I’ve had this disc in my collection for over a decade now and I didn’t know that it had been reissued. Although it has been pushed aside by other Sol Invictus discs like "King and Queen," "Let Us Prey" (which has live versions of some of the tracks from "Sol Veritas Lux") and others in the more cleaned up apocalyptic folk style, this disc is still one that gets rotation in my CD player. It’s hard to believe that this album is almost 20 years old. Like much of the early stuff from the usual suspects of the World Serpent / People Who Can’t stable, this is raw and unrefined and kind of jarring if you are only familiar with their later work. Sort of like how Death in June’s "Nada!" doesn’t quite fit with "Something is Coming." But it’s nice to shift gears at times and listen to tracks like "Against the Modern World," and the heavy chants of "Wolf-Age, Axe-Age." The disc has gotten a lot of attention, and rightfully so.

Up until now, I have been preaching to the converted. For those unfamiliar with Sol Invictus, the music is a patchwork of Nordic / Pagan / runic imagery. The music is also thick with reminders of ancient Europe and suspicion of progress and modernity. If you need some comparisons, Fire + Ice, Current 93 (Thunder Perfect Mind, Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre), In Gowan Ring, Death in June (What Ends When the Symbols Shatter). Even so, there is a rawness and sense of melancholy not found in any of these comparisons. This is medieval ballad music with an edge. The music is stripped down, with a heavy reliance on the heavy bass presence of Karl Blake. At some times, the song structure is almost a traditional rock song (for example, "Long Live Death" and "Somewhere in Europe"), but mostly sticks with the ballad style ("A Ship is Burning"). Some are a bit strange, such as "Untitled," which is kind of dark and oppressive with spoken word, and "Wolf-Age, Axe-Age," which incorporates chanting and stripped down bass line. Once we get to the "In the Jaws of the Serpent" portion of the disc, the music is even more stripped down. These tracks were performed live. Despite the rough quality of the music, some of the tracks seem to shine in this environment. For example, "Raven Chorus" is much stronger live than in the studio.

This reissue has some unlabeled bonus tracks (different versions of "Angels Fall," "Against the Modern World," and "Summer Ends") which is a nice touch. The updated booklet is a nice touch as well, with more photos and lyrics for the live tracks (the original only has lyrics for the studio tracks. I compared the original to the remastered version and the remastering is most noticeable in the live tracks, but overall a lot cleaner. Overall, this is a good place to start if you haven’t checked out Sol Invictus. This is an album that has stood the test of time.