Black Shining Leather

Carpathian Forest | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 11, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Peaceville UK
• ASIN: B000QXDH3S
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,997 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1999 album for Norwegian black metal act. Nine tracks including, 'The Swordsmen', 'Death Triumphant' & 'Sadomasochistic'. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brutal Black Metal, January 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Shining Leather (Audio CD)

This is a raw black metal feast at it's finest. Perfect for a cold/dark/rainy night. It's a shame this band does not receive much press cause they deserve it. In the vein of Dark Throne, but with a catchy type of vibe that makes the songs stick, get it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another good CF album., May 9, 2008

By 

Amy "circleofdestruction.net" (outer space) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Shining Leather (Audio CD)

The title track starts off with a minute or so of moaning before the song properly starts. Carpathian Forest does a lot of things I usually can't stand in Black Metal: they have keyboards, weird ambient stuff, and often ridiculous, over the top lyrics. And I love them for it. As I see it, the keyboards here are used perfectly: they add to the song without being overpowering; you can often forget they are there.

"Death Triumphant" has a very nice chugging guitar intro and a very majestic feel to it. "Sadomasochistic" takes things more into Black and Roll with a very simplistic yet catchy guitar riff and has a slower midsection with more keyboards. On one hand, I can understand how people could dislike such things and be unable to take CF seriously (and there is something hilarious about a little dude like Nattefrost in corpsepaint screaming "Kneel before me and shine my shoes!"), but I think it illustrates why Carpathian Forest are great. They have their own sound and image and the songwriting is consistently good.

"Lupus" is one that I skip sometimes; it's an ambient track with some speaking over it. I don't dislike it; it's jsut that it could just about put me to sleep. "Lunar Nights" is another track with a long intro in which not a lot happens, but sitting through it pays off in the end.

And just when I was about to say there is not a weak track on here (I did say I skip "Lupus" sometimes, but not that I hate it), I remembered "A Forest." I can't stand The Cure, and this is too much like the original. I'm sure it's been a long time since I've heard the original, since I can't stand The Cure I refuse to hunt it down and listen to it just to compare the two. I would not know that I was listening to Carpathian Forest if it weren't for the occasional scream. People who don't hate the original may be able to stomach this, but I can't. Thankfully it's the last song and you can just forget it's there.

But overall, I think this is a very good CD. It took me a few listens to get into but there's not many bad things I can say about this album. Some tracks are better than others but none of feels like filler material. There are other Carpathian Forest albums that I feel have better material overall, but this is still good stuff.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good album, January 10, 2006

By 

Jon F (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Shining Leather (Audio CD)

Just to let people know, the last song on the album, "A Forest", is actually a cover of a song by The Cure from their second album. Overall a great album but I would recommend 'Strange Old Brew' instead.