STARGAZER (Australia) - A Great Work Of Ages (sealed Digipak CD) (2010) Released by Profound Lore Records in a Digipak.
The 2nd full-length studio album from Australia's STARGAZER is powerful, bizarre and yet infectiously catchy with great songwriting. It represents quite a change from their debut album "The Scream That Tore The Sky," which was more blatantly Death/Black Metal in nature, as avant-garde as some of it was. This album, while still firmly on the extreme end of the spectrum, introduces a far more "Heavy Metal" feel to many the riffs and melodies. 
Many of the riffs are very powerful and catchy, with a sense of uplifting attitude that are reminiscent of Iron Maiden or "At The Heart Of Winter" era Immortal, in the Old School sense of Metal being this empowering thing that invigorates the listener. 
Alongside some equally great, more introspective moments, give it a shot of brutality in the vocal department and you have one undeniably brilliant listening experience. There's a considerable change in the sound aesthetic from the debut also. 
This album is a lot more murky sounding, although everything can be heard just fine, its overall more soft on the treble end of things. It has a strange kind of hollow, airy sound that still manages to be pounding when the drums are going full blast. 
Profound Lore Records – PFL 065