In Slaughter Natives - Enter Now the World (1992)

When I first heard In Slaughter Natives, eight or nine years ago, this band and album served as my introduction to the martial industrial genre, which at the time would become quite a fascination of mine. Formed by sole member Jouni Havukainen in the late 80's, ISN would go on to release four albums by '96, but then disappear until '04 when, 'Resurrection' was released and has since then mostly been quiet other than the occasional re-release of old material or live performance. I'm generally a huge fan of everything he's released, but '92's, 'Enter Now the World' has always been the most outstanding to me.

To describe ISN with words alone will by no means do them justice, especially if you've never heard the sub-genre or if you think industrial music is EBM or some crap like Nine Inch Nails. Generally most albums followed a formula of blending heavy electronics, martial percussion, religious chants, orchestral samples and distorted vocals. On this particular release the whole entire album carries a very apocalyptic and bombastic sort of feeling to it with a strong desolate post-war sort of ambiance underneath it all.

In Slaughter Natives in the early 90's

The songs on this release are quite diverse as some are fast and aggressive while others lean more towards the dark ambient side of things. Songs like 'Sacred Worms' or 'To Mega Therion' have a more active approach mixed with heavy percussion, samples of guns, bombs, various voices, freakish synths and a choir of some sort in the background, whereas a song like, 'Beauty and Bleed' has somewhat of a more straightforward ambient sound to it, while 'Temple Of Flesh And Metal' is ritualistic ambient perfection. I also adore the oppressive and creepy nature of the song, 'Saducismus Triumphatus' or the calamitous feeling running through, 'Total Decay' and the absolutely haunted vibes in 'Human Ashes' are really something too. All ten songs on the album are quite good, but the song 'Skin Sore Eyes' is stunning with its chilling, orchestral and military sound, plus there’s also the usage of both male and female vocals on this one.

The album flows adequately throughout its forty plus minute duration and in a short while can really start to affect your senses and transport your mind to some dark world stricken with war and disease. When the dust clears and bodies remain silent, 'Enter Now the World' proves to be a very influential album, with its characteristics showing not just in other ambient and industrial related bands, but also within various heavy metal sub-genres. Truly recommended for anyone into dark music of any genre.