demo mcd 2002
linked genre: gothic metal

1: Crimson over Frozen Fields
2: The Craving for Oblivion
3: Portae Lucis
4: As Orpheus Condemned

IO is a gothic black metal band, that definitely gets an A on design: the semi-transparent cover looks really stylish. The music of the band is pretty good, even though most gothic black I heard left no traces of its existence in my head. A little over 25 minutes of atmosphere packed into four tracks, and musicianship that is better than most young black metal bands achieve. This is pretty doomy and melancholic, with hints of Katatonia, Dimmu Borgir (Stormblåst) and Opeth, and probably a lot more I don't recognise (my knowledge of this type of moody metal is limited). The songs are built up well and all have their own face, which keeps this record from growing boring. Critique? Well, the clean vocals need practise, some experimentation with singing harmonies would do the music good for instance, and the drums are a bit too soft to keep your attention. The last point is perhaps not that bad, because it keeps the music calm and sad. I think that, in its own niche of doomy black, IO is quality work, and even people into CoF can find solace here. Underground black metal it's definitely not!

REVIEW BLACK ART MAGAZINE #6 2003.

demo mcd 2003

1: To the God of the Sun
2: Enlightment
3: Torment of Time

demo mcd 2003

1: To the God of the Sun
2: A Spirit Within
3: Consequence, Desire and Sin

demo mcd 2007

1: Vigor
2: Satire of Hearts
3: Under a Scarlet Oak
4: Strange and Divine