Beherit - Drawing Down the Moon (1993)^{Release ID: 6435}

It's hard not to get excited about listening to an album so highly rated in a genre you adore. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it and delve into its supposed darkness. To say that I'm a tad disappointed is an understatement. Drawing Down the Moon is so bad that I thought I must be listening to the wrong album. Or perhaps statements below like "most evil and hauntingly ritualistic album I've ever heard" had given me expectations that could never be met. Or maybe, this is just average, terribly produced, ridiculously overrated black metal that doesn't come remotely close to bands like Burzum, Darkthrone or even Xasthur when it comes to raw, atmospheric, evil sounding black metal. I think probably it's the latter.

The production is always crap on these sorts of albums, but in this case it really is dodgy. The drum sound is quite upfront and bassy yet the riffs are completely thin and powerless, not to mention utterly simplistic and lifeless. The vocals seem completely out of place, like they're from a totally different recording and just stuck on top. Nuclear Holocausto's (yes, seriously) lame attempt at pure evilness fails entirely no matter whether he's speaking, growling or screaming. Tracks such as The Gate of Nanna and Summerlands are clearly supposed to get the hackles on my neck rising, but instead they have me cringing in disbelief. Down There... and Thou Angel of Gods are so simplistic, an 8-year-old (freaky 8-year-old admittedly) could have written them. Oh well, I guess Rate Your Music can't really be wrong, as it's based on fan opinions. But I just don't get this one and I'd love to hear from anyone out there that can explain to me why this album deserves to be considered a classic black metal album. If I had to pick highlights, I'd say Nocturnal Evil (which is not too bad) and Werewolf, Semen and Blood.

I've had a very long & stormy relationship with seminal Finnish black metal exponents Beherit's 1993's "Drawing Down The Moon" debut album over the years. It first came to my attention through the tape trading scene of the time (along with Beherit's three demo tapes & "Dawn of Satan's Millennium" E.P.) & I have to admit that I struggled with it initially. In fact, I can vividly recall conversations with Ben where we questioned the value of Beherit in general but recent months have seen me giving a second chance to many releases that I'd previously cast aside, often finding that their value became apparent with a little dedicated attention, & that's certainly been the case with this release which I now see as somewhat of an artistic triumph. Sure, Beherit may have some obvious failings that would have seen me tossing them in the "none of my business" bin with great vigor in my youth but closer attention has shown that the youngsters embraced those failings & have somehow managed to present them as positive characteristics of what is one of the more unique releases of its time.

Beherit's early demos & E.P.'s have gone on to be claimed as having been highly influential on the young war metal scene that had begun to boil away following the release of the Blasphemy records but its inaccurate to say that "Drawing Down The Moon" has much to do with war metal. This is more of an ultra-primitive take on black metal in my opinion with the lo-fi, demo-quality production job & loose performances seemingly having been intentionally embraced in order to contribute to a very deliberate result. There are certainly moments where the band take things too far & end up making a mess of things (see "Down There..." & "Werewolf, Semen & Blood") but when they manage to nail the sound they're going for it can honestly make for some of purest black metal you're likely to find.  Many of these moments involve repetition & a more restrained tempo that lures the listener into almost a trance-like state with simple First Wave-inspired riffs working to give the music an authenticity that I find hard to resist as an old-school extreme metal fan.

The production job is obviously an obstacle for many metalheads but I find it to be kinda endearing these days to be honest. Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance's guitars are clearly too low in the mix but this failing is made up for by Black Jesus' huge bass sound that might as well be a heavily down-tuned guitar & when the two combine for a doomy Celtic Frost-influenced riff I find myself struggling not to jump on the train. I can easily see the influence that Beherit have had on countryment Archgoat in that respect actually. Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance's whispery vocal delivery is also a major talking point for some punters & there's no doubt that they're too high in the mix but I don't agree that they sound childish or immature. To my ears, they sound positively evil most of the time & are one of the highlights of the album. There's an unbridled insanity to them that really gets to me & it suits the primitive instrumentation really well. Are the performances loose? Sure, but it's not as extreme as it's made out to be. I mean, these guys were almost virtuosos compared to early Sodom & no one seems to mind with records like "In the Sign of Evil", do they?

At the end of the day, a record like "Drawing Down The Moon" will always be divisive but I get the impression that it was always intended to be. It was made for a limited demographic of hardcore extreme metal fans that are obsessed with the more underground side of the scene & I'm pleased to see that I can still play in that space after all these years. The ritualistic aspect of the album offers me genuine appeal too with the ambient interludes (like the wonderful "Nuclear Girl" which I utterly adore) playing a major role in the overall package & the artistic component being more important than any level of precision or structure. The brilliant closer "Lord of Shadows & Goldenwood" is a clear example of this & sits amongst my very favourite metal tracks of the period with its trio of different atmospheres combining to create a transcendent ending to a record that can be described as much more of an "experience" than your average black metal release. Love it or hate it, every fan of underground black metal owes it to themselves to at least have an awareness of "Drawing Down The Moon".

For fans of Archgoat, Von & Mystifier.