Bishop Of Hexen from Israel has since the formation of the band in 1994 always drawn my curiosity, if only for their, well, particular name. I once found their demo (Ancient Hymns Of Legends And Lore) and was quite impressed with the grandiose and vast tapestry of keyboards combined with chilly and barely produced guitars and thin, raging vocals you just got to love as a fan of extreme metal. Nothing I play on a regular basis but I liked it then. After the success of their demo they put out a full-length (Archives of an Enchanted Philosophy) and contributed to some compilations, only to remain completely silent for the following seven years. So in the year 2006 I catch up with a reformed Bishop Of Hexen and their new album `The Nightmarish Compositions`.

Since I`ve only heard their demo I can`t really tell if the new material is the logical next step in the development of their sound, but there certainly are some familiar elements, of which the most prominent are still the larger than everything layers of synth. What`s new however are a range of bombastic theatrical elements. The songs are build from a combination of spoken and clean-sung passages, piano intermezzo`s, grand orchestration, galloping riffs and outbursts of speed.

The technically proficient guitar work is comparable to that sharp, vicious and modern melodic black metal sound so masterly perfected by bands like Anorexia Nervosa. They take great pains in creating a carnavalesque atmosphere that makes you actually picture yourself walking accidentally into the evil freak-show tent at the traveling circus that happens to visit your town. This makes the album sound almost like a stage performance instead of a bunch of metallers blasting away.

If you ask me, I`d say the music on `The Nightmarish Compositions` can be described as over-the-top horror metal and Bishop Of Hexen does it all very well. You might check this out if this sounds as your kind of thing. For me however it is all too familiar to everything Arcturus and the mighty battle squad of Bal-Sagoth have already done before, and, in case of the former, will probably do better than everyone else for a long, long time to come. Only for those who really dig this style and don`t care too much about originality.