Metal reviews for old school metal bands like thrash metal, death metal, black metal and more genres. All opinions and contribubtions are welcome,
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The true warriors in the world is the people who never lost your minds.
Type: Full-length
Release date: December 1993
Label: Merciless Records
Side A
1.Silence in the Golden Halls of Endless Hope03:47 Show lyrics
2.Circle of the Seven Infernal Pacts04:06 Show lyrics
3.Land of the Frozen Tears01:51 Show lyrics
4.Magicus Tallis Damnatio02:37 Show lyrics
5.Dark Winds Around the Throne of Blood02:56
Side B
6.Lost Beast, Born in Darkness03:59 Show lyrics
7.A Journey Through Forgotten Myth02:23
8.The Grotesque Vision of a Dying Moon03:24
9.Black Clouds Beyond the Fullmoon04:50
If there was ever an underground black metal album that’s been tremendously underappreciated, this monster of a release has got to be it. “Circle of the Seven Infernal Pacts” stands for everything that is filthy and black and is a perfect example of a black metal gem lost in time and darkness. Razing guitars and haunting vocals that will give you chills of terror and excitement. A very atmospheric release with the “less is more” attitude that very few bands today are able to pull off. These German misanthropes wanted an album evil, old school, and primitive as possible and they did not fail.
The drummer is listed as a session drummer but his contribution on this album adds to the frenzy turmoil that this album is best known for. A great example can be found in the short drum intro in “Dark Winds Around the Throne of Blood”. Although there are some mid-paced parts, overall I’d rate this a rather fast and aggressive release.
The 1 percent I left out on the score is because it is just a little too short. I would of loved this album to eclipse the 30 minute mark. It’s just too good and I’m always begging for more after the final apocalyptic riffs of “Black Clouds Beyond the Fullmoon” bring upon an abrupt and chaotic end. Recommended to fans of black metal who are waiting to be surprised by that one occult gem that they wished they had heard years before, this will not disappoint any fan into the primitive and the “dark and murky basement” sounding production.
Standout tracks: “Circle of the Seven Infernal Pacts”, “Magicus Tulis Damnatio”, “Lost Beast, Born in Darkness”, and “Black Clouds Beyond the Fullmoon”.
The production is very hollow flat and grainy; fortunatly manages to give a cult sound. Layout is cult simple and boring. Although it may seem I don't care for this album or band because of all the negative comments... there is just something I like about this album despite its flaws.
Within the black metal realm, Imperium Dekadenz are very difficult to pin down. Their careful balance between German bombast (in the vein of Nargaroth) and ode-to-nature ambience (much like Mgła) is an impressive achievement. In fact, Drudkh is the only other black metal project in my regular roster that really succeeds in this undertaking. "Dis Manibvs", the latest from the German duo, is no exception in their discography: engaging, beautiful and searing, but it is in no way better (or worse) than previous releases like Meadows of Nostalgia, Procella Vadens or anything else in their 12-year back catalogue. What I can say with conviction, however, is that it is the album where they stretch the most boundaries, all the while staying true to what has become a signature sound.
Track list are:
Side A:
In Todesbanden (instrumental)
Only Fragments of Light
Still I Rise
Dis Manibvs
Pantheon Spells
Side B:
Vae Victis
Volcano
Somnia (instrumental)
Pure Nocturnal Rome
Seikilos
This sound is really all about balance: not only the brutal/atmosphere blend mentioned above, but also the balance of tone: ‘Only Fragments of Light’, for example, is perfectly split between menacing undertones via whispered vocals and an uplifting melody [1]. That same menace shines through on the title track – in part due to the band embracing the low end and using detuned 7-string guitars, something of a break with atmospheric black metal tradition! This is just one instance where Imperium Dekadenz show their willingness to expand their arsenal on Dis Manibvs.
As for clean vocals – the choral elements on ‘Volcano’ are a delightful throwback to their 2013 release, Meadows of Nostalgia, particularly bringing to mind ‘Ave Danuvi’. The pacing of this album is on point as well – such as the female operatic coda of ‘Still I Rise’ that completely shifts gears on a listener’s perception, or the incorporation of ‘Somnia’, a short instrumental interlude that sets the stage for the bleakness of ‘Pure Nocturnal Rome’. The open, ringing intro chords breaking into the almost Cure-like riff of this track push it into quasi-DSBM territory – but this melancholy is, once again, offset perfectly by aggression. Perhaps it’s an unexpected side effect of the core band being a duo that gives the album such duality – the personalities of Horaz and Vespasian each bring something different to the table, resulting in this wonderful equilibrium.
Nargaroth’s "Black Metal Ist Krieg" release in January/ February 2001 is an awesome album that every Black Metal fan should check out, it’s definitely worth owning. Each song on this release is full of emotions, sadness, hatred and misanthropy. The guitar riffs and the vocals are depressive but beautiful at the same time and Kanwulf really expresses his thoughts through his music, that’s what makes this album so great. In the booklet, Kanwulf tells us a few things about his past and comments on every song. That’s pretty interesting to read (if you understand German :p). But now let’s come to the music. I’ll go through the songs one by one.
Tracklist are:
"Introduction" – 2:13
"Black Metal ist Krieg" – 5:01
"Far Beyond the Stars" (cover de Azhubham Haani) – 4:48
"Seven Tears are Flowing to the River" – 14:47
"I Burn for You" (cover Lord Foul) – 2:56
"The Day Burzum Killed Mayhem" – 9:20
"Píseň pro Satana" (cover de Root) – 2:40
"Amarok - Zorn des Lammes III" – 9:30
"Erik, May you Rape the Angels" – 6:58
"The Gates of Eternity" (cover de Moonblood) – 5:04
"Possessed by Black Fucking Metal" – 6:33
Introduction - This has no real melody, the instruments are just randomly played. The most IMPORTANT element of this song are the vocals. Kanwulf uses very high shrieks that sound like he’s being tortured. Sometimes you can hear him yell “Blaaaaaack Metaaaal Ist Kriiiieeeg!”. This song is nothing special, but a decent introduction to the rest of the album.
Black Metal Ist Krieg - This is a very powerful song. It will just crush you. It’s like a big wall that suddenly hits your face. The song immediately starts with a killer riff, very aggressive and fast played drums and Kanwulf screaming “Black Metal Ist Krieg”. The vocals and the riff remain always the same until about 2:50, where a different riff kicks in and the drums get a bit less aggressive. The lyrics will remain the same though. This second part is maybe a bit more melodic than the first part. Overall, this is a very good song, even though it is repetitive.
Far Beyond The Stars - This is an Azhubham Haani cover. It’s nicely done and has some very good riffs. There are slow parts as well as fast parts in this song. I have not much to say here. Good song, but not one of the best.
Seven Tears Are Flowing To The River - This is the fourth song on the album and probably the most emotional and saddest one. It’s a love song. It’s also the longest song on the album, with almost 15 minutes length. It starts with a beautiful ACOUSTIC GUITAR part. At 1:10 a quite depressing riff and the drums kick in. Kanwulf only starts singing at 3:20. The guitar work remains the same until the end of the song and never changes. I really like the melody of this song. Awesome song there, either my second favourite song or even my favourite song on the album, I can’t really decide.
I Burn For You - Another cover song, the original is by Lord Foul this time. During the first 15 seconds, you can hear a teenager yelling something, then the music starts. I like this song too, the GUITAR work is well-done. There is not so much to say here either, because the song isn’t even 3 minutes long.
The Day Burzum Killed Mayhem - As the title suggests, this song is about the murder of Euronymous by Varg Vikernes. According to Kanwulf, Euronymous’ death was the destruction of the Black Metal scene and it has only decreased since then (he also talks about it in the booklet). The song starts with two real news reports in Norwegian from when it happened. At 41 seconds, an aggressive riff suddenly kicks in, aswell as the drums with a blast beat. Then Kanwulf starts singing, this time his voice is a bit lower than on the other songs. The song remains the same until 4:38, where there is a breakdown for a few seconds and then a different more relaxing riff starts and the drums get slower. The song gets aggressive at 6:25 again and remains so until the end. This song is a very good song too with an interesting lyrical theme.
Pisen Pro Satana - This is a Root cover. It’s a decent song but nothing extraordinary. It’s one of the songs that are not outstanding, but there’s nothing bad to say about either (in my opinion). There’s quite some nice riffing though.
Amarok (Zorn Des Lammes III) - Remember when I said that I couldn’t decide if “Seven Tears Are Flowing To The River” was my favourite or second favourite song before? Well, this song is the reason for it. It’s hard to say which one is better, for me they’re about equally good. I really love this song too. It’s quite depressive and kind of sad, but also very beautiful. At the beginning of this song, you can hear waves and thunder. Then there’s something that sounds like a poem. It’s not really singing. It sounds monotonous, but still emotional. At 1:33 a wonderful riff kicks in. This is my favourite riff on the whole album, it’s sad but beautiful at the same time. 30 seconds later the drums start. The “poem” continues until 3:53 where you can suddenly hear Kanwulf screaming, as well as a double-bass. I love that part. Everything is calm and the clean voice is slowly saying the poem and then, out of nothing, BANG! Double-bass and Black Metal shrieks. The riff is still the same as in the beginning, but the song gets more interesting because of the harsh vocals and the more intense drumming. At 5:50, a slightly faster riff starts and remains until the end. Overall, this is an awesome song, and like I said, either my favourite or my second favourite song on this album.
Erik, May You Rape The Angels - This song is dedicated to Erik Brodreskift, the former drummer of Immortal, Gorgoroth and Borknagar, who suicided in 1999. The drumming is very fast on this song and the guitar work is aggressive too. I don’t like this song so much. It’s not too bad, but worse than the other ones in my opinion.
The Gates Of Eternity - This is the fourth and last cover song on the album. The original song is by Moonblood. The riffs on this song are slow, but nice. Good song, although not one of the best.
Possessed By Black Fucking Metal - In this song, Kanwulf says once again that Black Metal has died, but that he is still possessed by it. I like the main riff very much. It’s a well-done song and I think it’s a good ending song for the album. It’s one of the better songs of the album, and you always keep a good memory of an album if the last song is good.
That’s it. We have a fantastic album there. Black Metal Ist Krieg is an awesome Black Metal release. It’s not too raw, most of the riffs are still quite medodic. It’s not too boring either, compared to other Black Metal albums where every song sounds the same. Kanwulf truly expresses all his emotions through the different songs.
Publicado el 24 de abril del año 1991 supuso la entrada para las bandas alemanas en el mundo del Death Metal underground que para esas fechas aún estaba dominado por el estilo americano, ingles y sueco. Todos y cada uno con su particular estilo, en países del resto de Europa también se gestaban bandas con calidad y en Holanda así como Alemania la infección de Death Metal se estaba haciendo presente, la banda MORGOTH luego de publicar dos Ep en 1989 "Ressurection Absurd" y en 1990 con "The Eternal Fall" dieron el gran salto a la publicación de su primer full-lenght llamado "Cursed" una devastadora joya del Old School Death Metal.
La label que se hizo cargo de la publicación de este grandioso trabajo fue la Century Media Records con sede en Alemania precisamente y que en sus inicios fichó importantes bandas que hoy en día son consideradas verdaderas referentes del género. Así con el apoyo de la disquera que empezaba a surgir como una fuente de talentos de Europa. Se publicó en el año 1991 este debut que es considerado uno de los mejores de la historia. Fue editado en formato CD, cassette y vinilo por esa label. Fue grabado en los Woodhouse Studios Dortmund de Alemania y mezclado en Music Grinder, L.A. Fue mezclado y producido por el gran Scott Burns
La alineación que grabó este trabajo fueron Marc Grewe en las poderosas vocales un verdadera bestia con las guturales, Rüdiger Hennecke en la batería, Sebastian Swart en el bajo, Carsten Otterbach y
Harald Busse en las guitarras. Tremendo estilo con mucho cambios de ritmo en medio de esos rifs y arpeguios densos y pesados. La batería demoledora al mejor estilo de las bandas suecas e inglesas, muy fuertes los golpes y en ocasiones rapidísimos que van en coordinación con las veloces guitarras. Morgoth ya había demostrado que venía por todo en el underground del subgénero de metal extremo.
La pieza con la que abre el disco es un clásico dentro del subgénero, lleva por nombre "Isolated" y como su nombre lo dice queda uno desolado ante la brutalidad del intro de las guitarras con todo lo que el viejo estilo llevaba. Aquí se respira el Old School Death Metal en toda su potencia. Se creo un vídeo para dar a conocer a la banda alemana que pasó algunas vez en la MTV pero de Europa, aquí Scott Burns se encargó de realizar un verdadero "mazo de Thor" aprisionando tus sienes con cada nota de los instrumentos de la banda.
Videoclip official de Morgoth "Cursed"
Otra pieza que sirvió para promocionarse ante Europa y el resto del mundo fue "Sold Baptism" ya que de igual manera se produjo y grabó un vídeo que igual demostraba a la banda como una auténtica pieza demoledora y de destrucción auditiva ante las audiencias. Alemania tenía un representante del Death Metal muy respetable para el resto de las bandas del subgénero así como para la prensa especializada y los fanáticos que habían conseguido para esas fechas los cuales ya se contaban por miles en todo el mundo.
Videoclip official de Morgoth "Sold Baptism"
La banda logró dar un salto gigantesco con la publicación de su primer material, años más tarde se reeditó esta grabación pero remasterizada por la Century Media Records en 2006 para el formato CD, mientras que para el vinilo fue reeditado en el 2011 por la label Kreation Records. Así que hay material para conseguir y aprovechar de esta banda alemana. Este trabajo los elevó a categoría de leyendas en el subgénero y es considerado material de culto por los fanáticos de aquellos años y de las nuevas generaciones. Espero que puedas conseguir este material en cualquiera de sus ediciones publicadas. Hasta la próxima reseña amigas y amigos.
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