"Tales From The Middle Earth" is the demo released in 2004 that bears the name of Ringwraith, an Italian Black Metal one-man band from Lecco. 25:24 minutes distributed over 5 tracks, which deal with "Tolkienian" themes in a Black Metal key with Depressive returns.

I will not do a track by track, as this is a demo that I would define as quite "challenging"; it indeed requires several listens, through which one can understand the beauty of the disc: I will therefore be as concise as possible.

The album starts with "Halls Of Moria", and after these 6 minutes begins, in my opinion, the most beautiful track of the demo: "In Minas Morgul Death Awaits", which, with its simply sublime intro, breaks in calm yet fierce, aided by its easy memorization. It continues with "Mounds Of Mundburg", an epic-sounding Black Metal, succeeded by another small masterpiece, "Darkness Dwells Upon Durin's Tomb", which, much like the second track, leaves a positive mark on the classification of this demo. It concludes with the final "Elrond's Council", which is another step towards a more than good evaluation of this work.

I believe this disc is really good, an innovative Black Metal in my opinion, certainly not for the lyrics (many have exploited Tolkien by now), but for the way of conceiving the songs and the dark touch that that misanthrope Lord Cabal knows how to give.

I recommend it to enthusiasts and certainly not to novices in the field, because as already mentioned it is complicated to fully understand.

Loading comments  slowly