Review by JD on October 6, 2009.

Ex-Megadeth Guitarist Mike Albert has unleashed his self named project onto the world stage finally. Let us just see if it holds water, or does it end up just sinking into the dark depth of mediocrity in the end? I for one, don’t know exactly what to be expecting at this point of time from this man... guess I need to let the album speak to me.

On first listen, you cant ignore the whole Megadeth influences that perhaps cannot be just simply cut out of the music. In most of the songs, there is that feeling that you almost can feel Dave Mustaine blazing away somewhere in the background... even though it is not. Thankfully, the identifiable Mustaine vocals are nowhere to be heard throughout, and the album takes a little detour away from the whole thing.

I was hoping that Mr. Albert would have shifted a little more away from his days with Megadeth, but when you have been with a outfit like that for awhile - I can understand that it is hard to get out of your system. I was looking for something more, but it was still enjoyable and showed that he was beginning to get himself out of the shadow’s of Metallica’s most infamous reject.

Mike Albert Project's Afterlife is a good album to listen to, but it is only just that. It never struck me as an album that was needed to be heard by the metallic hoards out there, but an album that is worth at least of a listen or two. The man is a very amazing musician, it is the album that is never great.

Is Mike Albert Project's Afterlife a complete disappointment? I will just let all of you make that distinction on your own... you have my opinion, and I say that it is a disappointment in the truest sense.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Originality: 5.5
Overall: 5.5
　
Rating: 6.6

Review by JD on October 6, 2009.

Ex-Megadeth Guitarist Mike Albert has unleashed his self named project onto the world stage finally. Let us just see if it holds water, or does it end up just sinking into the dark depth of mediocrity in the end? I for one, don’t know exactly what to be expecting at this point of time from this man... guess I need to let the album speak to me.

On first listen, you cant ignore the whole Megadeth influences that perhaps cannot be just simply cut out of the music. In most of the songs, there is that feeling that you almost can feel Dave Mustaine blazing away somewhere in the background... even though it is not. Thankfully, the identifiable Mustaine vocals are nowhere to be heard throughout, and the album takes a little detour away from the whole thing.

I was hoping that Mr. Albert would have shifted a little more away from his days with Megadeth, but when you have been with a outfit like that for awhile - I can understand that it is hard to get out of your system. I was looking for something more, but it was still enjoyable and showed that he was beginning to get himself out of the shadow’s of Metallica’s most infamous reject.

Mike Albert Project's Afterlife is a good album to listen to, but it is only just that. It never struck me as an album that was needed to be heard by the metallic hoards out there, but an album that is worth at least of a listen or two. The man is a very amazing musician, it is the album that is never great.

Is Mike Albert Project's Afterlife a complete disappointment? I will just let all of you make that distinction on your own... you have my opinion, and I say that it is a disappointment in the truest sense.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Originality: 5.5
Overall: 5.5
　
Rating: 6.6

Review by Aaron on July 15, 2005.

Right to brass tacks; Urgehal are ugly. Ugly, ugly people making ugly,ugly old school Norwegian Black Metal for ugly, ugly reasons. The minute you look at the cover of Through Thick Fog Til Death, a truly grim black and white photo of guitarist Enzifier looking like one of the Cenobites from Hellraiser cutting into some poor, winsome girl in a graveyard, you know this is not going to appeal to higher aesthetics of beauty. This is a good(?) thing, as beauty has no place in this collection of odes to Satan, Blasphemy and the eradication of the few billion souls who unfortunately share the planet with them.

Urgehal take the driving tempo of Carpathian Forest and mix it with the chill atmosphere of A Blaze in the Northern Sky-era Darkthrone for a truly demented onslaught. Originally including a keyboardist in the lineup, Urgehal eliminated the keyboard and are no worse off for it. Indeed, after listening to Through Thick Fog Til Death I don’t see how keyboards could do anything but detract from the overall atmosphere of the music. Drummer Uruz (of Crest of Darkness) and bassist Sregroth lay down an incessant blackened thrash gallop that the raging guitars both trample on top of and alongside. Frontman Trondr delivers songs of hate and sacrilege in graveled, harsh rasps that bear no indication of the falsetto shrieks that have become more and more commonplace in Black Metal today. This alone makes me as happy as such music is capable of. Hearing someone keening like they’re pulling straight down on their nuts with every word does not make me think “Necro”.

Tracks such as “Mirror Satan”, “Mankind Murder” and “Supreme Blasphemy” give testimony to the pure hate that drives the band. The 15 track album also includes four live songs which give brutal examples of the band’s live endeavors to be just as punishing as their recordings, standouts there being “Flames of the Black Candles” and “The Eternal Eclipse” which is an incredibly nasty piece that is worth the purchase price itself.

Through Thick Fog Til Death is bound to be one of those just under the radar albums that will only gain the credit and hails it deserves on the underground level. Somehow I get the impression that this is right where Urgehal wants it. Fantastic album.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 7
Originality: 7
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.4 out of 10