Not dead (yet)

You've surely noticed the lack of updates around here, no? Well, I'm not dead, not yet, at least, but I have been severely unmotivated for writing and most everything in my life in the past several weeks. Reason? Oh, a few random bullshits coupled with ridiculously awful weather, which put me in such a depressive state after awhile that I, as I already said, lost my motivation to do pretty much everything. However I've recently felt a bit of a motivation strike and I should be continuing this blog/zine as usual tomorrow. Works since its a new month and all too. So, just posting a little update in case anyone was wondering. No? Well whatever, 'till tomorrow then.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC - 3/20/11

I just realized I never did a write up of the two shows I hit in March. I guess my brain was still processing how amazing they were.

It's very likely that if you are reading this, you don't personally know me. Therefore, you probably don't understand how much Godspeed You! Black Emperor mean, musically, to me. F#A#∞ changed my view on what was possible in music; Lift Yr. Skinny Fists... furthered my love of incredible experimental music and if I had to pick one album to live on a deserted island with, it more than likely would be it. I firmly believe everything they've released is absolutely stellar. So, last year when I heard that, after a seven year hiatus, they would be reuniting for a tour, I literally shit my pants.

OK, maybe not literally, but you get the picture. After the presale sold out before anyone even knew about it, I found out when tickets were officially going on sale (Feb. 3 at 10am, I memorized it), and I left class early to camp and desperately F5 until I managed to get my tickets (they sold out in about 15 minutes).

The 9:30 Club is a pretty large venue, for those who have never been there. I would estimate between 5 and 600 people were there, crammed on the floor or in the balcony. The opening act was Eric Chenaux. Even he understood the task he has handed, and opened his introduction by saying exactly how many songs he would play, "in case anyone is keeping count." His single acoustic guitar created a weird singer-songwriter vibe. He would wah out his voice and instrument into a strange psych-folk sound that, while interesting, would have been better suited opening for maybe Grails. I think he may have been picked to open because of the ease of his setup, allowing GY!BE to have all their equipment already out and ready for their start time.

One by one, the came on stage, not saying a word, and so began what I honestly consider to be the closest thing to a religious experience as I've ever had. The next two hours spanned the group's discography, including two live-only tracks. Opening with the live-only 'Hope Drone', they transitioned right into 'Moya'. Each instrument's sound and each note were perfect, and the tone was set (and sometimes augmented) by the projectionists' work behind them. GY!BE actually have people manipulating film strips on old projectors, instead of just digitally doing it; scrawled words, plants, landfills, birds, buildings, and even a cat made an appearance. Some strips were even burned intentionally as the show progressed. Having looked at the set lists for past shows, no two were the same, and while I was hoping for a good selection, I never thought they would play basically the best set I could have hoped for. The rest of the night heard/saw 'Albanian', 'Lift Yr. Skinny Fists/Gathering Storm', '9-15-00 (Part Two)', 'Chart #3/World Police and Friendly Fire' (I would have paid the ticket price just to hear that), 'Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls', and, of course, the night closed with 'Sad Mafioso', arguably the most famous Godspeed song ever. A simple wave a few of the members as they exited, one by one, leaving behind the final droning notes, and the night had ended. I wish I could tell you more about what the band was doing and what exactly was on the projections, but to tell you the truth I was in basically a trance.

And that was it. I had spent so much time building up how amazing this show was going to be, and it exceeded everything I could have hoped for. I can only hope that one day I'll be lucky enough to catch them again.

The entire show is available in mp3 here (as one mp3), or on the archive (split up).

And if you'd like to witness a little bit of what happened, here's a damn good quality video on YouTube.

Estatic Fear - A Sombre Dance (1999)

Estatic Fear's (Estatic being a combination of ecstatic and esthetic) roots date back to the mid 90's when the band was formed around 1994 in Linz, Austria and together this four piece created, 'Somnium Obmutum' in '96, but just a few years later band leader, Calix Miseriae (AKA Matthias Kogler) found himself alone and along with a host of session musicians he released, 'A Sombre Dance' in '99.

If you think back to the late 90's the whole Gothic/doom metal sound with backing soprano female vocals and growled male vocals was pretty darn huge, but Estatic Fear was one that stepped out of the crowd and did something different. Looking back about ten years ago when I bought this album I remember I picked it up after hearing it was similar sounding in style with Empyrium and Tristania, but little did I know that it was even better.

Divided into nine chapters plus an intro, 'A Sombre Dance' is a fair mixture of that ever so popular Gothic/Doom metal sound from the late 90's with strong classical and folk related characteristics. Matthias himself handles all electric and classical guitars, keyboards and piano, while seven session musicians perform cello, flute, female vocals, lute, drums and both growled and screamed male vocals. Interestingly just about every song makes use of these additions too, which results in an utterly beautiful, but often times melancholic experience.

The atmosphere of the record is phenomenal too, though it varies, because during the softer purely classical/folk moments you may feel a very romantic or the aforementioned melancholy feelings, but during the heavier doom parts you may even feel inclined to bang your head, slowly, but its death/doom metal all the way when these parts come about. The electric guitar plays an important part in the overall feelings as well since even the heavy riffs hold a strong sense of misery within them, just as I like and expect this brand of doom metal to do.

The vocals, which I already briefly mentioned appear as heavenly angelic female vocals, low guttural death metal roars and screechy black metal rasps are all performed flawlessly and fit within the music perfectly.

It's a bit hard to pick favorites since in a way all ten songs flow into each other as one long forty nine minute opus, but I must say, 'Chapter I,IV and VII just define excellence. I should point out though that this album is probably more classical/folk than metal, but nevertheless I do adore it.

Unfortunately, 'A Sombre Dance' has proven to be Estatic Fear's last record as nothing has come out of Matthias since then, but its been said that roughly two records worth of material has been written, but he just hasn't had time to record it yet. Perhaps with their contemporaries in Empyrium recently reforming it will spark the motivation for Matthias to reunite and finally record this alleged material. Time shall tell, but hopefully he wont make us wait much longer as I'm sure I'm not the only one that has been waiting over a decade for something new.

Green Carnation - Journey to the End of the Night (2000)

Green Carnation's origins date back to 1990 when the band was formed in Kristiansand, Norway as a death metal band by a sixteen year old named, Terje Vik Schei. A year later the, 'Hallucinations of Despair' demo was released and whether or not it got any attention is beyond me, but a few years down the road Terje was asked to play bass in Emperor and some (all?) of the GC members formed a band by the name of In The Woods in '92. In the late 90's, In The Woods broke up and some (all?) of its members joined up with Terje (better known as Tchort) to re-form Green Carnation, although this second formation of the group was more or less a continuation of In The Woods. Confused yet? Good, because the whole thing seems like one big jumbled mess to me too.

Looking back to 2000 I remember my only reason for wanting to hear this band was because Vibeke Stene (now formerly of Tristania) performed some guest vocals and, well, don't tell anyone but I had a little crush on her back then. Shhhhhhhhhh! Nevertheless I continued to follow the band throughout the years and for what its worth to tell I have to say seeing this band live about six years ago was one of the best shows I've ever attended, but that's another story.

'Journey to the End of the Night' is a strange album though, because it sounds like Tchort had some great ideas lined up for this release, but unfortunately he failed to write truly gripping songs with these ideas. I'd probably go so far to say that this album basically sounds like a demo version of the bands second album, 'Light of Day, Day of Darkness.' Much of what is within that album is here, but just not fully realized yet, but basically this is the same sort of progressive doomy metal with some stringed instruments, clearly sung lead male vocals with various guest female soprano singers assisting him.

Kjetil Nordhus had not yet joined the band as vocalist at this point either, in fact none of the guys that were in the band when they went on hiatus a few years ago were present just yet. The lead vocals are however handled by some guy named RX Draumtanzer, which I think is the former vocalist from In The Woods, and I have to admit I didn't mind his work in his old band, but here is just sounds like he's holding back and not allowing his voice to reach its full potential.

Perhaps what makes the record additionally challenging is that its well over an hour in length and four of the eight songs are over eleven minutes, with the longest clocking in at just a little under eighteen. I think you'll find that these songs have some great parts to them, but that's just it, only a few parts. So, perhaps that's why the following full-length was a single sixty minute track, even though it clearly could have been split into about 6-7 parts.

In the end if you truly adore, 'Light of Day, Day of Darkness' or were a big time In The Woods fan then its entirely possible that you'll feel the same way about this release or perhaps you'll like it, I dunno. If anything though at least this release doesn't have any stupid giggling baby nonsense like the sophomore release did, and that, my friends, is a truly great thing.

Desultory - From Beyond the Visions of Death (2006)

This Stockholm, Sweden based band known as Desultory were among one of the earlier Swedish Death Metal bands in the scene when they formed in '89 alongside legends like Nihilist, Grave, Carnage and Interment. From '91 to '92 the band recorded three demos and one EP when shortly thereafter signing a deal with Metal Blade Records and releasing two very sought after releases known as, 'Into Eternity' & 'Bitterness,' both of which are very much out of print and go on eBay for average prices between $30-$50 now.

Unfortunately In '95 the band (like many others) lost the death metal fever and guitarist Stefan Pöge quit while the remaining members went for a alternative rock style, which is apparently comparable to Soundgarden. This one you can buy with spare pocket change on eBay. Desultory called it a career shortly thereafter.

Admittedly I'd never heard of Desultory until reading the Swedish Death Metal Book last year and picking up the three disc compilation, which had the bands song, 'The Chill Within' on it. 'From Beyond the Visions of Death' is the other CD you'll find on eBay for a fairly cheap price and the reason for that is because its actually a bootleg, which gathers together the bands three early demos as well as four live tracks from '91.

The three demos, 'From Beyond,' 'Death Unfolds' and 'Visions' were all recorded in Sunlight Studio with Tomas Skogsberg as producer. Although similarities to Dismember and other Sunlight bands can be found, it seems Desultory's sound did not have the typical Swedish buzzsaw guitar characteristics, the bass guitar is fairly audible on most songs and certain songs also seem to give off a strong epic or even at times sorrowful feeling to them, which honestly reminds me of Amorphis' first record, though these demos pre-date that album. Besides that its fairly straight forward Swedish Death Metal here; heavy catchy pummeling riffs, killer solos, pounding drums and of course low guttural vocals. Surprisingly the production is actually fairly clear on all three of these demos though that's not so much the case with the live tracks, but I doubt anyone is buying this one for the live tracks, anyway.

It's a shame Metal Blade has never re-issued the bands first two albums, but then again I'm sure Brian Slagel would sooner make money releasing horrible music from bands, such as, Six Feet Under, 3, Unearth and Whitechapel.

A few years ago Desultory reformed and just last year they released, 'Counting Our Scars,' which seems to have gained a favorable response, though I haven't gotten my hands on it just yet. In the end though this is some quality material and its just demos, so I can't even began to imagine how awesome those two full-length records are.

Sigh - Scenes from Hell (2010)

My first experience with Japanese Avant-garde metalers, Sigh, was back in 2001 through their then new full-length, 'Imaginary Sonicscape.' I remember back then just constantly scratching my head in confusion and probably making weird faces as each song came and went through my ears. Indeed, it is true that Sigh has made their mark on the metal underground through their strange and often times unexplainable sound and while they have a few albums where they went completely overboard (Scenario IV: Dread Dreams being the best example) with the eccentrics, I've always thought that old 2001 release was the band at their vest best.

Unfortunately most of what has followed since then has ranged from being passable (Gallows Gallery) to basically just boring (Hangman's Hymn). So, we've got a band that was losing their edge, wasn't writing as good as they previously did and had fans that were moving onto the next bunch of weirdos out there. The solution you ask? Ahh, yes, get a hot Japanese gal who fancies calling hereself, Dr. Mikannibal and watch your band suddenly gain interest again. In fact soon as she joined the band in 2007 the music really didn't matter that much anymore. Most fans just drooled and made random comments about how hot she was and how they'd like to stick their pecker in her and so on. I'd imagine its tough being a Japanese woman.

In any case she joined just in time to lay down the vocals for Sigh's, 'A Tribute to Venom' EP, which was just dandy musically, but vocally she offered nothing new or exciting and as a fan of music before pussy I really questioned Mirai's decision to place her in his band.

2010 marked the release of, 'Scenes from Hell,' Sigh's ninth studio album and fortunately the best record they've released since 2001.

Scenes from Hell is a very, very orchestrated album and in fact at first I thought most of it was synthesized, but as it turns out thirteen different individuals (one being Zoltan from Hungry black metalers, Sear Bliss) were brought in to fully create this heavily symphonic based sound. The orchestration is grandiose, epic and just plain bizarr-o sounding for the entire duration of this release and it surprisingly moves just as fast as the metal portion of the music. In fact the orchestration is almost always present and when mixed with Mirai's wacky keyboard doodles and a much thrashier sounding Sigh the results are quite good.

It's true that the last album had a bit of this as well, but on that last one it seemed like they hadn't quite figured it out just yet, but here it works, but it takes a few listens before it will make sense. Truly, some sort of mind altering drug might be a nice thing to have around when listening to this thing. With a couple of sprained ribs and a prescription from my doctor for some muscle relaxers I'm finding this album to be even more engaging then ever before (BTW apologies if some part of this review makes no sense).

So, I can tell you first hand that the orchestrated side of this album is quite awesome, but what about the metal side or the Doctor? Well, as I've already said Sigh sounds much more thrash based here, with some truly kick ass riffs as well as some superb solos that just excel the music even further. You can actually head bang like a mad man/woman while listening to this beast, which is something I never felt inclined to do when listening to old Sigh records.

The vocals are usually performed in a trade off between Mirai and Mikannibal, with Mirai using his typical raspy scream while Mika uses a low growled voice and the results are quite good too. Kam Lee of Massacre fame makes an appearance on, 'L'art de Mourir,' which kicks entirely too much ass and I have to say its great to see him growling again. David Tibet of Current 93 also makes a guest spoken vocal appearance on a few songs and since I'm quite the C93 fan its interesting to hear his voice and lyrics amongst this chaos. I have to also admit Mika doesn't sound half bad on this record either and her saxophone solos are totally rocking too.

All in all this is a tough record to describe, but imagine the most epic fast paced movie score you can think of mixed with thrash metal, harsh vocals and a whole lot of weirdness and you'll be about ready for, 'Scenes from Hell,' and the awesomeness within. And if you've got the pills, herb or booze then try mixing them with this record for even more fun... o.0

Architects of the Aftermath - Architects of the Aftermath (2010)

Architects of the Aftermath formed within Milwaukee, Wisconsin back in 2008 to bring, by their own claims, "The brutalest, fastest, darkest Thrash Metal anyone has heard in over 20 years." Even as that's not quite the case here this debut thirty one minute EP does at least rouse a little curiosity, especially here in Milwaukee where the metal scene has cancer and is just barely hanging on by life support.

A.O.T.A.'s music is fairly straightforward thrash metal with catchy heavy riffage and some interesting solos from the hands of John & Dathan, while Dave's drum work often time blasts away on the double bass pedal during the faster moments in the songs, but he certainly knows how to keep things interesting with the occasional drum roll or fill too. Justin's bass work is somewhat heard, but is generally buried behind everything else, while he uses a throaty shouting vocal style, which works with the music, but it tends to bring metalcore vocals to mind. So, its something to get used to.

My first real experience with this band was seeing them live where I honestly thought they sounded fairly decent since they managed to get the crowd going a bit, especially when they played their cover version of Celtic Frost's, 'Into the Crypts of Rays,' which is also the final song on this EP. I think what prevents me from fully enjoying this EP though is that the production is lacking. Perhaps if the drums had been louder and more commanding and the riffs and solos would have been larger in size I'd be fully able to appreciate this EP.

Nevertheless, Architects of the Aftermath are on the right path to creating something great and hopefully by the time they are ready to record their debut full-length they'll choose a better studio that will allow their music to fully shine through and be the brutalest, fastest, darkest Thrash Metal 'round these parts.

Mayhem - Live in Leipzig (1993)

Mayhem's, 'Live in Leipzig' is a live album that reached a legendary status years ago and although it has less to do with the actual quality of the music played during the show and more to do with the onstage membership that makes it one of the most renowned live recordings ever.

Released on vinyl originally in July of 1993 by Obscure Plasma Records and re-released at least 5 or 6 different times now through various labels, this early document of Mayhem took place November 26, 1990, at the Eiskeller club in Leipzig, Germany. Although the actual sound quality and performance is a thing of question the show featured heavy atmospherics, such as, severed pig heads impaled on wooden spikes, the band's clothes were decayed and soiled, pieces of rotting meat were thrown into the audience and lead vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin also was noted for slicing himself open during the show.

The recording quality is rough and raw, to say the least, and there's numerous screw ups, such as, Euronymous completely botching the solo in, 'Freezing Moon,' his amp getting unplugged at one point, as well for some reason, 'Deathcrush' sounds like its played in slow motion when compared to the studio version. Nevertheless there's just something about this recording as well as basically anything else from the classic Mayhem line-up (Necrobutcher, Hellhammer, Euronymous and Dead) that I've constantly enjoyed for years now, regardless of how crude it may sound.

Looking at the set list its clear right away that its a trove of now Mayhem classics, which unfortunately probably don't get played much nowadays. Forgetting all the screw ups and the poor recording quality its still fun to hear the band violently blast through songs like, 'Necrolust,' 'Carnage' and 'Pure Fucking Armageddon' as well as future, 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas' songs, 'Funeral Fog, 'Pagan Fears' and 'Buried by Time and Dust.' As you may also know this is the only official recording with Dead's voice, though numerous live bootlegs and rehearsals are out there, if you've got the cash for 'em.

In the end I'd by no means consider this an essential item to own or hear, but it is a landmark to the black metal genre, simply because at the time no one looked or sounded like this. So, you've got to at least give some credit there.

Metallica - Cliff's Last Show

This morning I watched the old, 'Cliff 'Em All!' video, which in case you missed, its basically a tribute compilation of old songs of Metallica onstage and goofing around between the years of '83-'86, ya know, the years they actually made music worth listening to. Considering most of the material on that old one is fairly rough in video and audio I figured I'd review something that's equally bumpy and Metallica related, thus we have this old bootleg from an unknown date, which goes by the simple title of, 'Cliff's Last Show.'

As the title of this recording suggests it is legendary Metallica bassist Cliff Burton’s last show before his untimely death that occurred a day after this gig. I’m sure most people are familiar with what happened, but in short: while driving through Sweden to their next gig their tour bus hit some black ice, the driver lost control of the bus, the bus tipped over, Cliff got launched out the window, and the bus fell on top of him crushing him to death. It’s said that the night after the accident, James Hetfield got drunk, tore his hotel to pieces, and ran through the streets for hours, yelling, "Cliff! Cliff! Where are you??"

Cliff’s death was truly one of the most disastrous and heartbreaking deaths in heavy metal history and obviously had a dramatic effect on the other three Metallica members. In a somewhat enigmatic manner there’s a picture on the back of this bootleg of Cliff eagerly smiling holding out his hand toward the camera in a foreboding manner, with the tour bus behind him not even knowing that soon his time would be up. But enough about that let me tell you more about the actual music contained herein.

Taking a look at the tracklisting you can easily see that these are among some of the best songs Metallica ever wrote. ‘Battery’, ‘Welcome Home (Sanitarium)’, ‘Creeping Death’, ‘Seek and Destroy’, and my personal favorite ‘The Four Horsemen.’ The band plays each song with such passion, dexterity and energy that it’s hard to believe that a band of this caliber would ever degenerate into the worthless shit that they are today. Production wise this bootleg has the basic bootleg sound. It’s not bad, but it’s far from being great. Most likely this is a soundboard recording or a fan within the crowd captured the audio. While not perfect it is, for example, certainly far superior to those old Mayhem and Darkthrone bootlegs, which for some strange reason people buy. You can hear James and Kirk’s guitar decently enough, Lars drumming is audible and surprisingly enough you can hear Cliff’s bass. Actually one of the real standout tracks is Cliff’s five minute bass solo, which segues right into the high speed thrash classic, 'Whiplash.' Other highlights are, ‘Fade to Black' and ‘Blitzkrieg.’ James between song speeches are kept to a minimum and for the most part the band just plays their hearts out for an hour and thirteen minutes.

Clearly this bootleg is intended just for the avid Metallica and Cliff fans, but in a way it is also the last truly great thing you can hear from Metallica. Personally the bands follow up album, ‘…And Justice for All’ never fully satisfied me and everything there after is just awful. I think this bootleg isn’t to hard to come by as I personally found it in a second hand store some years ago, and I’m sure it can be easily obtained off of ebay too.

So, if you can't get enough of the classic and ‘real’ Metallica in their final moments then you may want to seek out this bootleg. R.I.P. Cliff.

Heathen - The Evolution of Chaos (2010)

A while back, my younger brother was a DJ at a nearby rock radio station. This radio station claimed to have a “metal segment” in which they showcased otherwise “less-accessible” metal. I guess if you classify Devildriver, Otep, and newer In Flames as less-accessible; then this radio segment is just for you. However, if you were looking for real, kick you in the balls metal; you will not find it there my friends. In fact, at that particular radio station, you will find Heathen’s- “The Evolution of Chaos” in the rejection bin. Yes, that’s right, the rejection bin. My brother being the awesome fellow he is took such albums and gave them to his older brother. However for some reason, I put the album on the shelf for a good 5 months. During one bored evening, I put the disc in my player and was in awe.

The album starts off with a Middle Eastern-esque melody played with a sitar (by guest: Steve Di Giorgio) and follows into the unbelievable opener “Dying Season”. It is evident that you are in for a treat because this is a full on thrash metal assault on the senses. The album is full of heavy and fast riffing that will bring out that inner 13 year old in all of us—that makes you play air guitar and head bang in no time! Lee Altus’ well composed and fast solos accompany the riffs amazingly well. Accompanied by Kragen Lurn, these 2 guys prove to be an excellent guitar duo that brings about many harmonized moments throughout many of the songs. Darren Minter’s drumming is quite good which is full of double bass and drum fills that keep the listener interested. David White’s vocal duties are also notable as well (however, if you are familiar with Heathen’s past works, you will notice a bit of a change). The higher notes are gone and are replaced by a “James Hetfield” like growl. I am not complaining one bit though, they suit this album extremely well.

As for the songs themselves, there are many standout tracks on this one which includes “Dying Season”, “Controlled By Chaos”, and “Undone” just to name a few. Heathen also attempts to create a lengthy epic titled “No Stone Unturned”. While I feel it is a very good song, it tends to go on a little too long and could be trimmed down a bit. But I am just nit picking because overall, it’s a great song. Some people may also be turned off by their ballad “A Hero’s Welcome”. Lyrically, the song is basically a salute to troops fighting overseas in wars. While the music of the song itself is actually very beautiful and powerful, the subject matter may not be to everyone’s liking. Another item to mention is the great production job on this album. Everything on this album is very clear and mixed well. The riffs are very heavy and powerful and the leads stand out extremely well.

Overall, I highly recommend this album to anybody who has any sort of appreciation of thrash or heavy metal in general. While some newer releases of older thrash bands seem to fall short, this one certainly does not and I think many people are in for a treat.

Empyrium - A Wintersunset... (1996)

Empyrium came into existence back in 1994 in Bavaria, Germany and a year later the duo of Markus Stock and Andreas Bach created the demo tape, '...der wie ein Blitz vom Himmel fiel...,' which was followed a year later by this full-length debut, 'A Wintersunset...'

A Wintersunset is a strange and unique offering of dark doomy symphonic metal solely dedicated and inspired by the members love for Mother Earth's and all of her creations within nature. Although the Norwegians often spoke of it through their lyrics and bands like Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room made it trendy through photos, I believe Empyrium was probably one of the first to fully embrace it through their lyrics, covers and photos.

But, anyway, A Wintersunset's sound is a journey through slow to mid-paced heavily synthesized doom metal with both low baritone operatic-ish male vocals as well as rasping black metal screams. The recording has an incredibly atmospheric sound overall and is deeply woven with mournful tunes of pantheistic pride and romantic yearning and loss.

Andreas Bach's synth work is strong throughout the entire record and although it doesn't differ that much it gives the album an ethereal vibe unlike anything else out there. It is hard to describe though as it doesn't sound dark at all, but rather just full of melancholy, longing and some sort of strange majestic qualities at times too. Markus Stock handles the remaining instruments, which include; electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass, drums and vocals, while session member Nadine Mölter adds some very brief flute work. Stock's baritone operatic vocals will be hit or miss with most folks as they are quite different and they do dominate over the raspy somewhat typical black metal screams, but I suppose I've listened to this album enough over the past several years that I've just gotten used to it all. Unfortunately the production losses a lot of his input as the guitar, bass and drums are often overshadowed by the synths and vocals, though their brilliance does manage to poke through here and there.

'A Wintersunset...' probably isn't the best Empyrium record, but I enjoy it for what it is and its unique qualities too, which no doubt inspired tons of other bands. The bands follow-up a year later, 'Songs of Moors and Misty Fields' is probably the true highlight of their career as the synths were toned down considerably and the issues with the production were fixed, but then again the bands last two neo folk/acoustic records are absolutely brilliant as well. So, its a bit hard to pinpoint Empyrium's career as all four albums sound different and although the band quit in 2002 they recently reformed with the possibilities of a full-length on the sunny horizon.

Bethlehem - Dark Metal (1994)

Long before horrible bands, such as Xasthur and Lifelover, usurped the depressive black metal throne, the twisted freaks in Bethlehem were cranking out some of most suicidal and hopeless sounding tunes ever conceived.

Back in August of '94 when this album was originally released, Bethlehem really had their own thing going as this release displayed little direct influence from other bands. Okay, surely they borrowed a little bit from death/doom pioneers like Paradise Lost or My Dying Bride, but never, ever did those bands come close to the crippling heavy despairing sound that is found on 'Dark Metal.'

Running the gauntlet between painfully slow and ultra heavy death/doom metal with sudden mid-paced to brutal flashes of dissonant black metal bestiality, the occasional synth enrichment and sprinkles of melancholy piano plus hysterical vocals performed in both a violent shrieking blackened style and low guttural roars is what awaits the listener on this legendary release.

Kläus Matton's guitar work is full of sorrow from the first riff to last and its as if each one seems to tell its own story as the album plods along. His heavily down-tuned guitars ripped with reverb and delay just seem to always capture all of my attention and bring me to this different world while Jürgen Bartsch's bass guitar is playing its own thick and quite audible ominous riff alongside. Chris Steinhoff's drumming is adequately performed as well and he adjusts as the songs shift between doom and black metal. Of course Andreas Classen's vocals are among some of the best ever laid down and what truly makes them special is that they actually have emotion, much like Jonas Renkse's work on Katatonia's, 'Dance of December Souls,' but I have to speak the truth when I say Andreas' performance is better and the music its paired with is absolutely superior too.

Bethlehem would spend the next couple of years releasing similar sounding material, but due to the constant line-up changes it was hardly the same thing nor was it as good and somehow by the early half of the millennium the band left their dark roots completely behind in favor of some sort of alternative/electronic metal, which was just awful. Fortunately Jürgen has gone back to the bands roots in recent years with depressive black metal poster boy, Niklas Kvarforth at the vocal helm and they re-recorded their classic third album, 'Sardonischer Untergang im Zeichen Irreligiöser Darbietung,' which I haven't heard and since Kvarforth is involved I honestly don't care to either.

If you enjoy depressive black/death/doom metal then you absolutely owe it to yourself to own this album, but I have to warn you that you wont find any emo kids cutting their arms nor will you find any pompous big talkers shooting their mouths off within. What you will find is one of the heaviest and most honest displays of violent emotion set to music, ever.

Fucking Kill Yourself!

Samael - Worship Him (1991)

It seems whenever people go about explaining black metal's roots and who influenced what and where it came from the legendary Swiss band known as Samael is often overlooked.

Recorded in March of 1990, 'Worship Him' served as Samael's debut full-length album when it was released in April of '91 and although the band isn't from Scandinavia, they never wore corpsepaint, they hardly played their music that fast and even as a number of the songs are re-recordings from the demos released between '87-'89 this early entry in the black metal genre is hard to deny.

Forgoing the belligerent blasting speeds that bands like Bathory and Sarcófago were performing just a few years earlier, Samael's music here is played at gloomy highly atmospheric doom-ish paces with occasional slightly speedier flashes to early Hellhammer/Celtic Frost plus some occasional synth enrichment and its all wrapped up with a very underground raw production job. Vorphalack's voice is absolutely diabolical and chilling to the bone while his guitar work is full of ominous riffs bathed in heavy reverb and crippling malice. Masmiseim's bass work is there, but barely, while Xytras drum work is fairly standard, not to showy and certainly not that fast either, but it works with this sort of music.

Perhaps why folks forget this album and what holds it back from being a true classic of the genre is the fact that there really isn't any single song that totally grabs you and screams perfection, though personally I do enjoy, 'Into the Pentagram' since its the most doomtrodden song on the album, as well the short but effective ambient/neo classical piece, 'Last Benediction' is superb and the fastest and dare I say catchiest song, 'The Dark' is a perfect closer for this album, even if it is an instrumental. Still, what makes the album an interesting listen is it's highly atmospheric characteristics and the bleak feeling it gives off.

I guess a lot of people know that Samael would continue to expand their sound and as far as their black metal days are concerned most prefer, 'Blood Ritual' from '92 or 'Ceremony of Opposites' from '94. By '96 the band would completely abandon black metal on, 'Passage' in favor of some sort of alternative electronic metal, which just really never did that much for me, though I hear the newer stuff is a slight turn back to the early years.

In the end, 'Worship Him' can be enjoyable after a number of spins, but its really one of those releases for folks that long to see the roots of certain genres and although they may be often forgotten and their influence not credited, Samael's early work will always have a special attraction for me.