782E7]  (AR v2)
All tracks accurately ripped
End of status report
---- CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.3
[CTDB TOCID: SiNA6rXUyzDmLIWrZiM2p1SejmU-] disk not present in database, Submit result: SiNA6rXUyzDmLIWrZiM2p1SejmU- has been uploaded
==== Log checksum A1F6FF8E847DE0BC40C0F3347CD2D3924768D4884C339397E3332B469826192D ====

REM GENRE "Black Metal"
REM DATE 1998
REM DISCID A10CFF0C
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v1.0b3"
PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
TITLE "Fatherland"
FILE "Ancient Rites - Fatherland.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Avondland"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Mother Europe"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 01 01:25:32
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Aris"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 01 06:04:60
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Fatherland"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 00 11:35:37
    INDEX 01 11:36:25
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "Season's Change (Solstice)"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 00 18:42:37
    INDEX 01 18:43:02
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "13th of October 1307"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 00 24:16:70
    INDEX 01 24:18:12
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "Dying In a Moment of Splendour"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 00 27:36:70
    INDEX 01 27:38:00
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    TITLE "Rise And Fall (Anno Satana)"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 00 34:54:52
    INDEX 01 34:55:40
  TRACK 09 AUDIO
    TITLE "The Seducer"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 00 39:51:30
    INDEX 01 39:53:32
  TRACK 10 AUDIO
    TITLE "Cain"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 00 43:47:57
    INDEX 01 43:50:10
  TRACK 11 AUDIO
    TITLE "Fallen Angel (Bonus Track)"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 00 45:59:62
    INDEX 01 46:59:42
  TRACK 12 AUDIO
    TITLE "From Beyond The Grave (Bonus Track)"
    PERFORMER "Ancient Rites"
    INDEX 01 50:59:65

Having seen the praise of Ancient Rites' "Dim Carcosa", I was disappointed to see that "Fatherland" had received nothing, no feedback at all. I fell absolutely in love with the album's perfect mixture of viking and black metal, with progressive/heavy elements thrown in as well. There is no black and white scheme to Fatherland. Though the black metal side of the album is pominent, there are plenty of grey areas of blending.
The most obvious feature of Fatherland, which I think everyone can agree on, is the atmosphere and the nationalism of it. Though we have seen nationalism before on PLENTY of albums, namely Scandinavian pride, Fatherland is not limited to one region or one country. The track Mother Europe targets all of Europe while Fatherland is (as Günther describes in the booklet) an ode to all and what their Fatherland means to them. While the themes are excellent, the actual writing is just as amazing. There is no oddly worded English. There are no one word lines of "blasphemy" this or "Satan" that like that of (Although the ablum still rocks faces) The Diabolic Serenades. They are written intelligently without abusing the nearest Thesaurus.
While keeping their black metal layout with "necro" vocals and grinding riffs, their heavy metal influence is apparent in the opening of Mother Europe, almost the entire song of Fatherland, and the chorus of Aris. Just to name a few. Let's not forget to point out the, although far too short, ass ripping solo on Dying in a Moment of Splendour. Minus the solo, the entire song seems to drone and doom along reflecting a lot of the dark and melancholy feeling that Ancient Rites has became known for. The rest of the riffs tend to be more melodic "blackish", steering away from their earlier work of Blasfemia Eternal which seemed to be based on how aggressive the album could be.
Ancient Rites have also brought back Fallen Angel from their 1990 demo, changing it's name to The Seducer, and polishing it up a bit. It does feel a bit out of place on Fatherland with it's lack of European history theme that the rest of the album so obviously potrays. However the combination of heavy/progressive riffs with a blackened chorus (Via a cameo by Mikka), with a beyond evil atmosphere, makes it far too headbanging to ignorantly look over.
There's at least one sure instrumental on the album. The opener, Avondland. It does what an opening instrumental is suppose to do. It's short and it sets the atmosphere of nationalism. There is also the last track, Cain, which isn't really a song, but Günther narrating along with a piano. It's moody. The epitome of Ancient Rites' melancholy trademark. I definitely don't think it's for everyone, though. Luckily, as I said, it's the last track, so if it's not your "thing" then it's easy to skip or ignore.
The vocals. It's not too much of a surprise here. Günther sways from clean to blackened growls. Though his clean vocals are by no means Garm or some other praised vocalist, his vocals do the job. They're a bit droney/doomy. Similiar to Occulta Mors minus Occulta's all too obvious accent and a little less droney. I prefer his black vocals as they're a bit more complexed than the former. Having a bit more emotion and layers to them, plus his snarl that is all very common to hear.
So, yes, this is my personal favourite Ancient Rites album though they have yet to disappoint me with any of their releases. There's enough genre mixing here to attract all crowds or just those who can appreciate intelligent face rocking music.
Superb Tracks: "Mother Europe", "Dying In A Moment Of Splendour", and "The Seducer".
Review written by Toujoursfidele for www.metal-archives.com

Gunther Theys - Vocals, Bass
Walter Van Cortenberg - Drums
Erik Sprooten - Guitars
Jan "Örkki" Yrlund - Guitars