Samael - Worship Him (1991)Release ID: 1666
It's not often when people discuss the most influential black metal albums that Samael's Worship Him gets a mention. But when checking out what other albums had come out in this genre prior to its release, I have to say I think it certainly deserves to be placed on any list of important early black metal. After all, there are few albums in the genre of note released prior to 1991, with Bathory being the major contributor by far. While it's obvious how much Bathory influenced Samael, underground countrymates Hellhammer are clearly the biggest influence.
From start to finish, Worship Him is filled with crawling darkness. It may not have any real technicality, with simple, plodding song structures being the order of the day, but what it lacks in excitement, it more than makes up for with atmosphere. The guitar tone is dirty and deadly, the drumming is minimal yet precise, the vocals are evil and effective. The sound is black metal through and through but, like Hellhammer, it no doubt had an influence on extreme doom metal. Some of these riffs remind me of funeral doom bands such as Skepticism, but most of all its modern bands like Shining that owe a lot to these Swiss veterans. Their sound would progress every album from here, to the point where Samael might as well be an entirely different entity, but I still feel Worship Him is one of their finest moments.
Highlights are Sleep of Death, Worship Him, Morbid Metal and The Black Face.
Ben & I got onboard with Samael pretty early on in their recording career & always had their 1990's releases floating around our bedrooms as youngsters. 1994's classic "Ceremony of Opposites" album was the biggest player but I've always felt that their earlier works are far too often overlooked, particularly their 1991 debut album "Worship Him" which was recorded as early as March 1990 but presents a sound that is not too dissimilar to the one the Norwegians used to change the metal world a couple of years later. In fact, I'd be very surprised if a young Fenriz was not all over "Worship Him" as Samael had already presented most of the concepts we'd fall in love with on Darkthrone's "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" here, although they're admittedly not executed quite as well as the more classic second wave releases.
"Worship Him" sees Samael combining the influences of "In The Sign Of The Black Mark"-era Bathory with the first couple of Celtic Frost records for a highly compelling result that is the very epitome of early black metal. The riff structures are intentionally kept very simple with the tempos largely sitting in the slow-to-mid range which allows Samael to maximize the impact of some pretty catchy song-writing. The tracklisting is very consistent with no weak tracks included while the lengthier, doomier tracks like the title track & "Into The Pentagram" showcase Samael's early sound best. The short "Rite of Cthulhu", neoclassical darkwave piece "Last Benediction" & closing instrumental "The Dark" are also very solid inclusions but there aren't really any total classics here which is no doubt why we're don't see Samael being spoken of in similar terms to the Darkthrone's or Burzum's. There's more than enough depth & atmosphere to make "Worship Him" an essential purchase for early black metal fans though in my opinion. It reminds me a fair bit of the early Greek bands (see Rotting Christ, Varathron) in its uncomplicated, uncluttered approach actually & I love the grim vocals of guitarist Vorphalack. "Worship Him" comes highly recommended from this old extreme metalhead.
