With an album like this, the frontman behind the project calling himself Lord Evil, and cover artwork heavy on satanic imagery, you'll forgive me for expecting something a bit cheesy from this album. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by French outfit Melek-Tha's second full-length album, and their first on Cold Spring Records.

Melek-Tha seem to have quite a healthy fascination with war, death and damnation in general. There is an overall feel of oppression and despair throughout the album, expressed through music somewhere between apocalyptic orchestral and dark ambient sonics. The most pervasive influence musically on De Magia... is the heavy use of samples - mostly from horror/thriller films and those featuring medieval battle scenes. For their part, the duo behind Melek-Tha combine these samples with drone-like synthesiser passages, some buried ritualistic chanting, and generous sampling of dramatic orchestral pieces. Sometimes it gets quite complex, if not chaotik, and demands your full attention.

The first half of the 73 minute long album is definitely the strongest. The first track 'Diabolical Diatribes (Hell on Earth Prelude)' is a great introduction starting with a dramatic filmic feel to it - something like the adrenalin-pumping climax of an epic movie. The track quietens down to deep sacred chanting, then merges into the CD's title track, an eerie piece featuring female chants and buried whispers, with a resonating gong and droney background all the way through, reminiscent of much of Raison d'Etre's earlier material - always a big plus. Track 3 is an interesting piece: a middle-pitched ringing tone throughout, along with some nasty male demonic chanting, and what seem to be sparse bird and animal sounds. These build in intensity, then eventually give way to a subtly rhythmic beats. Back to medieval and horror film sampling with tracks 4 and 5, with more quiet demonic vocals and breathing with church bells. Track 6 'Hein Horra' deteriorates into 6 minutes of the sounds of a bloody battle, backed by pounding militaristic drumming; positively nightmarish, but I spose that's just the way they like it. Things pick up on 'Hell on Earth' with more sludgy soundscapes, but this time driven by a great industrial beat loop. The final track brings a ray of light to the CD, with sweeping, almost hopeful synth passages. Of course, five minutes in, the track ends with one last infernal growl.

All up, this obviously isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but anyone into apocalyptic dark orchestral like In Slaughter Natives, or just anyone with a fetish for medieval or horror movies, shouldn't let this one by. Not bad at all.