Edge of Sanity - Infernal (1997)

'Infernal' was the final Edge of Sanity recording under the classic line-up of Dan Swanö, Andreas Axelsson, Sami Nerberg, Anders Lindberg and Benny Larsson as rising artistic differences between Dan and Andreas had reached there peak and forced the band apart, but not before they cut one final record with this line-up..., well sort of. The eleven songs feature three different line-up combination's of these five gentlemen plus Peter Tagtgren of Hypocrisy playing lead guitar on, 'The Bleakness of It All' as well as four different guest lyricists with the most notably being Michael Akerfeldt (Opeth) & Jonas Renske (Katatonia).

Musically Infernal is a rough and wild ride of the classic progressive death metal sound that EoS was already known for at this time (Dan wrote these five songs) while some of Axelsson's songs seem to hanker back to the, 'Nothing but Death Remains' days.

Despite all the chaos and for what its worth songs like, 'Hell Is Where the Heart Is' & '15:36' are some of the best songs Dan ever wrote and as I already said its totally classic EoS here while, 'Losing Myself' is one of Dan's entirely clean vocal alternative metal songs, which much like the songs in this vein before them is quite outstanding and catchy. 'The Last Song' is interesting as well since it opens with a melancholic cello & piano duo and despondent lead vocals before diving into a mid-paced and quite stunning instrumental and eventually ambient ending.

The remaining songs are wrote by Axelsson and four of them do feature Dan's hard growling vocals, but are clean vocal and progressively lacking, and as I already said it sounds a lot like the first EoS album. On the other hand, 'Helter Skelter' & 'The Bleakness of It All' are interesting songs since they have a sound that's reminiscent of Marduk's, 'Dark Endless,' which in case you didn't know featured Andreas as the vocalist. Although these songs are not as fast they are still speedy little death metal numbers with black-ish vocals and you know lot's of people have always considered Marduk to be black metal band, but if you go back to this first album and listen you'll see under all the corpsepaint and upside down crosses that musically its very much a death metal album.

In the end, 'Infernal' is a very uneven album, but some truly great songs still do grace it, but if the journey is to weird then just rip all the songs, throw 'em on your mp3 player and enjoy them on a more random basis.

After this album Dan was booted and in the same year Robban Karlsson stepped in to replace him and although I haven't heard, 'Cryptic' yet, I hear its not as bad as some people make it out to be, its just different. In 1999 Dan recorded, 'Moontower' solely, which some people actually consider to be the true ending of EoS. Edge of Sanity then broke up, but as you may know Dan revived it in 2003 and released, 'Crimson II' before finally letting Edge of Sanity rest in peace.

DEADHORSE w/ William James @ The Soapbox, Wilmington, NC - 02.26.11

You know those nights: the ones where you are fresh off work, tired, bored to death, needing a beer, and wishing something was going on. You get home and decide to do a random sweep of the local venues to see if any shows are coming up worth checking out. You then notice that a great band is playing THAT NIGHT, door have already opened; you say 'hell yes', and head downtown. This was me last night, and as it turns out, I was able to catch an amazing show thanks to my random internet sweep.

DEADHORSE are an Erie, PA-based post rock band utilizing heavy piano riffs layered on the standard guitar-heavy post rock sound. While this by itself makes for a great concert, they are touring with William James, a Pittsburgh-based slam poet. James delivered a ten minute long slam poem opening, as Deadhorse layered sounds underneath. James's words ranged from vaguely religious to suicidal to hopeful to depressed and back to hopeful again. He told stories of broken homes, broken dreams, and fighting back. He was an imposing figure; his voice hit like a sledgehammer. I have never seen slam poetry in such a setting, and it's incorporation was amazing.

When James finished, Deadhorse went immediately into 'No Particular Night or Morning', the opener from their 2010 full-length "We Can Create Our Own World." Live post-rock is an amazing experience because, unlike many other genres, the emotions drawn out by the music vary greatly from moment to moment in the songs. Deadhorse weaved their sound around the minds of the audience, lulling them into trances one moment with calming ambiance and then bringing the waves crashing back with tremendous crescendos that shook the floor. Their cohesion was amazing. After Deadhorse trekked through several of the tracks off their album, James came back on stage, again delivering a poem over walls of atmosphere (I believe it was the track 'The Long Rain'), before they all ended the night with thanks and cheers.

This was an incredible, unique concert experience, and if this tour is swinging near you, be sure to check it out.

http://www.facebook.com/deadhorsemusic

Uvall - October Turns... Ruined (2006)

Uvall was the solo project of Lord of Storms (AKA Todd Paulsen) from the frozen north of Minnesota, USA. Between '03 & '06 he released two great black metal records, which I'm assuming went mostly unnoticed. The first album, 'Obsidian Torment' was mid-paced, eerie, repetitive, minimal black metal with occasional bursts of speed with a fairly raw production to boot. This follow-up, 'October Turns... Ruined' and ultimately his last creation before moving onto the band Dormant was similar but considerably more creative in the long run.

Much like the last album, Lord of Storms is still the sole mastermind behind the project and plays almost all the instruments (guitars, bass, vocals, synths, samples) except the acoustic guitars on track 5 are performed by M.U. Rotella, and the drums on this album are performed by Chris Donolan.

The music on the other hand seems to keep up with Uvall’s trademark old school black metal sound but with a few songs sounding rather influenced by the likes of Xasthur, Leviathan and Sapthuran. The difference however is where these three bands have a deep suffocating production that I can’t stand, this album, while still raw in style is much more properly produced and adequately audible when compared.

Uvall takes a lot of that dark doomy slow black metal sound from Xasthur and Leviathan and adds the acoustics of Sapthuran to the mix. Once again Lord of Storms manages to come up with some outstanding riffs that are just boding with evil and send shivers through your body as you listen. There’s even some guitar solos on a few of these songs, which is something I don’t remember being a big part of on the last album. Not to forget the vocal performance, which is definitely as strong and sinister as ever. There's also some moments during this record where its purely ambient and full of atmosphere as well as some minor progressive and post influences make an appearance. Furthermore the acoustic guitars are just brilliant, especially the already mentioned, ‘A Corpse in Ravens Lake,’ which is simply beautiful sounding.

There is not clear cut favorite off the album since the whole thing flows so well, but I do believe the title track, ‘Melancholy,’ and ‘Beckoning Death’ are the moments where Uvall shows the most promise that Uvall was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. However as I already mentioned earlier Todd went onto releasing music under the Dormant moniker, which is a bit different, but much like this under appreciated release is quite excellent.

Rotting Christ - A Dead Poem (1997)

Like any band that's been together for over twenty years, Athens, Greece based band, Rotting Christ has gone through a multitude of changes. Beginning life in the late 80's when the Tolis brothers, Themis & Sakis were between the ages of 15-17 the band pumped out a few demos in the grindcore vein before eventually embracing the rising black metal movement in the early 90's and unleashing their legendary debut, 'Thy Mighty Contract' in 1993. By time they released their third album in '96, 'Triarchy of the Lost Lovers' the band was changing and a year later they released this album, 'A Dead Poem,' which by most peoples claims is a Gothic metal release and also their sell out record... but honestly I dig it quite a bit, and always have.

Basically with this album the band took the dark atmospheric edge of black metal, slowed down the speed considerably, they produced the record adequately, wrote amazingly catchy and melodic riffs/solos and used their countries mythology as a source of lyrics.

Songs like, 'Sorrowful Farewell' or 'Among Two Storms' are powerful and catchy little numbers, which I've loved for years and the inclusion of Fernando of Moonspell as a backing vocalist on Among Two Storms only makes the song better. 'As if by Magic' has a beautifully heroic opening to it and 'Between Times' has some of the best synth work I've ever heard, which by the way is played by Xy of Samael fame. I wouldn't hesitate to say this is my all-time favorite Rotting Christ track as its absolutely incredible from start to finish.

Through the record Sakis' vocals are full of emotion, but sort of a tortured and melancholic sentiment as his unique raspy vocals guide you through these sinister compositions. The drums are performed decently, obviously not very fast, but still well done, the bass is present and the synths are very foreboding, monumental and atmospheric in their delivery. But in the end its all about the guitar and Sakis as the lone guitarist on this album never sounded better. As I already said his guitar work is catchy and certainly tasteful and very melodic in character and if melody is your thing in music you'll absolutely adore his brilliant riffs and solos on A Dead Poem.

The initial US pressing of this release also contained a bonus compilation titled, 'Darkness we Feel,' which I guess was Gothic metal bands from Century Media's roster. Interestingly some exclusive tracks appear on this comp., namely a Borknagar track called, 'The Quest' from an upcoming album named, 'The Graven Domain,' which as you may know was later changed, but The Quest never re-surfaced anywhere else. There's also a Lacuna Coil demo track from '96 called, 'Shallow End' and its interesting since growled male vocals appear within and I don't believe they had any of that on their early releases, but I could be wrong. You also get great tracks from Ulver, Tiamat, Sacramentum and Unleashed. A nice little bonus, indeed.

In the end A Dead Poem brought serious attention to Rotting Christ while their black metal purist fans from the past just made it their life's work to bitch and complain about how they used to be good, of course probably never even giving this album and honest chance. If you missed this one then definitely give it a chance as I feel its Rotting Christ performing at tip top shape.

Endless Dismal Moan - Lord of Nightmare (2006)

While I absolutely enjoyed everything Chaos9 released during his lifetime, his sophomore effort, 'Lord of Nightmare' utterly defines black metal excellence.

Lord of Nightmare much like his other work is that of a nightmarish occurrence. I honestly can’t say when the last time was that I experienced such a frightening, gripping, hallucinating, spellbindingly evil recording as this one. Seriously the riffs in this thing send shivers up and down my spine, the hairs on my arm standout up and quiver, and as I continue on listening I feel my very thoughts might betray me to do something wicked. The guitars tend to have this very mesmerizing and doom-ish like feeling to them that draws you in and simply wont let you escape. The riffs are extraordinarily dark and horrifying giving me that same feeling I caught when I first discovered black metal music years ago.

Amongst these calamitous chords are brutally programmed drums that at no point sound human, but more like some sort of futuristic death contraption hooked up to my psyche. When played at blistering fast speeds they give the music this harsh industrial drum sound that reminds me of Mysticum, and I fucking love Mysticum! Plus with eerie synth that brings me back to the first Emperor album, random piano tinkling's and vocals, which are high pitched throat lacerating screams of agony. It’s impossible to decipher whether or not Chaos9 is screaming in English or Japanese, but one thing for sure when you combine these screams with his fearsome music the results are quite satisfying for the deranged and angered listeners that EDM no doubt touched home with. Yes, you can bet you’re in for one tremendous journey with this recording.

‘Thirst’ for example starts out with a ghostly synth melody, where soon raw otherworldly hypnotic guitars enter the song, and the destruction viciously spreads and consumes your very mortal essence from you. ‘ENDLESS DISMAL MOAN [9 to Death]’ again scares the living hell out of me, opening with a light synth melody, soon guitar feedback and harsh noise roll up, and torturous serpent like screams began to address you for nine minutes of throbbing brilliance. The title track or 'I.S.L.N.W.D.' are immense too and depending on how fucked up you are may become your new favorite songs after hearing them.

Sometimes raw vicious black metal, sometimes doomy and ambient, but always something beyond simple description, Endless Dismal Moan was outstanding! To call this anything less than a masterpiece would be wasted, as this is one of the scariest and quite simply one of the best black metal records I've personally ever heard.

平和のうちに残り、Chaos9！

Nargaroth - Black Metal Ist Krieg (A Dedication Monument) (2001)

There was a time when Nargaroth was among the most elite and respected bands in the true black metal underground, and people paid top bucks for rare early releases like, 'Herbstleyd' & 'Fuck Off Nowadays Black Metal,' but this was before the truth was exposed and some truths can really hurt.

Y'see in the late 90's when Rene "Kanwulf" Wagner formed Nargaroth he came up with a slew of claims and lies (many of which were not easily proven to be false until a few years later), which was done with the intention of adding extra hype and cult like status to his band. Kanwulf spinned yarns of forming the band in the late 80's (thus making Nargaroth the first black metal band from Germany), as well as claiming to know certain Norwegian personalities, two of which were dead and the other whom was incarcerated at the time, and as well a series of ridiculous interviews, threats against bands and people in the scene and even some crazy message board fiasco, but as I said eventually the truth was exposed and Kanwulf was shamed, infinitely. However before all that went down he (along with a few session members) recorded, 'Black Metal Ist Krieg (A Dedication Monument),' and its pretty damn good too!

Nargaroth as you probably already guessed plays raw buzzing trebly sounding true black metal, which sounds like it was actually recorded in various different studios due to the varying production qualities and tones within the instruments. The album itself is meant to be a dedication to black metal and with song titles like, 'The Day Burzum Killed Mayhem' & 'Possessed by Black Fucking Metal' plus four cover versions of old cult BM bands (Azhubham Haani, Lord Foul, Root and Moonblood) it seemed Kanwulf had firmly placed himself in this black metal life style, which Kanwulf obviously longed to be a part of no matter what the cost.

The album kicks off with, 'Introduction,' which sounds amazingly similar to Gorgoroth's demo track, 'Gathered at Blåkulla,' but in case you missed that one its basically just a bunch of guitar feedback and violent screaming or maybe its the sounds of Varg Vikernes getting raped in prison (I have no idea). Anyway, the next two songs are fairly simple raw black metal compositions, but the album truly reaches a point of perfection with, 'Seven Tears Are Flowing to the River,' which is a nearly fifteen minute depressive black metal song and quite simply one of the best I've ever heard. 'I Burn for you,' which is a Lord Foul cover is simple and fun and so is the song, 'The Day Burzum Killed Mayhem' even though its meant to be serious the lyrics are a bit too ridiculous.

'Amarok - Zorn Des Lammes III' is also quite good and I really like the folk-ish sounding repetitive riff that exists throughout most of the song, also, 'Erik, May You Rape the Angels,' which is dedicated to Erik Brødreskift is admirable and even though Moonblood is one of the worse bands in the entire existence of recorded music I kind of like Nargaroth's cover version of, 'The Gates Of Eternity.' And hell you've just got to love the energetic ending jam, 'Possessed by Black Fucking Metal,' which again was probably meant to be serious, but, well ya know.

I remember buying this record in 2001 just a few months prior to my 20th year of existence and as much as I hate to admit it I REALLY got into black metal after listening to this album. Needless to say, but I will anyway, I sported the typical black metal look and then some (long black hair, combat boots, only black clothing, etc.) and also spent most of my pay checks on old rare recordings, many of which I've since re-sold on eBay because it was mostly shit, but when you're young and you want to be part of something special you'll do just about anything, just like Kanwulf.

Nevertheless, 'Black Metal Ist Krieg' is a great recording of raw black metal that I still enjoy quite a bit and it is truly the finest moment for Nargaroth and Mr. Kanwulf too.

Ganzmord - Monolithic in Darkness (2005)

Arisen from the desert wasteland of Arizona, USA, 'Monolithic in Darkness' is some of the most malicious, crude, abhorrent, orthodox, catastrophic, unadulterated black fucking venomous wickedness ever conceived!

While probably only appreciably under moods of intense fury, lunacy, and suffering, Ganzmord is truly something. The name is a combination of the German words, “Ganz,” which is a prefix meaning total or complete, and “mord,” which is a suffix meaning death or murder and you might have some idea of what to expect before going into this one, but let me assure you of one thing - this isn’t your kid sisters black metal!

Ganzmord’s music largely has two sides to it; it’s extremely fast, harsh and dissonant with a few melodic guitar parts, blast beats, and some of the most inhuman vocals ever recorded, while at other times the music shifts to a dreadfully slow misanthropic doom pace with noise and drone parts, all the while with a rehearsal like production to it. If you enjoy bands like Ildjarn, Clandestine Blaze, Endless Dismal Moan, Krieg, Darkthrone, Burzum, Profanatica, Blasphemy and Beherit its entirely possible you’ll find much to be fond of on this tremendous recording.

However even as Ganzmord does bare similarities to those artists it should be noted that Ganzmord is no copy and holds its ground as a firmly unique black metal project. Highlights for me are, 'Enemy of Humanity,' 'Demoness of Whores,' and definitely the frightening suicidal doomy black metal masterpiece, 'Black Monolithic.' The cover of Darkthrone’s classic, 'Transilvanian Hunger' is also dead on and sounds just as good as the original if not better.

The production is as I already said very rehearsal-ish in character, raw, discordant and LOUD! You'll see what I'm talking about soon as you hit play, and don't expect any cutesy intros either - it's fucking terror from the first second onwards. And those vocals, damn, you'll either love 'em or hate 'em, I'm sure Ganzmord would prefer you hate 'em, because he fucking hates you.

After this recording Ganzmord released a split with Greek one-man band, Dodsferd and in 2009 a 7" called, 'In Praise of the Weeping Filth,' but all has been silent since and hopefully this isn't the end because such callous, forbidding, trance inducing and darkly atmospheric music like Monolithic in Darkness is absolutely superb.

Sentenced - North from Here (1993)

It might not be of much interest to many folks out there, but February 18th marks the two years its been since Sentenced founder, lead guitarist and all around band mastermind, Miika Tenkula, was found dead in his apartment having suffered a heart attack at the tender age of 34. To me it means something because Sentenced both their new and old records alike are among some of my most favorite music ever created and although I never met Miika personally I felt like I lost a friend when news broke of his passing. So, today is the day to pump those Sentenced records loud. I'll go with my favorite, the bands definitive masterpiece, 1993's, 'North From Here.'

‘North from Here’ was beyond a doubt a special album and although just the bands second release it showed a dramatic improvement over their debut album, 'Shadows of the Past, which although is quite decent it was something of a typical death metal album, and as such its probably not as heavily remembered, but North from Here absolutely crushes. This album saw the band moving into a more melodic direction and although the Swedes get all the credit for melodic death metal genre this album should not be overlooked for the absolute unrivaled perfection it holds.

1993 was a big year for this genre as In Flames and Dark Tranquillity would go on to release their debuts by years end, but Sentenced unleashed this beast in June of that year, which happened to also be just a month after Dissection released their masterwork, 'The Somberlain.' While I love all of that early material from In Flames and DT, Sentenced still manages to completely obliterate them and gave Dissection a pretty good run for their money too on, 'North From Here.'

Lead by the vibrant and highly engaging melodic guitar work of Tenkula and Sami Lopakka, outstanding drumming from Vesa Ranta, the violent and quite insane growls, screams and roars and competent bass guitar work of Taneli Jarva, plus the occasionally use of keyboards and acoustic guitars made Sentenced truly a force to be reckoned with in these early days.

All glorious solos and riffs aside, what I really adore about this album is the whole atmosphere it gives off. Soon as, 'My Sky is Darker Than Thine' chimes into my ears and those first pummeling riffs erupt out my speakers its like a fucking overload of head banging insanity for this metal head here. The same could be said for, 'Awaiting the Winter Frost' and although I don't know why, but I've always had this little fantasy about being in a band and playing a live cover of this song.

Another compelling aspect of this release is Lopakka and Jarva’s lyrics. While most extreme metal bands at the time were writing tales about their morbid desires, love for Satan and other evil entities, Sentenced strayed away from that and wrote lyrics dealing more with battles, northern beauty, sorrow and general hatred for the world. Oh, and Taneli Jarva's vocals absolutely kill on this album and if you ever wondered who that dude from Children of Bodom ripped off vocally (or tried at least) then give this album a spin and you'll find out. To name favorites from this album is really quite futile as every song on this release is of high quality and thoroughly compelling, but the two mentioned above and the song, 'Wings' have made my life much better since I heard this album.

Additionally if you’re considering purchasing this album I would suggest picking up the Century Media re-issue, which also contains the bands debut album on disc two as well as, 'The Trooper' EP from '94 and the, '92 'Journey to Pohjola' demo, plus additional liner notes and photos.

It seems like Sentenced often gets over looked as a pioneer in the melodic death metal genre due to their quick metamorphosis after this album and onward, but all I can say is this is one of the best albums to found within this genre and a must for anyone that even remotely considers themselves a fan of melodic extreme metal.

Summoning - Lugburz (1995)

Having been together for nearly twenty years now, Vienna, Austria's Summoning has been creating some of the most majestic and unique music this side of Middle Earth, however in the early days things were a bit different sounding. I always find it to be interesting to go back to bands debut albums, especially if said band has been making music for years with many great releases behind them. This particularly tends to hold truth for a lot of early black metal bands since they've often gotten weaker in their fierce storming callousness or completely changed to some sort of easily acceptable sound breed purely for monetary gain as their career progresses (Satyricon, I'm looking at you).

‘Lugburz’ the debut from Summoning is their most black metal sounding recording and really their only creation (the demo tapes too) that fits in the typical confines of the black metal genre. You won’t find the bands now trademark drawn out heavily synthesized epic medieval Tolkien inspired music with minimal black metal influences here, but what you will still find is one stunning black metal release. The music presented on Lugburz features raw tremolo picked melodic guitars, fast but decent drumming, small keyboard/piano usage and Silenius’ merciless tortured screams (Protector backs him up and Pazuzu also adds some narration); more or less creating the typical black metal sound.

There are some moments where synth is solely used, which bare similarities to where the band would be going in the future, but generally the album sticks to a straight forward early 90's Norwegian black metal sound, though it hardly sounds like Burzum, Immortal or Mayhem. The guitar tone however is quite similar to the first Satyricon album, yes, buzzed up chainsawed and raw as the dead and holy fuck I love those riffs in, 'Flight of the Nazgul' & 'Dragons of Time.' The overall production is thin, but it creates a great atmosphere and the drums are totally organic and almost live sounding and hell even the bass guitar is slightly audible. As no surprise parts of this album doesn’t sound entirely different from the first Abigor album either, which maybe explains why the band decided to change their style.

With, 'Lugburz' Summoning managed to create a real masterpiece with this recording that has the typical Norwegian black metal ingredients, yet somehow still transcends a lot of the other bands out there at the time. Sure it’s different, and it’s generally lacking that epic sound that the band is well known for, but features excellent memorable guitar work and just the right malevolent dark atmosphere to hook you in and keep you coming back for more.

Black Funeral - Empire of Blood (1997)

Formed in 1993 within Indianapolis, Indiana, Michael Ford's Black Funeral is among the first and longest running black metal acts in the US of A. Straying a bit a way from the typical blasphemous and satanic worship Michael has always centered his lyrics around occultism, Luciferianism and Vampyrism and has also published several books on these topics as well as occasionally recording live speeches and rituals. Not to forget he's also participated in no less than eight different bands over the years too. During the near twenty years that Michael (AKA Baron Drakkonian Abaddon) has been working with Black Funeral both himself and various members have released eight studio albums with 1997's, 'Empire of Blood' being his sophomore effort.

Musically Empire of Blood is straight forward black metal with raw blood soaked trebly guitars, ominous bass work, fast and mostly solid drum work, hellishly screamed yet distant sounding vocals plus a few dark ambient parts here and there. If I must be honest though the actual recording quality is very, very similar to Emperor's, 'Wrath of the Tyrant' demo tape, and I wont jump to any conclusions, but it really sounds like Mike was trying to emulate that Norwegian classic. Unfortunately though the overall volume is very low as well thus forcing me to crank my speakers to levels I'd otherwise not turn to. However its pretty clear by the time, 'Opferblut' chimes its way into my living room that Mike has no love for anyone and its the whole nihilistic and hate filled feelings that this recording gives off that makes me enjoy it all the more.

The album is amazingly atmospheric and generally just creepy sounding, almost as if his intentions were to commit some sort of violent ritual to tape. The eleven songs whip by in just thirty five minutes too, but not before my ears are treated to a variety of wicked and sometimes even catchy riffs. The vocals are also superb and as I mentioned above this distant quality to them almost like they were recorded in a cellar. Some very briefly spoken female vocals make their appearance as well, but they really don't add much to the whole experience, but variety is never a bad thing either. Not a single word of what Mike screams is decipherable, but if you open the booklet and take a glance you'll see that Mike has written some incredibly detailed lyrics to these songs. And, yeah, not much to the cover artwork either, perhaps he's a Gorgoroth fan?

Empire of Blood isn't for everyone, but if you have a thing for ridiculously raw abysmal music then perhaps Black Funeral's 'Grim Medieval Vampyric Black Metal' will appeal to you.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Anathema - Serenades (1993)

I'm quite passionate about everything Anathema recorded from 1992 through 1999, and although many changes were made in the bands line-up and their sound the core of the Cavanagh brothers creativity was always present. Their 2001 attempt at alternative atmospheric rock, 'A Fine Day to Exit' didn't really hit home with me and 2003's, 'A Natural Disaster' was slightly better but it just seemed like they were moving further and further away from their past greatness with simplified musical ideas. I haven't heard their most recent, 'We’re Here Because We’re Here' largely due to the fact that the album title sounds incredibly pretentious and because it was never released domestically, but maybe one day I'll get my hands on a copy.

But never mind the present. Let's hop in the Time Machine and head back to the past.

At the time of this recording Anathema were still just five youngsters (Vincent, Duncan and John were under 20) and after inking a four year record contract with Peaceville the previous year, in February of 1993 Anathema unleashed their debut album, ‘Serenades.’

Serenades is considered by many to be one of the most highly influential death/doom metal recordings along with Paradise Lost's, 'Gothic' & My Dying Bride's, 'As the Flower Withers,' both of which appeared in '91 & '92.

What I find to be so outstanding about this album is the intricate guitar work of the Cavanagh brothers Vincent & Daniel. Almost all of the riffs in this album are just so colossal, strong and heavily aggressive yet depressive sounding that at one moment you might feel inclined to bang your head, but at other times the desire to weep hopelessly with the oppressive sorrows they seem to convey. Meanwhile original vocalist Darren White sang with a low gruff death metal voice and I've always thought these slowly growled out vocals do well in adding a disheartening atmosphere to the album, while at other times his cleanly spoken vocals, which sound extremely sad as well his lyrics spinning tales of lost love and a life of regret are absolutely brilliant.

Having been listening to this album for over ten years now I've always felt the album as a whole is nearly perfect from start to finish, but there is three tracks especially that put me in complete awe every time I hear them. The opener, ‘Lovelorn Rhapsody’ is truly an epic doom metal song as it opens with eerie keyboards then the heavy riffing comes into play and Darren begins to speak in a soft melancholic voice before unleashing low guttural roars of pain. The first part of this song is slow, heavy and disenchanting with some truly gorgeous riffs, however towards the end of the song it becomes much faster and you’ll actually find yourself head banging with mad enthusiasm. I remember this was another one of those songs I used as an alarm clock for many days/weeks in a row back in the day.

‘They (Will Always) Die’ is quite similar to Lovelorn Rhapsody, but forgoes the faster part and ends with an epic and quite touching symphonic outro, though I believe it is just a synthesized piece. Lastly, ‘J’ai Fait une Promesse’ is very similar to the song, ‘Everwake’ found on the, ‘Crestfallen’ EP as this is another melancholic acoustic song featuring the beautiful female voice of session member, Ruth.

There are other notable songs as well like, 'Sweet Tears,' which really isn't depressing in any way, but its still a really great death/doom song, and I guess, 'Sleepless' is the fan favorite from this album though I honestly think its the worst song on the album. Also since you probably have one of the re-issues of the album you might also have the lengthy ending ambient piece, 'Dreaming: The Romance' or perhaps some of the songs from the Crestfallen EP, but apparently at least six different re-issues exist with different bonus material.

At times Serenades is odd and uncomfortable, slow and sad and strangely even hard, fast and heavy, but no matter, its an unsurpassed death/doom metal recording, which means a lot to me.

Netra - Mélancolie Urbaine (2010)

Someone has probably already kicked off a review of this album saying something similar to what I'm about to say, but, what the hell, I'm going to say it regardless.

So, have you ever wondered what Norway's Ulver might have sounded like had they not fully delved into the world of electronic music after, 'Themes From William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' and had brought some of the bands initial black metal influences along with them for the ride that was, 'Perdition City?' As it turns out, Quimper, Brittany, France solo project, Netra may have a partial answer for you.

Netra is a trip hop band with black metal influences...

...now, wait just a moment.

Does that make sense?

What time is it? Where am I? What's with that guy on the corner over there staring at me?

And what the fuck is trip hop anyway?

Well, Wikipedia says, "Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronica fused with hip-hop beats until neither genre is recognizable."

To my ears Netra sounds like a fair mix between Ulver's classic, 'Perdition City' release and perhaps a band like Massive Attack plus with the seamless blending of heavy doomy raw sounding black metal riffs. And here's the thing that's gonna get ya! It actually works, and it works well!

Each song tends to carry a depressive and mysterious tone to it and it sort of offers up the feeling of traveling through a large well lit city on a rainy night, and although a rare experience for me I can't help but bring up this comparison. It's like you're surrounded by something big, bold and possibly beautiful, but you ache inside, you're tired, fed up with life, you hate your boss, your girlfriends a bitch and you just want to go home, rest and forget the world ever existed. This is the feeling this album gives me.

It's impressive the way a lot of the songs start with very typical electronic trip hop elements, programmed percussion, samples, cleanly sung vocals, but then suddenly things shift dramatically towards a funeral doom/black metal sound with raspy screaming vocals, ominous bass guitar, occasional blasting on the drums, but then again sometimes everything is blended perfectly too.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite from this release as its all quite diverse and engaging, but the first song, 'City Lights' is exceptional and I just adore the way this nameless creator of interesting music grabs two genres that have absolutely no relation and have no business being together and makes it work. 'Through the Fear' is another standout and in my opinion the catchiest song on, 'Mélancolie Urbaine,' while, 'Outside...Maybe' is Netra at its finest once again.

I must point out, however, that Netra is a trip hop band first, and a black metal band second. Meaning, if you have issues with electronic music this release might not hit home with you instantly or if even at all. However if you're the sort of black metal listener that appreciates innovative and adventurous music then this might just be the release for you.

Filii Nigrantium Infernalium - Fellatrix Discordia Pantokrator (2005)

I have to admit when this release appeared in my mailbox back in '05 I figured this bands music to be within the death metal genre and after turning it over and seeing the Portuguese titles I thought, 'Yippie, Brazilian death metal.' I couldn’t have been more wrong.

This Portuguese band Filii Nigrantium Infernalium’s history dates as far back as 1989 where the band was formed under the Bactherion moniker and in 1991 they changed names and released a demo in 1993. Over the next ten years they only released two EPs and now after all these years they’ve finally released a full length album. Interestingly Moonspell thanks Filii in the booklet of their debut, 'Wolfheart,' though I suppose these guys will not quite stir up as much attention as Moonspell did with Wolfheart.

Anyway, Filli’s music is a barbaric battering of rocking thrash metal molded with a smigden of black metal to form one powerful and massively enjoyable album. The music mostly continues along in this path but there are a few moments early in the album where things slow down a bit for more atmospheric moods. Otherwise though it’s heavily melodic beguiling guitars coalescing with great drumming and one maniac of a lead singer. Guitarist’s Andremon & Belarhauzer certainly know what there doing on this album by hitting the listeners with tremendous riff after freaking’ tremendous riff! There are also some really astonishing solos on this album in particular one very memorable one at the end of, ‘Cães de Guerra’ that I simply had to play over and over again until I could advance further in the album.

Belarhauzer additionally handles the vocals and they really are fairly unique. They certainly are rooted in black metal (but are still understandable) with these hellish high pitched screams that remind me of Silenius from Abigor. Really hard to describe but if you like wild vocalists than your going to like this guy. I won’t go into naming favorites because frankly after the atmospheric intro ends its nothing but pure blackened thrashing rocking metal for the next forty three minutes.

As ever, Filii Nigrantium Infernalium has been slow with releasing material, but they did unleash a new EP last year called, 'Rëtrofornicatör.' I guess some bands just move slow.

Velonnic Sin - Ophidious (2007)

It's been just a little over three years since this albums original 2007 release, and while its been my hope that eventually listeners would catch on and discover Velonnic Sin it seems this black metal gem has gone almost completely unnoticed, and probably will remain so.

VS originally came into creation in New York back in 2003 as Velinnos’ solo project with Kaluer and Infirmity adding session drums and synths. In 2003 the debut demo, ‘Daemonized Dreams’ was released and a year later paired up with Sin Origin’s demo, ‘Beyond the Cemetery Gates’ as a low priced split release. In 2005 the debut eight track, thirty nine minute album, ‘Ritual’ was released by blackmetal.com records. Shortly thereafter Sin Origin drummer Nemesis Infernum was added to the VS ranks making the band a two piece affair with Velinnos on guitar, bass, vocals and lyrics, while Nemesis Infernum played all drums/percussion and backing vocals. At the end up 2007 the duo produced their sophomore release, ‘Ophidious’ a forty six minute, eight track release that dealt with the presence of serpents in various cultures and religions.

Ophidious carries on in a similar path as the bands debut, ‘Ritual,’ however this time around all facets of the bands music appear improved. The music is considerably more melodic with plenty of interesting guitar riffs as well as even a few solos here and there. Besides these appealing qualities I also simply find the music to be catchier and full of energy from start to finish. Nemesis Infernum's drum work is beyond exceptional and if you’ve had the opportunity to hear Sin Origin ever than it should be more than obvious that he is one of the finest black metal drummers out there today. I’ve always been a bit of an appreciator of fast drum rolls and Nemesis offers up plenty of them during this recording as well as the high-speed double bass pedal work you'd expect in black metal. Of course his playing isn't all about speed as there are plenty of slower moments during this recording too.

I’m really overwhelmed by the whole flow of this album as well. Soon as the ominous intro, ‘A Dream In Leucism’ comes to a close and the commanding, ‘Vengeance And The Gray’ enters I think you’ll see how colossal this album is. The band even gives the listener a bit of time to catch their breath with the song, ‘Impurity,’ which is a bit slower, but they come back just as dynamically brutal as before with the stunning, ‘Constricting The Dead.’ I also find myself really impressed by, ‘Lernæan Fiend’ and ‘Shedding The Firmament,’ but the whole bloody album is just tremendous.

I think most will label Velonnic Sin as fast melodic black metal band, but what’s interesting is that there are plenty of spots in this album where the music becomes calmer and more menacing sounding. The intro to Shedding The Firmament is certainly proof of this. Therefore basically what I’m trying to say is this isn’t the standard brutal monotony of Marduk or Dark Funeral here.

I must also mention the detailed and impressive lyrics and Velinnos’ vocals have always blown me away as well. His vocal attack has always sounded very original to me, and I think the only voice you could compare it to might be the singer from Kult of Azazel. There are also some spoken vocals on this album as well Nemesis Infernum adds some lower growled vocals and of course not to forget the Gregorian style chants throughout the album.

If there’s anything more that needs to be said than it is this: Get this album! As I said before this is quite possibly the best black metal album I heard in 2007 and is simply a must for those that enjoy speedy melodic black metal with excellent lyrics, great production values, and an overall perfect performance from the two members.

Unfortunately it looks like nowadays VS may very well be finished, but they definitely made a lasting impression in the black metal genre with this colossal release known as, 'Ophidious.'

Thee, we hail!

Profanatica - The Enemy of Virtue (2006)

I've always had a passion for ancient metal terrorists like Beherit, Sarcófago, Blasphemy, Hellhammer and other unholy raw black metal purveyors of sonic sacrilegious metal torment. However out of that bunch, New York based three piece Profanatica was the first I heard years ago and largely one of the best too.

Profanatica are infamously remembered as the band who made a video interview where the three corpsepainted members extensively talked about their distaste for all things Christian, while burning bible pages, giggling, making funny growly faces and eventually taking turns masturbating on the bible. Also from 1990 to 1992 they recorded three demos, one EP and a split release with Colombian based band, Masacre. Sometime in '92 they inked a deal with Osmose Productions and recorded a full-length album, but the master tapes were accidentally destroyed in the studio and the band broke up shortly thereafter. Paul, Brett and Aragon continued onwards with bands like Cyberchrist, Demonic Christ and Havohej when in 2001 Paul decided to reform Profanatica with a new line-up. Since then they've released three new full-length albums and a variety of old material in various formats.

Over the course of two CDs, 'The Enemy of Virtue' gathers together all of the bands early releases as well as the, 'Broken Jew' single from 2002, a Toten (pre-Profanatica band) rehearsal and a short live set from 2001. Although this release has been out a few years I only just recently bought it, and at least now I can finally toss those old CDr's I've had laying around for the past ten years or so.

The albums 29 tracks unfold in a mostly chronological manner with the exception of the Toten rehearsal, which is at the end of disc 1, but continues chronologically with the live set on disc 2. Although Profanatica fancied calling themselves the most blasphemous and evil black metal band ever a lot of these songs sound greatly influenced by the likes of Morbid Angel, Immolation and Incantation (which was actually formed by these three gentlemen and John McEntee in 1989) with the evil dissonant tremolo picked riff style and frantic drum work of black metal music. Some keyboards are very briefly used as intros/outros and some clearly spoken parts are present, but otherwise expect nothing but raging chaos.

The music is raw in character and is certainly not for those that have issues with harsh production jobs, but the quality does vary and slightly improve at times over the course of the compilation. As you might expect this under produced tone adds to these overly blasphemous tunes and makes them all of the more atmospheric and deliciously evil. The bands lyrics are also not that deep or poetic, just simple hate filled declarations of war, desecration and sodomy upon the Christian hordes. It should be noted though that a few songs do turn up more than once on this compilation, but thankfully they do vary in style and production. Lastly the booklet has the Profanatica story, pictures of all the release covers as well as various band photos, yes, including the legnedary photo of the band naked in the woods, slathered in corpsepaint, covered in blood with erect cocks to boot.

Profanatica isn't for everyone, but for those that have an interest in the most blasphemous roots of American black metal should look no further than these guys, because this is where it all started.

Toxic Holocaust - Hell on Earth (2005)

I must be getting old or something because I just really don't care that much about all these new fangled metal bands out there, and I mean it too. Seriously, you can drive over to the yuppie part of town, slam a $6 latte and stick your post-black folkloristic urban elk metal bands straight up your fucking dick hole.

For those that don't know, Toxic Holocaust was founded in Portland, Oregon back in 1999 by Joel Grind and immediately he began writing music. From '99 to '08 he played all instruments and wrote all the music while releasing several split albums, singles, demos and three full-length albums before nowadays establishing a permanent three man line-up. I saw Toxic Holocaust a few weeks ago in a small bar round these parts and had a total blast, got drunk, headbanged, moshed, knocked some punkers over and bought Toxic Holocaust's second album, 'Hell on Earth.'

Mr. Grind's music is within a total old school style that draws a great deal of influence from classic thrash metal, punk and even a little bit of 80's black metal such as Bathory and Venom. This guy's music is fast, hard hitting and surprisingly quite melodic with catchy riffs and quick but effective solos that will leave the old school metalers pumping their fists and head banging like a drunken maniac. The production is deliberately raw in character, which is the only way true old school thrash metal should sound while the vocals are throaty raspy growls which bring me back to those early Bathory records and the campy lyrics about war, death, murder, hell and bloody fucking crucifixion rape bring a smile to my face every time. Oh, and the Ed Repka cover artwork depicting some sort of zombie onslaught makes it all the better.

Joel slams through eleven songs in just twenty seven minutes and I can't complain one bit, because I just start the bastard up and give it another spin. So, if thrashy high speed riffs, powerful bass lines, fast but simple drums, shitty production and raspy vocals are your thing then give this sucker a chance.

Immortal - Battles in the North (1995)

It's quite arguable which Immortal album is their finest as the band has changed a bit during their twenty years of existence. Some people prefer the more lo-fi somewhat raw sound of the debut, 'Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism' while others adore the raging blast beats of, 'Pure Holocaust' & 'Battles in the North,' but I suppose most howl for the far more melodic and slightly death metal version of Immortal, which has existed since 1997's, 'Blizzard Beasts,' perfected with, 'At the Heart of Winter' and continued onwards with, 'Damned in Black,' 'Sons of Northern Darkness' and 'All Shall Fall.' Personally Pure Holocaust and this monster of furious rapidly riotous uncompromising Norwegian black metal grimness known as Battles in the North is where its at.

Battle in the North continues where Pure Holocaust left off, although this time around the tempo is increased even further, the production is slightly less abysmal and Erik "Grim" Brødreskift wasn't credited for something he didn't perform. Olve "Abbath" Eikemo handles all stickwork as well as bass and vocal duties once again, while Harald "Demonaz" Nævdal performs all guitar work, thus making Immortal a duo. It was also around this time that Immortal more or less began their trademark of ridiculous promo photos, but then again they had pretty much already cursed themselves with their old promo video, 'The Call of the Wintermoon.'

Each song on this album is characterized by relentless blast beats over ice cold atmospherically distorted guitars, which in my opinion creates a wall of noise effect that is like being within a blizzard of chaos and confusion, but it all works very, very well. The drums are the most audible instrument on the album and in a way they overlap everything else, but with such raging disarray it gives the music such a commanding triumphant feeling that it absolutely demands the listener to play this album at obnoxiously loud volumes.

Nevertheless Demonaz's guitar work is immense and he truly outdoes himself here performing lighting fast work, which he nor anyone else has really come close to topping before, though many have tried. Abbath's voice is at its most froggy here as well and while I think his voice lost its edge down the road, here it sounds absolutely fantastic and works perfectly with the music. Likewise Demonaz's lyrics are at their finest here with various tales of grimness, winter, battle, demons and Blashyrkh (the bands fictional kingdom where all things cold and grim dwell).

The songs, all of which are stunning, are basically a constant barrage of blasting with very little time to react or even breath. Most of the songs begin and end abruptly somewhat making one wonder if something wasn't fully finished, though there are a few cleaner guitar parts and its really only during these brief moments that the listener is allowed to catch up. Fortunately the album runs for only thirty five minutes, which is the perfect length for music in this style.

It will always be arguable, but this is at least the high point in Immortal's early career and as such you absolutely owe it to yourself to get a copy. A friend of mine once said that with, 'Battles in the North, Immortal perfected the blast record.' He is correct.

Swallow the Sun - The Morning Never Came (2003)

Although only released back in late 2003, Swallow the Sun's debut, 'The Morning Never Came' is in my opinion (and many others) nothing short of an absolute modern doom metal masterpiece. Forging a path between atmospheric My Dying Bride-ish doom and gloom and highly melodic death metal characteristics, this 2003 Firebox Records release grabbed many folks attention back then, though personally it wasn't until two years later when I became aware of the band through the Century Media Records re-issue, and I've been quite the fan since.

For me what truly makes this record stand out is the hugely awe-inspiring guitar work of Markus Jämsen and band mastermind Juha Raivio. You'll find that some these riffs, especially those in the songs, 'Through her Silvery Body,' 'Swallow,' and 'Hold this Woe' are among some of the most gorgeous but ultimately heartbreaking riffs ever conceived within the doom metal genre. There's also riffs that give off an absolute foreboding feeling or even a few that are full of anger, and a lot that are just really catchy, but one thing that always remains is that the riffs and the solos are infinitely enduring and will have you clamoring for more and more, I guarantee it.

This release is only further augmented through Aleksi Munter's piano/keyboard work, which much like the guitar work is tremendously ethereal and admirable in its delivery and is not overly used either, nor does it overlap the other instruments, but it's always placed in absolutely the most perfect places to push this release to the next level of excellence. I've always been greatly impressed by vocalist Mikko Kotamäki's low guttural roars, high pitched shrieks and his occasional cleanly sung vocals too, and nowadays he remains just as striking, even within some of his side bands like Barren Earth and Verivala.

Matti Honkonen's bass work is not overly audible, but its there, its heavy and its effective, likewise Pasi Pasanen's stickwork is wonderfully performed too as he handles the slow tempos remarkably and during the occasional faster parts of this record he handles the brutality perfectly. I must also admit that I absolutely love the album artwork, the individual band photos are brilliant and honestly the group photo, which looks to have been shot in an old attic is quite possible one of the best band photos ever.

I've listened to this album a ridiculous amount of times over the past five years and never once has it gotten boring for me, in fact I adore every single song on it as its always been the perfect companion during somber lonely moods. What's crazy about the album though is that it has a certain driving catchy force behind it, which at least for me, allows me to headbang and growl right along with Mikko and the band, and during the three Swallow the Sun concerts I've been to I've surely done exactly that.

As dawn approaches, but never occurs, I consider, 'The Morning Never Came' to be a faultless gem that is utterly mandatory for doom metal listeners.