Sadly, there is, in fact, such a thing as having an album that is too long. Angmar's Metamorphosis, the group's first and only full length, provides a good example of this very principle.

It's not so much that the sound is bad. I described them previously in my review of the Alcest/Angmar demo split, and little has changed. They play a conventional, keyboard light style of raw, black metal. The drums hammer away at an incessant stream of blast beats through much of the music. Most of the vocals are upper-register growling, though there are some deeper growls and clean vocals in the background at times. The melancholy parts of the demo are largely gone, with the exception of the outro and a piano melody that occupies the latter half of the sixth track, "When the World Overturns". Overall, however, their sound is one of fierce aggression.

Unfortunately, this sound is exactly what almost every other black metal band has to offer. Those bands that manage to distinguish themselves usually do so through exceptional riffs, amazing atmosphere, or inspired songwriting. This album offers very few of these. The riffs are at the least competent and often good, but few remain memorable throughout the album. The atmosphere is seldom anything other than aggression, with a few notable exceptions, like an epic section of "Normannia" that features soaring clean vocals and booming drums underlying fierce growls, easily one of the best parts of the album. Unfortunately, this motif gets used once, then discarded; something this good sounding seems like it should be central to the song, but it never comes back in any significant form.

This kind of carelessness is typical of the songwriting, which is sloppier than I'd like. The aforementioned "When the World Overturns" is a good example of this kind of messiness; it is divided into two halves, the first fairly conventional, and the second a melancholy piano solo. This would be an understandable, even effective, gimmick given the title if the solo occupied, say thirty seconds, making the point that the world has, in fact, overturned. Instead, though, the piano rambles on for around three minutes, leaving the listener wondering why these pieces are linked, as they lack any readily recognizable common themes. Compounding the mystery, the next track is completely conventional, giving an overall disjointed feeling to that part of the album.

I should specify that none of the above would be particularly damning if the album were not 45 minutes instead of 30. There are enough decent to good songs on here that with some editing, things could be pretty enjoyable at that length. However, the album goes on long enough that the unique, interesting moments blend together with the blander ones, leaving the listener rather unsatisfied at the end. The ultimate result is not terrible, but nonetheless thoroughly average. I have problems with much of the songwriting, but other than that, the music simply fails to stand out in the already crowded black metal field.

Consider getting this if you see it for cheap, or if you really like the elements of the music that I've described. Otherwise, the music here has really been done better elsewhere, which is a shame since their demo showed so much promise.