Altar / Cartilage split album "Ex Oblivione / The Fragile Concept Of Affection" Drowned Productions (1992)

Nowadays this split LP can be considered as a true classic of old school death metal, but one which is rare and very hard to find. But its musical content says everything about it – we deal here with two great traditional death metal bands. First is the Swedish Altar, who slaughters the listener with five new tracks (plus two of the demo on a CD version). The band performs classic death metal, which takes much of the credit from some British bands (early Paradie Lost), but I have an impression some of these riffs are slightly more melodic when comparing them to the demo, and thus this way Altar has more similarities to bands like early Amorphis, Excruciate and Dismember (just listen to “Lifeless Passion” – this is traditional Swedish death metal song!). But the opening song “Nothing Human” is just fast neck-breaker, with really uncompromising opening part. Surprisingly the slower motif has some keyboard parts, which give quite a horror / creepy result. “Lifeless Passion” and “A Message From the Grave” are infectiously melodic, with those “The Karelian Isthmus” like riffs that stick in your head instantly, but the second of these songs is much faster than rest of “Ex Oblivione”, while the first of these two reminds me also some old Polish bands like Hazael, Armagedon and Betrayer. I’m surprised to hear the short piano part in the mid part of this track, but from the other hand it fits it well.

Tracklist from split 1992

Ex Oblivione

–Altar (3) Nothing Human 4:02

–Altar (3) Lifeless Passion 3:23

–Altar (3) Decapitated (New Version) 3:33

–Altar (3) Daymare / A Message From The Grave 4:50

–Altar (3) Ex Oblivione 5:24

Bonus Tracks

–Altar (3) Severed On The Attic 5:19

–Altar (3) No Flesh Shall Be Spared 5:49

The Fragile Concept Of Affection

–Cartilage The Underworld 4:15

–Cartilage Afterlife Sorrow (Infernal Paradise II) 4:46

–Cartilage Why Do I Watch The Dawn? 4:34

–Cartilage Consanguine To Understanding 4:56

–Cartilage Blessing In Depths 2:25

Bonus Tracks

–Cartilage Intro / The Altar 5:54

–Cartilage Ether Depression     5:50 

The opening motif of “Decapitated” also has piano – and it sounds awesome when it accompanies the heavy slow riff. It re-appears also in some other great slow patterns, just for a while, but it’s enough to show that Altar really had some great and unusual ideas. It all sounds great within this classic death / thrash skeleton. You know, it’s not something particularly original, there were many other bands, which have been using something like that on their albums and demos, but Altar has done it in a great way and have many killer riffs. Their material has a high quality, and such song as “Ex Oblivione” only confirms it. This is really fast and aggressive as hell track, with some stabbing riffs and cool vocals. At the end (on CD only) Altar also serves us two demo tracks (and we can notice a development in Altar’s style – for little less brutal and surely much faster and more melodious), so yeah – definitely their part of the split is worth to listen to.

And what about Cartilage… Well, before I got a chance to listen to their part of the split I didn’t know much about the band. But I also enjoyed their songs. Their style is a bit different. To some point, they carry the tradition of many other early Finnish bands like Purtenance, Abhorrence or Adramelech. Their death metal is massive, brutal, often slow but mostly mid paced, but they do have also plenty of faster motives and sometimes even some more melodic riffs. This is a style, which also reminds me the American legends called Baphomet. So, definitely great stuff! Cartilage also managed to put some surprising stuff in their music though, like the wonderfully epic opening for “Afterlife Sorrow” for instance with the keyboards accompanying the slow majestic riff. “Blessing In Depth” is another different song, basically instrumental, very slow and epic, with keyboards all over it, so the final result is really dark and majestic. But all in all Cartilage performs pretty standard death metal. And I do enjoy it quite a lot… But from both I would rather pick Altar as the better band. Definitely though this is one of my favourite split albums ever, truly a cult stuff, pity then it is so damn expensive!.

By Dismember_Marcin

Therion "Beyond Sanctorum" (Active Records 1992)

Therion's relatively unknown beginnings as a "standard" death metal band seem to be misunderstood by many metal listeners. Although the general consensus seems to be that Beyond Sanctorum is just "straight up death metal" while their later releases are neoclassical style, upon closer inspection, the opposite seems to be true. This album release date January in 1992 through label Active Records, reissue for Century Black, Nuclear Blast records. 

Line up for this records: 

Christofer Johnsson Guitars, Vocals, Bass

Peter Hansson Guitars, Keyboards, Bass

Oskar Forss Drums 

Although Beyond Sanctorum uses mainly instruments and performance aspects of standard death metal(aside from a few synth background parts), the songs are composed in a style more similar to actual classical music, with nonlinear song structures, leitmotifs and consistent musical themes that develop over the course of the song. Their later "neoclassical" works sound closer to the standard verse/chorus arrangement of basic rock music with the addition of violins and choirs.

Track list is: 

Side A

1. Future Consciousness 05:00  

2. Pandemonic Outbreak 04:22   

3. Cthulhu 06:12   

4. Symphony of the Dead 06:49   

Side B

5. Beyond Sanctorum 02:36   

6. Enter the Depths of Eternal Darkness 04:47   

7. Illusions of Life 03:20   

8. The Way 11:06   

9. Paths 02:03

"Future Consciousness" starts the album off with a churning Morbid Angel style intro alternating with dark tremolo melodies and some heavy groove. The song maintains an unconventional structure throughout its length, smoothly transitioning from one riff to the next and building to a satisfying conclusion. There are no clumsy or awkward segues, but many different parts arranged in a gradual flow.

Other bright spots include "Cthulhu", featuring deep, cavernous doom sections evoking the famous sunken city, alternating with frantic fast passages. "Enter The Depths of Eternal Darkness" goes from a sludgy opening section to fiery death metal, with some eerie lead guitar moments and is also quite satisfying.

The highlight of this album is definitely "The Way". This is where the bands developing symphonic style is most obvious, so "Theli" fans should definitely hear this song first. Over the first few minutes, it gradually builds and builds into a triumphant, thundering climax starting around the six minute mark, with some epic lead guitar/synth work. Just when it seems the song has spent its fury and starts fading out into clean guitar arpeggios, it comes suddenly back with another triumphant "encore" climax guitar solo. While not instrumental, much of the song is unaccompanied by lyrics, allowing the music its own clear voice to carry the development of the song. I cannot recommend it enough - "The Way" is not only the best song on the album, but one of the best examples of adventurous, progressive (yet uncompromising) death metal one is ever likely to hear. 

This album released around the time when death metal was abandoning its primitive roots and going off into more complex territory, and it stands shoulder to shoulder with works like Blessed Are The Sick, The Red In The Sky Is Ours and Unquestionable Presence. If you're a fan of later Therion, don't write this album off - it's not as primitive as you've been led to believe. For anyone willing to take the time to really listen to music beneath surface level aesthetics, this is actually a surprisingly complex and rewarding listen. This album is light years ahead of their debut, and I actually much prefer it to their later works.