Review by Sonny for Dissection (SWE) - The Somberlain (1993)

I'm not the most ardent follower of Dissection, but they certainly deserve plenty of credit for pretty much inventing and perfecting the genre of melodic black metal with the release of this, their debut. Follow-up Storm of the Light's Bane is held up as the superior release but, to be honest there isn't a huge deal in it as this is a killer example of melodic black metal that has rarely been bettered. Now, melodic BM releases tend to get a bit of a rough ride from the more tr00 amongst black metal fans, yet Dissection seem to get a free pass, probably due to the position they hold in black metal history (and notoriety, to a degree).

Dissection didn't subscribe to the minimalistic or lo-fi approach of many of their contemporaries, with a crystal clear production job and a fairly muscular sound for early nineties BM. There are still remnants of the band's death metal beginnings to be found in their sound (check out the track Frozen) and that is the source of this beefier approach to black metal. The guitars sound fantastic with Jon Nödtveidt and classically-trained John Zwetsloot producing some sterling riffing and lead work, Zwetsloot also adding classical guitar on the short interlude pieces. Vocally Nödtveidt had one of the finest voices in black metal, I really love the harsh rasp to his delivery that is neither too shrill nor too deep. There are some great tracks here, albeit the best are front-loaded with Black Horizons, A Land Forlorn and the title track all featured early in the album. Still, if you want to hear the original and, debatably still the best, melodic BM then you really have to check out both The Somberlain and Storm of the Light's Bane.