Black Empire

Force of Evil | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 29, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Escapi
• ASIN: B0007VF278
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,604 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Much like Iced Earth's Horror Show, Black Empire takes on the world of fictional horror. The band brings the goods musically, and they do that in spades. They just play straight up heavy metal with no pretenses. - 2005

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High quality metal that reminds me the old days. GREAT!, April 14, 2005

By 

I. MUNOZ (Montreal, PQ, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Empire (Audio CD)

This is take-no-prisoners in-your-face metal, period. Killer vocals, killer riffs, killer guitar solos and killer everything. If you are into early Fates Warning, this was made specially for you. From a stylish point of view, it belongs to another époque -- that is, to those old good times when bands such as Queensryche, Watchtower and Crimson Glory (plus, again, Fates Warning) were exploring new metal trends and raising eyebrows. Force of Evil is simply darker, but it belongs to that class. Just a warning to the crowd of Mercyful Fate fans: Martin Steene (the vocalist) has few (if something) to do with King Diamond, ok? So, this is not Mercyful Fate Part II, in spite of Shermann and Denner twin axe attack, Bjarne T. Holm power drumming, and of course King Diamond's circa Hal Patino on the bass duties. This is just a new, more melodic, band heading to be one of the bests around, so keep that in your mind: Mercyful Fate's soul is there, but it is not the same band at all.

Back to the album, Force of Evil's Black Empire would have been a classic if recorded in the middle Eighties. It's even far better than their first self-titled release. The production is top notch, and I think this time Steene completely demonstrated that he can pair to the bests vocalists in the genre. Hats off to him! He has the presence, the range, the power and the emotion to become one of the greatest ever -- though Geoff Tate's influence is somewhat too much evident (mostly in "Days of Damien"), but still Steene shines on his own rights.

The rest of the band's performance is tight and heavy, aggressive, with a lot of attitude. I sincerely LOVE this album. If there's something to criticize perhaps is that it maintains the same mood all along, so at a given moment it starts to sound "the same". It is not a revolutionary or "groundbreaking" album neither. But don't be fooled. Its quality is amongst the highest you can find in metal; and also there are on it many layers to discover, many choirs, many small details, a riff here and there... It IS a powerful and brilliant piece of work, no doubt about that. I even dare to confess that I would have liked to record something close to this!

I give then to "Black Empire" four stars and a half -- so I vote five stars to raise the average, to compensate for the other reviewers' votes. If you like any type of good metal, this is for you. This is indeed TRUE metal, the one YOU were expecting since nu-metallers took control of the genre. So, go for it NOW and contribute to the raise of a new metal star! You won't regret it!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best metal album in 2005 so far!!!, June 27, 2005

By 

Eric Chiasson "Evil Night" (New-Brunswick, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Empire (Audio CD)

The guys fom Mercyful Fate still got it! Black Empire is a pure delight. And what about Martin Steene?! Man, can that guy sing or what?! As much as I loved their first album, this one is definitly a huge step up. More darker & heavier with lyrics based on classic horror movies (Friday the 13th, In the mouth of madness, Texas chainsaw massacre...) this album also includes a tribute to the master of horror himself, Stephen King, with the song Disciples of the King. But, Instead of wasting reading this review, buy Black Empire right now. If you're a metal fan, you won't regret it

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars denner and shermann shine, April 5, 2005

By 

geoff "Reviewer" (America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Empire (Audio CD)

This album is better than the debut by far. It seems like they had more time with this one. Debut speeking, they did not gel, but now the six string harmony's are recalling days back to the mercyful fate days. At first listen, it can be quite overwhelming (like Rush's masterpiece Vapor Trails) not an audiophile rip, but for anyone who appreciates great music, after a few listens, it is bound to be a classic!