Weekly album: Samael - Ceremony of Opposites

Samael - Ceremony of Opposites

1994 / Black metal

1. Black Trip

2. Celebration of the Fourth

3. Son of Earth

4. 'Till We Meet Again

5. Mask of the Death

6. Baphomet's Throne

7. Flagellation

8. Crown

9. To Our Martyrs

10. Ceremony of Opposites

Orostider: Switzerland isn't home to a large black metal scene, but Swiss black metal bands have played a large role in the global black metal scene. Celtic Frost and Hellhammer paved the way during the 80's and while the rest of the European scene focused on the rawer execution of black metal, Samael started to forge something that would be known as their unique sound.

'Worship Him', the first Samael album, was released in 1991 and even though it isn't mentioned often, it actually offers quite a slab of black metal of the era. The next album 'Blood Ritual' had an increased amount of death metal elements and should be seen as blackened death metal album. 'Blood Ritual' may be my lesser favourite of these two, but it had some signs of what was still coming.

'Ceremony of Opposites' is seen as the Samael album where they found their unique industrial black metal sound. Whereas the rest of the scene kept the tempos high, Samael found their calling in massive slower pace songs that feature both black and death metal riffs. The material shouldn't be thought to be even near to bestial black metal, which was the dominant form of blackened death metal in the early 90's. One could think that 'Ceremony of Opposites' is bashed due to its unorthodoxy, but instead of getting dirt thrown on it, it's almost considered a classic. An underrated classic for sure.

The album may not be what second wave black metal purists seek, but that doesn't explain the lack of credit. Vorph's vocals itself separate Samael from other black metal bands of the era. Not to mention their electronic era, which didn't suck and the utter heaviness of their songs. 

I would recommend this album to almost anyone into heavier forms of metal, but I seriously recommend listening to their whole discography to actually realize the way Samael kept refining their sound.

Favourite song: 'Baphomet's Throne'

tp5170: I got originally acquainted with Samael through their later releases and it was only much later when I discovered that they had started out as black metal band. In the end it turned out that that their black metal albums are also kind of great, and it really amazes me how little praise those releases get considering how solid all of those actually are and how early they were released - we are talking about the period when the whole genre barely existed. 

But out of those original three black metal albums, I think it's the 'Ceremony of Opposites' that stands out the most. It offers a straightforward, but polished BM experience (it was after all released in 1994 so this shouldn't really surprise anyone), but what's special about it is that you can find for the first time some of those elements that later became the trademark of the band. If you have ever listened to Samael's later albums you'll know exactly what I am talking about and if you haven't then you probably should. In my eyes 'Ceremony of Opposites' goes highly recommended for every fan of BM or Samael.

Favourite song: 'Crown'

btcarey: Samael’s 1994 release “Ceremony of Opposites” showcases the band’s distinct take on black metal, proving that speed is not essential in making a good album in the genre. While several bands from this era were doing something similar, “Ceremony of Opposites” is probably one of the heaviest examples I’ve ever heard. I expect this is due to the influences from the relatively seasoned death metal genre of that era. When bands from the early black metal scene in Norway, like Darkthrone, were dumping their death metal roots, Samael honed them into a much heavier form of the budding genre (while maintaining a bit of production value as well). This can be seen in many aspects of “Ceremony of Opposites”, whether it’s the very riff-oriented songwriting or the quasi-death metal barked vocals found in albums like God Dethroned’s “Toxic Touch”.

This is a perfect album from people who like a bit heavier black metal album or a bit blacker death metal album. All in all this is a good listen and easily worth a few spins.

Weekly album: Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

2016 / Synthwave

1. Neo Tokyo

2. Weapons for Children

3. Death Squad

4. Femme Fatale (Feat. Highway Superstar)

5. Venger (Feat. Greta Link)

6. Disco Inferno

7. She Moves Like A Knife

8. Sentient (Feat. Hayley Stewart)

9. Diabolus Ex Machina

10. Assault

11.  The Cult of 2112

12. Soult At Zero (Feat. Astronoid)

13. The Uncanny Valley

tp5170: To be frank I have never been the biggest fan of how most Pertubator’s albums are structured with the lengthy song intros and the stuff going on between the tracks. I mean some times those things have their own charm and so on, but at the same time more often those also make the albums a bit annoying to follow by creating unnecessary breaks between the songs. And this brings me to my point – there is none of that on nonsense on ‘The Uncanny Valley’, and I dig it. While this might be pretty trivial thing for most people, I found myself simply enjoying this album probably more than any other Perturbator album on the first spin because of its straightforwardness.

All in all ‘The Uncanny Valley’ represents the same style and quality I would have expected from Perturbator - meaning it’s pretty darn solid, and in my opinion it’s even capable of competing in quality with the best releases of Perturbator.

Orostider: If there currently are certain genres that are hot and gaining ground, synthwave is one of them. The crawl out of underground started to be notable after Kavinsky's Nightcall was featured in the 2011 movie 'Drive.' After 2011 the popularity of the genre has risen quite a bit. Video games and movies, such as Hotline Miami and Kung Fury increased the heat and on top of them Blood Music started to do some serious work in synthwave scene. All of this combined and probably more have caused the 'synthwave boom' to gain it's current form. The brand new 'Stranger Things' series is also helping with the next wave of John Carpenter and 80's action flicks influenced synth madness.

I myself got familiar with synthwave in 2011 through Kavinsky's EPs and I've been following the scene grow ever since. Perturbator got my attention after releasing 'Terror 404' and managed to impress me almost instantly. His early and current releases are quite similar in a way, but there's a clear movement towards darker, heavier sounds and topics. The cheerier 'miami vice' tunes have been present in every release and add variation quite well. 'The Uncanny Valley' is a clear continuum to 'Dangerous Days' both music- and theme-wise.

Perturbator's grim synthwave, or as some people say darkwave, has a distinct sound which separates him from the rest of the seemingly endless sea of synthwave artists. The formulae he has found have turned out to produce two absolutely solid albums, even though their overall sound is terrifyingly similar. If the next Perturbator album has something completely new I'm eternally glad, but I wouldn't mind third album using these patterns. One could think that 80's influenced electro could be monotonous. To some point the statement is correct and considering the absolutely massive amount of artists, it's quite hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Perturbator is definitely the wheat.

'The Uncanny Valley' includes the good old and safe darkwave, but the sudden bass lines and even one whole song with obvious jazz influences result in an album that isn't completely predictable. Certain things are predictable, but that's one of the ideas of the genre. If a listener is already familiar with lighter themed synthwave, the 'heaviness' and gloominess of Perturbator might actually be surprising. But nothing's better than getting caught off guard. 

This album isn't a drastic exception in Perturbator discography, but it shows that he still has unrevealed aces up his sleeve. And even though I sort of dislike synthwave's mainstream attention, I'm glad that the artists receive what they deserve. The thing I'm the most happy with is the fact that synthwave phenomenon has helped close-minded metalheads to realize that there's a lot more than metal music out there. 

If synthwave is still unknown to anyone, my recommendation is to start with either this album or the previous one, 'Darkest Days' and then move on to other albums and artists.

Favourite tracks: 'Disco Inferno', 'She Moves Like A Knife', 'Sentient'

btcarey:  I’ll start off by saying that Synthwave is a completely foreign genre to me. One that I didn’t even know existed until about a year ago, and since, have only heard the name mentioned randomly. For those of you like me, who have little to no concept of what “Sythwave” actually is, I’ll give you the beginner’s tutorial. Synthwave is a form of modern(ish) electronic music that pays homage to retro 80’s soundtracks and culture. The music is usually centered on the synthesizer and, other than the occasional sample, is often purely instrumental. Unlike techno or dubstep, synthwave’s focus isn’t completely based on rhythm or melodies (although they are important); it’s the atmosphere that plays a key role in the music, giving the listener a much more immersive experience.

Now that we all know what synthwave is, we can talk about this week’s album, Perturbator’s “The Uncanny Valley” (which just so happens to be sythwave). In all honestly the album blew me away. I’ve been listening to “The Uncanny Valley” as well as the rest of Perturbator’s discography all week and I love it. This being said, I’m not entirely sure, if it’s Perturbator, more specifically “The Uncanny Valley”, that I love or the synthwave genre in general.

Due to my meager background, I really don’t have anything to compare with (besides the soundtrack to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon), resulting in the possibility that I’m giving the album more credit than it deserves. Whether or not this is true, “The Uncanny Valley” is a very approach album, and great for noobs like me. Plus, it was apparently good enough to get me hooked, so I think you should all go give it a listen.

Weekly album: Inquisition - Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith

Inquisition - Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith

2016 / Black Metal

1. Intro: The Force Before Darkness

2. From Chaos They Came

3. Wings of Anu

4. Vortex from the Celestial Flying Throne of Storms

5. A Black Aeon Shall Cleanse

6. The Flames of Infinite Blackness Before Creation

7. Mystical Blood

8. Through the Divine Spirit of Satan a Glorious Universe Is Known

9. Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith

10. Power from the Center of the Cosmic Black Spiral 

11.  A Magnificent Crypt of Stars 

12. Outro: The Invocation of the Absolute, the All, the Satan 

13. Coda: Hymn to the Cosmic Zenith

btcarey: This week’s album may come as no surprise to the readers of Utterance of Evil. Inquisition’s hot-off-the-press release “Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith” was an obvious choice as well as an album I’ve been looking forward to for some time. “hot” is probably the last word I should use to describe “Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar…” (or any of Inquisition’s releases), after all, the band’s primary purpose is to explore the desolate corners of the icy cosmos and achieve a higher level of individualistic enlightenment.

Inquisition isn’t necessarily my favorite band but I have the utmost respect for its themes and members. Everything is done to the highest level of detail, from the brilliant lyrics to the stunning album art. It’s obvious that Inquisition’s members pour every ounce of themselves into their music, and it sounds simply incredible.
It’s bands like Inquisition, who after a 20 year career don’t have one bad album, give me hope for modern metal. “Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar…” is a perfect fit into their discography and may even top their previous release “Obscure Verses for the Multiverse” (which was a great album).

This album is a must for Inquisition fans and metal fans in general. I would also specifically recommend Cult of Fire fans to this album and vice versa.

Favorite Songs: “Vortex From the Celestial Flying Throne of Storms”,  “Wings of Anu”

tp5170: I don’t really know how to best describe the style of the Inquisition, but let’s just say that if you happen to have any room in your heart for straightforward black metal with high quality composition and interesting riffs, it’s a band you should definitely check and as it happens, “Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith” might be an excellent album to get started with that.

My expectations for this Inquisition’s new album were high, but I think that the band managed to deliver a spectacular album once again. Inquisition’s albums have always had a unique touch to them and this one is no exception, it’s really engaging stuff right from the start and it definitely keeps you charged for the whole duration. This is one of those albums that in my opinion don’t even need to be innovative to excel because the formulae the band has come up with just works so well.

Orostider: Inquisition was one of those bands you were aware of for so many years but for unknown reasons you never checked them out. A friend of mine reminded me to spin 'Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm' around in early 2013 and I was instantly sold. Dagon's gnarly vocals are a huge turn off for some, but for me, they are exactly the right sort for Inquistion's cosmically twisted black metal.

'Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith' doesn't really surprise you if you're familiar with Inquisition already, but even though you know exactly what's to be expected, you really don't know what's ahead. That's one of the reasons why Inquisition impressed me instantly. Their riffs, or actually their songs overall, seem to follow a certain trail but tend to add some unexpected moments. Quite often actually. The scheme results in a constantly high quality album with enough twists to endure several spins but also including the familiar Inquisition elements.

Even though I keep saying that the album is just what is to be expected, it doesn't mean it's overly predictable. Inquisition's riffs and song structures aren't exactly similar to the more traditional black metal's, but the traditions are present just enough. Twisting riffs from unknown realms and the continuing unique sound are the reason 'Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith' and Inquistion overall deserve to be held high.

Weekly album: KYPCK - Ниже

KYPCK - Ниже

2010 / Doom metal

1. Гифарус (Gifarus)

2. После (After)

3. Аллея Сталина (The Alley of Stalin)

4. Чужой (Stranger)

5. Фелица (Felitsa)

6. Разрыв (Rupture)

7. Бурлаки на Волге (Burlaks on the Volga)

8. Бардак (Brothel)

9. Товарищам (Comrades)

10. Вальс смерти (Death Waltz)

Orostider: Курск have been around for a while now and if someone mentions Russian doom or sludge metal, Курск are usually brought to the conversation. The twist is, they're Finnish and dedicate the project to Soviet Union themed grief filled doom. Their style isn't exactly comparable to traditional doom metal. Some of the people speak of them as a sludge/doom artist, but as the hardcore elements are scarce, they shouldn't be categorized as sludge.

'Ниже' was released in 2011 and showed a bit faster side of Курск. Their first album, 'Черно', managed to keep the overall tempo rather slow. When I first heard 'Ниже' in 2011 I instantly noticed it being a bit more hectic. Not a bad thing at all, because the band manages to keep the despair sounding atmosphere throughout the whole album. All of the Курск albums require several spins before they really open up. Some people may find the stress on the Russian language and spelling. Despite not being a native speaker, Seppänen manages to perform solid vocals with tons of emotions.

As I've told people asking how Курск sound: They're the Soviet T-34 of doom metal, while not exactly being doom metal. Each of their elements somehow enhance the utter heaviness while still being tone rich and interesting. The soundscapes are surely similar to traditional doom metal atmospheres, but the thing Курск has is the ability to tie the sound to a certain image. Deserted metro tunnels, Soviet era industrial areas and oppression.

Курск fits for those who do not search and search for doom metal simultaneously. Their albums require patience and are not exactly albums for any occasion.

Favourite tracks: 'После', 'Товарищам', 'Аллея Сталина'

btcarey: A Finnish doom metal project dedicated to Russian war history; with lyrics, track names, and album titles all written in Russian, sounds pretty cool at first glance. Because of this alluring description, and the fact that Finns are know for producing some pretty good Doom, it was no wonder that I was intrigued when I was first told of KYPCK. Unfortunately KYPCK’s “Ниже” really didn’t stand out to me as an exceptional album, which left me feeling really disappointed after all the hype.

“Ниже” isn’t necessarily bad; in fact there were some pretty good moments throughout the album. It just didn’t offer anything I hadn’t already heard from the genre, the vocals, being my least favorite aspect of the record. The cleaner vocals just felt weak and dominated most of the tracks. The harsher vocals were actually quite good and had me wishing the band would have concentrated on them more, leaving the cleans for the calmer moments.

The instrumentation was good but for me the vocals play just as an import role. When it comes to Doom, if you have average vocals, you get an average album.

Favorite Tracks: “Бардак (Brothel)”, “Товарищам (Comrades)”

tp5170: It took a couple of spins before I got used to ‘Nizhe’, but now that I am at least slightly familiar with the band’s style I can safely say that it’s a decent album overall.  I dig the soviet style used on the album a lot, but can’t help to think that they could have pressed those influences even harder and maybe made the album and its  atmosphere more unique and memorable.

Otherwise the album felt like pretty standard doom metal to me and everything seemed to work the way one would expect in this genre, and maybe that’s the thing that bothered me the most with it. Everything is well executed and the composition is surely neat, but I think the album lacks in surprises and the sound ends up being maybe a bit too plain for my taste. It’s as if there were points in the songs that felt like downtime between the actually interesting parts, because the atmosphere was not simply fleshed out well enough in them. But this is of course something that comes down to a personal preference.

In the end I think it’s the soviet influences and theme that makes ‘Nizhe’ rather interesting experience and even if it didn’t exactly match my ideal doom metal it was still easily worth the listen.