Reviewed by Mark Sherwood

This is a four-track debut EP by a Norwegian act otherwise known as Thor Georg Beur. Thor says on his Myspace webpage that he searched for a church where he felt comfortable with the style of worship and has struggled to find one, so this has given rise to this EP. Although clocking in at nearly half an hour it's hardly short. This is to be applauded as the Church should be diverse in its expression and make no mistake the lyrics are praise and worship but avoid many cliches of a lot of others and also fit nicely into the style of metal. Musically this is described as symphonic death metal with the vocals being the growling variety, this is at times fast, hard and heavy but he breaks it up with spots of piano and clean vocals as well. At times it took me back to the first time I heard early Mortification. On the minus side some of the strings on the first two songs struck me as a bit similar. I also felt on the first one or two listens that the songs were a bit long but I actually don't feel that way now. I really feel it is important for Thor to carry on and give us more because this EP is packed with potential and is very enjoyable. If you like metal of any description then this will reward searching it out.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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