Since blazing into the Australian metal scene in mid-2004, Aussie black/goth metal band Leicohtica has proven it’s a force to be reckoned with.

The band was voted runner-up in the Australian metal music awards, had a top 30 spot in the Musicoz awards, was a finalist in the Jim Beam national battle of the bands and made several highly acclaimed festival appearances, not to mention a slew of interstate tour dates supporting some of Australia’s biggest name acts.

The band has set the hearts and minds of black metal fans on fire Australia-wide, and now, with its follow-up to 2004 release In Torments Garden, titled The Balance of Fire, the band returns with a more sophisticated, darker and refined aural assault.

Described by critics as “defiantly beautiful and angelically graceful whilst simultaneously bearing the full force of hell down upon its listeners,” this album is sure to cause controversy as it blends elements of neo-classical death metal, symphonic black metal and gothic metal into what can only be described as viciously brutal and immensely soft. To get this sound the band uses soprano, mezzo-soprano and baritone operatic voices with crushing death metal growls, furious double kickers and devastating guitar riffage to create its disobediently eclectic “beauty and the beast” style.