Black Metal Reviews

BAL-SAGOTH - BATTLE MAGIC
These guys take the epic sound and mood extremely seriously. At times they sound like a heavier version of Blind Guardian, but most of the time they're more interested in creating the *epic/battle* feel. Especially on the first and last track, and a couple of the shorter ones in the middle. The album has 10 songs, and lasts exactly 50 minutes. Like Blind Guardian, at times the music has a very "happy" mood (one of the tracks even has the circus-type music, "Blood Slakes The Sand At The Circus Maximus"). The booklet is really thick, with lots of lyrics (I don't think even half of them are actually sung by Byron). Byron does all the lyric work, creating the fantasy worlds (Atlantis), or just looking into the ancient history (ancient Greece). The vocals are one of the down sides of Bal-Sagoth, they are not the typical black or death growls, but they aren't exactly good either. He sings in some songs (with his own type of singing, which after it is heard, is easy to recognize), but most of the time he's just reading out the lyrics. Some very cheesy cover picture, and a *scary* picture of the band on the back (man... I think Byron is supposed to look scary holding that sword, but I just find it very funny, he looks exactly like Jeff Hanneman from Slayer actually). Unlike the "Starfire..." album, most of the track titles are quite short (with one exception), and I'm glad, since whenever I look at the "Starfire..." tracklist I just find it very funny, and wonder how can they take this so seriously. Anyways, this album is nothing special, there's some very good songs on there (the first couple are very good), but also if you're into the whole epic thing, you should probably get this album. If I'm in the right mood, I can actually listen to the whole thing, but most of the time when I listen to it, I hear only half of the album or so, then turn it off.

BETHLEHEM - DICTIUS TE NECARE
"This album is dedicated to all suicide victims", also "Dictius Te Necare" translates to "You Must Kill Yourself", so I realize what these guys are trying to say/prove/show with their music. Bethlehem like to call the music they play "Dark Metal" since it's all suicidal/depressing/and such, and they do it pretty good actually. The vocals are about the only interesting thing on this album, and one of the reasons it's so dark and gloomy it's the vocals. Vocals are insane screams of torture, kinda reminiscent of Burzum, however, where Varg of Burzum used only one type of a *scream* for all of the songs, the vocals of Bethlehem are very varied, ranging from insane, maniac screams to some low, spoken parts, which is quite interesting to listen to, I mean, I've never heard vocals like these before. The music is varied from fast/heavy/thrash (done very good!) to slow/doomy/acoustic parts (which I really dislike), and most of the album is overtaken by the slow part, sometimes with some bells, or piano, to create the dark mood. It sounds very interesting first couple of listens but over time just gets increasingly annonying. I myself prefer the more thrashy tracks, such as track 1 and track 4. Oh yeah, that's another thing, all the track titles and lyrics are done in German, so there is no way to even remember the track titles, since they are so long, and are in German. Booklet contains an interesting cover picture of a horse's head (?), the cool Bethlehem logo, also all of the lryics included, together with the pictures of the band members, and a "Bethlehem exclusively plays Dark Metal" message. Anyways, in conclusion, this album is pretty cool for a couple of listens, thanks the very unusual vocals, but gets boring after a while. PS. Read some Bethlehem interviews to see what weirdos these guys are (the Alexander World??? WTF?).

BORKNAGAR - THE ARCHAIC COURSE
Another typical Norwegian Black Metal band? I don't think so (well, maybe on the first album). Borknagar are a very interesting band. Probably the most unique band that has emerged from the Nordic Black Metal scene. I've heard a couple of samples from the first album, and they've changed a lot on The Olden Doman, and changed even more on this one! Just keep on changing (just like Amorphis). The band describes it's music as "Epic Metal", but I don't think it describes it very well. This is just a great album and great approach to music, which has developed from Norway (therefore the first album was Black Metal). It is not extreme as other bands from Norway are, music is slower, maybe an interesting comparison could be made to Amorphis (Elegy era) and Sentenced (Frozen era). That does not mean that Borknagar sounds exactly like those bands - I'm just giving a brief comparison. Anyways, a very short album, with an interesting outro (composed/performed by Ivar from Enslaved). The vocalist on this album (Simen) is different than the one on The Olden Domain (Garm), but they sound kinda the same (not exactly the same). A great album, with some excellent tracks (such as "Oceans Rise"/"Ad Noctum"/"Witching Hour"...) Can't say much more about the album, except recommend you to check out Borknagar if you already haven't. Oh yeah, Borknagar logo is great. Also, I've read an interview with Simen (ICS Vortex) where he answer a very interesting question (always wondered about it myself): "What does the word 'Borknagar' mean?" "It is a fantasy name. When I hear the word, the picture I get is from the cover of the first album. That's what I get when I hear the word 'Borknagar'."

BORKNAGAR - QUINTESSENCE
Being one of the most interesting, intriguing and impressive bands to emerge from the Norwegian black metal scene, Borknagar continue to spew out quality material. With Quintessence, Borknagar take a more straight-forward, aggressive approach than on The Archaic Course. That could be because of the new members that came into the band. Grim commited suicide after The Archaic Course, and Kai left shortly after that. They've been replaced by members from Spiral Architect, and Solefald (forgot their names). Change in line-up did affect the music somewhat, most notably in the synths department, making it better though. Good production by Peter Tägtgren, but I still hear some hissing noises in some of the first tracks. The first four tracks are probably the strongest point of this album, because the other half kinda loses it, especially with the two instrumentals, and the "not so impressive" songs. The vocals are still a mix of clean singing and the black metal screams (the screams are used more though). Simen does vary the clean vocals a lot, especially on the last track. Also, lots of effects have been used on the vocals on this album, espeically noticable on "Ruins Of The Future" and "Rivalry Of Phantoms". One track which everyone seems to point out when talking about this album is "The Presence Is Ominous", which is quite odd. It doesn't have a chorus, it's very linear-structured, and the vocal layering is very evident here, with a mix of clean vocals and the screams distributed throughout the entire song. Keyboards used very well in here, giving it a hammond organ sound. There's some very aggressive songs here like "Ruins Of The Future" (one of my favorites on the album) and "Rivalry Of Phantoms", but also some slower songs on here as well, "Revolt" and the instrumentals. Anyways, a great album, not sure if it's better than The Archaic Course, but still very good. I'd recommend anyone to buy it.
PS. Update - shortly after the release of Quintessence, Simen (ICS Vortex), left Borknagar so he could dedicate all of his time and energy to the other band he's involved with ... Dimmu Borgir (yawn...). What a disappointment, but the new singer is Vintersorg!

BURZUM - BURZUM/ASKE
I won't go into the controversy surrounding Burzum, I'll just review the CD. The disc contains Burzum's debut, self-titled album and the Aske EP. Burzum is a one man project, and all vocals, and instrumentation are done by Varg. His vocals are the thing that stands out the most on here. They are insane screams, as if he's under torture, they are amazing. Really hard to get used to these tortured vocals, but the music is very simplistic and catchy, though. I mean, riffs in the songs "War" and "Stemmen Fra Taarnet" are so catchy (and so generic) "War" is actually supposed to be Varg's tribute to Bathory. Nothing complicated on this album - guitars and drums are very simple, and don't change around too much, well maybe expect for "My Journey To The Stars", where some variation is noticable. Some very weird songs on this disc too, "Dungeons Of Darkness" has got to be one of the weirdest songs I've ever heard (but also the most pointless one). Since the songs are so catchy, there is not much stand-outs on here, but the album does not work very well as a whole. It's too long, especially the last track "A Lost Frogotten Sad Spirit", which drags on for 10 or so minutes. Most people would recommend some other Burzum album for a start, and I might get them too in a while, well I don't think I'll be buying Daudi Baldrs or the later stuff, I myself am not into synths and effects, I'm into traditional BM albums, so that's one of the reasons I got this disc first, since it does not contain many synths or effects, and is probably the most straight-forward BM Burzum album. The version that I've got is a digi-pack format, with the lyrics included (both in English and German). All in all - this album is not bad, but nothing special either, and probably gets boring after a while.

CARNAL FORGE - FIREDEMON
Talk about filler material! Okay, the disc starts off pretty good, the first track is good, the second one is exactly the same as the first one, the next one sounds exactly the same as the ones before, and it goes on like that for the whole 12 songs! All of the songs are fast, melodic and around 2 to 3 minutes in length. Don't get me wrong, the band obviously knows how to play good, fast, melodic metal, but seems that is the only thing they know how to do. The guitars can be catchy at times, and some interesting melodies are displayed ever once in a while, but other than that it's just a pointless speed-fest. I'm aware that bands such as Immortal and Setherial also seem to play fast music all the time, that's not really true. Numerous listens to those bands make you realize the complexity and the varied structure of their work beneath the onslaught of speed. Even though the cd is around 33 minutes in length, I have trouble sitting through the whole thing. Carnal Forge concentrate on the aggression way too much, and that is the reason for the boredom, there is no variety at all. Listening to this cd is just like going to see a band you've never heard of with your friends, not knowing what to expect, except that you already know they're a metal band. So you just sit through the set, thinking they played one same song ten times in a row. It might seem that I did not give this cd enough listens, but the more I listen to it, the more I find it disappointing. The booklet contains photos, info and the lyrics (which are extremely cheezy, same goes for the song titles, eg. "Too Much Hell Ain't Enough For Me", "I Smell Like Death (Son Of A Bastard)", "Covered With Fire (I'm Hell)"). Well I can't say much more except to avoid this album unless you're into this type of thing.

CARPATHIAN FOREST - BLACK SHINING LEATHER
Well, I got this cd for $1 without hearing any clips off it beforehand, so I was expecting a disappointment. After the very cheesy and annoying intro (which goes on for a whole minute) the band starts to play typical Norwegian black metal. However, there is some great moments on this disc. The songs are varied, you've got the faster/groovier ones like "Sadomasochistic", and the slower ones such as "The Northern Hemisphere". So that's is nice, since the album varies a bit, it does not sound just like the exact same song being repeated over and over again. And, even more variation - one of the highlights of this album - the Cure cover of "A Forest" which is really good. The band changed the sound so much, both the guitars and drums sound more *poppy* and they acutally use clean vocals. A great cover! Also, excellent packaging of the release, a weird digi-pack - never seen anything like it before, and is certainly very interesting. A booklet included, with the lyrics and the pictures of the two band members. A great downside to this is the whole S&M and fetish image (the intro/"Sadomasochistic"/"Pierced Genitalia"/and some more). Really cheesy, not even funny, but I guess the band members find it interesting. About 50 minutes long, so it does get annoying at times. After hearing the clips off "Through Chasm, Caves And Titan Woods" MCD I'm thinking this was band's downfall, because the clips of the MCD sounded really great.

CHILDREN OF BODOM - HATEBREEDER
"From now on we are enemies... You and I" - this short speech introduces this fantastic (but much too short) album. First of all, I find it VERY interesting that most black metal bands come from Scandinavia (especially Norway, Sweden and Finland - why?). Anyways, COB come from Finland, and their music has been described as power/neo-classic heavy metal with black metal vocals. This is a rather crappy description, and it sounds just too weird - as if those elements described don't go together. You have to hear COB for yourself to know exactly what kind of music they play. The band's key memeber is Alexi Laiho - since he sings/plays lead guitar/and has written 99% of the music and the lyrics for this album. I must say "Congratulations!" to him then - since the music on the album is incredible. Guitars are just amazing, with lots of melody and tons of hooks, which get stuck in your head for a while (perfect example would be the last minute/minute and a half of "Towards Dead End" - pure excellence!). Guitars are pretty loud in the mix, and that is a very good thing - you can really appreciate it! The guitar solos are amazing as well - as I said, the best part of this album is the guitarwork. Everyone should hear the album just because of them! However, one might get annoyed with the vocals. They are a kind of a mix of clean and black metal vocals - not as in Opeth (where there is a clear distinction in the vocals), vocals in COB are midway in between clean/black and they stay like that throughout the entire album. Now, one suggestion would be adopt either one of those vocal styles and stick with them (preferrably the clean vocals, I believe it would suit the music better). Also, the history of the band name is interesting too. Around 60's, some kids were camping at lake Bodom in Finland, and were murdered by an axe-wielding maniac. The case still remains unsolved. Interesting, huh? Anyways, this album is definitely worth the money, and should be heard by everyone.

CHILDREN OF BODOM - FOLLOW THE REAPER
Let me start off by saying that this album is nowhere as good as Hatebreeder. Why? Mostly because there is not as much variety and innovation as on Hatebreeder. Follow The Reaper is not bad at all; the music, vocals, lyrics, production and everything else is pretty much in the same vein, so that's gives it a "heard that already" kind of a sound. The only song that really stands out is "Bodom After Midnight" which is just excellent, has a nice short drum intro, great riffs and solos, good use of synths, etc. The rest of the songs are not as varied as this one so they are somewhat of a let-down. "Children Of Decadence" has a nice riff and synths (which are later reused on the beginning of "Kissing The Shadows"), "Mask Of Sanity" has some good riffs and synths as well. The rest of the songs are just average Children Of Bodom material. What's with all the hype surrounding "Hate Me!"? The song is nothing special, there are much better songs on the album than it. The W.A.S.P. cover of "Hellion" is a nice addition to the album, but nothing ground-breaking really. This is a good Children Of Bodom album, it could serve as a good introduction to the band, but as far as their best work to the date is concerned, that would have to be Hatebreeder.

COVENANT - NEXUS POLARIS
"This album is dedicated to the essence of x_tra terrestrial existance". Here we have "Space Metal" created by Covenant (created as a project by some members of Dimmu Borgir I believe and Mayhem's Hellhammer). Of course, naturally, you will like this if you like Dimmu Borgir, but if you don't like Dimmu Borgir, you might actually like Covenant (like myself). Lots of keyboards and neo-classical elements in here. Some very creative riffs and great melodies here too. Lots of female vocals as well. It all works out great in my opinion - I've always preffered melodic metal myself. Very good production on the album, and as I said some great catchy riffs ("Bizarre Cosmic Industries"/"Planetarium"/"Bringer Of The Sixth Sun"/ and my favorite track off the album - "Chariots Of Thunder"). Hellhammer does an excellent job on drums, especially on "Planetary Black Elements" - amazing! The guy just knows how to handle drums. The band has changed on the latest release. They've become the new Kovenant and gone more industrial on Animatronic (I myself thought it sucked). Anyways, I like this album a lot. The album cover is very good too, done by Andreas Marschall (he does covers for quite a few bands, including Blind Guardian).

CRADLE OF FILTH - DUSK... AND HER EMBRACE
What I find most interesting about this release is the fact that it came out the same year as Dimmu Borgir's Stormblåst and it sounds *exactly* like it! The production is very similar, with the great use of keyboards and a focus on the symphonic aspects which overshadow the guitars. Not only is that similar, even the song structures are pretty reminiscent of each other. While at it, this album suffers from the same problem Dimmu's album has. It has 3 or 4 good songs, and the rest is pure crap, which is just a bunch of reworked and reused guitar riffs, and unnecessary use of long synth passages... Some of the songs do stand out ("Funeral In Carpathia", "Heaven Torn Asunder", "Malice Through The Looking Glass") but the rest of them are just filler material. Now, on to the controversy surrounding this band. Throughout their use of *shock imagery and offensive lyrics* they've somehow managed to get the attention of some of the mainstream, and while at it managed to jump on the sell-out bandwagon. Most BM fans are jealous of this, and the fact is that (most of) the suckers who buy Cradle Of Filth shirts, cds, etc. think of them as the only Black Metal band and that all BM sounds like that, which in turn, doesn't sound nowhere close to this. This is cheesy gothic-romanticism crap, mixed with some doom, death metal, and some black metal overtones (mostly the crappy yelling Danny uses). Speaking of which, I bet Danny's doing a photo shoot for PlayGirl just like Peter from Type O Negative did, with all the attention he's been receiving throughout COF's career. Anyways, the version of the album that I'm reviewing is the limited edition coffin box with bonus tracks. Found it used here in a store for $6 American (and now I see it on eBay going for $60...). One of the bonus tracks on here includes a cover of Slayer's "Hell Awaits", and it's one of the worst covers ever. In fact, the less said about it, the better. The booklet is in the shape of the coffin box, and includes lyrics, photos, and lame liner notes. If you're into this type of thing you'd be better off buying Dimmu's Stormblåst, because COF is crap.

DARGAARD - IN NOMINE AETERNITATIS
The main reason I purchased this album is the fact that both of the band members on here have, in one way or another, been involved with my all time favorite Black Metal band - Abigor. Tharen (Rune) has played synths on a couple of Abigor's albums, and Elisabeth Toriser has done the female vocals on the godly "Nachthymnen (From The Twilight Kingdom)" album. First off, this is NOT a black metal album, but rather synth/dark-wave/medieval music with an etherial feel with not a lot of lyrics. Some would compare this to Summoning without guitars or the Black Metal vocals, but I kinda disagree. While being a true fanatic of BM, I still like to listen to this release every once in a while. Of course, it's no Black Metal, but it's complex, intriguing, and relaxing music. Some might disagree with the word "relaxing", since there is a few BM style grunts on this album, done by Tharen. However, most of the singing is done by Elisabeth Toriser, who has an amazing voice, and which is layered on some tracks in such a way that it gives them an out-of-this-world feel. If you enjoy the synths on early Abigor albums (such as those instrumentals found on the debut or on "Orkblut") then you should seriously consider buying this album. My favorite track on here is "The Infinite" so if you like that one, it will give you a glimpse of what the rest of the album is like. It has 11 tracks, so it is somewhat lengthy. The booklet contains the lyrics, some other info, and pictures of Tharen and Elisabeth. Recommended for people who have a pretty clear idea of what this is like, but also for others, since there is a whole scene of such dark-wave music out there, and this would be a great introduction to it.

DARK THRONE - A BLAZE IN THE NORTHERN SKY
Dark Throne is one of the first and most well known True Norwegian Black Metal bands today. Started out as a death metal band, but changed their style after Euronymous presented them with his idea of Black Metal. Dark Throne took his advice seriously, and released a landmark album in 1992 - "A Blaze In The Northern Sky", one of the first Black Metal albums, and for many, their favorite. With only 6 songs, lasting more than 40 minutes, this album is truly excellent. Production is not the best (done purposely) and the album contains a nice intro/outro. Most of the songs are quite long, most longer than 5 minutes. The riffs remind of Celtic Frost and Bathory, and lots of other early bands that are now defined as the musical inspiration behind black metal. Songs are quite long, and composed in a "simple" heavy metal type. The guitar riffs can get stuck in your head easily. The vocals are kind of a mix of clear and black metal,, not as black-metaly as some of the bands nowadays though, more clearer and at times it is very easy to recognize what Nocturno Culto is singing about. All of the lyrics were written by the main man behind the band, Fenriz, and are defined as "Satanic Poetry" (poetry is the keyword there, these lyrics are more interesting than some stuff Dark Funeral or Enthroned would write about). "Darkthrone plays unholy black metal exclusively" message found inside the booklet, along with the "Dedicated to the one king of black/death metal underground: namely Euronymous" message. Pictures of the 3 band members on the back of the cd (the 4th one is just a session bass player, Dag Nilsen). A great thing that I love about Dark Throne is their logo! One of the coolest logos around. Anyways, I could go on praising this cd for some more, but it would be pointless, because anyone into the scene will already have this album (or at least one Dark Throne album) in thier collection, but if by any chance, you don't - get some Dark Throne!

DARK THRONE - TRANSILVANIAN HUNGER
"Darkthrone Is For All The Evil In Man". Dark Throne still contine to reign the Norwegian Black Metal scene as the top leaders in the true sense (well maybe not anymore). 8 songs, and around 40 minutes long, this cd is typical Dark Throne, even more simplistic. The songs are very simplistic, because of the repetitive, mesmerizing riffs that just put you in a trance during the whole album. However, even though there is only one or two riffs in a song, they are very good, and especially when backed up with the steady drumming by Fenriz (just listen to the album's title track, you'll know what I'm talking about). 6 out of 8 songs are in Norwegian, so I don't have much idea what they are singing about, but knowing Dark Throne, and Fenriz's style of writing, I'm thinking it's still the "Satanic Poetry" type of lyrics. However, the lyrics for a few songs were written by Varg! Yep, Fenriz, knowing that Varg is in jail, with lots of free time on his hands, asked Varg to write some lyrics for the album, and he did. Not only did Varg write some of the lyrics, he makes a *guest* appearance on the album (I'm talking about the secret backwards message on the end of "As Flittermice As Satan Spys", it has to be Varg, especially when you realize what is actually said in the message). If he can record a couple of albums while in jail, why wouldn't he be able to do this? Anyways, on with the review. The vocals are not as varied as before, and are typical black metal style throughout the whole album. The production is quite bad (again done purposely), and the best way to notice how bad the production is, is at the end of each song, when all the instruments have stoped playing, you can clearly hear the *hiss* in the background for a couple of seconds. With a very cool front cover (featuring a photo of Fenriz) and all of the lyrics written in the booklet, along with a picture entitled Ferdasyn, this album is really great and could serve as a great introduction to Dark Throne or black metal in general. Highly recommended (actually, any of the *good* Dark Throne albums are highly recommended to anyone!).

DEATH - THE SOUND OF PERSEVERANCE
Wow! Technical death/thrash at its best. The band's name is somewhat misleading when it comes to representing this album. This isn't death metal in the sense of Cryptopsy or Deicide. In fact, the vocals on here are more in line with thrash (or somewhat black) metal bands. No guttural vocals or anything like that. However, from what I've heard, earlier Death albums probably do have lots in common with the death metal scene at the time (although I haven't heard any of their earlier albums). After hearing this album, I am considering in purchasing some more of their albums, because this is excellent. Tons of guitar riffs, which are kinda all over the place, but used with style. The drumming is even more incredible! This is exactly what I love about this album, its complexity. Although not as complex as Demilich for example, but certainly more enjoyable than them. Whereas Demilich has a certain sound which they stick to at all times, which does get somewhat boring pretty fast, this Death album has lots more variety and distinction. From jazzy bass lines, exceptional drum fills and intros, to complex and interesting guitar lines, as well as guitar solos (there's a lot of them on here), this album jumps up as one of my all time faves. All of the songs are stand outs, and there's even an instrumental track, and not to forget - the godly cover of Judas Priest's "Painkiller". The cover is unbelievable! Heavier than the original and about twice as fast. The booklet contains band photos, lyrics and some other info, as well as some Nietzche quotes. I have nothing but praise for this kick ass album. Go out and buy it, at least to support Chuck's battle with cancer. Extremely recommended! Everyone should own a copy of this awesome album!

DEMILICH - NESPITHE
One of the weirdest albums (and bands) I have ever heard! I think these guys are classified as technical death metal, but in any case, their music is so much more. Extremely complex songs, with hundreds of different riffs, rhytm and pattern changers - all in one song. Guitars are played very good, with some great solos at times, drums are good as well, with some blast beats delivered at times, which prove quite useful. But the most interesting thing would be the vocals! I can't believe these vocals, they are so low. Imagine the complete opposite of King Diamond/Dani of COF. Unbelievable. However, with these vocals, the lyrics are not distinguishable at all, it all sounds like weird grunts, like a person burping all the time. Another interesting thing I should mention is the long song titles on this album, some of the longest I have ever seen, here's an example:
"The Planet That Once Used To Absorb Flesh In Order To Achieve Divinity And Immortality (Suffocated To The Flesh That It Desired...)"
Most of the titles are quite long, and some don't make any sense ("Erecshyrinol"?). In any case, the version that I've got is the re-issue on Repulse records, which contains the "The Four Instructive Tales ...Of Decomposition" '91 demo included. The whole cd lasts about an hour, which is quite a lot, especially with a complex band and music like this, so at times I have to force myself to sit through the whole thing. The booklet contains some info, pictures of the band, a huge "thanks to" section, and some text that I still haven't decoded. Oh yeah, it also mentions about the low vocals : "Absolutely no effects were used to make the vocals sound lower or heavier in any way!!!" Also, some weird cover picture(s). Anyways, as I said, one of the weirdest CDs I've heard ever. You might wanna buy this just to see what I'm talking about, however try to get some sound samples or hear the cd before actually buying it, because this will not appeal to everyone.

DIMMU BORGIR - STORMBLÅST
Along with Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir is probably one of the most commercial Black Metal bands right now. The trend nowadays is to hate the two mentioned bands, because they are basically Metallica and Megadeth of Black Metal. I admit I am one of those people, I do not like COF and am not particularly a fan of Dimmu either. However, Stormblåst, Dimmu's second release is not a bad album, I'd consider it very easy listening, great as an introduction to Black Metal (even though some would argue if Dimmu is BM at all), and I can see why the band is so popular. The music is basically a mix of goth and heavy metal. Lots of synths and piano and such used on this album, and does sound very good, some of it is even melancholic and somewhat depressing. "Sorgens Kammer" is an instrumental track that lasts about 6 minutes and is just a piano composition, even though it came as a somewhat of a surprise, I do consider it one of the stand-outs on this album, along with the title track, "Antikrist", and of course the first track "Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen". As you might have noticed, all the lyrics are in Norwegian so I'm not sure what they are about (well, "Antikrist"/"Stormblåst" are very self-explanatory), and all of them are included in the booklet, along with the pictures of band members (both individual and trying to look scary in a "we're a Satanic band" group photo) etc. By today's standards, the music is not very fast, and the riffs are basically typical 80's sounding heavy metal riffs. They are very catchy but are recycled all over the album, which is really one of the downsides of the album. For example, the first track contains a great piano intro and then starts off with four or five great distinct, very catchy guitar riffs, but later on, most of those riffs are repeated in the other songs. However, some memorable moments would include the piano outro towards the end of the title track, the distinctively heard bass on "Dødsferd", great drumming on "Antikrist" and as I mentioned earlier, the instrumental track, "Sorgens Kammer".

DIMMU BORGIR - PURITANICAL EUPHORIC MISANTHROPIA
Following a short synth intro, Dimmu Borgir goes into a "Emperor rip-off" mode. There are so many similarities to the stuff off Anthems... and IX Equilibrium it's not even funny. Just about all of the guitar riffs are straight outta IX Equilibrium. Also, whenever someone mentions Dimmu Borgir, Cradle Of Filth comes to mind, and that's still true on some of the songs (well, the vocals in general, and the intro of "Hybrid Stigmata - The Apostasy" for example). There are similarities to COF, but now, as I mentioned, another band that comes to mind is Emperor. Dimmu might be the latest super-group (now that they've got Galder from Old Man's Child and Simen from Borknagar) but the music on this cd wouldn't suggest so. There are some exceptions though, some of the songs are very impressive, "Kings Of The Carnival Creation" being the highlight of the album. "Blessings Upon The Throne Of Tyranny" and "Sympozium" are not bad either, but the rest of the tracks are pretty much filler material, with some occasional glimpses of innovation and creativity, but not very much of it. Basically, two good songs, and the rest is filler material (IX Equilibrium anyone?). An upside to the release would be the occasional moments where Simen (Vortex) sings in his clear voice, but they're usually way too short. Otherwise, Shagrath's vocals sound too mundane, and become very annoying after a couple of songs. There's just no variety or experimentation (voice box and other effects on the vocals are not very impressive either, just listen to "Puritania", is he trying to be Marylin Manson?). There is some experimentation actually on "Architecture Of A Genocidal Nature" where Shagrath tries to sing with a clear voice for a couple of seconds but it just sounds bad. In conclusion, this albums is not impressive at all, better go listen to some better bands, or Dimmu's earlier work (Stormblåst for example).

DISSECTION - THE SOMBERLAIN
Dissection's debut album, one of the first albums (and bands) that started the entire Swedish Black Metal scene, also the pioneers of "The Gothenburg Sound". I've always preffered the Swedish Black Metal scene over the Norwegian one. The Norwegian one did trigger this one however, but not one of the Norwegian bands are as melodic as Dissection, Naglfar, At The Gates, and such - probably because the Norwegians were going for that "dark, cold, hateful, gloomy, satanic" image (Dark Throne, Mayhem, Immortal, Emperor, and tons of others), which is okay, but I've always preffered melodic bands myself. Dissection is just one great band. I was really impressed with Storm Of The Light's Bane, The Somberlain is as good, but not better. Clocking at 45 minutes, 11 tracks (3 of them being short, acoustic interludes) - this album is awesome! The sound is a bit different than on SOTLB, Somberlain has the typical Gothenburg sound, which depending on your taste might take a while to get used to, or even appreciate at all. I've read reviews where it stated that the first 3 tracks on the album are the best, and the rest of the album is nothing special. Well, I disagree, all of the songs are amazing, with melody all over the place. One thing that really pisses me off on this album is how you have some excellent guitar work but it's much too short. Best examples are: the last 30 seconds on "A Land Forlorn" (guitars are just mesmerizing), also the lead breaks in "Black Horizons", "The Somberlain", "In The Cold Winds Of Nowhere" and "Mistress Of The Bleeding Sorrow" are unbelievable! The just shred their way through. The vocals are like on SOTLB basically, and the lyrics would probably be in the same vein, maybe not as satanic. The cover picture, done by Necrolord, is pretty cool, but SOTLB is much better. Also, the album is "eternally dedicated to the memory of Euronymous and the cursed Mayhem" - I found that very interesting. Anyways, this album is highly recommended, especially if you're a fan of melodic black/death metal, and liked SOTLB.

DISSECTION - STORM OF THE LIGHT'S BANE
Even though most people say that Dissection plays death metal (or rather "Majestic Satanic Metal of Death" - according to Jon, singer/guitarist) they should probably be classified as black metal, mostly because of they imagery (a KICK ASS cover picture, by the way) and most importantly because of the lyrics (which are pretty satanic). Anyways, a great album!!! After an excellent 2 min. intro the album blasts its way through with lots of melodies and harmonies (I've seen people call Dissection "Iron Maiden of Black Metal" - a fitting description) The album closes off with another short song - which might surprise you, by the way... Anyways, I love the continuity effect on this album, almost all of the songs melt into one another. The vocals are typical black metal vocals, and lyrics are just "Satanic poems" as I've seen it described elsewhere. Guitars are excellent, and drums are unbelievable - with lots of fills and small details which really improve the music! One major complaint is that the album is too short (yes, 43 minutes is NOT enough). I've read an interview with Jon and he himself thought the album was short and that they were thinking of puting some more songs on it, but never did for some reason. Now they never will, and if you don't know why go look at some Dissection sites. Some people complain about the mixing and the sound on the album, but I don't know why - I think the album sounds great, even with this *echo* throughout the entire disc- both on the music and the vocals - which you don't hear too often with other BM bands, and it works great for this album. This album is a bit different than The Somberlain, probably more simplistic (therefore more accessable), but nevertheless it's a masterpiece. PS. "Where Dead Angels Lie" is probably the BEST black metal song I've ever heard!

DISSECTION - WHERE DEAD ANGELS LIE MCD
A mini CD, shaped disc, which is a really cool item, especially for Dissection fans since it gives them a chance to listen to some rare tracks and covers (well, The Past Is Alive does the same thing too actually, but it was released after this). There are two versions of this MCD available, one with a booklet, and another one without a booklet (I got stuck with the one without a booklet, too bad because the cd cover is really cool and I'd love to have it). The cd is about 24 minutes long, and has 6 songs, which I'll review seperately.
Where Dead Angels Lie (Demo Version) - From the W.A.R. Compilation, also Nordic Metal compilation, basically a bit slower, rougher, version of this excellent song which was re-done on the Storm Of The Light's Bane album.
Elisabeth Bathori - A Tormentor cover, also appears on both W.A.R. Compilation and Nordic Metal. I've never heard the original version, and was never too impressed with this track. However it does contain the typical Dissection elements and Dissection sound.
Anti Christ - A Slayer cover, appears on Slaytanic Slaughter Tribute. A great cover of this classic track! A bit faster and heavier than Slayer's version though.
Feathers Fell - A bonus track which appears on the Japanese version of SOTLB album. Sounds pretty much the same as The Somberlain version, except it contains some whispered lyrics.
Son Of The Mourning - A bonus track which appears on the Japanese version of The Somberlain. A typical Dissection, Somberlain-era song, would've fit on the album very easily.
Where Dead Angels Lie (Album Version) - The album version of the best Dissection song (and the best black metal song ever, in my opinion). A true classic, the middle part, with the scream, always gives me the chills!

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