Ben's Reviews

An intensely moving release and probably my favourite Anathema album.

The Silent Enigma is a damn beautiful album! Unlike many Anathema fans, I'd already been really impressed by the band's debut album Serenades, despite that release having its fair share of flaws. The most obvious area of concern was with vocalist Darren White. While his dreary vocals may have worked perfectly well amongst the extreme melancholy of Serenades' raw death doom, they were clearly not going to be good enough for the band to branch out into more creative and dare I say commercial ventures. As it turns out, the band didn't have to look very far to find their answer. Guitarist Vincent Cavanagh takes over vocal duties for The Silent Enigma and while he certainly has some awkward moments of his own, he brings a totally fresh and effective emotional range to their music.

The vocal department isn’t the only area where significant changes occurred in Anathema’s sound. The bass is much more prevalent in the mix and far more impacting than before and while there were always exquisite melodies suffusing their music, there’s now a much more mellow and almost ambient aspect that sits neatly alongside them. It all adds up to a rather unique sound that can’t really be labelled purely death doom metal and yet hasn’t completed the band’s journey towards a more Pink Floyd inspired rock. The lyrics are poetic, and Vincent’s varying styles really get the most out of them. He occasionally takes the “woe is me” approach a little too far, but his spoken word and aggressive growls are immensely effective. He appears to put a heck of a lot of passion and feeling into the performance which really moves the listener, particularly when combined with Anathema’s typically stirring melodies.

The only thing stopping me from giving this album 5 stars is the odd track settling into lengthy interludes that are perhaps not as interesting as what the band were going for. I appreciate the effort the guys put into creating some epic stirring experiences, but there are some cases where a little focus would have worked better (Cerulean Twilight is an example). But when it works, it works wonderfully well! Restless Oblivion, Sunset of Age, the title track and A Dying Wish are all amazing and some of Anathema’s finest achievements to date. It's so strange to me that some of the later Anathema albums receive similar or even better ratings on RYM than this wonderful release. As much as I enjoy the odd track off both A Fine Day to Exit and A Natural Disaster, neither comes remotely close to The Silent Enigma. I can only conclude that those rating this album poorly are simply not really into doom metal and so find much more enjoyment in the Pink Floydisms of their modern material. But everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.

A transitional EP that's just never moved me the way Anathema so often does. Disappointing!

I seem to be one of the few people out there that really enjoys Anathema's debut album Serenades. Yes, it has some average vocals at times, but the melodies these young Brits came up with are incredibly moving and beautiful. It's an album that I love despite its flaws for the simple fact that it touches me on some deep level. I recall looking forward to Anathema's next release a whole lot but what I recall even stronger is how disappointed I was with Pentecost III. It really left the Serenades sound behind and displayed a totally new direction that I wasn't sure I was happy with. As it turns out, the fruits of this new sound would be completely realised on The Silent Enigma later the same year, but this transitional EP still to this day just doesn't work the way Anathema's material normally does in my opinion.

Kingdom is by far the best track to be found with its long, atmosphere creating build-up. Even so, the climax is just a little underwhelming after such a great journey. Darren's attempts at clean vocals are not as I thought they might be. After all, he's not the most talented of vocalists and it wasn't at all surprising that the band let him go while they started to venture further away from their metallic roots. Mine is Yours to Drown In is the other track I quite enjoy with it's almost oppressive structure countered by the mellow fade out. At this stage of the EP I'm not completely onboard, but there's a lot to like. Unfortunately, the rest of the tracks are nothing special.

There appears to be quite a few people that like We, the Gods, but I find it to be a bit average and the galloping main riff is pretty crap. It's not until the 7-minute mark where it captures me in any way with a great melody, but by then I'm pretty much over it. Pentecost III is a short instrumental that passes by harmlessly and then we're onto closer Memento Mori. By far the heaviest track on the album with Darren going back to his death style vocals, it's certainly a dark and depressive experience. But it's not a particularly memorable one and not a patch on any of Anathema's best work. To make matters worse, the last few minutes of the EP involve the band horribly shouting 666 over the top of rather bland rock instrumentation. It may be a "hidden track" but this is one of my pet hates. If bands want to be idiotic and destroy the mood that they've tried so hard to create over the course of an album, then I will include that in my assessment.

Manic Impressions is a fantastic album! I'd heard of Anacrusis before, but had never actually listened to them until a couple of weeks ago. I really wish I had of given them a shot earlier to be honest. It reminds me of several bands, but many of them were after 1991, so I have to think that Anacrusis have had a large influence on many bands in an underground way, without getting much of a mention over the years.

Their sound is very progressive, with technical proficiency throughout. As is normally the case with progressive metal, the bass has much more of a role to play than in some of the more extreme parts of the genre. The riffs occasionally have that jagged edge that Pestilence regularly created in their prime. The song structures remind me of bands like Atheist and Cynic, but Anacrusis are not as heavy or technical as either of those bands. They're probably more easily described as a more contained Voivod, having loads of creativity and heaviness, while focusing on melody. They create some truly memorable tracks with hummable choruses that will stick in your head for days.

The most impressive thing about this band for me though must be vocalist Kenn Nardi. Apart from the fact he's the guitarist and main songwriter, his various vocals styles are all fantastic. He has a vicious scream, a decent growl, and an awesome clean vocal delivery. I think that Burton C. Bell from Fear Factory heard Anacrusis at some point as the style is very similar. Aggressive verses are replaced by extremely melodic and catchy clean choruses without ever falling into cheesy grounds. Highlights are Paint a Picture, I Love the World, Explained Away, What You Became and Far Too Long, but this album is gold from start to finish. Can't wait to check out their other releases, particularly Screams and Whispers!

Immensely courageous and adventurous album that remains accessible and engaging throughout

Some albums are always going to struggle to match expectations. Amorphis’ Tales From the Thousand Lakes was such a wonderful album, filled to the brim with exquisite melodies and magical atmosphere. I must have listened to it hundreds of times before these Finnish maestros finally got around to recording a follow-up. The problem was that I (at the time) wanted more of the same and Amorphis were simply not willing to repeat the formula, no matter how successful. My first listen to Elegy was one filled with confusion, if not outright disappointment. The band had shifted their sound away from the doom tinged melodic death metal of Tales From the Thousand Lakes into far more experimental and progressive territory. The line-up had also gone through some changes, with Pekka Kasari replacing Jan Rechberger behind the drum kit and Kim Rantala taking over keyboards from Kasper Mårtenson, but the biggest addition was Pasi Koskinen joining the band as a second vocalist, adding his clean vocals to Tomi’s growls. These changes would take some getting used to, and every listen would chip away at the disappointment until I could finally appreciate Elegy for what it is. Another wonderful, adventurous album that demands multiple listens to really appreciate.

Despite how different Elegy is to its predecessor, there’s strangely never any doubt that you’re listening to Amorphis. The band continued their thematic obsession with Finnish folklore, with Elegy being inspired by the Kanteletar, which is a book of poems based on ancient Finnish traditions. Just as with Tales From the Thousand Lakes which was based on the Finnish national pole book Kalevala, this results in some fairly cutesy lyrics that somehow work within the context of the music, despite their strange descriptions and stories. The melodies often take on a similar tone to past recordings, although they are now surrounded by a whole range of audacious musicianship. The standard metallic instruments are seamlessly combined with unusual implements such as the tambourine, the electric sitar and the accordion with the result being an endlessly surprising and unique experience. I will never understand how this band can inject so much curiosity and experimentation and make it sound entirely natural, yet Elegy displays this quality in abundance. Check out Cares to hear melodic death metal, complete with death growls and nice leads, suddenly inject a polka bass line that transforms into blatant dance music (I’m talking glow sticks here), before returning to its origins, all without losing its way. It’s brilliant and ludicrous in equal quantities!

As much as Elegy grew on me after the initial disappointment to the point where I now love it, I still look back far more fondly on the consistent qualities of Tales From the Thousand Lakes, and am much more likely to reach for that album given the choice. With the sort of uninhibited creativity on show throughout this album comes a price I’m afraid. I’ve already mentioned that the band mix numerous elements into each track and still make it appear natural, but this does start to play on personal tastes at some point. It may be the dance section or the polka part, or it could be the death growls or the 70s sounding organ or any of the multitudes of elements, but one or two of them are likely to clash with your personal preferences. It’s the sort of album where the listener needs to leave all preconceptions at the front door before committing to the journey and just experience it. But while Elegy may come across as a challenging album, it’s still a surprisingly accessible one, and one that rewards the listener with its endless details and inimitable spirit. Highlight tracks for me are Against Widows, On Rich and Poor, My Kantele and the awesomely moving title track.

Certainly not essential, but any tracks from this period of Amorphis' evolution are priceless.

Amorphis' Tales From the Thousand Lakes is an incredible album of unique and extremely melodic death metal. This little EP came out a month after that classic album was made public and while it's certainly not an essential release, it's worth checking out for any fans of the full length. It contains a total of 4 tracks and has a running time of only 13 minutes, with all unreleased material now being available as bonus tracks on the reissue of Tales. So, I'm hardly going to try to convince you to go chase down the original EP. But I am going to rate this highly as in my opinion, the more Amorphis material from this period of their evolution the better!

The first track is the brilliant Black Winter Day, which is one of the cuter (how often can you use that word in a metal review!) tracks on the aforementioned full-length. But of more interest to Amorphis fans would be the 3 other tracks on offer. Folk of the North is a short instrumental that's mainly piano based and while it's nothing amazing, is a nice little atmospheric piece. Then there's Moon and Sun which is the highlight of the EP. It would not have gone astray on Tales at all, having those typical melodic Amorphis riffs and accompanying keyboard work. The band have always been able to fill very short tracks with stacks of creativity and a multitude of moving sections and Moon and Sun showcases everything I love about the band. Finally, there's Moon and Sun Part II, which is also damn entertaining, and continues the good work of its predecessor. It's the heaviest track on the album with one riff cranking up the intensity a tad (for Amorphis anyway) and still has heaps of beautiful melodies and a nice piano interlude to boot.

All up, the Black Winter Day EP isn't going to rate as anyone's favourite Amorphis moment. But it does give us an opportunity to explore more work from these Finish legends, and in particular, tracks created during what many consider their most successful period. For anyone out there that doesn't actually own Tales From the Thousand Lakes, I highly recommend picking up a copy that includes the 3 bonus tracks. You won't regret it.

An incredibly unique and creative album that defies the genres normal aggressive tendencies

Back in 1994 things were very different when it came to acquiring metal music. I certainly couldn't connect to the internet and download 468 albums in a day (most of which I will never even listen to) to try to find a new favourite. I couldn't get on to sites like Rate Your Music to find out what others considered to be the most worthwhile albums to acquire. The only options we had were monthly magazine reviews along with good old trial and error. I remember the day very clearly when I picked Amorphis' Tales From the Thousand Lakes out of the extremely limited metal section at my local record store, thought that the cover looked pretty cool, and decided to take a punt. A few hours later, I think my whole concept of music had been forever changed!

Tales From the Thousand Lakes is most definitely a death metal album. But then strangely, it has no real aggression whatsoever. It doesn't attempt to be evil or dark, nor does it attempt to be violent or rebellious. Most death metal music that I'd been listening to at the time (we're talking about bands such as Morbid Angel, Carcass, Deicide, Suffocation etc.) could be considered oppressive music that's more likely to kick your ass than calm you down. Amorphis' album, while still containing base elements of death metal, contained masses of pleasant melodies, copious amounts of musical creativity and a level of innocence that I'd never experience in my beloved genre of destruction. But instead of being completely put off by what I was hearing, I was entirely transfixed and just couldn't stop myself from pressing play again and again.

To this day, I'm still not sure I've heard an album that sounds quite like this one. The songs are extremely catchy, and the melodies are just exquisite. There are various vocal styles utilized (death growls, cleanly sung, female) and various sounds thrown into the mix including keyboards and even a moog. The lyrics are all based on the Finnish national pole book which is called Kalevala and can be considered cute and strange, but entirely fitting for the wonderfully unique music they accompany. I think the current Rate Your Music genre classifications for the album are spot on. Melodic Death Metal as primary with Folk Metal, Progressive Metal and Death Doom Metal all as secondary. I think you'd be hard pressed to find another album that fits into all those categories and certainly not one that sounds as natural as this one.

Tales From the Thousand Lakes is a landmark album not only for the world of metal music in general, but for my musical development in particular. I still love the album completely today and have listened to it hundreds of times without ever getting bored. Amorphis have created many good albums since this one but I don't believe they've ever created anything this good again. If you've never experienced it and you think you can handle some very melodic death metal, then do yourself a favour and pick this album up. Highlights for me are the wonderful intro Thousand Lakes, The Castaway, Black Winter Day and Drowned Maid, but every track is gold in my opinion. A definite 5-star album!

An inconsistent mix of black and thrash metal that's certainly unique yet not always successful.

The Sun of Tiphareth was the first Absu album I experienced. I purchased it back in 1995 in a time when there was no chance to download and try music before you bought it. I plucked it off the shelf and thought the album cover was incredibly cool. It really appealed to my teenage imagination and I was intrigued to see whether the music within came even close to the spectacular scenery withheld in the artwork. The answer to that question isn't a very straight forward one, as I've had mixed feelings about this release from the first listen right through to today.

Absu were really the first successful US black metal band and this was the album that put them on the map. I admit I haven't heard much of their debut Barathrum: V.I.T.R.I.O.L., but from what I''ve heard and read, I'm not missing out on much. When it comes to The Sun of Tiphareth, inconsistency is the first word that comes to my mind. Throughout just about every track on the album there are sections that really work for me and there are others that are grimacingly average. For every excellent shredding riff or atmospheric acoustic section, there's an average, unmoving part or a rather ill-advised injection of creativity. I'm not at all against experimentation and creativity, but Absu don't quite pull it off here and I can't help wishing they'd stuck to the appealing mix of black and thrash metal that they would eventually become famous for.

There are three separate vocalists utilized on the album and yet only one of them is really very good. Proscriptor's raspy black metal shrieks are generally excellent and yet he occasionally performs embarassing Judas Priest like squeals that are extremely off putting. Shaftiel's black metal vocals are less successful and thankfully he doesn't perform them all that often. The female vocalist (whoever she is) is the one I have the most issue with. She all but destroys both Apzu and A Quest Into the 77th Novel in a perfect example of the band going into excess. The best track on the album is without a doubt The Coming of War, which just happens to be a cover of a track originally performed by the relatively unknown Morbid Scream. It's a far more focused track than the majority of the album and displays how good Absu can be when they do what they do best.

Obviously, I find The Sun of Tiphareth to be a frustrating experience. But for some reason I've always wanted to like it! Maybe it's all just connected to the day I handed over the cash and rushed home with such excitement. Or maybe it's more to do with the enjoyable parts of the album that remain stamped into my subconscious, drawing me back to it over and over, only to be somewhat disappointed all over again. If anything, Absu deserve credit for always doing their own thing, and I won't be too harsh with my rating for the sole reason that this doesn't sound at all like any other band.

En Their Medh Riki Fara or: How I Learned to Stop Being Elitist and Love Viking Metal

I'd never listened to Falkenbach before giving this album a go. I'd come across the name many times over the years and noticed some great reviews but since I so often stuggle to enjoy bands listed as viking metal, despite enjoying black metal immensely, I figured they were unlikely to be my thing. I decided to get over my genre discrimination and delve into what this band was all about. My research told me that Falkenbach are in fact a one-man band, that man being German Markus Tuemmers (aka Vratyas Vakyas which means The Searching Wanderer in some language). The name Falkenbach itself means Runnel of the Falcons but none of this superfluous information really gave me much idea of what I was in store for after pressing play.

LISTEN ONE: My first listen didn't do much to alter my initial sceptical reservations as En Their Medh Riki Fara contains almost excruciatingly fluffy black metal complete with folk instrumentation and a rather buoyant atmosphere. My lip curled up in disgust at how lightweight Falkenbach's material is and I figured I'd be damning this album within a couple of listens. But as I turned my attention to other tasks (such as torturing small animals) while the album continued in the background, I caught myself on several occasions humming along to the melodies and my head would unconsciously nod along to the simple beats. Once I noticed my body's traitorous actions I would of course go back to scowling in repulsion, reminding myself that true black metal should be blasphemous and dark, and should certainly never be at all uplifting or happy as this clearly was. Thankfully I made it through the album with my pride reasonably intact and with only a few small instances of "soft" behaviour and immediately subjected myself to Deathspell Omega to wash the experience away with glorious elite black metal.

But deep down I was hurting. Some of the melodies kept popping back into my brain at the least opportune times. I'd be setting the local church on fire (again) or teaching the children in the park the virtues of worshipping Satan when that damn flute-accompanied section from Heathenpride would, completely uninvited, jump into my consciousness. I knew at some point I was going to have to listen to En Their Medh Riki Fara again and I was scared. What if I suffered a repeat episode of the first torturous experience!? Yet since I had committed myself to the cause and was nowhere near ready to review the album, I determinedly went back into my cave and pressed play once again.

LISTEN TWO AND BEYOND: I tried to hate this album. I really gave it my best shot! But I wasn't strong enough. It's not an amazing release that has caused me to throw out my Darkthrone and Mayhem collections and replace them with Moonsorrow and Ensiferum albums, but it is thoroughly entertaining stuff. The production isn't wonderful but it's clear enough and full enough for the numerous instruments to flourish. The black metal riffs and drumming are not particularly aggressive but are atmospheric and memorable which is all this music attempts to be. To be honest, I like some of these tracks (such as Galdralag and Lacknishendr) enough to give En Their Medh Riki Fara an even better rating than I have, but some of the others are just a bit less memorable and fall into repetitive patterns. I will undoubtedly spin this a few times in the future and I look forward to checking out the band's other albums, which is certainly not something I expected to feel just a few days ago. Satan may not approve, but then he has always been a rebel so surely, he'll understand.

As good as the amazing debut, despite a changed line-up and a cleaner sound. Beautiful music!

Shape of Despair’s sophomore album was more than likely going to be a huge disappointment for me. After all, I without hesitation labelled their debut release (2000’s Shades of...) the most emotionally affecting album I’ve ever heard in my life. My expectations for its follow-up were so immensely high that even a merely good album was likely to have me wallowing in discontent. The announcement that the band had already recorded this second album by mid-2001 filled me with both fanboy excitement and deep concern in equal amounts. Why the concern? Well, considering Jarno and Tomi spent close to five years working on most of the material found on the debut, the short turnaround for the sequel suggested they may not have spent as much time and effort crafting the new works. More potential for disappointment arose with the news that the Shape of Despair line-up had been modified significantly in the months following “my precious” Shades of..., with two of the many fantastic features that were so effective on the debut no longer part of proceedings. Toni Mäensivu’s deep, passion filled growls would not be heard again, as he’d packed his bags and moved to Lapland to expand his education, and session flutist Johanna Vakkuri was also no longer involved, taking away one of the features that made Shades of... so unique. I couldn’t help but be afraid that my recently crowned favourite band was about to descend from the throne as quickly as they’d ascended.

Hindsight tells me that I should never have worried! My concerns regarding the short turnaround where baseless, as it turns out all the material found on Angels of Distress was written by Jarmo between 1997 and 1999, suggesting it was very possible it would be of a similar quality to the debut. As for the line-up changes, my fears were allayed when I learnt of the replacements that had filled their shoes. Male vocals would now be handled by Pasi Koskinen of Amorphis, who despite being far more renowned for his smooth clean voice on albums like Elegy, had proven he had the sort of growl needed for funeral doom on Amorphis’ Tuonela album in 1999 (he’s brutal on track five Greed). When Jarno was asked in an interview how he convinced Pasi to join Shape of Despair given the success of his other band, the answer was simply that he finds it therapeutical to perform death growls every now and then. It may also have had something to do with the band’s other vocalist Natalie, whom he would marry shortly after joining. The fact that flute would not be utilised on Angels of Distress was also less worrying with the news that another session musician had been hired for the recording, this time being Toni Raehelme on violin. If anything, the violin seemed a more appropriate instrument for the colossal melancholy found in Shape of Despair’s work, and suddenly, I went from being mildly anxious that disappointment was approaching to being utterly convinced that the band were about to release another breathtaking album.

The first thing to say about Angels of Distress is that it is not Shades of... Part II. Yes, it is still gut wrenchingly slow and sorrowful funeral doom metal, but changes in instrumental focus and production result in a moderately different sound. There is far greater clarity in the recording, with the muffled guitars and slightly distant drums found on the debut replaced by a substantially clearer and less suffocating sound. The increased production works beautifully with the greater emphasis on symphonic layers and the newly introduced violins, and the guitars get more of an opportunity to break free from the mire. Toni Raehelme’s violin work is wonderfully subtle, never drawing attention to itself or pushing into the overly melodramatic, yet still adding further emotional gravitas to what would already be intensely touching music. There’s more variety to be found overall too, with the band occasionally breaking away from the strict rhythm they exclusively stuck to previously, and their more ambient side being given the chance to work its magic uninterrupted at a few distinct sections on the album. Pasi’s vocals are deep and ferocious, easily filling what I thought would have been a significant gap left by Toni’s departure, while Natalie’s vocals are used in a similar way to Shades of..., acting more as a backing instrument than an upfront voice. As before, her beautiful voice weaves in and out, adding an angelic and gothic touch, but she does finally get the opportunity to sing (as in actual lyrics) in ...to Live For My Death..., with the result being stunning as expected.

The symphonic prominence is evident right from the start of opening track Fallen, with soft layers setting a gloomy mood which the heavy doom riffs and crushing drum beats eventually accompany rather than replace. It’s a beautiful opening to the album, but it’s the title track where things really start to take form. The violin’s impact is immediately apparent on this track, and the way the band integrates doom, keyboards, and Natalie’s voice around it is mesmerising. As good as Angels of Distress is though, it’s tracks three and four that deserve all the attention, with both being in excess of fourteen minutes and both surely reaching the zenith of possibility when it comes to psychologically moving, blissful funeral doom. Quiet These Paintings Are was first heard on the band’s promo back in 1998, but the newer elements and the higher production values make this re-recording something special indeed. Piano intro, violin accompanied riffs, gorgeous melodies, passionate vocals, stunning ambient sections, it’s all there and I haven’t a hope of describing the result using words alone. Somehow, they managed to top it with ...to Live For My Death..., which is for me the highlight of Angels of Distress, containing a colossally majestic atmosphere despite being the slowest and lengthiest track on offer. The second half of this track is one of the finest moments in music...period! It showcases the genius of these Finnish musicians and I recommend anyone doubting their interest check it out before making any sort of judgement.

With all the positive changes to the sound I’ve mentioned above, combined with the greater structural diversity in the material, it might seem a given that Shape of Despair didn’t just live up to my obscenely lofty expectations with Angels of Distress, but managed to surpass them. For a long time, I thought that was the case, with this second album replacing the first as my immediate answer to all-time favourite related questions. But over time I’ve found myself drifting back towards the debut more frequently when in the mood for something downcast and doomy (everyone has those cravings don’t they?), for reasons not altogether clear. I can only think that the opening and closing instrumentals on Angels in Distress, as awesome as they are, result in what is really a three-track album, which somehow fails to match the satisfaction that Shades of...’s five full doom epics offers. Or perhaps it’s merely nostalgia having its way, my brain subconsciously eager to revert back to the feelings associated with discovering this incredible band at a time when I was becoming disillusioned with the state of extreme metal. Either way, the short of it is that Shape of Despair released two magnificent and distinctive albums within a two-year period, which should be heard by more people, with Angels of Distress perhaps being the more accessible of the two. Even those out there that automatically consider funeral doom as something that’s too repetitive and slow to be interesting should at least experience what this album has to offer.

An ever-expanding journey that leaves just enough breadcrumbs to find your way home.

There have been numerous instances of bands creating lengthy one-track releases. Edge of Sanity’s brilliant Crimson comes to mind, as do Green Carnation’s Light of Day, Day of Darkness and Meshuggah’s mind-blowing Catch Thirty Three albums. There are of course genres that are more conducive to this sort of thing than the above examples, with drone, ambient and funeral doom being right at the top of the list. Given Skepticism’s penchant for slow, plodding structures that rely on atmosphere and gradually shifting compositions, it’s not at all surprising to find these Finns trying their hand at a singular track EP. I’ll admit that although I thoroughly enjoyed both Stormcrowfleet and Lead and Aether, I was just starting to wonder how long these guys could keep tinkering with the same general blueprint. As with any band, no matter how successful they are, there comes a time where repeated past glories just aren’t enough, so personally I was quite happy that Skepticism were apparently willing to attempt something different. Of course, there was always the danger that they might have simply decided to repeat the same formula for just less than thirty monotonous minutes, but experience had taught me to rest on the side of optimism when it comes to the output of these mysterious individuals.

On first listen I wasn’t so sure that my confidence had been justified, as 1999’s Aes just didn’t grab on to me the way I’d hoped. It would take multiple listens and some focussed concentration to pick out all the nuances of this epic track, and I’ll say straight off that this is not a release for those with short attention spans. Despite those initial listens passing by innocuously, my patience was eventually rewarded with a sudden enlightening connection. Listening to it now, it’s easy to hear that Aes is far more dynamic than the Skepticism material that preceded it, with a wide array of shifts and twists throughout. Yet it unfurls so organically that the listener is not always aware of the transformation, occasionally snapping back from a trancelike state to find their current destination differs greatly from the origin they last recall. It’s for this reason that Aes’ overriding musical theme is so important. If the album had persistently evolved from one phase to the next without any form of repetition, I’m not sure I would ever have been able to put all the pieces together, but the recurrence of one central riff gives the rest of the track the freedom to expand without losing an overriding identity. It’s as though my mind is given the ideal backdrop to wander out into the abyss, while occasionally returning me home for a short comfortable stay, before once again softly encouraging back onto my journey.

The more dynamic structure is not the only difference to past Skepticism releases. Right from the opening moments, it’s clear that Aes has a cleaner production, although I think it probably suffers in comparison to the dirty yet powerful sound of Lead and Aether. The drum sound is much more typical this time around, foregoing the battle-like reverberation that worked so well on the earlier full lengths. There’s also a much greater emphasis on cymbals, with a constant clatter becoming particularly apparent when it temporarily ceases. Obviously, I can’t pick out highlight tracks, but there are a few points within Aes that stand out for me. The minimal chugging riff at the five-minute mark combined with an increasing layering of keyboards works brilliantly and the neat deviations of the core strummed theme are consistently awesome each of the four times it makes its presence felt. It’s without doubt the Egyptian theme that rises in intensity at the halfway mark that rocks my socks though. I’ve always been reminded of an ancient army lumbering through distant wasteland when listening to Skepticism, so this combination is pure magic to me. I kind of wish that they’d spent more time exploring it, but it’s clear Skepticism intended for Aes to push ahead, even when it seems appropriate that it settle in for a while. Aes is possibly not the sort of journey one will undertake frequently, but it is a rewarding and invigorating one for anyone willing to take it.

Another haunting Skepticism experience filled with hypnotic grandeur.

Very little is known about the ways of Skepticism and the Finnish brains behind it. I normally start my reviews by exploring the context of an album, focusing on whatever relevant information I can find regarding the band’s movements that might help in judging the expected outcome. Due to all the secrecy surrounding this funeral doom metal band and the limited information available, I can only focus on the music alone, which I’m sure is exactly the way they intended it. Starting off exactly where they left off on the accompanying Ethere EP, Lead and Aether is really a continuation of what came before it. The album even begins with the same organ composition that finished Ethere in a purposeful attempt to link the two releases. Once opener The Organium kicks in though it becomes apparent that the production has been given a boost, with the muddy, distant rumble of the debut replaced by a comparatively clear and powerful sound. That inimitable grandeur that Skepticism seems to create at whim is well and truly present however and the atmosphere is devastatingly thick within less than a minute’s playing time. There’s something primordial about Skepticism that connects with me on a deep level, despite explanations of their methods often painting a picture of a dreary monotony. It may be plodding and repetitious, but the result is unique and affecting.

Second track The March and the Stream is simply put, one of the finest examples of funeral doom metal in existence. Having already appeared on Ethere, this track was already destined for greatness, but Skepticism took it one step further, building Lead and Aether around a vastly different take of this haunting experience. It’s clear that the version of The March and the Stream found on Lead and Aether is the “true” Skepticism version, with typically elongated, heavy riffs and church-like organs combining with the colossal drums that give the track such an epic atmosphere. That’s not to say that it’s the superior of the two though, as the sparser, and strangely touching, piano infused version found on Ethere is just as effective. I’d probably call it a tie and am perfectly happy to listen to what is essentially the same lengthy track on both releases. The other track to reappear on Lead and Aether is closer Aether. This time I can’t say there is all that much to differentiate the two, with only the gradually fading, acoustic accompanied close on Ethere being replaced by a rather abrupt stop on Lead and Aether, standing out as a noticeable difference. It’s a good track regardless, but its inclusion perhaps negates the value of Ethere, which would be a shame given the other track that makes up that EP, Chorale, is such a beautiful Skepticism piece.

The remaining three tracks on Lead and Aether are of a typical consistent quality for this band, not really venturing far from the slow moving yet epically grand procession that worked so well on their debut Stormcrowfleet. The organ still plays a major role, with the riffs often used to give weight to proceedings rather than taking centre stage. Matti’s indecipherable growls and the wonderful battle-like drum sound merely add to the majesty that pervades the entire album. Despite all the plaudits I’ve thrown at Lead and Aether in the past couple of paragraphs, I’m not going to go as far as giving it a full five stars. The main and only real issue I have with it is that it occasionally slips out of my attention zone. So often when I put this album on, I find myself enjoying the first ten to twenty minutes immensely, before suddenly realising that another twenty has gone by without me really noticing. If I forcefully give my undivided attention to all six tracks, then Lead and Aether is a fantastic experience, but it’s almost too comfortable (comforting?) at times to the point where my mind just wants to drift away. Of course, this could be seen as a positive rather than a negative with the album successfully achieving its hypnotic goal, or maybe it just doesn’t quite do enough to remain enthralling for the entire forty-seven minutes. Either way, there’s no denying that Lead and Aether is an essential part of any funeral doom fan’s collection.

Worthwhile companion to Lead and Aether with a brilliant alternate version of The March and the Stream.

Skepticism exploded (well, kind of lurched threateningly) onto the newly establishing funeral doom metal scene with their debut Stormcrowfleet. Despite its success, there still seemed to be some hesitation as to whether there was a big enough audience out there to appreciate the desolate and monumentally despondent tones that this style of music brings with it, with very few bands willing to join the likes of Skepticism, Esoteric and Thergothon on their minimalistic journeys into the abyss. Yet even if other musicians were as slow as the music itself in catching on, the Finnish members of Skepticism had not doubt about their destinies and began creating their next slab of doom immediately. However, one decision that did need to be made after the completion of Stormcrowfleet was whether or not to find a full-time bassist for their ranks. The band’s original bassist left the band (and music altogether it appears) after the Towards My End 7” back in 1992, so they’d been forced to hire a session musician for the Stormcrowfleet debut. In the end a decision was made that the bass had very little influence on their sound, since the guitars are tuned so low and the layers of keyboards give the music so much weight, so they simply removed it from their framework once and for all. It’s a decision I think more metal bands (a minority admittedly) could make as I so rarely comment on bass due to its usually inaudible presence.

With that decision made, Skepticism began working on their second album, which would be titled Lead and Aether. However, as the band were toying with the tracks to find the perfect outcome, they ended up with contrasting versions of a couple of them that they felt were worthy. Rather than choose one and ditch the other, they decided to construct a pair of thematically connected releases, both containing some of the same tracks, yet in different forms. The result was the Ethere EP, and the band would do a similar thing for their third full length some years later. Ethere only contains three tracks, yet considering it has a running time of over twenty-seven minutes, it’s a more satisfying experience than your average EP. The first two tracks (The March and the Stream and Aether) are alternate versions of tracks that would later appear on Lead and Aether, while the third and final track (Chorale) is a reimagining of a track of the same name found on the 1994 Aeothe Kaear demo. There’s no massive shift in sound between Stormcrowfleet’s grand, plodding soundscapes and the newer material, but there is unquestionably a step up in production, with far more clarity given to the recordings, as opposed to the muffled, heavily distorted wall of sound that saturated the debut. This change allows for more dynamic influences to seep into the world Skepticism, yet doesn’t negate at all from the hypnotic and awe-inspiring effect.

The March and the Stream would have to be up there with the finest examples of funeral doom ever created. It stands as the highlight of the Lead and Aether album and possibly my favourite track by this extraordinary band. Yet its first appearance was made a year earlier on Ethere, in vastly different form. The main difference is that the Ethere version has less emphasis on guitar and more on piano. The tremendously ominous scene setting keyboards and crushingly sparse percussion found in the Lead and Aether version are intact, but the lead guitars and church like organs are replaced with gorgeous piano. The effect is breathtaking and I’m hard pressed to choose between the two versions. It’s much more difficult to hear the differences in the second track Aether, with the only obvious change being the closing moments. The Ethere version fades away with acoustic guitars bringing it to a close, whereas the eventual Lead and Aether edition stops very suddenly before a disconnected piece of music closes the album. I always thought that strange jump on the full length was unnecessary and prefer Aether’s subtle finish on Ether. I recently read that The March and the Stream took form over a two-year period, yet Aether was composed start to finish within only two weeks. I won’t suggest that this explains why the former is more effective, but it’s an interesting peek into the world of Skepticism and the way their music gradually evolves.

Finally, there’s Chorale, which is possibly of most interest to Skepticism fans due to it not appearing on any other official release. I haven’t heard the original off Aeothe Kaear so I can’t compare it to the demo, but this version is a beautiful track that opens with a strangely pleasant guitar section before the typical organ accompanied, monstrous riff Skepticism sound takes over. It very much reminds me of Stormcrowfleet, particularly as the organs have so much emphasis, which I guess is unsurprising given the time of its original creation. The newer production gives that sound a whole new life though and I imagine this is a hint as to what Stormcrowfleet would have sounded like without the muffled wrapper. The track and Ethere EP close with an obvious link to the ensuing Lead and Aether, with the last few seconds containing the same organ performed piece of music that opens The Organium on that album. It’s a nice way to officially bond the two releases and is just another reason why Ethere sits side by side with Lead and Aether. If you’re a fan of Skepticism, you should not be put off by the apparent overlap of tracks and should track this EP down without question. The Ethere version of the March and the Stream is just amazing, and Chorale is also worthy for any fans of the debut. The original press was limited to 2000 copies, but Red Stream has re-released it, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get your hands on.

Like an epic invasion of ogres captured in audio, Stormcrowfleet is grand and moving funeral doom.

Skepticism, along with Thergothon and Esoteric, are generally acknowledged as the grandfathers of funeral doom metal. For that alone, I have an awful lot to thank them for. Any band that helped bring to life such a grand, beautiful form of music deserves an enormous amount of praise in my books. But while there’s no doubt that all official Skepticism releases can and should be considered funeral doom, the band initially evolved from less revolutionary territory. Formed in 1991, the original line-up is a bit of a mystery, but it is widely known that they started out playing straight forward death metal. A year after their formation, they released a seven-inch vinyl single called Towards My End that went relatively unnoticed. It was only when the official line-up of Matti (vocals), Jani Kekarainen (guitar), Eero Pöyry (keyboards) and Lasse Pelkonen (drums) joined forces in 1993 that their sound began to take on more depressive and doom-oriented leanings. The Aeothe Kaear demo was the first Skepticism release to hint at what they would become and was even referred to as “funeral doom” in some reviews. The recording, which included three tracks that would eventually appear on the debut full length, was impressive enough to gain the interest of US label Red Stream and a deal was made. Stormcrowfleet finally lumbered into existence in 1995.

Considering the infancy of the style, you might expect that these Finns merely took the first steps towards an eventually thriving genre, when in fact Skepticism nailed everything that funeral doom stands for at the first attempt. While it's certainly true that the genre has a lot of, admittedly slight, variations on offer, the spirit, atmosphere and techniques haven't ventured far from what can be found right here on Stormcrowfleet. To try to sell Skepticism in purely musical terms is to commit marketing suicide. The drums are extremely plodding, never really gaining any sort of momentum throughout. The guitars are made up of highly distorted, low tuned, simple chord structures that display no real technical ability whatsoever. Stormcrowfleet is the only Skepticism release to contain a bassist (a session musician from a band called Lihtede), but given the monolithic low end dirge of the riffs, I guess the band figured there was no need from this point on. The vocals are raspy, low, indecipherable growls that seem to come from within the belly of the music and the keyboards at times sound like church organs, while at others like some sort of slow motion, cinematic battle soundtrack. I reckon if you had to listen to any instrument found here separated from its cooperatives for more than a couple of minutes, you'd be bored out of your brain. In union however, they form some sort of ancient magic, surpassing the sum of their parts in a huge way.

In the end, individual instruments become entirely irrelevant once these tracks sink in. It's all about atmosphere and Stormcrowfleet has masses of the stuff. There's something monstrous and epic about it that defies its simplicity and recalls some sort of large-scale war. If Bolt Thrower manages to turn human warfare into audio form, Skepticism depicts an invasion of giant, primordial ogres through hypnotic, emotional doom. The production is murky to say the least, yet that only adds to the outcome, with the strange clarity of the keyboards breaching the heavy distortion of the guitars and guttural vocals. This symphonic focus is what gives Skepticism such a unique presence and the subdued riffs are for the most part merely building up the wall of sound that captures the listeners imagination and refuses to let go. Stormcrowfleet is a wonderful and significant funeral doom metal album, but it can only be recommended to metal fans that like their music seriously gloomy and depressing. If you enjoy the more gothic and stoner styles of doom, there’s no guarantee that you’ll connect with the extremity of Skepticism. You’ll either find yourself rocking in a corner in a trancelike state of rapture or crawling back to your My Dying Bride and Cathedral albums, hoping to wash the muck from your ears. If you want to find out which side of the fence you sit on, the highlights are Sign of a Storm, Pouring and The Gallant Crow.

A monolithic and demanding journey, but one that offers unrivalled riches for those willing to make it.

The period after Esoteric released their jaw dropping debut album Epistemological Despondency was a testing one for these pioneering Brits. Keeping a band together that contains no less than six members is no doubt challenging, and it’s made even more so when the band in question plays what can only be described as a combination of psychedelic funeral doom and death metal. When Stuart (one of the band’s three guitarists) and Darren (drummer) decided to leave Esoteric, you’d have to think they’d be hard pressed to find suitable replacements given the completely off the wall nature of their music. They soon did however, with Steve Peters joining on guitar and some guy called Anthony filling in on drums. With this hurdle out of the way (at least temporarily), Esoteric began touring Europe, where unfortunately their run of bad luck continued. Not only was this tour cut short when their newly recruited guitarist received a serious leg injury, but a quick-fire tour of the UK in June 1995 was also derailed after only two shows when the band’s equipment was destroyed when their van blew up. Not surprisingly, the band thought it better not to travel anywhere for a while and instead began preparations for their second full length studio album.

I’d say those preparations would have taken quite some time too, as the resulting album is an absolute monster. Esoteric’s demo tape in 1993 ran for an astonishing 77 minutes and yet their debut album in 1994 easily surpassed it totally over 88. The Pernicious Enigma only has nine tracks in total, yet still manages to run for a concentration testing 115 minutes! You’ll want to make sure you’re well versed in funeral doom and fully prepared before settling in for nearly two hours of horrifically dark and at times utterly insane music. It’s worth pointing out at this stage that I have no issue with the length of Esoteric’s previous works, and the monolithic dimensions of The Pernicious Enigma don’t overly concern me either. After all, I like to listen to my music in solitude, preferably on headphones, and if an album is amazing enough, I’d be happy for it to continue indefinitely to make the experience more encompassing. The problem only arises when tracks, and therefore albums, waft on endlessly without direction or structural intrigue. Somehow, despite all but one track (the three-minute death metal outburst At War With the Race) on The Pernicious Enigma reaching past the ten minute barrier, Esoteric manage to keep me completely engrossed for almost the entire time.

I say almost because there are certainly a few sections here or there that come close to crossing the boredom line, particularly during NOXBC9701040, which is nearly thirteen minutes of improvised madness. I’m not sure how you really improvise when using a drum machine (which four of the tracks on The Pernicious Enigma do due to Anthony not being able to grasp the necessary time signatures), but the result speaks for itself. For most of the album though, the swirling, labyrinthine structures are filled with so much tormented wonder that the lack of concrete composition just doesn’t come into play. The opening two tracks, Creation (Through Destruction) and Dominion of Slaves, are both incredibly beautiful tracks that showcase the completely bizarre and immensely sinister nature of Esoteric’s music. Greg’s growls and screams are gut wrenchingly brutal, and when combined with the alien quality of the melodies and accompanying symphonic soundscapes, make for a harrowing yet absorbing experience. The commitment required to fully enjoy Esoteric’s world is something only a select few will be willing to give, and I wouldn’t at all be surprised if The Pernicious Enigma has scared the hell out of quite a few uninitiated wanderers over the years. For those of us that successfully make the journey, repeat trips reveal a wealth of treasures.

A daunting and at times harrowing experience, but a mind-blowing trip worth taking.

Esoteric’s massive demo tape, with the just as colossal title of Esoteric Emotions – The Death of Ignorance, was both impressive and ground-breaking. I’m sure that whoever heard it at the newly formed Aesthetic Death label had to scrape themselves off the floor and get straight on the phone with the hope of getting these guys signed up immediately. With a label and distribution sorted, the same line-up that performed on the demo re-entered Rich Bitch Studios in Birmingham to record their debut album Epistemological Despondency. How on earth these Brits put together another ninety minutes of material in such a short space of time is beyond me, but they also managed to improve on the unsettling yet transfixing death doom metal sound that they’d displayed on the demo so imposingly during the same period. The new material more comfortably sits within the funeral doom genre for the simple reason that Esoteric spend more time cranking out stupendously slow, devastating riffs than on the demo which regularly upped the velocity. They still vary the speed on Epistemological Despondency, but it’s used as an effect rather than part of the standard blueprint, with the majority subjecting the listener to a trance-inducing, effects-riddled abyss of doomy goodness.

Containing only six tracks yet released as a double CD with the running time of ninety minutes, you might think Epistemological Despondency would be a very tough album to get through in one sitting. Yet that’s really the only way to experience it properly, and something I’ve happily done many times already. It's the type of album you really need to listen to through headphones, preferably lying in the dark, and just let it wash over you with exquisite, crushing despondency. It's surprising how much variety there actually is among these hypnotic tracks with numerous sections in each track that I look forward to immensely. Just as on the demo, Esoteric somehow negate the boredom effect by adding intriguing and at times awe-inspiring effects and adventurous musicianship at just the right times to give fifteen to twenty-minute tracks constant evolution and significance. From a production point of view, the sound shows a small amount of improvement since Esoteric Emotions, but it’s still lacking the clarity and power of their later works. Still, I can’t say it takes away from the experience at all and the band still manage to include all sorts of tricks and effects, mostly in the vocal department, that give the album an otherworldly aura. Greg’s vocals are totally brutal, but the masses of reverb and drain-spinning effects they utilise on them make them downright scary at times!

While it's apparent I love this album to pieces, I can't deny that Esoteric were still finding their feet at this stage. As with the demo, there are some rather unconvincing and inappropriate death metal sections that pop up randomly, shattering the atmosphere that the band worked so hard to put in place. As much as these psychedelic Brits claim to not give a shit about what anyone else wants to hear (as can be read in the rather abusive sleeve notes of the album entitled Fuck Off and Die), I think the band probably lacked the confidence to release a solely funeral doom album that stretched over two discs without breaking things up with aggressive instrument smashing on the odd occasion. Epistemological Despondency is close to a five-star album for me, and I think it could have been if it were a one disc album without the inclusion of Only Hate and Eradification. Bereft, The Noise of Depression, Lamented Despondency and Awaiting My Death are all mind-blowing though and I can't recommend this album enough to those out there that like this style of music. It took me a long time to delve into the extreme depths of funeral doom metal and I spent many years resting on the border with death doom metal bands such as My Dying Bride and Saturnus. I have Shape of Despair to thank for finally pushing me into the abyss, but I think Esoteric are my true reward for taking the plunge.

Where Ulver truly extended their claws, Nattens madrigal is challenging yet brilliantly executed black metal.

There was a lot to be excited about on hearing that Norway’s Ulver were set to release their third album. Their debut Bergtatt was an incredible mix of black and folk metal that had quickly positioned itself as one my all-time favourite records. While its entirely acoustic follow-up Kveldsangger hadn’t made anywhere near the same connection for me personally, the news that Nattens madrigal would return to black metal filled me with optimism. After only Garm, Håvard and AiwarikiaR performed on Kveldsangger, it was great to see Aismal and Skoll re-join the pack, suggesting there was every chance Ulver were about to repeat the magic of Bergtatt before the year was out. I was first in line to purchase the album, and as would be the case with many fans, I was placed firmly on my ass after pressing play. It was this day that Ulver taught me in no uncertain terms to never put restrictive expectations on where this band will venture next. It’s a lesson I would be required to recall for all future Ulver releases, as the band members jump from one genre to the next, simply refusing to repeat themselves. Once you accept that Ulver care nothing about what you as the listener want to hear and just hop onboard whatever journey they wish to take next as individuals, their work becomes far less shocking and challenging. Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet accepted this at all back in 1997, which is why the insanely lo-fi and raw black metal cacophony coming out of my speakers was nothing if not disappointing.

My first reaction to Nattens madrigal - Aatte hymne til ulven i manden, which translates as Madrigal of the Night – Eight Hymns to the Wolf in Man, was that it was taking the piss. The blatantly intentional lo-fi production, complete with excess feedback and an overabundance of treble, seemed to be a joke at the expense of underground black metal. There were rumours floating around early on that the album was recorded in some remote forest in Norway, and further suggestions that the Ulver members used a four-track cassette recorder so that they could spend the significant Century Media budget on Armani suits, cocaine and beer. Once the shock subsided, a couple of intense listens to Nattens madrigal were enough to convince me that this album is certainly no joke, nor was it recorded in a forest. The sound is exactly the way Ulver wanted it to be, and despite the abrasive rawness of the whole thing, the drums, guitars, vocals and even the bass are always audible. When asked about the forest rumour, vocalist Garm’s answer was simply that there is no electricity in a forest. I’ll say it right now that you wouldn’t be able to achieve this finely balanced extremity using a generator and a tape recorder in the middle of a forest. The budget reallocation rumour may have more truth to it however. After all, this is the first and last Ulver release to be found on the Century Media catalogue. You can just imagine the expressions on the faces of the Century Media execs when Nattens madrigal destroyed their eardrums.

Is Nattens madrigal a rip-off of the likes of Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger? Maybe, but Ulver took that obvious influence and gave it their own special touch. There’re a lot of fantastic melodies on this album, which is not really expected for such a nasty black metal production, and the added folk injection in Hymne 1 – Wolf and Fear and short ambient connectors that separate each track give the album some breathing space, along with a strangely distinctive feel. While AiwarikiaR’s drumming is pretty much blasting all the way through and Garm’s perfectly executed vocals don’t venture far from typically venomous black metal fare, Håvard and Torbjørn execute stacks of hypnotic riff variations at extremely high speed. Once you accept the exceedingly trebly and muffled production, which admittedly takes a few listens to embrace, there are some killer black metal tracks on Nattens madrigal, which is why it’s held in such high regard by so many. It’s consistent in quality too, with every track offering up great, majestic riffs, but my favourites would have to be Hymne II - Wolf and the Devil, Hymne VI - Wolf and Passion and Hymne VIII - Wolf and the Night. Just as with the album concept, which follows a man who succumbs to lycanthropy, Nattens madrigal is where these men truly became the wolves that their name suggests. It’s not an album that can be recommended to everyone, as it’s likely to challenge all but the most ardent black metal fans. I say that from experience, as I’ve probably added half a star every couple of years for the last decade, as Nattens madrigal continues to sink its claws in deeper.

Summoning take us on another epic journey and succeed against all the odds.

Summoning proved with their Minas Morgul album that fantasy themed symphonic black metal could really work without coming off as overly pretentious and cheesy. Yet as much as I love Minas Morgul, there’s no doubt that the production needed a little bit of work to catch up to the grand ambition that these Austrians have. Enter Dol Guldur. Thematically, nothing much changed between releases, with the lyrics and inspiration taken almost entirely from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The name Dol Guldur itself is lifted directly from Middle Earth, being the hilltop where Sauron and the Nazgul built their Stronghold in Mirkwood. It should be clear at this point whether this is going to be the type of black metal you enjoy. You’ll either be grimacing in disgust because no “true” black metal would toy with fictional stories about Hobbits and magic, or you’ll be raising your goblet in celebration that this brave fellowship set out on such a majestic journey, despite the odds being firmly stacked against them.

Musically, the band pushed the guitars even further into the background, to give the epic symphonic aspect as much room to breathe as possible. Whereas tremolo picked riffs had just as much focus as the simple yet effective keyboards on Minas Morgul, a lot of this album is spent with no guitars at all, their eventual addition only to give extra depth once the tunes have dug their claws in. It’s only on opening track Nightshade Forests that the guitars take centre stage, which is why that track reminds me of Minas Morgul more than the rest. The production is much cleaner all round, which suits the slight shift in emphasis, but I’m still not sure the band had figured out the best drum sound to use at this stage. While the computerized percussion sounds less synthetic than on the predecessor, they’re still a long way from being convincing and just a bit cheap. But somehow it doesn’t matter in the slightest! The themes of Summoning are not based within the realm of men, so it makes sense that the instruments shouldn’t be restricted to those limitations either.

Dol Guldur is an album I listen to not only for its immense relaxation qualities, but also while reading authors like Robert Jordan and George Martin, not to mention Tolkien himself. If Peter Jackson was a metalhead, he may well have given Protector and Silenius a phone call during the development of his monumental trilogy, as it’s hard to imagine music better suited to the epic scale of the subject matter. It’s slow and repetitive to say the least, but by about the third or fourth listen, you just can’t help but close your eyes and be swept away by the whole experience. The raspy black metal vocals may not always be decipherable, but each composition tells a story as effectively as any novel. If the album has a flaw, it’s that a couple of tracks (Unto a Long Glory in particular) are not quite memorable enough to justify their long running times, but Nightshade Forests, Elfstone, Khazad Dúm and closer Over Old Hills (which is a reworking of Trapped and Scared by Protector’s electronic entity Ice Ages) are simply wonderful examples of Summoning working their magic. Incredibly, it’s not a case of “one album to rule them all”, as their best is yet to come.

Monumentally epic, atmospheric black metal that will transport you to lands far away.

On paper, Summoning sounds like a shite idea. An atmospheric black metal entity based around Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy (at least initially), complete with computerised drums and an abundance of keyboard noodling. Surely that won't please the hordes of black metal fans out there! But not only is Summoning not shite, they're one of the very best things metal has to offer. Their music is filled to the brim with such epic grandeur and they've never failed to sound utterly convincing, not to mention entirely unique in their 15 years of existence. That being said, Minas Morgul is not the band’s debut album (Lugburz was released earlier the same year) nor is it their best. But it is their first to venture into these fantasy themed, symphonic based realms, and therefore the beginning of a grand journey. One that, like Tolkien's work, I'm happy to revisit often.

There's no denying that the Summoning sound hadn't completely matured when they created Minas Morgul. The drums are a bit too computerised sounding and some of the keyboard work comes across as a bit fluffy, but the songwriting is nothing short of brilliant. All tracks are very heavily based around keyboard atmospherics, with the guitars really a supporting instrument a lot of the time. Somehow, that works tremendously well! Silenius and Protector share keyboard and vocals as usual while also handling bass and guitar duties respectively. The shrieking vocals are probably the biggest link to black metal to be honest, but there are enough tremolo picked riffs to plant this firmly into the genre, despite the presence of many "untrue" features. It must be said that Summoning took a brave risk in a time when black metal has only just emerged from the underground and hadn't ventured too far from its roots.

I adore this album and have done so since I first heard it nearly 15 years ago. It transports me to a world so far removed from my own the way a great book or movie would do and makes for a wonderful change after submitting (willingly) myself to numerous more intense and challenging extreme metal albums. Tracks such as Lugburz, The Passing of the Grey Company, Ungolianth, Dagor Bragollach and The Legend of the Master-Ring are right up there with the most moving the band have ever produced. Minas Morgul is a case where I superficially feel like I shouldn't give this album close to full marks. I'm sure there are numerous elite black metal fans out there that would call it blasphemy to do so, particularly when there are darker, more complex and far more brutal albums to be experienced. But there are so very few that accomplish a goal so completely, for which Summoning deserve uncompromising praise.

Contains some decent Slayer moments, but overall Diabolus in Musica is an unremarkable attempt to modernise their sound.

Slayer’s seventh studio album needed to be something special, particularly if these legends of thrash metal were going to convince their fans that they still had what it took to be relevant in a metal scene that was rapidly leaving them behind. It had been eight long years since their last celebrated classic, Seasons in the Abyss, with only an admittedly awesome live album (Decades of Aggression), a disappointingly average studio album (Divine Intervention) and a disc full of hardcore punk covers (Undisputed Attitude) to show in the meantime. With Megadeth cranking out radio friendly heavy metal albums, Sepultura integrating outside elements until they almost collapse under the weight, and Metallica summoning their inner redneck with horrifying results, surely the almighty Slayer were going to unleash hell the way only they can, simultaneously proving that thrash metal was far from dead. I certainly hoped so at the time and rushed into my local metal store around the 9th of June 1998 to get my hands on Diabolus in Musica. The Latin album title translates as The Devil in Music which was a term applied to a musical interval (also known as the tritone as it spans three whole tones). Diabolus in Musica was frequently avoided in medieval times and considered evil due to its dissonant quality. I wonder what they would have thought of Slayer?!

As it turned out, not even Slayer could turn thrash metal’s apparent demise around in the mid to late nineties, and Diabolus in Musica was just another example of how the genre suffers when bands attempt to modernise it. You can’t blame musicians for wanting to change things up, or for attempting to integrate fresh influences into their sound, but for some reason thrash metal just doesn’t seem conducive to outside persuasions. Whether its rap, alternative, pop or groove, very few bands have ever been able to blend thrash metal with less extreme genres and survive. It’s no surprise then, given all the failed attempts, that the thrash revival of late has found success by going back to the source. A source that Slayer not only helped form in the first instance, but also one that these legends know how to wield as well as any other band out there, which is why it’s so disgruntling to hear these guys down-tuning and bringing in elements of groove and nu-metal. They haven’t gone anywhere near as far down the rabbit hole as Sepultura did with Roots, and Diabolus in Musica can still be labelled a thrash metal album without an accompanying roll of the eyes, but it contains next to none of the fist pumping energy and excitement that results from listening to albums like Hell Awaits and Reign in Blood.

Most of Diabolus in Musica’s best moments are the ones that remind me of years long past. Opening track Bitter Peace has a fantastic build-up and payoff that any fan of Slayer would appreciate. Scrum contains awesome time changes and a couple of kickass riffs that show these guys are still entirely capable of ripping your face off. Screaming From the Sky brings to mind South of Heaven period mid paced thrash and will have you moshing rhythmically in appreciation. The only real highlight that doesn’t call on past glories is Stain of Mind, which manages to sound completely modern, with a chunky groove and nu-metal rhythm and vocals, while still satisfying from an extremity point of view. The remaining tracks have a consistent blahness to them, with the band seemingly caught in a bland zone where riffs become almost irrelevant and Araya’s at times monotonous shouting becomes the focus. Love to Hate is the worst offender, but Overt Enemy is close behind, both of which become tedious long before anything of note occurs. King and Hanneman’s leads have never been technically amazing, being used more for blood-pumping impact than for any structural purpose, but in the framework of these dull, unremarkable efforts, they simply fail to serve any purpose at all. While Diabolus in Musica is not an unmitigated disaster, it is an album on which I find very little to get excited about, and fares poorly in comparison to the band’s classic works.

Slayer took a break from writing awesome thrash metal to record an album of typically one-dimensional hardcore punk.

Here’s a question worth pondering. How much are a band responsible for the enjoyment of their fans? Are they obligated to stay within certain boundaries when creating material under a tried and tested moniker? If The Beatles had launched into grindcore halfway through Abbey Road, would they actually have broken some sort of virtual contract between band and fan that states “we will experiment and be creative, but we will never completely alienate you”? What about if Jimi Hendrix laid down his guitar and recorded sixteen variations of Mary Had a Little Lamb, then released it as Are You Experienced on the Recorder? Would it have been unreasonable for fans to be angry at Jimi personally? Now I’ll be the first to admit that Slayer releasing an entire album of hardcore punk isn’t exactly on par with the above imagined atrocities, but the question still seems valid. Fans of the band waited four long years for 1994’s mediocre Divine Intervention album and while I would have expected that the guys would have been keen to show that this Lombardo-less line-up still had what it took to create awesome thrash metal albums, another two year wait resulted n a piece of work that’s likely to please only the smallest minority of their fans. As disappointing as that was, it’s made even more distressing when you realise that Undisputed Attitude isn’t even the album the band set out to make.

The original idea for the album was for Slayer to pay tribute to the bands that “made Slayer what it is”. There’s no denying that punk played an important role in the creation of thrash metal, and Slayer were undoubtedly inspired by its high-octane energy and aggression when building their sound, but anyone who’s listened to their debut album Show No Mercy will know that the guys took onboard far more influences from traditional heavy metal than from punk. The original line-up of intended covers included tracks by Judas Priest, UFO, Deep Purple, Black Flag and even The Doors to go along with a small selection of hardcore bands. After a few rehearsals however, the band just couldn’t figure out how to make the heavy metal and rock tracks work and so a decision was made to focus entirely on punk. The result is a thirty-two-minute barrage of rebellious, aggressive punk tunes, with the majority being covers of apparently important bands such as Verbal Abuse, Minor Threat and Dr Know. I say apparently because I’ve never heard a single track by any of these bands and the only one on the entire album I have experienced previously is D.R.I.. I’m clearly in no position to be able to properly critique Undisputed Attitude and there’s no way that I would ever rate or review an album from this genre, were it not for the fact that the word Slayer is written across the front cover.

This of course brings me back to my original question. Does a band like Slayer have an obligation to their fans to release albums within certain boundaries? It might surprise you at this stage of my review that my answer is no. They can do whatever the fuck they want! Music would be a heck of a lot less exciting if bands were held to their fans’ wishes. But they must realise that the people listening to their albums have certain expectations which, if not delivered, will result in an inevitable backlash. Here is mine! Undisputed Attitude has a great punchy production and an unquestionable energy, with the quick-fire recording (three to four weeks) only adding to the urgency of it all. That’s about the only positive I can come up with however, as the music itself is one dimensional and simple to the point of complete boredom. The lyrics are immature to say the least and the delivery of them extremely monotonous. The two tracks written by Jeff Hanneman back in 1984 (Ddamm and Can’t Stand), which were originally intended for a side project called Pap Smear (with Dave Lombardo and Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Rocky George), do nothing to differentiate themselves from the rest (which I guess makes them a success). The only track I find remotely interesting is closer Gemini, which was written by King and Araya a few months prior to recording. It’s the only real Slayer track to be found on an album I’d rather not be subjected to again. Rant finished.

Sidenote: While I’d rather forget the year that was 1996 when it comes to thrash metal, it’s not likely to be a year that the members of Slayer will forget. During March of that year, fifteen-year-old Elyse Pahler’s body was discovered near her home in California. Elyse had been raped and murdered some eight months earlier by Jacob Delashmutt, Joseph Fiorella and Royce Casey, who then returned to the corpse several times to have sex with it. The body was only found after Casey confessed to the murder after converting to Christianity, and all three would eventually plead no contest, getting twenty-five years to life in prison for their acts of murder and necrophilia. Where does Slayer fit into this tragic story? Jacob, Joseph and Royce claimed to authorities that they murdered Elyse as part of a satanic ritual, as they needed to commit a “sacrifice to the devil” to give their heavy metal band, Hatred, the “craziness” to “go professional”. Elyse’s parents later accused Slayer of encouraging the murderers’ actions and brought a lawsuit against the band, stating that Slayer distribute harmful products to teens, encourage violent acts through their lyrics and that “none of the vicious crimes committed against Elyse Marie Pahler would have occurred without the intentional marketing strategy of the death-metal band Slayer”. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed in 2001, with Judge E. Jeffrey Burke stating, “I do not consider Slayer’s music obscene, indecent or harmful to minors”.

Production issues and some underwhelming tracks set Divine Intervention as a marker for the decline of Slayer.

From the mid-eighties through to the early nineties, it appeared Slayer could do no wrong. With two widely considered thrash metal masterpieces (Reign in Blood and Seasons in the Abyss) and one of the finest live albums ever produced (Decade of Aggression), the Americans were riding high as arguably to kings of metal. Even their lesser praised works such as Hell Awaits and South of Heaven held more quality tracks than the majority of the field could even dream of. Yet beneath the veneer of success internal conflict was brewing. After eleven years of stability, the legendary Slayer line-up was broken when Dave Lombardo quit due to conflicts with other members of the band. Things came to a head when Lombardo stated his wish to stay with his wife to witness the birth of his child, only to receive constant pressure from Kerry King to tour instead. Given that the band had nine months to work their touring schedule around Lombardo’s request, he rejected King’s demands and quit. Straight after the birth, Lombardo would form Grip Inc. with Voodoocult guitarist Waldemar Sorychta, but in the meantime, Slayer had recruited former Forbidden drummer Paul Bostaph to fit his seriously big shoes. It would be two more years before Slayer would be ready to record their first album without the classic line-up, and unfortunately their woes were set to continue.

It’s not completely clear what happened during the recording of the band’s sixth full length album, but there’s no doubt that it was an experience they’d like to forget. The ironically titled Divine Intervention faced so many problems that the recording was eventually split over a few separate studios, including Oceanway in Los Angeles and Sound City in Van Nuys. Bostaph seems to be the band member that suffered the most from this turmoil and has since stated that the already daunting prospect of playing drums for one of metal’s elite bands was made infinitely harder by an inexperienced producer that knew nothing about metal, and his performance being recorded in vastly different environments. When the album was released on September the 27th 1994, it sold over 95000 copies in its first week and received some solid reviews, but long-term fans picked up straight away that something wasn’t as it should be. The production just doesn’t have the punch that their previous albums contain and most tellingly, given the emphasis that riffs hold in Slayer’s music, the rhythm section is really low in the mix. Even some of the most exhilarating sections of the album fall short of the impact normally associated with their work. On the other hand, the leads jump out at the listener, being far louder and clearer than the riffs, leaving the underbelly seeming limp.

From start to finish, Divine Intervention is undeniably Slayer, still leaving most of the thrash metal competition for dead, but it simply fails to leave a lasting impression the way the band’s material normally does. One of my personal gripes with the album is Araya’s vocal effort, which sounds much more forced than it had to this point. He’s always ripped through lyric sheets like he’s desperate to get to the end, but here it comes across as unnatural and at times grating. On the positive side, while most fans were preparing themselves for Bostaph to fall short of Lombardo’s inimitable brilliance, if you ignore the production issues his first-up effort is very impressive. He managed to summon Lombardo when necessary to achieve that Slayer riff-percussion combo that works so well, but he brought his own character to proceedings with great results. As for highlights, the short burst tracks such as Sex.Murder.Art, Dittohead and Serenity in Murder still kick serious ass and both Killing Fields and 213 overcome all the apparent problems to stand out as fantastic Slayer moments. The rest is underwhelming if not disastrous, leaving Divine Intervention as a decent yet disappointing album that unfortunately ended the golden Slayer era. They’d never really recover either, which makes this album somewhat of a negative experience all up.

One of the very elite live albums in metal, Decade of Aggression is one Slayer classic after another, in awesome form.

Some bands release a live album way before they’re due. How many times have you listened to a live album by a band that’s only released one or two full length albums, thinking how insufficient the whole thing is? Then there are those occasions where a band waits far too long to produce a live record and are forced to mix recent misadventures into their otherwise classic set list, or even worse, when the band contains almost no members from the golden era that made them popular to begin with. Slayer’s Live Undead album was a perfect example of the former problem, containing only seven tracks in total, all of which were taken from their debut album and a three track EP. The result was a forgettable and pointless album, which only the most dedicated Slayer fans would really need. With their second attempt, Decade of Aggression, they got the timing exactly right! Slayer had just released a string of masterpieces starting with Reign in Blood and finishing with Seasons in the Abyss, assembling enough brilliant tracks along the way to fill a ninety-minute set with no filler material whatsoever. This was also the last opportunity to produce such a recording with their classic line-up intact, as Dave Lombardo departed soon afterwards. Finally, I think it’s safe to say that Slayer’s output declined from this point onward, making Decade of Aggression the most ultimately timed live album I can think of. None of this would matter however if the guys put in a bad performance on the night, or if the recording quality wasn’t ideal.

Thankfully, these legends of thrash metal put in near flawless performances (there are some minor stuff-ups but nothing worth mentioning) when cranking out these tunes at the peak of their career. Having recently experienced Slayer live in concert in Sydney, I know firsthand just how good they really are, and how difficult it would be to capture the energy they create in purely audio form. Decade of Aggression does a damn fine job of it and is rightfully considered one of the very elite live albums in metal, right up there with Live After Death, No Sleep 'til Hammersmith and Unleashed in the East. While you wouldn’t know it when listening to it, the tracks were recorded at three separate concerts between October 1990 and July 1991. The whole first disc was performed at the Lakeland Coliseum in Lakeland, Florida on July the 13th, 1991, and there’s no doubt that this opening disc is the better of the two, containing most of Slayer’s absolute classics one after the other, with no drop off in intensity or quality. Hell Awaits is a perfect way to get things rolling with its extended intro followed by numerous mosh-worthy riffs, and when the next fifty minutes include gems such as War Ensemble, South of Heaven, Raining Blood, Dead Skin Mask, Seasons in the Abyss and Angel of Death, you’ve got one strong and consistently awe-inspiring disc of thrash metal. On its own, disc one would have satisfied most Slayer fans, but there’s a whole second disc to delve into, making Decade of Aggression both tremendous value and a comprehensive package all up.

The second disc contains material from two separate concerts, seamlessly combined with very similar (great) sound quality. Seven out of the ten tracks were recorded at the Orange Pavilion, San Bernardino, California on the 8th of March 1991, whereas the other three were performed at the Wembley Arena in London on October the 14th, 1990. There’s no doubt that the second disc struggles to hold the stupendously high quality of the first one, and just starts to scrape the bottom of an abundantly plentiful barrel. Most bands would kill to have a set list anything like this second disc alone though, so it’s hard to complain about it all that much. When your less demanded tracks contain the quality of Captor of Sin, Expendable Youth and Born of Fire, you’ve got to be a seriously top-class band, and then there’s that little track called Chemical Warfare that brings Decade of Aggression to a crushing close in fine style, wiping any minor stumbles from memory entirely. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of live albums, which is likely the only reason I won’t give Decade of Aggression a full five stars. It’s probably as close as a live album will get though, and I find nothing to complain about from production, performance or track selection point of views. The only noticeable absence would be that the Hell Awaits album is only represented by the title track, but this little oversight can be corrected by tracking down the limited edition which contains At Dawn They Sleep (as well as Skeletons of Society) as a bonus track. Essential Slayer!

An amalgamation of all the things that make Slayer great and sadly, their last classic release.

Slayer’s previous release South of Heaven copped some criticism for lacking the energy and passion that the band had always been renowned for. While I personally found its slower, more melodic approach to be exactly what was needed after the outstandingly intense Reign in Blood, there’s no doubt that this disparagement caused the band no small amount of concern. It must have been tempting to ignore their recent venture and just reapply the Reign in Blood template all over again, but thankfully Slayer knew that wasn’t the answer that would give them a lasting relevance in the metal scene. In the end they decided to combine both approaches into a hybrid cocktail of Slayer’s finer elements, while maintaining the professional production and packaging that had worked so well in recent years. The result is that Slayer’s fifth full length album has it all, encapsulating everything great about the band, with mid-tempo melodies and grooves regularly injected with spurts of all out aggression. The album also amalgamates the lyrical themes of all their previous work, containing both the King/Hanneman driven satanic subject matter from their earlier material and the later Hanneman/Araya produced explorations of war, violence and death.

Yet, despite all the above efforts to mix the old with the new, there are various elements that required no alterations given their proven success. Released on October the 9th, 1990, Seasons in the Abyss was Slayer’s third major label release, with the same thriving line-up and recording team involved. Once again produced by Rick Rubin and Andy Wallace, the production is clean and powerful, with plenty of attention given to all performers. The album also continues the Slayer tradition of leaving next to no time between each track to the next, giving the whole forty plus minutes a continuous breathtaking flow, a facet they’d first instigated on Reign in Blood. There’s no doubt that at this stage of their career, the band put a lot of effort into making sure that their albums had a consistent quality and that each track was memorable in a positive way. The true reward comes in the live environment when thousands of fans go nuts after just the first note, chord or beat of the next track, before singing along to every word without ever deliberately learning them. I doubt there are many Slayer fans out there that couldn’t pick War Ensemble, Dead Skin Mask or the title track within the first five seconds, which is testament to their distinctive qualities.

Of note from a lyrical point of view are Dead Skin Mask, which was inspired by serial killer Ed Gein, and Expendable Youth, which covers gang wars and violence, but overall there are numerous topics covered without shifting the overriding tone of the album. Araya continues to improve his vocals and actually “sings” a lot more on Seasons in the Abyss, as opposed to the rabid, hollering that coated the band’s earlier material. Hanneman and King do exactly what they do best with the duo cranking out amazing Slayer riffs like they have an endless supply, and their combination with Lombardo’s awe-inspiring drumming never fails to deliver the goods. Unfortunately, this musical combination didn’t always result in smooth band unity, as would be apparent when Lombardo left Slayer due to conflicts over his hesitance to commit to long tours. However, the track Temptation does prove that internal disagreements do occasionally result in positive outcomes. The band never intended for the dual vocal lines that make up the verses so effectively. King and Araya disagreed on how the vocals should be done for the track, so they decided to record both versions before deciding. The result you hear on the album happened by accident after the first vocal track was not erased between takes but was kept for its haunting effect.

The ironic thing about Seasons in the Abyss is that after the backlash that South of Heaven received for not being brutal enough, it’s the lengthier and slower tracks on its follow-up that are generally considered the highlights. With the exception of the superb opener War Ensemble, it’s the more restrained Dead Skin Mask, Expendable Youth, Skeletons in Society and the huge closing title track that are the most memorable on the album, with the shorter, faster ones not making as much of a lasting impression. That being said, the rapid-fire Blood Red, Hallowed Point, Temptation and Born of Fire certainly contain the energy some of their fans missed on the predecessor, perhaps sating the desire for blood that burns within their average listener. Regardless, there really isn’t anything to complain about with Seasons in the Abyss. There are no fillers to speak of and no production issues holding it back. The mixture of old and new, and slow and fast, Slayer elements was a conscious effort by all involved and it paid off in a huge way. Fans and critics alike consider this polished and varied album to be the most rounded and complete of Slayer’s existence, if not as impactful as Reign in Blood. This is the last classic Slayer album and despite them finally getting the original line-up back together, I don’t think that’s likely to change.

Smartly changing direction to avoid comparisons to Reign in Blood, this harshly judged album contains numerous Slayer classics.

How exactly do you follow up one of the most extreme and critically praised albums in the history of metal? That was the challenge facing Slayer after the success of their infamous Reign in Blood release in 1986. While it was not the Slayer way to sit down prior to writing an album and discuss what direction the band should take, that’s exactly what they did in this instance. Sensibly, the band was smart enough to realise that trying to outdo their previous outing was likely to end in failure, as they’d squeezed every drop of intensity and velocity out of their collective awesomeness for that recording. The only way to avoid endless comparisons to Reign in Blood was to slow the tempo down and create a completely different album without alienating their fans. No easy task and it looked like it was going to get a heck of a lot harder when Dave Lombardo quit the band one month into the band’s US tour at the end of 1986. He has since stated “I wasn't making any money. I figured if we were gonna be doing this professionally, on a major label, I wanted my rent and utilities paid” which shows just how hard it is to make a living out of playing metal music, even when you belong to one of the very elite bands in the scene. Thankfully, Lombardo’s wife was able to convince him to return to Slayer in 1987, resulting in an unchanged line-up when it came time to record the bands fourth full length studio album.

On the 5th of July 1988, impatient Slayer fans were finally given the opportunity to experience South of Heaven and make their judgements. While shifting gears would require slightly different writing processes, it didn’t necessitate changing everything that made Reign in Blood so special. Rick Rubin once again produced the album after being hugely responsible for the successful development of the band’s sound. The crystal-clear clarity of the production remains with the only noticeable difference being that Lombardo’s drums have been given far greater emphasis, which works perfectly well given the more measured tempo of the new material. Larry Carroll was also asked to design the cover artwork for a second time after his controversial yet striking effort for Reign in Blood. He evidently relished the opportunity to paint another morbid vision of satanic horror, this time surrounding a skull and inverted cross centrepiece with a collection of bizarre devils and tormented souls. The lyrics continue to alternate between war, satanic imagery and the darker side of humanity, but this time King took a step back while Araya got involved in the writing for the first time. This switch resulted in less focus on immature evil subject matter and more on the human psychology and studies of warfare that would become more prevalent in Slayer albums over the next two decades.

With all the above still firmly in place, all that was left to be seen was whether a slower, more calculated Slayer could possibly match up to the exhilaratingly intense version we all worshipped. Many fans were not initially convinced, perhaps disappointed that the band had not attempted to take metal to even further extremities. The critical response was just as mixed, with some praising Slayer for not repeating themselves and still managing to create a disturbing and powerful album, while others labelled it a failure, suggesting the band had lost their edge. Over time, many of these naysayers would come to change their mind, as South of Heaven gradually dug its way under their skin, with numerous tracks including the title track and Mandatory Suicide becoming part of the staple live set. The band themselves have often suggested that South of Heaven is well down the list of highlights in the Slayer discography. King describes his performance as his “most lacklustre” and labels the album one of his least favourite Slayer releases. Lombardo was quoted as saying “there was a fire on all the records, but that started dimming when South of Heaven came into the picture”. It seems that it’s only Araya that thinks highly of the album today, saying “the album was a late bloomer. It wasn’t really received well, but it kind of grew on everybody later.”

All this negativity seems surprising to me. Personally, I think the first half of South of Heaven is absolutely on par with anything else the band has produced, with the title track, Silent Scream, Mandatory Suicide and Ghosts of War absolutely kicking ass. The extra weight given to Lombardo’s performance makes South of Heaven magnificent, and when combined with Araya’s slightly more melodic “singing” and King and Hanneman’s haunting riffs and characteristically insane leads, what’s not to love?! Slayer have a remarkable ability to write stunning, unforgettable opening riffs to their tracks that make the transitions from track to track immensely exciting, and South of Heaven is filled with them. I can’t help but feel that expectations are the main reason that so many fans have failed to embrace an album that for all intents and purposes, is classic Slayer. Sure, it’s slower, but it’s just as dark and potent. It’s not like they completely dropped the velocity either as plenty of these tracks hit top gear at various stages, with Silent Scream and Ghosts of War emitting towering levels of energy. South of Heaven contains the variety that Reign in Blood simply does not and while I won’t for a second suggest it’s the better of the two, my reasoning for this is more to do with consistency than quality.

The second half of the album is not quite as high-quality as the first, with Read Between the Lines beginning a late album lull that prevents me from considering a full five stars for the record. It lacks the immediately recognisable hooks that make the superior tracks so memorable and Cleanse the Soul just doesn’t do enough to recover lost ground. It’s not as bad however as King suggested when he claimed “that's one of the black marks in our history, in my book. I just fucking think it's horrible”, but it’s certainly no classic either. Then there’s Dissident Aggressor. Anyone that’s wondered why this track has a different feel to the rest of South of Heaven, may not realise that it’s a Judas Priest cover, originally from their classic 1977 Sin After Sin album. Slayer sure gave it a far nastier edge than the original and it’s not half bad, but its heavy metal guitar squeals and Black Sabbath-like riffs stand out like a sore thumb. Thankfully, Spill the Blood stops the rot and brings the album to a close in the most gloriously majestic way, utilising non-distorted guitar and Araya’s evocative voice to create an eerie, ominous atmosphere. It’s a fine finale to yet another enjoyable Slayer album that’s perhaps a bit underrated. South of Heaven has the unfortunate position of being sandwiched between the band’s most loved albums, but despite the second phase stutters, contains enough quality material to not be overshadowed. Ignore it at your peril!

Slayer leave their influences behind and unleash an evil and aggressive maelstrom of thrash metal.

Slayer had been tremendously active since the release of their Show No Mercy debut album. Not only had they released the three track Haunting the Chapel EP and the Live Undead record, they’d also toured extensively with the likes of Venom and Exodus, all before the end of 1984. Guitarist Kerry King also played a few live gigs with Megadeth during the same period while Dave Mustaine was trying to find a second permanent guitarist. Mustaine assumed that King would become a full-time member of his band, and Slayer was clearly concerned with his involvement. Hanneman was even quoted at the time as saying “I guess we’re gonna get a new guitar player” in an interview. As it turned out, King left Megadeth after only five shows, causing a long running feud between the two legends that continues today. With the band still intact, Slayer entered the studio to record their second full length album in early 1985. This time around they’d have a decent recording budget which would allow them to hire professional assistance, a reward for the success they’d already brought to label Metal Blade Records after self-financing Show No Mercy. Hell Awaits was released in September 1985 and along with the step up in production, finalized the formation of a unique identity for Slayer that would stay with them for decades to come.

While Show No Mercy found Slayer imitating their favourite NWOBHM bands, albeit at higher speed and aggression, the Haunting the Chapel EP had really upped the ante on the darkness and pure thrash metal aspects of their sound. Hell Awaits would take this one step further in no uncertain terms and the whole package was given a morbid makeover. Albert Cuellar, who produced the iconic artwork for the Live Undead release, supplied one seriously attention-grabbing cover complete with demons in hell mutilating the bodies of the damned, and this alone suggested something much more sinister was contained within Hell Awaits. The satanic themed lyrics and imagery that had previously been utilised in moderation now took centre stage, suggesting King and Hanneman had been given full responsibility for that department, with Araya’s war and world issue themes nowhere to be seen. Tracks like Hell Awaits, Kill Again and Necrophiliac were more confronting, not to mention controversial, and fans lapped it up instantly. Musically the band had dropped the heavy metal aspects altogether, with no sign of melody, and added an increase in aggression to all elements of their sound. Monstrously evil riffs, chaotic leads, malice filled vocals and crushing drumming fill every moment of Hell Awaits and the true Slayer sound was at last fully formed.

The production on Hell Awaits is by no means perfect, but it was far superior to Show No Mercy. The bigger budget gave the band more freedom to record the way they wanted to, with Lombardo particularly happy to not have to overdub the cymbals, as he was forced to do on the debut. They also included some neat audio effects, with none more powerful than the ones used for the truly awesome intro. It’s unsurprising that Slayer would open most of their concerts for the next decade with Hell Awaits. Its increasingly audible build-up of feral guitar spasms and repetition of the words “join us” in reverse is both foreboding and excitement-inducing, and while it’s only around a minute in when a roar of “welcome back” blasts out of your speakers and the guitars and drums kick in, the vicious scene has truly been set. All that was needed to make Hell Awaits one of the greatest openings to any album in metal history was a decent riff or two and Slayer came up with four absolute ripsnorters back to back before the first line of lyrics are spat out. While this sort of inspired song structuring doesn’t persist for the album’s thirty-seven-minute running time, Hell Awaits unquestionably displayed a level of progression and complexity that would define their later material and inspire others in their wake.

Araya emits blasphemous lyrics at such velocity that it sounds like he’s struggling to keep up with the shredding riffs around him. He may not be passionate about the subject matter that his band mates placed in his hands, but you wouldn’t know it from his menacing performance. It’s also worth noting that his bass is more audible on Hell Awaits than is the norm for Slayer albums. He has a career long habit of merely playing along to the riffs rather than adding anything of substance, which often means he vanishes into the mix, but on Hell Awaits he’s given such volume that you can’t help but pay attention. Lombardo on the other hand really came into his own on this album and his newfound double bass skills are put to good use. The beefed-up production and improved recording circumstances helped him show the metal world just how much talent he possesses, and the scene awards were soon to come flowing in. But Slayer has always been based around awesome thrash riffs and King and Hanneman produce too many rippers to mention here along with their inimitable frenzy of leads. Each member of the band is close to the top of their game here and the result is damn good thrash metal in its purest form. Slayer would undoubtedly go on to produce better albums, but Hell Awaits is enormously significant and still entertaining twenty-five years on.

A bit of a grab for cash by Metal Blade, but too much early period Slayer is surely never enough.

If it wasn’t already apparent that Metal Blade owner Brian Slagel wanted to make the most of the burgeoning popularity of Slayer after the rushed release of the Haunting the Chapel EP, it certainly was three months later when Live Undead was released. Producing a live album for a band that has only one full length album to their name seems a bit superfluous in general, but to do so with rehearsal material rather than an actual concert just screams of greed. The Live Undead performance was played in the studio with a bunch of the bands friends in attendance and considering this fact was not mentioned anywhere on the album sleeve, it’s hard not to feel a little bit cheated. Still, this is Slayer we’re talking about and it’s very hard to refuse anything related to these guys from their early golden years. One look at the track listing and you realise that one full length album and an EP was more than enough for Slayer to have enough great material to fill a punishing set list. With tracks like Black Magic, Die by the Sword, The Antichrist and Captor of Sin already under their belt, the quality of the music itself was never going to be of concern.

The main thing that blights my enjoyment of Live Undead is the hooligans Slayer chose to hang out with. You’d think that the small scale environment would mean that audience participation would be negligible, when in fact the opposite is true. Whoever these dudes were crammed into that New York studio, they fucking loved Slayer! They scream and shout at the top of their lungs the entire time and from the crazed manner of these hollers, one can only assume there were several cases of beer consumed that day. I must admit that I often get frustrated with live albums where crowd involvement is limited to the short breaks between tracks and then entirely cut from the mix for the rest. Surely this technique isn’t the best way to give an indication of what experiencing a live concert is really like is it?! Well, listening to Live Undead is all the explanation I need for why bands and labels often use this method, as I seriously just want these guys to shut up. Their distracting whistles, screams and calls of Ssslllaaaayyyeeerrr are constant throughout the recording and really start to get on my nerves quickly. Anyway, I’ve whinged about that enough, what about the music.

Even at this very early stage, Slayer was a damn tight unit. Most tracks sound almost identical to the album versions, which is testament to the talent of the band. Araya spits his vocals out with serious conviction and aggression, giving a few of these tracks extra brutality that was perhaps missing on the debut. Of course the production is not fantastic and pales in comparison to the massive Decade of Aggression release that would arrive some seven years later, but everything is perfectly audible throughout if you ignore the possessed morons screaming in the background that are recorded at the same volume. Sadly Chemical Warfare is not included in the set, which makes me sad. The studio version did end up making an appearance on the CD version of Live Undead, which was released in 1987, but as incredible as that track is, I must question this decision given that one studio track stuck on the end of seven live ones stands out like Kerry King at a ballroom dancing competition. In the end I guess too much early Slayer is never enough, but Live Undead is certainly the least essential disc from this period.

Where the real Slayer stood up and changed metal forever. Classic!

After the immense underground popularity of debut album Show No Mercy (it had sold more than 20000 copies in the US and another 20000 worldwide, making it the highest selling record for Metal Blade at the time), it wasn’t surprising to find producer Brian Slagel wanting Slayer to release something else quickly. Since the band had already been performing two new tracks live, Chemical Warfare and Captor of Sin, he requested they record a short EP, with Haunting the Chapel being the result. Once again the recording process was far from ideal due to next to no recording budget, but they did manage a crunchier and more powerful production than on Show No Mercy. The main issue that needed to be overcome this time round was that the studio had no carpet, meaning Lombardo had to play drums on the concrete. Unsurprisingly the drums were bouncing all over the place, so Gene Hoglan (still a mere roadie) was asked to hold his kit together while he played. It’s also worth mentioning that Hoglan was already an awesome drummer at this stage and Lombardo credits the man mountain for helping him use double bass drums to improve his ability and speed during this period, for which we can all be thankful.

The Haunting the Chapel EP was released in August 1984 and is undoubtedly where Slayer found their own identity and sound. While Show No Mercy was highly entertaining stuff, it owed an awful lot to the band’s influences, mainly Venom, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Those influences are not as obvious on subsequent releases and there’s a distinct increase in thrash riffs and overall darkness in tone. The whole band deserves credit for the shift in quality and atmosphere, as all stepped it up in the aggression department while becoming completely tight as a unit. King and Hanneman shred out exhilaratingly evil riffs in a style that would be endlessly imitated forever more and their generally messy yet blood-pumping and perfectly executed leads would also become a trademark of the pair. Araya seems far more comfortable in the vocal department than before and now even his heavy metal style squeals have an ominous, evil tone to them. Lombardo’s drumming is far more dominant than previously and it’s his combination with King and Hanneman that really brings these tracks, not to mention Slayer in general, to life. The band hopped up onto the throne with this EP and would simply refuse to come down for quite some time.

All three tracks are fantastically aggressive and contain all the Slayerisms that we all love (if you don’t, you should!), but Chemical Warfare is undoubtedly the highlight of the EP. To this day one of the most loved Slayer tracks, it still features prominently in every Slayer concert and is considered by many to be one of the originating points of death metal. The low end, devastating riffs combined with Lombardo’s heavy as fuck pounding certainly took metal to a new high (or is that low) in sheer destructive force, and numerous death metal bands credit Haunting the Chapel for encouraging them to go one step further. Karl Willets of Bolt Thrower and Chuck Schuldiner of Death both openly assert that it was this EP that paved the way for their early development. For all the above reasons, I feel like I should give this little album more than four stars, but I can’t ignore the fact that it only runs for just over thirteen minutes. Thirteen minutes of crushing, evil thrash metal by the band that does it best, but thirteen minutes nonetheless. It should be noted that the original pressing contained only three tracks, being Chemical Warfare, Captor of Sin and Haunting the Chapel. Aggressive Perfector, which was the first track Slayer recorded for the Metal Massacre 3 compilation, was added for the 1993 CD re-release, but should not be considered part of the official EP.

Has a fair dash of speed metal, but Show No Mercy raised metal's aggression bar and put Slayer on the map.

Slayer!!! That single word can get the most extreme reactions out of thousands of metal fans all over the globe. More often than not you’ll be confronted with roars of aggression combined with dual devil horn gestures as soon as word has left your mouth. Yet just as with all great bands, Slayer had to start somewhere and their humble beginnings originated way back in 1981. When guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman met while auditioning for another band, they saw in each other a kindred spirit and immediately decided to form their own metal band. King had previously played with bassist/vocalist Tom Araya in a band called Quits (aka Tradewinds) and knew he was the man they needed to fulfil their vision. All they needed was a drummer and miraculously they’d find one the day Dave Lombardo delivered a pizza to King. One can only imagine how that knock on the door ended with Lombardo becoming part of Slayer, let alone considering the chances of discovering one of the finest drummers in metal by blind luck. King, Hanneman, Araya and Lombardo hit clubs and parties performing Iron Maiden and Judas Priest covers as within just a few months of forming. Despite many sites suggesting the band were initially called Dragonslayer after the 1981 movie of the same name, the band have always denied that this was ever the case.

In mid 1982, the Slayer members attended a Metallica concert which inspired them to play faster and heavier music. To do so, they would need to produce their own tracks and their live performances started to combine the usual covers with their own original creations. Even at these very early gigs, Slayer brought with them satanic imagery such as pentagrams, spikes and inverted crosses, and it was King that instigated these props as a way of catching people’s attention. It worked too, as at one of these gigs, opening for Bitch at the Woodstock Club in Los Angeles, Slayer were spotted by Brian Slagel, the founder of Metal Blade Records. Slagel was very impressed with what he saw and met the band backstage to ask them if they were interested in recording an original track for his upcoming Metal Massacre III compilation. The band agreed and their Aggressive Perfector recording opened the compilation when it was released in July 1983. The response was extremely positive and Slagel offered Slayer a recording contract with Metal Blade shortly afterwards. Unsurprisingly, given the small scale of the label at the time, there was no recording budget, so the band had to self finance their debut album by combining Araya’s savings and money borrowed from King’s father. Show No Mercy was recorded in November 1983, apparently in one session between 11pm and 7am so as not go over their limited cash collection.

This insanely quick recording of course resulted in a less than perfect production, but it didn’t stop the band laying down ten tracks of dark, youth fuelled metal. Just as with Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All debut, Show No Mercy is a raw yet energetic album that displays the band’s influences far more than future releases. While Metallica certainly played their role in forming this sound, it’s not difficult to hear Venom, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden at various times throughout the album. The satanic aspects scream of Venom and yet Show No Mercy held far more conviction than the pioneering Brits who never seemed to take things very seriously. A lot of Show No Mercy simply sounds like sped up Judas Priest and Iron Maiden with less focus on melody and more on unbridled aggression. I guess it shouldn’t be that surprising how much of these classic bands crept into tracks like Metal Storm, Tormentor and Final Command when you consider their origins, but this traditional heavy metal facet would all but disappear by the time Hell Awaits arrived a couple of years later. The highlights of the album however have much more in common with Slayer’s later purely thrash metal albums and The Antichrist, Die by the Sword and Black Magic are still part of Slayer’s live performances today which is testimony to their importance and quality.

Araya’s vocals certainly contain a malevolent edge throughout despite regularly launching into high pitched heavy metal squeals. On tracks like Antichrist and Black Magic he sounds genuinely possessed and while it’s true that he’d gain much more power and control on future albums, his manic performance here only adds to the dirty, raw tone of Show No Mercy. Opener Evil Has No Boundaries is thankfully the only time you’ll hear gang vocals in Slayer and yet it’s hard not to enjoy them when you picture the band along with Gene Hoglan (legendary drummer who was a roadie for Slayer at the time) yelling “Evil” at the top of their lungs in the studio. Lombardo either doesn’t get the opportunity to show the extent of his talent here or he was still developing at this early stage into the staggeringly good drummer he would become. His work on this debut is merely adequate and not helped by the lacking production. King and Hanneman do however come up with the goods and while their NWOBHM tendencies here pale in comparison to the intense thrash destruction to come, they display no shortage of ability and the beginnings of the exhilarating dual leads that would become their trademark are apparent. Show No Mercy is far from perfect, but when you put it in the context of 1983, there’s just no denying its significance.

The Max Cavalera-less Sepultura era kicks off in inconsistent yet powerful fashion.

Replacing a band member is difficult at the best of times, but when the departed goes by the name of Max Cavalera, it takes on a whole new level of complexity. Max was not only the main instigator in the formation of Sepultura, along with his younger brother Igor, he was also one of the band’s guitarists, their vocalist, and a key constituent in the writing process for one of Brazil’s most famous outfits. It initially appeared as though the band were not even going to try to replace the frontman, rehearsing and writing new material as a three piece, with Andreas taking on vocal duties. He was never comfortable behind the microphone however, and eventually Sepultura began a lengthy auditioning process. It had been decided that their new direction didn’t require a second guitarist, so whoever filled the vacancy would take on a purely vocal role. Multitudes of demo tapes arrived from all over the world, but only a select few would display the ability and power required to become part of the Sepultura tribe. Each of these contenders was sent a tape containing a couple of vocal-less tracks and asked to write lyrics before performing the end result in front of the band. Ability wasn’t the only component necessary to make the cut however, with each challenger’s response to Brazilian culture and personality compatibility also being taken into account when judging.

In the end it was Derrick Green who was chosen as the new vocalist for Sepultura. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Derrick was the singer for thrash metal / hardcore band Outface, and had previously performed for several other hardcore acts. His larger than life presence, contentment within Brazilian life (including becoming a big soccer fan), and most importantly his powerful vocal style made him the obvious choice for what was without doubt an unenviable task. He was thrown straight in the deep end too, as Igor, Andreas and Paulo Jr. had already recorded the music for their next album at the time of his employment and were desperate to show the world that Sepultura were still a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately for the band, their fans had pretty much made their decision about this Max-less Sepultura well before Against was released on October the 6th, 1998, and it sold only 18,000 copies in its first week in the States, which was well down compared to Roots. As unfair as that seems, the critical reception to the Brazilian’s seventh studio album was just as concerning, particularly as Against contains a lot of the same elements that these same critics praised on Roots just two years earlier. It would be easy to point the finger at Derrick for this apparent drop in quality, but there was more going here than just a change in personnel.

In my opinion, Roots had already dropped the ball, with the combination of traditional tribal elements and downtuned nu metal influences just not hitting the mark. Against thankfully lessens the modern alternative feel that rubbed me up the wrong way, but replaces it with a hardcore punk persuasion that does even less for me. At least the real aggression is back which is in no small part due to Derrick’s performance. He swings between a variety of vocal styles with hardcore shouting, deep roars and more than adequate clean sections, and I don’t for a second think that he should receive any blame for Sepultura dropping out of end of year list considerations where they once had an almost permanent position. When the guys kick up the groove (such as on the excellent Choke, Old Earth and Floater in Mud) and Igor goes tribal (the way he does on the Japanese Taiko drummer Kodo-assisted Kamaitachi, Tribal and Unconscious), Against contains more energy and entertainment than many give it credit for. It’s unfortunate that these interesting elements are tainted by one dimensional crossover throwaway moments like Boycott, Drowned Out, Hatred Aside and the title track. You won’t find me professing adoration for this particular Sepultura album, but I certainly think that shockingly low rating that it has on this site is more than a little harsh.

Some interesting covers, but Blood Rooted wears too many hats to demand more than a passing interest.

The period between 1993 and 1996 was unquestionably the height of Sepultura’s popularity. Massive world tours and festival headlines put the band on the tip of everyone’s tongues, despite the fact that their recent albums (particularly the very modern sounding Roots) were critically divisive. The inclusion and eventual takeover of various influences into their former thrash and death metal, including hardcore punk, nu metal, industrial and traditional African percussion, had grabbed the attention of a whole new audience, making their fan base as eclectic as their sound itself. However, just when the Brazilian’s journey to the top looked unstoppable, a series of events tore them apart. When Max’s stepson Dana tragically died, the band were forced to perform Donington’s Monsters of Rock Festival as a three piece, with an amazingly understanding audience making that concert one of the most powerful of their career. It was not long after this event however that internal conflict began, with Andreas, Igor and Paulo Jr. all in agreement that the band needed new management. Unfortunately, the firing of manager Gloria didn’t go down too well with Max, due to the fact that she happened to be his wife, with the result being that he quit the band some time during December 1996. As Max was the vocalist and second guitarist, as well as playing a major role in the writing of their albums, Sepultura’s future was uncertain.

It’s no coincidence that Roadrunner records started releasing Sepultura compilations left, right and centre as soon as Max’s departure was announced. Clearly fearing that the band’s popularity was about to suffer a massive downturn, if not come to a grinding halt, the label called upon a bunch of covers, live recordings and unreleased material and started pumping out the discs like there was no tomorrow. Not content with one comprehensive collection, Roadrunner technically released three separate compilations within a period of twelve months. The first one is known as The Roots of Sepultura, and appeared as a bonus disc on the expanded version of 1996’s Roots album. This compilation contains one new track (Criminals in Uniform), four covers, six demos and eight live tracks taken from the Under Siege video. It’s a nice assortment, covering the band’s career to this point in various formats, and makes owning the difficult Roots all the more bearable. The second compilation, Blood Rooted, was released on June the 3rd, 1997. It follows a very similar format to The Roots of Sepultura, consisting mostly of covers, demos and live tracks, but only two of those tracks (The Dead Kennedys cover Drug Me and the Ratos de Porão cover Crucificados Pelo Sistema) are duplications from the former. The third compilation is called B-Sides, which I will at some point review separately.

The cover tracks on Blood Rooted are taken from various Sepultura singles, and cover a mixture of well known and unfamiliar (at least to me) bands. Procreation (of the Wicked), which is a Celtic Frost cover, originally appeared on Sepultura’s Roots Bloody Roots single. It gets the compilation off in great style and makes good use of the heavy, downtuned riffs the band turned to for the Roots album. The Final Conflict cover Inhuman Nature, taken from the Refuse/Resist single, has less impact, but its themes and style work well enough within the Sepultura framework. The Titãs cover Policia would already be known to many as it not only appeared on the Territory single in 1993, it was also a bonus track on Chaos AD, and eventually became part of the band’s live set list. Its punk-fuelled aggression really isn’t my thing, but it does manage some mid section subtlety despite the short running time. The fourth cover is unquestionably the most surprising, given that it’s a track by reggae legend Bob Marley, which first appeared on the 1991 Arise single. Marley and latter day Sepultura have startlingly similar themes, which is probably why this crushing version of War is so successful and a highlight of Blood Rooted. Finally there’s Symptom of the Universe, a track from Black Sabbath’s Sabotage album, which made an appearance on Sepultura’s unofficial Procreation of the Wicked EP. It’s not bad either, but passes by fairly harmlessly, lacking the energy that Sabbath brought to the original.

The middle of Blood Rooted is made up of Mike Patton contributed work and early Roots demos. Mine is by far the most interesting of the lot, although it does come across as something Mr Patton might have created for one of his many circus acts, rather than standard Sepultura fare. It’s creepy atmosphere makes for a nice change, with bursts of aggression battering the listener back to reality before it subsides and the nightmare continues. I think this collaboration works much better than the one that appears on Roots, which is emphasised here when a slightly different mix of Lookaway immediately follows. The Dusted and Roots Bloody Roots demos are a complete waste of space, as I’m not really sure who would be interested in hearing early, low production versions of tracks released just one year prior. In particular, Max’s vocals are very low in the mix, and given the tracks appear structurally unchanged on Roots, it’s very tempting to hit the skip button here. The final seven tracks are live recordings with a huge emphasis on the Chaos A.D. period. Six of the seven tracks are from that album and while they certainly do kick ass in the live arena, and have a nice clear sound here, it doesn’t make for an essential listening experience. All things considered, I’d really only recommend Blood Rooted to those fans out there that wish for a collection of Sepultura’s covers. If it’s live material you’re after, then Under a Pale Grey Sky is a much better option.

A brave album that integrates numerous influences while remaining relevant and consistent in character.

Given the massive increase in popularity that Sepultura had just gone through, due to the excellence of Beneath the Remains and Arise, it would have been very easy for the band to just crank out another similar thrash metal album without really trying to break new ground. It’s testament to the ambition and passion of these still young Brazilians that they chose to take on a fresh approach, and even went as far as changing their whole recording environment to make sure they didn’t repeat themselves. After Scott Burns gave them the professionalism and production they needed to hit the big time on their two previous albums, Sepultura walked away from Morrisound Studios to search for something new. After considering numerous producers, including jazz freak John Zorn and industrial legend Al Jourgensen, they ironically settled on Andy Wallace, who had mixed their last album Arise. The band suggested to Wallace that they really wanted to record their fifth full length album in total isolation from society, and agreed with his suggestion of Rockfield Studios, which is located in South Wales. It’s there that they recorded Chaos A.D., an album that expanded Sepultura’s reach, while polarising their existing fan base in the process.

Like many Sepultura fans, I originally wasn’t all that impressed by Chaos A.D.. The main issue I had with it however was that it didn’t sound like Beneath the Remains or Arise, but over time I came to appreciate it for the very same reason. Arise had already contained small injections of outside influences, so in hindsight it’s not really that surprising that these same influences were given so much more emphasis on its follow-up. Any hints of death metal were all but gone and the thrash metal performed only intermittently, with industrial, hardcore punk, groove metal and even Afro-Brazilian percussion vying for attention. The fact that Sepultura combined all of these elements and still created a solid album with a consistent character throughout is impressive, and the end result is an experience far more diverse that what most metal albums could possibly achieve. The themes of the album also tie in terrifically with the sound, with the lyrics dealing with real world issues such as the Palestinian – Israel conflict (Territory), the massacre of David Koresh’s followers in Texas (Amen), and censorship (Slave New World). Chaos A.D. is like a call to arms and its angry spirit gives it vastly greater relevance than the Venom-inspired nonsense of their early years.

The album starts powerfully with Max’s then-unborn son Zyon’s heartbeat breaking into Brazilian styled percussion, before a couple of huge riffs welcome Refuse/Resist with no shortage of energy and authority. In fact, the first four or five tracks of Chaos A.D. are really great, varying in style and velocity without releasing their grip for a second. Kaiowas deserves a mention as it’s an entirely acoustic track (Andreas and Max on guitar while Igor and Paulo handled percussion) that was recorded live among the ruins of the medieval castle of Chepstow. It’s the first real time that Igor was given the chance to really explore the tribal drum patterns that he’s more than capable of producing and one of the most enjoyable parts of the album for me. Of course all of this variety comes at a price, with so much genre-shifting testing the listener’s personal preferences. I personally don’t really enjoy hardcore punk so that aspect of the album is a bit off-putting for me (in particular Biotech is Godzilla), whereas others may not appreciate the increase in groove that entered their riffs at this time. There are far more hits than misses on Chaos A.D. though and Sepultura showed that they had a lot more to offer than endless shredding thrash metal albums. As much as I will always prefer their earlier work, Chaos A.D. is a strong album and one I’m glad they made.

More exhilirating thrash metal from the Brazilian legends with a few more influences added to the mix.

Beneath the Remains was a massive hit for Sepultura that opened up stacks of possibilities for the Brazilians. All of a sudden they were on the lips of almost everyone in the metal scene and due to their exotic origins had even piqued the interest of the non-metal media abroad. The big question that needed answering was whether the band’s fourth full length album could continue the massive momentum that suggested Sepultura was about to hit the big time in a huge way. Unsurprisingly given the success of the union, the band were keen to work with Scott Burns again, but rather than bring him over to Brazil as they did for Beneath the Remains, Sepultura decided to relocate to the United States. Taking up residence in Phoenix, Arizona where they obtained new management, Sepultura’s next album would be recorded at Burns’ customary base, Morrisound Studios, with far superior equipment than anything the band had used previously. With an increased budget of $40000, as opposed to the measly $8000 they had for the last album, these improved recording circumstances would certainly assist Sepultura in upping the ante from a production point of view. With former monetary and time restrictions removed, the Brazilians could concentrate on creating another thrash metal classic.

Released on March the 20th 1991, Arise would be exactly that, confirming Sepultura as the most significant band in the metal scene at the time. Any suggestions that their extraordinary success might cause a drop in intensity and aggression were forgotten after one look at Michael Whelan’s nightmarish Lovecraft-inspired artwork. It may have no real relevance to the album themes, but it’s unquestionably one of the more memorable and fascinating covers you’ll come across. Once the title track kicks in there’s little doubt remaining that Arise packs a serious punch and the new production increases Sepultura’s already significant potency. As far as songwriting goes, Arise is really a continuation of Beneath the Remains, which means dynamic thrash metal with death metal intensity, but the band members were clearly gaining confidence and showing signs of integrating other influences into their sound. Small snippets of samples and effects hint at the industrial edge they would delve into further on Chaos A.D., while Igor was experimenting with more grooving rhythms and even tribal elements (on Altered State) that would become far more prevalent on later works. It has to be said that his drumming is a highlight of Arise and shows quite clearly how talented the man is.

Max finally seems to have overcome the language barrier at this stage and puts in his best performance to date. You wouldn’t know from reading the lyrics or listening to the album that none of the band members could yet speak English (there are still some minor blemishes mind you) which is not something you can say when checking out earlier Sepultura releases. Scott Burns is actually listed as assisting in lyric translation and there’s no doubt the improved grammar helps to give the tracks more conviction. There are countless awesome riffs to be found on Arise and the dynamic way in which they are structured makes for one of the most exciting experiences a thrash metal fan can have. Many of those fans will name Beneath the Remains as their favourite Sepultura release, but Arise is without question the most entertaining of their albums for me. The former is indeed a classic and more groundbreaking in the overall scheme of things, but the production quality of Arise combined with its fist-pumping consistency make it my weapon of choice. Highlights abound whether they be the rush of the title track, the restrained yet rousing Dead Embryonic Cells and Desperate Cry, the tribally introduced expansive Altered State or the blistering closer Infected Voice. Arise finds Sepultura at the peak of their powers and is an essential part of any metal fan’s collection.

A huge step up in production and songwriting quality, Beneath the Remains is an exhilirating thrash metal classic.

Sepultura’s second full length album Schizophrenia had finally given the band the international attention they deserved. In February 1988, Max travelled to New York to negotiate a deal with Roadrunner Records, which would surely give the band the type of budget and distribution that had simply not been available to them in their native Brazil. We can only speculate what occurred between Max and the label representatives behind doors, but we do know that it took them an entire week to come to an agreement. Despite Roadrunner offering a seven record deal to the band, they were clearly not certain that Sepultura were a profitable addition to their roster. They gave the band a peculiarly small budget ($8000) with which to record their first Roadrunner backed album. On the positive side, this did give them the opportunity to use a better studio than the limiting Estudios where all their material had been recorded so far, so the band booked Nas Nuvens Studio in Rio de Janeiro. What this miniscule budget didn’t allow for was the cost of a decent producer, but the metal gods were clearly smiling upon Sepultura at this time. After his stellar work with great death metal bands such as Obituary, Death and Morbid Angel, Scott Burns could easily demand large amounts of cash to produce albums, but his interest in travelling to Brazil and working with a non-English speaking band caused him to accept a measly $2000 for the job.

This was a vital decision for Sepultura as Burns brought with him a wealth of experience, helping the band to take the next step up in professionalism and quality. With the help of a translator, Sepultura and Burns worked between the hours of 8pm and 5am from the 15th to the 28th of December 1988 to record what would become Beneath the Remains. I’ve only recently noticed that there are a few websites around that suggest Andreas Kisser performed all bass on the album as opposed to Paulo Jr., but I have no definitive proof to say whether that’s truth or myth. Either way, once the tracks were recorded, Burns flew the result back to the States, where he personally mixed and mastered the album at the infamous Morrisound Studio in Florida. I assume that it was during this stage that a bunch of other Morrisound clients, including John Tardy from Obituary and Kelly Shaefer from Atheist, performed the gang style background vocals for Stronger Than Hate. Apparently Shaefer wrote all the lyrics for the track too and I can only assume this relationship was created through his association with Burns. Beneath the Remains would officially be released on the 5th of September 1989 and would be the first of four Sepultura albums to have cover artwork by Michael Whelan. This particular piece, entitled Nightmare in Red, holds far more complexity than what the viewer might initially see, and is strikingly set against a pitch black background for optimal effect.

Beneath the Remains was immediately met with international acclaim on release and listening to it over twenty years later it’s not hard to hear why. The step up in production and the finely tuned songwriting gave the album a consistent force that their previous albums could only display in patches. The band had evolved further away from death metal into a more pure style of thrash, but while there is little argument from a technical point of view, the Morrisound production combined with Max’s gruff vocals and Igor’s intense drumming style still give Beneath the Remains a death metal feel overall. The musicianship is first class with Igor marking himself as one of metal’s elite drummers with this album while Andreas and Max flawlessly execute exciting, memorable thrash riffs throughout. Andreas’ leads are fantastic and I’m not sure I’ve ever given him the credit he deserves for the simple reason that he doesn’t draw attention to himself. Every solo plays an important role in the surrounding track rather than simply show off the ability of the performer, and there really isn’t any filler material on Beneath the Remains whatsoever. It’s one classic track after another, with the likes of the title track, Inner Self, Stronger Than Hate, Slaves of Pain and Primitive Future all vying for highlight status. I can’t even consider not giving Beneath the Remains five stars which is not something I can say about anything Sepultura have released in the past fifteen years at least.

Weak production and sloppy performances taint an otherwise enjoyable and pioneering death / thrash album.

The success of Sepultura’s Bestial Devastation EP in 1985 had convinced the band that despite their very young ages (Max and Paulo were sixteen and Igor was only 15), they were ready to unleash their debut full length album onto the world. With no changes in line-up, they once again entered Estudio Vice Versa in August 1986, where they spent a total of seven days recording what would become Morbid Visions. After the raw and nasty production quality of Bestial Devastation, the guys decided that this time they would try to clean things up a little bit. In hindsight, this was a not a particularly good idea, as the equipment they were using just wasn’t capable of producing a strong death metal sound with clarity, and they would have been far better off just going with the rough yet forceful approach that made the EP so enjoyable. Of course it didn’t help that the band never bothered to tune their guitars, and this inexperience combined with the rushed nature of the recording resulted in an album almost completely void of authority. Still, once you accept the production issues, there is certainly some decent and pioneering death metal (only Possessed had released anything resembling death metal at this early stage) to be found on Morbid Visions.

Released on the 10th of November, 1986 on Cogumelo Records, the original vinyl pressing featured the first movement of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana as an intro. This little overture was noticeably absent from the cassette and CD versions released shortly afterwards by Roadracer, presumably due to breaches of copyright. Whether it’s present or not really doesn’t make all that much difference to the album, as it was in no way integrated into the opening title track. What you hear on that first track is pretty much what you get for the next thirty odd minutes, being enthusiastically performed thrashy death metal. The issues with the production quality and musicianship are evident pretty much immediately, with the sound just not kicking your ass the way it should. The guitars get nowhere near the attention that the drums and vocals do, which is not ideal given the riff focus that Sepultura was going for. Igor’s drumming occasionally displays the potential we now know he possessed, but it’s also fairly sloppy which undoubtedly has something to do with the hasty recording duration. Max’s vocals are gruff and energetic throughout, but his high speed multi-syllable outbursts become grating before long. I assume he did it this way so he could reproduce them live, as he struggled to play guitar and sing at the same time.

The lyrics are hysterical and it’s obvious that Max still lacked any capacity for the English language. Still fascinated with the satanic themes that were inspired by Venom and Celtic Frost, they do help in giving Morbid Visions that kult feel that somehow makes albums that really aren’t that good entertaining for us metal fans. I think Show Me the Wrath takes the cake with “Son of evil, he is insane manic butcher, he is feared, he doesn’t have religion, killing is what he wants to, false and fools, he there is to torture”. That be brilliant stuff! As much as I’ve just torn Morbid Visions to shreds over the last paragraph and a bit, there’s no doubt that Sepultura deserve some credit for the role they played in the early development of death metal, and there are still some notable moments to be found such as the title track and the classic Troops of Doom that would give the band the momentum they needed to go on to much bigger and better things. There’s certainly no doubting the commitment and passion that these teenagers put into Morbid Visions, and while I might not listen to it much these days (I’m more likely to reach for Bestial Devastation) due to the production and its overall primitive form, it holds an important place in the development of one of metal’s most remarkable bands.

An extraordinary concept album that covers the spectrum of emotions with both conviction and class.

Opeth’s third album, My Arms, Your Hearse, displayed a much more prevalent sense of focus and moderation than the first two, which is something I’d personally hoped for. Thankfully, they’d stick with this direction going forward, continuing to finetune all the best qualities of their style with each successive release. 1999’s Still Life album is considered by many to be their best work, and it’s hard to argue really. Like My Arms, Your Hearse, their fourth release is a concept album, but this time around the concept has far greater presence. But before I get into all that, it’s worth noting that Still Life was a first for Opeth for a couple of reasons, and probably had no right to be as good as it turned out to be. On paper it would appear that the line-up is unchanged from the last album, but it’s actually the first time Martin Mendez performed in the studio for the band. He was already part of the official line-up when My Arms, Your Hearse was recorded, yet he hadn’t been present long enough to learn the bass lines, which were performed by Mikael. It’s also the first album not to be released on Candlelight Records after Opeth signed with Peaceville prior to entering the studio. This move resulted after their friend Lee Barrett left Candlelight, and considering they’d fulfilled their three album contract and had no other ties to that label, decided to look elsewhere. Peaceville was the obvious choice given their great history in metal and their solid relationship with distributor Music For Nations.

Ignoring all these peripheral alterations, it’s the issues they faced with Studio Fredman that make Still Life’s almost flawless quality so astounding. After booking a timeslot in March 1999, things became complicated when the studio suddenly relocated. Not only did this force the recording to be postponed a month, it also meant that the members of Opeth had next to no rehearsal time whatsoever. When they finally entered the studio to lay down Still Life, they really had no idea whether any of the tracks were going to work as they’d never played them as a unit before. Mikael has since stated that he is endlessly amazed at just how good the album turned out to be given the less than ideal circumstances leading up to its creation. It wasn’t smooth sailing from this point onwards either, with the suitably moody artwork by Travis Smith taking an unexpectedly long time to complete, pushing the release date back by around three weeks. Even then Still Life didn’t get a release in the United States until February 2001 (nearly two years after its completion), when the band’s new distribution network failed to deliver the goods (literally). Somehow, despite everything seeming to conspire against the Swedes, they managed to produce the best album of their career to date, and one of the true masterpieces in metal music as a whole. That’s a big call I know, but there are numerous reasons why I make it, not least due to the comprehensive realization of the album concept.

It’s not difficult to pinpoint why Still Life is more effective when it comes to the concept than My Arms, Your Hearse. Firstly, whereas the lyrics of the preceding album were hard to fully delve into due to their decidedly poetic and vague arrangement, the story of Still Life is told in a clearer and more comprehensible format. Secondly, whereas the artwork of My Arms, Your Hearse seemed to have little connection to the concept, Smith’s artwork brings Still Life to…um…life, giving the listener something tangible to hold onto when experiencing the album. Finally, and I guess most importantly, Still Life’s tale of loss and loneliness is genuinely touching and engrossing. By the time epic opener The Moor has run its course, we share the anger and frustration that the unnamed outcast of the story so rightfully feels. We are told of his open rejection of the religious beliefs held by the town inhabitants, and how they subsequently beat, burned and covered him in mud, before banishing him forever. Fifteen years later the outcast returns with the intention of tracking down his lost lover Melinda. Godhead’s Lament describes how he watches her from afar, fearing that he will be detected, and doubting that he can make contact with her without attracting the religious authority of the town. Benighted perfectly conveys his longing for Melinda and how he desperately hopes that they might yet be together, despite her becoming a part of the controlling religious organisation since his banishment.

Things become desperate during Moonlapse Vertigo as the outcast realises how much danger he puts himself in just by being there, and that he has very little time to try to convince Melinda to come away with him. He steels himself to approach her, which takes place during the album’s centrepiece Face of Melinda. Confused, Melinda initially rejects him, and hides behind her religious beliefs. Disheartened yet not defeated, the outcast makes one more attempt to win her back and we learn that she does still love him, now as she always did. Unfortunately, before the reacquainted couple can leave, the outcast wakes to find they have been found out. Melinda has been taken away and her throat slit for her association with him, leaving him consumed by fury and a longing for vengeance. He goes on a rampage, killing numerous soldiers before finally being captured by the Council of the Cross. Final track White Cluster completes the tragic tale, with the outcast refusing to repent before being taken to the gallows to be hanged before a large gathering of townspeople. Still Life closes with the outcast having a vision of Melinda right before he is executed, suggesting that he will soon be reunited with her in death. It’s dramatic stuff for sure, and Opeth manage to convey the necessary spectrum of emotions through smoothly executed shifts in dynamics. They don’t merely match the music to the concept however, and Still Life contains seven enthralling and unforgettable tracks in their own right.

While the album functions far better as an all-encompassing package rather than individual parts, the first three tracks along with Face of Melinda are the highlights for me. The Moor’s gradual build-up in intensity brilliantly showcases Opeth’s range and sets the haunting tone that runs throughout the hour long running time. The acoustic sections have far more direction than found on early Opeth works and integrate seamlessly into the more metal facets of their music. Mikael’s vocals are as strong as ever, with deep growls flawlessly encapsulating the resentment and anger of the outcast, while his high quality clean vocals express the love and care he has for Melinda impeccably. Godhead’s Lament contains one of the very best Opeth riffs and its heaviness perfectly leads into the exquisite Benighted. It’s amazing that I would even consider a track that is technically a ballad to be the highlight of an album loosely associated with death metal, but Benighted is just so beautifully written and executed that I think I might have to. After the similarly brilliant Credence on My Arms, Your Hearse, it appeared Opeth could do just about anything they wanted without losing the high level of conviction and class that saturates their work. Still Life is yet another five star album by this amazing band and a “stuck on an island” type of experience for me personally. It’s one of those rare complete packages that you can lose yourself in entirely, which is something I happily do on regular occasions.

An epic album of typical Opeth brilliance, but a challenging listen at times.

After their Orchid debut captured the attention of the metal scene with its unique blend of death metal with progressive and acoustic elements, Opeth very quickly began working on a follow-up. With no change in line-up, other than bassist Johan DeFarfalla becoming a fulltime member as opposed to the session musician position he held on Orchid, the band once again entered Unisound studio with Dan Swanö in the production seat. Released on June the 24th, 1996, Morningrise again contains a rather striking album cover, which is a black and white photograph of a Palladian style bridge found in Prior Park Landscape Garden, which is located south of Bath in England. It’s without question the album that really sent Opeth’s status soaring and one that many fans still consider the best of their career. I’ll say straight up that I disagree with this sentiment, but would never suggest it is not worthy of attention. Being a huge fan of the Swedes and everything they’ve ever done, I’m always eager to shout plaudits of admiration to anyone that will listen. Yet Morningrise is an album I find more challenging to blindly recommend, and is perhaps a bit too demanding on the listener for my tastes. I still listen to it and find enjoyment, but I simply don’t connect with it the way I normally do with Opeth material.

Morningrise shares many similarities with Orchid in that it combines contrasting genres and explores vast arrangements that refuse to comply with standard song structures. Both albums contain tracks that develop gradually with little repetition, which might suggest a level of improvisation if it weren’t for the precise nature of the compositions. All the various elements are very tidily linked together and the wide array of dual harmonies would no doubt have taken much time to compose. While I found this technique worked well for the debut, which contained more death metal and was consistently captivating throughout, I can’t help feeling that Opeth pushed things a bit too far with Morningrise. The album does include some wonderful sections with extremely proficient musicianship, but the sheer length of the compositions and the at times unfocused, wafting nature of these tracks can result in something very close to boredom. If I concentrate on Morningrise for long periods there really isn’t a lot to complain about, but my focus tends to drift away regularly and before something cool draws me back, another few minutes have passed harmlessly by. It doesn’t help that every track comes in at over ten minutes, with Black Rose Immortal pushing over twenty, and all five contain numerous elements with no common theme to distinguish one from another.

Given the above qualms, why do I still give Morningrise such a high mark? Well, if I get past the album’s gluttonous misgivings, there’s unquestionably excellent music spread thick across the nearly seventy minutes. Each and every track includes multitudes of five star sections and when they show just a little bit of restraint, such as on wonderful opener Advent and The Night and the Silent Water (which is about Mikael’s grandfather who died just prior to recording), Morningrise is very entertaining indeed. Even Black Rose Immortal, which is like the Lord of the Rings movies in that it seemingly finishes several times before spluttering back to life, is for the most part gorgeous. I think Morningrise is a great album to put on in the background while you’re doing something else (such as writing reviews). That way the great bits will draw your attention, while the acoustic meanderings set a nice chilled out mood without putting you to sleep. The band unquestionably learnt from this experience with all subsequent releases being far more focused and utilising more typical song structures throughout. If you're a fan of the band, then you will most likely already have this album and the rest to boot, but if you're new to Opeth, Morningrise is probably not the place I’d recommend starting. You’d be better off checking out Blackwater Park or Ghost Reveries as they're simply more accessible than this incessantly shifting epic.

Opeth's debut is a wonderful tapestry of differing moods and textures. Essential!

Love them or hate them, Opeth are one of the most successful bands in the history of metal music. Releasing a consistent flow of outstanding albums, the band have built up a huge drooling fan base, garnered immense critical praise, and done so while completely avoiding straightforward genre classifications. Whether Opeth should be at all associated with death metal these days is a constant argument that fills pages of forums and Rate Your Music genre queue discussions, but there can be absolutely no doubt that the band’s origins can directly be linked back to death metal. The seeds of Opeth were sewn when long time friends Mikael Åkerfeldt and Anders Nordin formed a band called Eruption in 1987. Initially the two of them played death and thrash metal covers by bands such as Death and Bathory, before putting together a full line-up and writing their own material. Eruption disbanded in 1990 without ever performing live or releasing anything to the public, but the experience would unquestionably help Mikael and Anders have more success in future endeavours. After the split, David Isberg asked Mikael to join his band, a death metal band called Opeth. Mikael had previously seen the Opeth logo (the original one complete with inverted cross that can be found here) and liked it, so he accepted the offer.

The band name was chosen by Isberg and was derived from the word Opet, which originated in a Wilbur Smith novel called The Sunbird. In the book, Opet is the name given to a fictional Phoenician city which is also known as the City of the Moon. Who knows what inspired him to use the name for his death metal band, nor why he added an “h” onto the end, but that’s what he did. Unfortunately for Mikael, his first day with Opeth did not go particularly smoothly. When he arrived for practice, it became clear that none of the other members of the band knew that Isberg had invited him to join, including the current bassist who also turned up. Unsurprisingly, this caused a huge argument which resulted in mass revolt, with only Isberg and Mikael remaining by the end of the day. Not only did they decide to continue on alone, they committed to making Opeth the most evil band in the world. Anyone that’s experienced Opeth’s music will know that this goal was never reached, but it’s safe to say that the aim was soon adjusted to a far less sinister, yet no less ambitious target. Jump forward three years and Opeth has dramatically transformed. Numerous line-up changes had occurred and even Isberg left the band in 1992 to join Liers in Wait, leaving Mikael as the main driving force. The blast beats and satanic imagery were gone and acoustic sections and harmonies had become the norm.

In March 1994, Opeth were ready to record their debut album. They hadn’t released even a demo at this stage as the Apostle in Triumph recording that is often passed as such is simply a leaked promo the band had sent to labels in an attempt to get a record deal. It was successful too, as the three and a half minute promo was enough to convince Candlelight Records to sign Opeth onto their roster. By this stage, Mikael had taken over as vocalist on top of his normal guitar duties, his old Eruption mate Nordin had joined on drums and piano, and Peter Lindgren (who originally joined as a bassist) was involved as the second guitarist. They still didn’t contain an official bassist, so they hired Johan De Farfalla, who’d previously joined and departed the band, as a session musician to get the album over the line. Orchid was recorded in a town called Finspång, with scene legend Dan Swanö taking on a producing role. The studio was situated in the basement of a small house in the middle of a field, and Swanö had convinced the band that it had once been used to aid the mentally ill. Despite the strange atmosphere that this knowledge produced, the recording of Orchid went relatively smoothly, with the only issue being that they ran out of time to record the acoustic instrumental Requiem the way they would have liked. The track was eventually re-recorded in a studio at Stockholm prior to complete the album.

Unfortunately, while the recording was accomplished with little stress, the same cannot be said for the mastering, packaging and distribution. Whoever handled the mastering did so without the band present and made a bit of a mess. The end result is that the final few minutes of Requiem were attached to the beginning of The Apostle in Triumph, which is not only a bit confusing for the listener, but it’s also pissed off Mikael to this very day. To make matters worse, after designing a thoroughly unique cover (at least for a metal band), that included having an Orchid sent from Holland for the cause and some very effective silhouetted band photos, the colour scheme of the CD (it’s bright blue instead of black) and the lyrics (the colours were reversed making it ugly and fairly hard to read) were completely botched. Finally, after all these mishaps threatened to damage a product that Opeth were otherwise thrilled with, the newly formed Candlelight Records had major distribution problems, so Orchid was not released officially until May the 15th 1995, over a year after it was recorded. Yet despite all of this, when Orchid finally made its way into the hands of metal fans and critics, the response was unanimously positive. All Music labelled Orchid “a far-beyond-epic progressive death monstrosity exuding equal parts beauty and brutality”. It’s hard to disagree!

Personally, Opeth took me completely by surprise when I first heard them back in 1995. I'd been hunting for black metal bands and pretty much anything violent and dark at the time, so I purchased a Candlelight compilation that had the inspired title Candlelight Compilation, hoping to add to my growing collection of blasphemy. The second track (The Apostles in Triumph) was by a band called Opeth whom I'd never heard of. They didn't fit the description of what I'd been searching for at all, yet a couple of spins later and I would be thoroughly convinced that these Swedes were something extraordinary indeed. The first word that comes to mind on listening to their music is class. Whereas so many bands around are trying to be as fast, or as despondent, or as evil as they can possibly be, Opeth just try to write damn good music. As far as I'm concerned they've never failed to do that in the twenty years of their existence. Of course it helps that each member of the band is extremely talented, but talent doesn't always equal quality music, which is abundantly present in everything they touch, including this harshly underrated debut album. Considering Mikael is the only constant in Opeth and the man behind the musical direction and lyrics, there’s no doubt that the majority of the praise attributed to the band should really be directed at the man himself.

Orchid contains sixty five minutes of music and while there are seven tracks in total, two of them are quite beautiful short instrumentals, with the rest being made up of five epic progressive death metal tracks, ranging from ten to fourteen minutes. Generally if an album contains tracks of such extended lengths, you can assume the music contains a certain degree of repetition, but that's not the case here at all. Each composition includes a wealth of variety, generally not holding to constant themes and instead, branching out in many directions of differing moods and textures. This is one of the things that differentiate the first two Opeth albums to the remainder of their work and something that makes these releases perhaps a little bit less accessible. While albums like Blackwater Park and Deliverance contain songs that are easily recognisable due to more focused and typical song structures running through the underbelly of experimentation and musical adventure, both Orchid and Morningrise tend to move from one gripping section to another, never really inhabiting the one place for long before moving on to new pastures without looking back. One minute it's beautiful acoustic, next it's crushing death metal, then doom-filled harmonies and so on. I see this as both a positive (each section is both fresh and captivating) and a negative (it's difficult to hear part of a song and actually know which one it belongs to due to this lack of focus).

The more you devote to Orchid, the more it will give back, and it seems odd to me that fans rate the album so low compared to every other Opeth release. Mikael’s vocals are a little higher pitched (almost black metal-like) and the drumming in particular lacks the more technical elements that would come on later releases, but there’s nothing that really stands out as being anything but high quality. There was certainly nothing out there that sounded anything like this at the time and the whole package that Opeth offered was both unique and courageous. Not many metal bands would run with the idea of calling their debut album Orchid and displaying a pink flower on the cover. But that's a sign of the intellectual qualities of the band. They don't get caught up in all the seemingly necessary nasty image portrayals that so many other bands use to catch your attention. The cover is perfect in that it presents a depiction of the beauty held within its content and it's memorable in its uniqueness. I’m not going to claim that this is Opeth’s best release, but it not only holds an important place in the development of an amazing band, it broadened the listening sensibilities of thousands of metal fans including yours truly. Orchid is the first of many Opeth masterpieces and an album I can go back to over and over again and still be filled with admiration and wonder.

Two great covers make this EP worth checking out, but I'm sure they'll appear on some compilation down the track.

My Dying Bride have had no shortage of releases of late, with no less than nine (four studio albums, three compilations and two live albums) since the year 2000 alone. What we haven’t seen from the band for a long time though is an EP, which is why I was surprised to find this four track release scheduled for late 2009. Early in their career, the Brits recorded three very good EPs that not only filled the gap nicely between full lengths, but actually contained numerous great My Dying Bride moments that were not merely covers or variations of album tracks, but unreleased, original pieces of work. Bring Me Victory does not continue this tradition however, functioning more like a typical single, with two covers and a live recording to go along with the title track. Not being much of a fan of covers or live tracks, this didn’t bode well for me personally, which is why I’m so surprised at just how enjoyable this minor release actually is. It’s worth noting that this is the first time Shaun Macgowan (who is also part of death metal band Narcotic Death) has performed keyboard and violin for the band after Katie Stone departed to continue her studies (interestingly she still plays for British black metal band A Forest of Stars, but I can only assume that does not require the same level of commitment My Dying Bride demands).

The title track is one of the better tracks on the For Lies I Sire album and I really enjoy the pummelling drive of Dan Mullins’ drumming, which reminds me of the Der Überlebende from the misunderstood 34.788%...Complete release. The track stands out on the full length for its more direct nature and Aaron’s dual vocal performance which works really well when combined with Katie Stone’s violin flourishes. The most interesting parts of the Bring Me Victory EP however are unquestionably the covers. Scarborough Fair is a traditional English ballad which has been performed in various styles by literally hundreds of artists such as Sarah Brightman, Queensryche, Simon & Garfunkel and Leaves’ Eyes. It describes a young man requesting of his former lover that she complete a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well. Only once she completes these tasks shall he take her back. My Dying Bride’s take on the tune is a worthy one and Aaron even added two additional verses of his own that really bring it into the doom-filled world the band inhabits. It’s a sorrowful tune with Macgowan’s violin reaching heights that Katie was simply not able to on For Lies I Sire (through no fault of her own I’ll add), while Aaron’s clean voice fits like a glove.

Even more successful is the cover of Swans’ classic Failure off their 1996 White Light from the Mouth of Infinity album. There are very few tunes more despondent than this one in any genre, and the members of My Dying Bride have stated many times how much of an influence the American post-punk outfit are on their sound. I’m sure they would have desperately wanted to do justice to Failure and I think they’ve absolutely achieved that goal. Once again Aaron’s vocals, this time not hiding his Yorkshire accent in the slightest, are perfect, nailing Michael Gira’s pessimistic sarcasm. After these two triumphant renditions, it’s rather off-putting to be subjected to a ten minute live performance (recorded at Graspop 2008) of the death doom filled Vast Choirs. It’s a decent recording of a fine early My Dying Bride track for sure, but given how vastly contrasting it is to everything else on this EP, its inclusion is perplexing. Finally there’s the impressive video for the title track, which is both disturbing and very professionally produced. There’s a horror movie feel to it with a Texas Chainsaw Massacre style family dinner causing a young boy no end of distress, while Aaron broods on his throne caressed by gorgeous women. My Dying Bride’s videos have not always been of a high quality, but this one is fantastic and a nice bonus to what is an already worthy EP.

My Dying Bride's tenth full length album has its moments, but it falls short of their best work.

For Lies I Sire was always going to be a significant release for My Dying Bride. Not only is it the band’s tenth full length studio album, it also reintroduces the violin into their sound for the first time in over a decade. There’s no doubt that Martin Powell helped to create My Dying Bride’s identity back in the early nineties, with his violin work adding a unique and emotionally impacting element to their gloomy brand of death doom metal. Yet since his departure after 1996’s Like Gods of the Sun, despite still managing to record several excellent albums, this distinctive component had been sadly missing. When Sarah Stanton, who had been the Brit’s keyboardist since around 2002, announced she was pregnant at the start of 2008, the need to find a replacement carried with it the opportunity to bring this facet back to the My Dying Bride sound. Enter Katie Stone, a talented young woman with many strings to her bow, including the ability to perform keyboards, flute, vocals and violin. When the band entered the studio in September 2008 to record For Lies I Sire, it would not only be Katie’s first foray with My Dying Bride, it would also be the first studio album that bassist Lena Abé and drummer Dan Mullins had taken part in (they’d both performed for the Ode to Woe live album however). The question was, would all these changes stop the band from continuing their fantastic late career resurgence? I sure hoped not!

I learnt a valuable lesson with My Dying Bride’s previous album A Line of Deathless Kings. After one or two listens I was convinced that the band had created a boring, uninspired piece of work. Yet after resolving to give it a few more spins before reviewing it, I all of a sudden found myself enjoying it quite a lot. The band’s shift away from the heavy darkness of The Dreadful Hours and Songs of Darkness, Words of Light had initially been disappointing, but once I accepted that change, the more traditional doom metal riffs and the soaring nature of Aaron’s decreased vocal dimensions really took hold. It’s a lesson I applied to For Lies I Sire and the exact same process transpired. I had very little emotional connection during my first couple of listens to the album, yet with each subsequent run through I’ve found more and more thoroughly enjoyable sections to hold onto. While the earlier and more widely praised albums hit their marks immediately, with blatantly dark, haunting atmospheres and heart-wrenching melodies, latter day My Dying Bride is a more subtle affair, planting seeds that take a small amount of dedication before they sprout into something no less beautiful. I think For Lies I Sire’s mixed reception from fans has a lot to do with this lack of immediacy, and while I’m not suggesting that those who rate it harshly have lacked the patience necessary to discover its finer details, I am going to recommend that fans give this album a few solid listens before writing it off.

All of the above being said there is unquestionably something missing from For Lies I Sire that would have raised it above merely enjoyable. I’m not sure whether it’s the production that’s to blame, with the low-end almost completely missing and the guitars lacking real force, or whether it’s just that there are no five star classic tracks to be found. Each and every track has its moments of My Dying Bride bliss, with Santuario Di Sangue (that chorus kills me every time), Bring Me Victory (great driving drumming by Dan) and ShadowHaunt (a beautiful build up that really pays off) reaching the highest peaks, yet almost all of them contain at least one section where it appears the band is merely treading water. The added violin element does work quite nicely, but it’s used rarely and never as a leading instrument, so it’s hard to get too excited about it. It was also a bit surprising to find possibly the most brutal track My Dying Bride have produced in over a decade, on an album that’s one of the softest of their career. A Chapter in Loathing stands out like a sore thumb and while it’s not at all a bad attempt at reintroducing the death metal of yesteryear, its place on For Lies I Sire just feels...wrong. In spite of all the flaws I’ve just mentioned, I still find a lot to like on For Lies I Sire, and I’m not willing to write this amazing band off just yet. They’ve rarely let me down in the twenty years since their inception, and I still look forward to their albums with just as much anticipation as I always have.

A nice, if a little superfluous, live recording that's enjoyable for any My Dying Bride fan.

You have to question why My Dying Bride (or more specifically Peaceville Records) would feel the need to release a live album just six years after the last one. 2002’s The Voice of the Wretched was a great listen with good track selection performed flawlessly, so asking fans to buy another one so soon is probably a bit steep. Still, considering how good the band’s last few releases have been, with The Dreadful Hours and Songs of Darkness, Words of Light in particular being up there with the best albums they’ve created to date, it’s at least interesting to hear the newer tracks in the live environment and to see how they integrate them into their set list. It’s also worth noting that the line-up of An Ode to Woe is really quite different to the one that produced The Voice of the Wretched, with half of the band being made up of fresh faces. While vocalist Aaron and both guitarists (Hamish and Andy) are present on both, the keyboards, bass and drums are handled by new members. In fact, this is the very first official My Dying Bride release not to include bassist Ade Jackson (he relocated to USA and therefore left the band) and the first to include his replacement Lena Abé (who joins keyboardist Sarah Stanton to bring the female quota to two). It’s also ex Bal-Sagoth drummer Dan Mullins first foray with the band after previous drummer John Bennett had to leave due to work commitments.

Recorded in April 2007 at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland, An Ode to Woe only contains twelve tracks in total, but still manages to include at least one selection from all but their debut album. This clearly shows that despite branching out in different directions and dealing with numerous line-up changes over the years, My Dying Bride is still entirely loyal to their discography, as well as to fans that might have come on board during any period of their existence. There is however no possible way that the band could please everyone when it comes to performing personal favourites. With nine full-length studio albums in the bag, there are simply too many classic My Dying Bride tracks to be included in a single live performance, let alone a solitary CD. Things start off strongly enough, with To Remain Tombless and the gorgeous My Hope, the Destroyer really getting things off on the right foot. Unfortunately, the next three track combination is less impressive with For You, The Blue Lotus and Like Gods of the Sun sending the album temporarily spiralling pretty close to tedium. Thankfully it picks up from there, with the second half of An Ode to Woe running like a best of compilation, containing fantastic tracks like The Cry of Mankind, The Whore, the Cook and the Mother, The Snow in My Hand and The Dreadful Hours raising the game and keeping it there for the remaining fifty odd minutes.

The production overall is pretty good, but I do have some qualms that negate from the experience. Firstly, if I compare The Voice of the Wretched to An Ode to Woe, the difference is fairly obvious. The clarity of the newer release is perfectly fine, with everyone at least audible in the mix, but it just lacks the crushing authority of the previous one, and there are some variations between the volumes of instruments in the mix. The bass and drums are really loud while the vocals and the rhythm section can sometimes get left behind. There’s also a noticeable amount of reverb on the guitars that could have been cleaned up with a little bit of effort. As for the performances themselves, there’s no doubt that all the line-up changes have had an effect on My Dying Bride as a unit. There are numerous noticeable mistakes with off drum beats, vocals coming in at the wrong time (on Catherine Blake) and some very ordinary keyboard work on the normally awesome The Cry of Mankind. I also think Aaron’s growls are getting less impressive as time goes on. The Snow in My Hand was included on both live albums, so it’s an easy way to compare. If you listen to his performance one after the other, it’s evident that he just doesn’t have the same impact that he once did. Thankfully, his clean vocals are reasonably solid and considering that’s the way he sings more often than not these days, it’s not too much of an issue.

Flaws aside, there is one large bonus that gives An Ode to Woe an advantage over The Voice of the Wretched and that’s the inclusion of the concert on a separate DVD. I do hope this is a sign of things to come as it really bothers me when labels put out both DVD and CD versions of the same live performance, expecting fans to buy both. Packaging them together makes total sense and while I will always be more inclined to listen to a concert on CD than sit down in front of the TV to watch it, having the option without paying twice is certainly agreeable. The DVD version also contains an extra track in The Forever People which simply couldn’t fit on the audio only edition. Collectors will also appreciate the nice digi-book format that An Ode to Woe is packaged in, which includes grand artwork as well as all the lyrics to the tracks (rare for live albums). Still, it’s hard to get too excited about this release considering the abovementioned flaws and its generally superfluous nature. If you’re after a live album that displays the kings of romantic death doom in their prime, you’d probably be wiser to pick up The Voice of the Wretched, but if (like me) you’d enjoy listening to My Dying Bride under pretty much any circumstances, and are a fan of their modern albums, then there’s no real reason not to give Peaceville more of your hard earned cash and add An Ode to Woe to your collection.