Promessa Divina would fall under the black metal category, only this black metal would be the second wave of black metal that mutated from the original form of black metal. That of melding the harsh, bleak and scary imagery and sound of black metal with classical instrumentation, giving it a very artistic feel to the chaos. Kind of like teaming up Wagner with Mayhem.
On Mercy Welcome, there are moments of this neo black metal, and moments of classic black metal, like on the third track, appropriately titled "Black Metal". The vocals are of the black metal shriek variety, and the guitar light-speed shredding and blast beats are there, although at times they do slow to a mid-tempo doom feel. The keyboards work well, very symphonic. As far as the lyrics go, I wish I could expound on them a bit further, but I can't. All but one are in a language I don't speak. I speak English, by the way. The title track, "Mercy Welcome", is in English, so I'll share them with you:
"Healing of my Lord come to me / Entwine the graft to be alive blood bond / Of the past perfect remains father / Son and the Lord your healing plan / Christ is here to wash your ways / Christ is here to bring you hope / Christ is here to crush your pain / Holy one invade my world / He's our comfort our great high priest / The one we love take pain to you / Mercy welcome."
There's no doubt there that this is a Christian black metal band, and blatant at that.
Black metal's not exactly what you would call a very popular brand of metal, even in the underground metal circuit, but it has a strong following. I like this CD, as black metal does have a certain appeal to me. Fans of the style should check this one out definitely.
8/10
