Band:	Blood Stained Dusk
Album:	Black Faith Inquisition
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	November 2008

01. March To Death (Intro)
02. Of Wolf's Blood
03. Coven Of The Dying Sun
04. Conquering The Avarice Of Mortality
05. Eve Of Maelstrom
06. Astrum Obscurum
07. Ashes From A Burning Heaven
08. The Knell Resounding (Outro)

When you see the cover art for Blood Stained Dusk's third album "Black Faith Inquisition" for the first time, you will most likely let out a big "oh nooo!!!". Why? Because the entire thing looks like it could have been Dimmu Borgir's new album. The grim reaper, the pentagram, not to mention the album title that consists of three words… the entire thing nearly gave me a heart-attack.

All joking aside, let's go back to business. "Black Faith Inquisition" is the third album of this American Black metal quartet. The Dimmu Borgir reference is also valid considering the music, as the symphonic aspect of this album is definitely reminiscent of their Norwegian genre brothers. There's more to this than Dimmu Borgir though, the melodic guitar work and riffs often remind of the Swedish Dissection. A lot of the solos are atypical to Black metal, as they are not at all filthy or sloppy, but rather melodic and shreddalicious.

Vocalist Pest (ex-Gorgoroth vocalist, recently made his return to the Infernus version of Gorgoroth) takes care of all the vocal cord abominations and he delivers. He croaks and shrieks his way through the satanic-themed lyrics in the best Second Wave of Black metal tradition. It's a shame the symphonics are overwhelming the riffs most of the times, as a more prominent role for the riffs could have given this album more of a bite, but it's not a crippling problem. In general, the compositions flow well, but they're not really adventurous. They're playing a little too often on the safe side, so to speak.

If you regret the style changes that Emperor and Dimmu Borgir went through roughly after the "Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk" and "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant" albums, check this album out. I'm not saying they're a perfect replacement, nor are they up to par with those albums, but you'll surely like this album.