Opening with an eerie, atmospheric keyboard track, the listener gets the idea that this 3-song EP might contain fairly derivative, uninspired black metal within. This is not the case, but Abazagorath's style leaves something to be desired. The production is lo-fi, almost reminiscent of punk at times, and the rhythms of the songs are the same. This is fine, no-frills black metal. The songs "Rites of the Black Herald" and "Ghosts of the Moonlight Mist" both appear on their first full-length in 1997, and sound better there. Here, the songs are mostly constructed over pretty standard drum patterns that don't impress, and the riffs aren't the extremely fast tremolo-picking style that black metal has become known for. Except for a few moments in "Nightrealm" (the one song of theirs that they do not recycle for their 1997 full-length), I thought this EP was pretty standard fare. Not bad, but not enough here to set it apart from the pack.
