Eidolon is a Greek concept of a shade or astral double of a living being, that’s what Wikipedia tells me. It is also the new record of the German black metal band Dark Fortress, their second album for Century Media. Let's see what we’re in for.

Dark Fortress have a very smooth sound I must say, there isn’t much grimm and necro in the production to be found in Eidolon, which pleases me very much. In fact it doesn’t even sound that much black metal to me at all. Of course there is the trademark black metal guitar sound (a very fine produced sound that is) and the black metal vocals (which feature quite some variation, thank Satan), but some of the riffs could have just as easily been from Machine Head as of this black metal band.

Well, that is a nice aspect of this record I think. It has a nice groove to it, some good melodies and a fine production, making it very suitable for the mainstream black metal scene. Another nice extra are the guest vocals from Celtic Frost’s Tom Gabriel Fisher who sings along in the track ‘Baphomet’. All in all there are enough ingredients to make Eidolon a success, one can conclude. Now let's hope the record finds its way to the fans.