Norway’s Ancestral Legacy have emerged from their early days as an extreme metal act to one far more rounded, more symphonic and operatic,
yet still manage to capture the visceral sound of the heavier end of metal on their second album ‘Terminal’, the follow up to 2010’s debut ‘Nightmare Diaries’.

Within 30 seconds of the opening track ‘Bone Code’, the early influences really become obvious with the song jumping from quiet and operatic to savage and blisteringly fast, with roaring guitar, drum and vocal lines. This then gives way back to the Nightwishy-esque operatics from singer Isadora Cortina.

It is clear what Ancestral Legacy have set out to do here, they have set out to juxtapose the clean vocal and piano lines with the harsh symphonic black metal style that they used to subscribe to. Cortina’s vocals do have parts over crunching distorted guitar lines, but the issue I have with this album is that you always know that it will end up returning to the softly softly, gently gently feel that brings you into the album at the very start.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is a bad album, far from it. It’s definitely not my thing for the most part, but there are parts that I really do like, and whilst it’s not generally my thing, I know that a lot of people really will enjoy it. If you’re a fan of bands like The Gathering or Lacuna Coil, check this album out as it seems to reside in that kind of area of the metal spectrum.

Tracks to check out for me though, are the title track – ‘Terminal’, which is the final track of the album and the first two tracks ‘Bone Code’ and ‘Lethe – Part 1’

Review by David Asquith