Band:	Tharaphita
Album:	Iidsetel Sünkjatel Radadel
Style:	Pagan black metal
Release date:	2007

01. Lidsetel Sünkjatel Radadel
02. Vahkturm
03. Ristikatk
04. Surmatalv
05. Loodusviha
06. Hullusesse
07. Raudses Haardes

Tharaphita hails from my country (Estonia, that is) and around here they are one of the most popular black metal acts. Despite that, I have never been too keen on them. They've always seemed a bit dull to me. Not to mention that on stage they wear - drumroll please - capes! Yes, black but ever so silky capes which I personally find just a bit too weird. But curseth be me! This album has awakened the Superman in me, cause the next time someone asks me whether or not I'm a cape-man I'd reply: "Why yes, I most certainly am!"

This album is just that good. Even though black metal's had to give up his throne in what I now call my "Winämp of Sex and Drugs" (formerly known as "Unholy Winamp") I still have to admit Tharaphita has valiantly fought his way into my playlist. Ever since I downloaded the title track off their website I figured I might even buy this album. Of course my doubts about Tharaphita held me back long enough for Nailboard Records to step up and shove a copy in my hand. And thank Satan they did.

So what do these cape-wearing Estonian heathens deliver? Epic tales of Death and Glory as the title track's first acoustic melody transforms into a majestic anthemn. Tear-jerking melancholic guitars guaranteed to send shivers down the spine of every nature's child in "Sumatalv"; tales of honor and noble fights, odes to mother earth. The keyboards in "Raudses Haardes" are cosmic and the riffs... well, blacker than the soil we walk upon and colder than the northern sky. I suppose you could say if Mel Gibson made a movie called "We Were Pagans" then this is what it would sound like. On the record you'll witness passionate fighting as well as the duality of war.

By now you may have figured out that "Iidsetel Sünkjatel Radadel" falls into the realm of melodic black metal. So even if you're not really into that tr00-evil stuff, give this record a spin. There's several facets here that probably appeal to a relatively wide scale of metalheads. For instance "Vahkturm" delivers a nice thrash-treat.

So there you have it - a release compulsory for every heathen out there. Whether you think the cross should be inverted or burned, you'll enjoy this monument against Christian conquest and domination. And even if you think a cross is nothing but two pieces of wood, Tharaphita will make you say "hell yeah, this is the shit!"