On the debut Belore was a bit unpolished. Some of the songs didn't feel complete, or were lacking a certain something (a melody, a drumbeat, a climax etc.) that held the songs back just slightly. It was a decent enough album but it never did anything to establish itself above average.
A year later Artefacts was released and I didn't really give it a shot until a few weeks ago. While Belore still is not in the elite of the genre, Artefacts is a step up from the debut in nearly every way.
Over the course of six songs Belore tells six different stories. The songs range greatly from track to track. Artefacts of Power plays a hypnotic riff accompanied by high speed drumming and a flute playing a soulful melody over top throughout most of its run time. The following track The Fall of Endeor is unabashed Summoning worship... this is just one example of how much the project has expanded its sound.
The other major improvement is in the songwriting itself. The songs feel more cohesive than they ever did in the past, they have a definitive beginning, middle, and end... they know where they want to go and never meander too much on any one riff or section. Along side the better song structure, the melodies are just outright better. It doesn't matter if its the guitar, keyboards, or vocals directing... they are consistently well done and a few of them are downright excellent (see the keyboard in Moonstone for one example).
It's huge changes, and a very welcome ones. With these changes Belore certainly has me curious about where Aleevok will take their project next. Whatever it is I will be checking out much closer to release than I did with Artefacts.
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