Some fans were disappointed by “Now, Diabolical” by the Norwegian mainstream black metallers. Sorry to say but the act from Oslo won’t bring ’em back with this seventh full-length of theirs! It keeps up where its predecessor stopped, but it seems that the style introduced in “Volcano” seems to have a clearer identity, even disapproved by old Satyricon fans.

The sound on “The Age Of Nero” is somewhat more dirty in a “Monotheist’ kind of way (see also Satyr’s guest appearance in “Synagoga Satanae”) with a lot of work done in guitars that do have a lot of ‘Celtic Frost’ elements but also the tension to appeal to a wider audience. Not to be forgotten that Snorre (‘Thorns’) has contributed in guitar arrangements & ideas, something to be received as a positive step only. The tracks have very simple structures (so that even the most irrelevant will understand!), in the means of verse-chorus-verse-chorus etc.; rhythms have slowed down as in “…Diabolical” but we can’t say they’ve written bad music here. But I believe all these cliché lyrics (the girls would like…), the –even more- clear voice, the CD artwork & the band’s photos are as mainstream done as it gets.

Conclusion: probably not a bad album but definitely far from the great days of the ’90s, Satyricon’s “The Age Of Nero” tries to reach to an audience that no other black metal band has done so. From one side we can’t imagine Norwegian black metal with nice haircuts, wealthy, rich brats & music for the masses but on the other side we can’t object to the fact that they enjoy what they are doing and work hard to make it good, even if it isn’t what fans of this music genre are used to. I think it’s a big deal to use real choir (see “Die By My Hand”) or real wind instruments (see “Den Siste –surprise surprise, there are still a Norwegian spoken track!) instead of keyboard sound effects. I mean the big budget doesn’t get wasted for nothing…

P.S.: The phrase behind the disc: “When it’s dark enough, you can see the stars” sounds so damn foolish though…