CAMERA OBSCURA PART1: THE STAR CHAMBER REVIEWS

"Camera Obscura Pt. 1: The Star Chamber Reviews" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Dutch progressive/avant garde black metal act Ordo Draconis. The album was released in July 2005 by Opus Magnum Productions.

There has been quite a development in style and sound since the debut album "The Wing & the Burden (2001)", which was more of a straight symphonic black metal album. The style on "Camera Obscura Pt. 1: The Star Chamber Reviews" is much more experimental in nature and can even be labelled avant garde at times. The basis is still symphonic black metal but with a lot of twists and turns. There's a kind of circus/cabaret music sound to the music at times. It's greatly dramatic/theatrical too. The album is a concept album and all songs seque into each other. The music features both raspy black metal type vocals, clean vocals and spoken word sections as well as grand operatic choirs. In addition to the regular metal instrumentation, the music also features strings and piano, which provides the album with an occasional classical edge. It's safe to say that "Camera Obscura Pt. 1: The Star Chamber Reviews" is a very ambitious release.

...while Ordo Draconis succeed in writing intriguing and entertaining music, the sound production unfortunately leaves quite a bit to be desired. The guitars sound pretty weak, the bass sound is flat and the drums feature a rather powerless sound. Especially the sound on the bass drum lacks power. Still this is a varied and entertaining album and I'd say a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn't all wrong.