Halphas are a band from Germany that plays a very raw form of black metal and this is a review of their 2017 album "Dawn Of A Crimson Empire" which will be released in December by Folter Records. Nature soundscapes along with some ritualistic spoken word parts start off the album before going into more of a heavier direction along with all of the musical instruments also having a very powerful sound to them while the vocals are mostly high pitched black metal screams as well as a small amount of clean vocals. When the music speeds up a great amount of tremolo picking and blast beats can be heard which also gives the songs a more raw feeling while the songs also bring in a great mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts along with the riffs also bringing in melodies at times and when guitar leads are utilized they are done in a very melodic fashion and some of the tracks are very long and epic in length as well as a couple of songs also adding in a brief use of classical guitars. Halphas plays a style of black metal that is very raw, old school and traditional sounding, the production sounds very dark and raw while the lyrics cover occultism, death, hate, pain, and dark desire themes. In my opinion Halphas are a very great sounding raw and traditional black metal band and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Call From The Depths" "Sword Of The Necromancer" and "Empire". 8 out of 10
