Aura Noir - Deep Tracts of Hell (1998)

Black Thrash Attack might have taken its foot of the brakes, but the full length Aura Noir sophomore Deep Tracts of Hell nearly crashes off the speedway proper and levels half the neighborhoods surrounding the tracks. In fact, I think this record goes a little too far into a more purist black metal direction, not unlike some of what the band's Scandinavian peers like Marduk or Dark Funeral were all about during the same time frame. That's not to say it's just endless, soulless blasting, but the hints of thrash here are a little more scarce, especially in the first two tracks which crash through your ear canals like a corpse painted locomotive that has come flying off the rails. They do steady things out in later tunes like "Swarm of Vultures", while others like "Blood Unity" sound like alternate mixes to tracks from the debut album, but this is pretty much the peak of extremity this band has ever achieved.

Like the more colorful cover tones, the mix here has a little more depth for me than Black Thrash Attack. That's not to say it's perfect, you can still expect plenty of grime to it, but it doesn't feel so neutered and dry as it did on that album. They experiment a little more with lead sounds (like the warped and wavy dissonance in "Blood Unity"), and once again you get some Hellhammer/Celtic Frost/Nocturno Culto vibes, although this comes through primarily in some of the barked vocal lines, or the tune "Purification of Hell" which is a total foreshadow of what would be coming after, though this particular track has a weird hard rock party atmosphere to it, especially in the bridge and lead. But if I'm being honest, that's one of my favorites here, the more intense and fast material, while not badly executed at all, just sort of passes in and out my ears like so much barbed wire floss. There's a little bit of a 'sewer' quality to the record, imagine a black metal approach to Prong's Force Fed, and I find that the more weird and atmospheric it gets ("The Spiral Scar"), the more engaging, but there's not quite enough of that to keep it consistently compelling.

It's corrosive, filthy and furious, and the lyrics rule, but for every lick or vocal line that perks my attention, there are several more that evade it. They were back to a two piece here, and certainly Deep Tracts of Hell has more of an originality to it than the records preceding it. The sharing of the various instrumental duties by Aggressor and Apollyon is pretty unique, certainly a more even distribution than, say, Darkthrone, but it doesn't ultimately shift me in one direction or the other. This was also a sort of 'cusp' for the band, headed into a divisive territory where they would partly change their sound to something more organic and directly worshipful of Tom G. Warrior's bands, so I can see why some people greatly prefer this one (or Black Thrash Attack). For whatever reason, even though these discs were my first exposure to their music, I just happen to favor where they were headed to where they came from, unique or not. But none of that detracts from what a daunting effort this is...if you favor a more dissonant black metal edge cross-bred with the hyper death/thrash or something like Altars of Madness, and some Bathory or Hellhammer for good measure, this remains a pretty intense listen.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/auranoirofficial

Non Serviam - Necrotical (1998)

If Necrotical surpasses the Non Serviam debut in any way, it's that it just remembers to rock your face off much harder; the way they've taken the same elements they were championing on Between Light and Darkness and translated those into punishingly fun tracks. Perhaps they cranked up the death metal influence here a little bit, as you'll feel in a tune like "Hatred Unleashed" in the verses, but you've got still got plenty of that vintage Swedish melodeath, and some surges of obvious black metal. The sophomore doesn't really settle down for any one style more than its predecessor, but it doesn't actually need to, because this time the chords and vocals fit together in more memorable patterns, and they really lose nothing of the wider net they were casting just a year before.

Don't get too excited, because this one can't exactly rub elbows with any of the A- or B-tier successes from that Swedish scene, but if you were into albums like Night in Gales' Thunderbeast or either of the Gandalf full-lengths from Finland, you might appreciate how this is just a simpler and rocking distillation of the black and melodic death metal ingredients. The harsh vocals are more sustained and carnal, and the scarce cleans sound better placed, though still a little awkward. The drums just sound like a thunder sustaining the rest of the instruments, and they'll tear out these brief leads like in "Which Eternal Lie" that soar over the remainder. When the band gets mellow, too, they actually do well to set up the transitions back into the crushing force, but my favorite bits here are tunes like "Haunted Domains" which are just catchy as fuck headbangers which balance off the evil and the melody.

Now two of the members of this band also released Hellspell's Devil's Might, which was clearly a better produced and higher quality extension of the black metal aesthetics from Non Serviam, and I would recommend that album before either of these, despite its ugly cover. But Necrotical is one I can listen to from time to time and won't switch off once it starts, it's very straightforward in catching your attention, and while its own production isn't much better than the debut, it's just denser and darker and effective.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Golem - The 2nd Horizon (1998)

The artwork for the second Golem, while equally as cheesy as the first, seems a lot more innocuous, and its cosmic orientation gives off the impression that the Germans might be taking their slightly technical Carcass-like death metal into a more progressive direction. In fact, that is more or less the truth, although it's not yet as atmospheric, jazzy or new age as it might look, this sophomore does steer them a little further away from the worship that defined their debut. In fairness, there is still a lot of that influence gleaming through, largely through the vocals but also in a few of the spikes or more melodic riffing, but they definitely seem headed down their own path, and it's a good choice because this is probably my favorite album they've put out.

Part of that is the improved production, which is less punchy and digital feeling as their first album which went more for that Necroticism vibe. This is more balanced and organic, and works well with the denser melodic chord patterns. I don't think the lead tone on this album is that great, especially for the spacey harmonies they're infusing, but it's good enough to get the gist of their ideas, and there are a LOT of them, because Golem is easily one of the riffiest death metal bands to never ascend the throne, possibly because of that derivative factor which hovered over them for a few years. And it still does pop up from time to time, like the chugging breaks in "Departure" which might remind you of a certain tune from Heartwork, or the raucous vocal delivery, but where the Germans excel here is when they go full on with some of the most melodic material like "The Shortening of the Way" or "Heretics", the sorts of tunes that instantly embed into my memory.

There were definitely other great bands that took the Carcass stylings and ran with them, Exhumed and Impaled from here in the States come to mind, but Golem almost represented a potential strain of melodic death metal that might have thrived if more bands had gone that route rather than aping the In Flames, At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity. The 2nd Horizon is a really great example of that potential development, and strong enough to get this band to the next level, but somehow that just wasn't about to happen...maybe it's the cover art, maybe groups like Soilwork and Darkane were just doing more exciting material (they were), but this one definitely holds up even more than the debut.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.golem-metal.de/index.php

Ninnghizhidda - Blasphemy (1998)

I've never been able to pronounce this German black metal band's name, and I'm not about to start now, but they were another victim of the glut of acts emerging in the mid to late 90s during the explosion of black and symphonic black metal. Not that it's exactly 'victimhood', but they offered a sound here that wasn't entirely revolutionary and for whatever factors they never really managed to break out. That said, like a lot of the recordings on Invasion Records, this was some solid stuff for what Ninnghizhidda set out to do, and if you're looking to engage with that sort of symphonic black metal experience, you could do far worse, as the debut album Blasphemy at least sounds good and shows some competence for composition and a balance of metal and orchestration.

The obvious comparison here is Dimmu Borgir, so try and imagine those Norwegians around their 1993-1995 period if they also layered in some death metal growls along with the rasping. In fact, I hear a strong death metal influence just in general, a lot of the tremolo picking rhythms have that decidedly more morbid bent to them, but only to an extent. The growls are actually dominant here, but they also blend in pretty well with the more typical black metal vocal style, and they also will throw in some backing operatic female vocals which sound pretty exotic alongside the meatier harshes. The record is very well paced, around 42 minutes with lots of faster material interspersed with symphonic atmospheres, at least enough that fans of groups like Limbonic Art, Sirius and possibly even Emperor might get something from this, as long as you don't mind the more grumbling, dominant vocals. The drumming here is fast and snappy, the bass thick and fluid, and the synthesizers definitely blend in well without drowning out the tempest beneath them...

Vocals might be a tad too loud, though, and occasionally goofy against the far superior music. But the riffs help to balance this out, they're always well written if not super original, and they embody a good range of metal influences. The leads are also nice and have a bit of classical or folk influence to them. Overall Blasphemy would be an easy album to recommend to anyone into the symphonic side of things back in that decade, whether it be Cradle of Filth or Obtained Enslavement or Gloomy Grim, maybe even their fellow Germans Suffering Souls. There was just the right amount of production, ambition and musicianship potential here for another breakout, and the album still sounds fairly fresh and potent despite its few little flaws. Certainly one of the better kept secrets from that Invasion roster.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

Heavenwood - Swallow (1998)

The cover to the Heavenwood sophomore always freaked me out, I mean not so much the devouring of the reptilian tail and possibly its owner before that, but the weird, fish-scale like texture of the skin of its consumer, glistening in sweat or slime or something. Is it swallowing it's OWN tail? No idea, but there's nothing quite so disgusting or oblique about what the Portuguese had written here, Swallow is a decidedly more commercial more effort than its predecessor. They do retain the growled vocals in places, and the doom-like chugging progressions on the record's heavier moments, but this is way more of an upbeat disc that pays tribute to Sisters of Mercy, late 90s Moonspell, and you might even find some parallels with Paradise Lost's One Second which had come out between this band's first two full-lengths.

Swallow still brings the hooks, and if you enjoy those names I just listed, I can imagine you'll get some mileage out of this one. There's way more of a rocking impulse to the guitars, and they use far more of the clean vocals than otherwise, which can occasionally be a mixed bag, but work for the most part, even if they don't come off as that unique alongside other European Gothic rock/metal bands of this period. The guitars are threaded with more cleans, effects and such to give it that contemporary, modern Goth feel, but they also maintain the use of synthesizers, whispers, etc, and I actually find them pretty tasteful through th album, whether it's the sampled choirs in the bridge of "Soulsister" or elsewhere. Once in awhile they will still churn out a more low-ended piece reminiscent of Diva, like on "Rain of July", but even that has a little more pep to it and maybe even some Lake of Tears/Cemetery vibes, especially the riffs and vocals, which can never be a bad thing for me.

The one I can't say for this sophomore is that it resonates for long with me...I mean you could argue tha it's even catchier in places than the debut, but for some reason there are melodies from that one which my brain traces a thread directly to whenever I think of the name Heavenwood. This is more of a serviceable album which was clearly riding on the trends of its age, but not at all shallow, and if you still love throwing on your copies of Skeleton Skeletron, Irreligious, and Sentenced's Down then this is one I could whole-heartedly recommend. Just don't stare at the cover so long. Eww.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/HeavenwoodOfficial

Gardens of Gehenna - Mortem Saluta (1998)

I could not remember this band's name for the longest time. When I first flirted with the idea of covering some Gothic metal stuff for a change, I had this vague inkling of a band whose albums I either bought cheap at the local import shop, or received to review back in the zine days of the 90s. I thought I had finally stumbled upon them but that was Garden of Shadows, a different beast altogether. Alas, I recall not liking the albums that I did have very much, but wanted to go back and give them another chance, because who knows after such a long gulf of time I might feel about this stuff. I often find that albums I once head a lukewarm view to improve over time just because their sound ages well from such a unique period of style or production.

Mortem Saluta is the Gardens of Gehenna debut, and it's very basic, crunchy death/doom with a guttural vocal not unlike what other bands were doing in the wake of a Paradise Lost or My Dying Bride. The difference here was that they would often have a keyboard or organ constantly following along with many of the riffs, rather than just arriving at sporadic moments to provide atmosphere. The drums mix steady, basic rock beats with some double bass rolls, but the latter sound kind of irritating in the mix, like a piece of plastic sheeting that is fluttering in a strong breeze. The songs are definitely dark and daunting, but they can also grow rather dull over their 4-5 minute song-lengths. Thankfully there is some degree of variation in how the riffs are put together, as well as the percussion, but I wouldn't mind a lot more, once they lay into some hook they a little too confident with it, and it becomes a slog. 

The mix is overall not much to write home about, but it's fairly crisp and steady. I wish the drums were a little heavier, and the backing instruments like synths were mixed in a little better, it feels more like a demo reel than a production with much depth. The guy has a decent growl that he can sustain, but a lot of his delivery sounds the same between tracks, which makes this overly monotonous. At best, the vocals and some dark doom ("Those Who Walk the Shadows") come together to create something appropriately ominous, and there's no fairy tale bullshit anywhere, this is all pretty gloomy stuff in outlook, like a death/doom to complement old black & white horror flicks; it just needs a better mix for more impact.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

Sentenced - Frozen (1998)

Frozen marks the first time that Sentenced had really and truly found a lane that they decided to stay with. Whereas Shadows from the Past to North From Here, to Amok and then Down shows a lot of evolution in stylistic choice, this fifth full-length is more or less a doppelganger of its direct predecessor. That's not to write it off, because the songwriting here still shows a lot of class, and it's got nearly as many great hooks as they did the last time out. I also really like how they themed and colored each of their albums in this Ville phase to look distinct...the photo art is quite minimalist, but you can always remember 'this is the silver album, that one was the gold, the blue, the crimson', if only all of them were as good as this very simple but effective choice...alas, with Frozen we are still above the median of quality.

I think this album's actually a little more coherent than its predecessor, and the production a bit better since they were now fully versed on how they wanted to structure these tracks around the new vocals. Tracks like "Farewell" and "The Suicider" are instant additions to my Sentenced playlist, though they do somewhat sound alike and very similar to tracks off Down, but even these little variations are enough to put me in that same, downtrodden mood that the band was trying to relate. There is little to no progression or experimentation anywhere, he might put a few effects on the vocals for a couple lines, and there are some moody pieces like "The Rain Comes Falling Down" or the tasty "Grave Sweet Grave" that are toying around with some newer riff types to various levels of success, and "Burn" is definitely something a little heavier and more exotic, with some throwback growls in their for fun, but it's a shorter piece that could have been extended into one of the better songs had they cared more about it, rather than being so largely an instrumental. 

Ultimately, if this had been packed in as a double album with Down, I would not really be able to tell the difference beyond a few elements in the cleaner production. The drums and guitars are playing at a high level, it might be rocking out with a very basic structure, but so many little details with the fills, beats and rhythms really help flesh this one out. There are about 5-6 songs here that would have made for an ace EP, the rest aren't quite so excellent, and I think if you mashed together the best of this and the album before it, you would have had the true highlights of the post-Amok Sentenced tenure. That doesn't say much for the three albums to come, but we'll get to them...

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

Gates of Ishtar - At Dusk and Forever (1998)

Three years, three albums released, but by the time At Dusk and Forever dropped it became tearfully clear that Gates of Isthar might not erupt like I once thought they would, that they might become another drop in the bucket of melodeath history. This was still right in that timeframe where At the Gates had taken over the universe because of some nasty vocals, a great guitar tone and one of the best breakdowns since Reign in Blood, so these Swedes were perfectly poised to succeed in that wake. But something was happening...bands like Soilwork and Darkane were about to arrive and make it all much more interesting, whereas this band were still playing it pretty close to the hilt when emulating the Big Three of that scene, and interest just seemed to dwindle.

It's not the fault of At Dusk and Forever, because if anything, this one gives the band an energetic kick that takes them back to the orbit of the debut, a little less washed out than The Dawn of Flames. The old cover art for this one looks absolutely fucking horrible, and I don't even think it was meant for this album, with the logo and title font looking like shit. Who in their right minds at Invasion or within the ranks of the band thought this was anything but an eyesore? They had a great logo. Fortunately, the sound is a bit better, they weren't using Dan this time, but still managed to get what might be their best, most propulsive guitar tone, which seamlessly infused the force and heaviness of the riffing with the actual melodies they're threading through it. The bass is a bit grainier than before, the drums perhaps not the best mixed of their catalogue, but it still seemed brighter than the previous album, and the band was just ripping through these tracks like they were blowing their noses...in a good way.

Ultimately, it's my least favorite of their three albums, because it all seemed to blend together for me, and still does now. It's possible that I just became too overfed with this particular style, hearing so many dozens of bands forming melodies in such comparable patterns, and finding nothing to really push the envelope anywhere beyond what I'd expect. This is fiery as hell, perhaps their most passionate and desperate performance, sort of a foreshadowing for the style Dimension Zero would adopt, and I do like some of the leads here and riffs in general ("Battles to Come", etc), but the Swedes seemed a little stuck in time and unable to really progress themselves forward or sideways into any more curious pastures, so they remained for their entire career a meat & potatoes melodeath band on that fateful second tier. Granted, a pretty damn good one, worth the hype they once stood on...AND may stand on once more, because ladies and gentlemen, the Gates of Ishtar are open yet again, we'll have to see what strides boldly forth from them.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/gatesofishtarofficial

Scheitan - Berzerk 2000 (1998)

Berzerk 2000 hit me as quite a shock, as I found the Scheitan debut to be quite satisfactory and would not have expected them to pivot their style so soon. Scandinavian black metal was raging along, but not so much in the hearts of these guys, so they decided to transform the Nordic barrage into something resembling black & roll, or a blend of heavy metal and Gothic metal while maintaining the rasping vocal aesthetic. Normally I don't have a problem with this, as I enjoyed groups like Gandalf from Finland who were on a similar path with their debut, and truthfully, these Swedes are not so bad at it, but I imagine if you were a bigger fan of Travelling in Ancient Times you would have chucked this one out the window as soon as you cleared a couple tunes on the first half of this release.

The sound is still quite smooth, these guys had a grasp on studio professionalism and it continues through the course of their evolution. Simple, rocking chord patterns are layered with equally minimalist melodies to serve as a seat for the emotion of the vocals. Unfortunately, this particular rasping performance does not have a whole lot of range, which could have been more useful to hold the listener's attention when too few of the riffs can. There are some tracks here which actually do convey a greater sense of morose, spacious black metal, like "Soulside", but even there they toss in some female vocals which sound way too goofy, reaching for a sort of folk/Gothic metal mix. However, the snarls on that song sound quite nasty and protracted, and if they hadn't cocked it up with the guest vocal it would have been decent. "Sad to Say" is even more sparse and atmospheric, but here they make the same mistake with the female vocals...they're not awful, but just a little cheesy as they drift along.

I'm sure this was all calculated, as the band members had their hands in a lot of things going on at the current time, but it ends up sounding MIScalculated...like the track "Terror" which is just snarling, and then the return to fast black metal on the second half of the album, like they had had their fun and gotten it out of their systems?!? Had the whole thing sounded like "Bombraid Over Wastelands" or "Berzerk 2000", it would have felt like the natural, if underwhelming follow-up to Travelling in Ancient Times, but this sophomore is simply split down the center and incoherent, like a split EP between two separate bands, and it's not really good at either of its two personalities...so this one is unfortunately kind of a bust.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10]

Soilwork - Steelbath Suicide (1998)

By the later 90s, metal fans the world over were in such a froth over At the Gates' seminal Slaughter of the Soul that the Swedes had spawned myriad doppelgangers, whether directly aping that aggressive, melodic death attack or fusing with US metalcore breakdowns and clean vocals. You couldn't escape it, and a number of that record's protegees would go on to massive careers that arguably eclipsed the original what with their now-reconvened hiatus. Although I liked that record alongside the next bloke, the former gatekeeper in me was just not down with some of the more overt impostors trying to spin a buck, but found myself challenged with two Helsingborg bands that, for my ears, had already iterated upon that classic in positive and exciting directions. Now, I've already gone over the excellent Darkane at length, but what of those better-known wunderkinds Soilwork, who rode that horse to broader, more progressive lengths, and have enjoyed a transition from explosive hype to decades of consistent releases, with only a few lulls here or there?

Steelbath Suicide was unquestionably the closest they'd ever sound to the formidable AtG, but it was already at an evolved state due to the presence of the keyboards, the bigger chorus hooks and the more friendly style of lead guitar and harmony involved. It's as if someone took Slaughter of the Soul as the base and sprinkled in small amounts of Helloween, Dream Theater and another Swedish melodeath juggernaut of those times, In Flames, whose uplifting guitar rushes and dual harmonies clearly informed a number of the riffs here in tunes like the title track which could have appeared on Colony or Clayman with a few tweaks, or "The Aardvark Trail". In fact, the one really binding element are Speed's early vocals, which are quite close to Tomas Lindberg in sneering disposition, and like me, if you've spend many years listening to the guy across his collection of projects, you'll also remember that this is one of his more limited performances. It gets the trick done, and certainly there are a few riffing passages in tracks like "My Need" or "Sadistic Lullabye" that are likewise redolent of Slaughter tunes, but they open up their strings far more than he opens up his pipes through the eleven tracks here.

But don't get me wrong, this record is quite great from the onset, as we're smothered with the warm and resilient melodies of "Entering the Angel Diabolique", a 2+ minute instrumental that instantly catapulted them upon a potential higher tier of the niche alongside the aforementioned acts and Dark Tranquillity. There's a little bit of Jester Race vibe going on there, which is a ok by me, but you can already feel the presence of the synths, a few clean strings buried in the mix, and just a confidence that you are about to be treated to a fully satisfying experience, which you are. The tirade of clever, riffy cuts to follow this one are one of the most concise and consistent in the band's career..."Sadistic Lullabye", "Skin After Skin", and the incredible "Wings of Domain" are all well-worthy of a "Blinded by Fear" or "Slaughter o of the Soul" proper, and due to the presence of the extra instrument, they bring an atmosphere that was not present in that style prior. The intricacy and intensity of the track list does not abate there, as it's an album you can still listen straight through to this day, but a few of the tunes might fall a fraction shorter in the memorability department.

It's obviously one of the most guitar-driven of their efforts, and the dynamic range is palpable, from the thrashier bludgeons, to the catchy chorus chord patterns, to the well-developed leads that almost seemed out of place for a band this young. Soilwork was clearly bringing the breadth of classic and progressive metal to that trending melodeath intensity, and some of the solos on this one are among the best they'd ever record. The production is pretty good, perhaps a little washed out by loudness war standards, but you can hear everything clearly, and I feel like the more processed, cubicle tones on the record were an aesthetic that did match up the futuristic artwork and contemporary lyrical themes. If you wanted Slaughter of the Soul to Enter the Matrix, well here you have it. There was also a groove metal element present even here, something they'd explore more blatantly later on, but it was tasteful and even used to great success in, say, "Demon in the Veins", when Speed starts screaming in the chorus and the little flourish of melody caps him off over the churning rhythm guitar.

Jimmy Persson's drums were solid, it really takes a lot to keep up with such an all encompassing style, but he does so with room to spare, so even though he wouldn't be sticking with the band, he helped them off to the races. The synthesizers also perform the difficult task of having their presence felt in certain spaces without ever cluttering up the other instruments, so one shouldn't expect the showiness felt in more distinctly 'prog metal' bands...that will increase later. All told, this is an album that feels just as impactful as when it first dropped, perhaps not ever my favorite but certainly the catalyst for what remains my favorite period in the band's discography, a reliable evergreen that I'll still be breaking out every year or so.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.soilwork.org/

Diabolical Masquerade - Nightwork (1998)

By the time Nightwork came along, Diabolical Masquerade was already this underappreciated, quality Swedish black metal export, especially when you took into consideration that it was the work of just one man. Wait, does Blakkheim even qualify as a man? I've always fancied him as more of an immortal vampire prince who wrote some catchy Goth metal tunes and retro-death metal on the side as a day job; his is a rather singular genius across the genre borders and I doubt there's a metal niche he couldn't dig into with his considerable fangs and entertain us with. Each of the albums he wrote under this moniker had a nice degree of variation from the last, and Nightwork is no exception.

This is a bit more theatrical than The Phantom Lodge, more like something you'd heard in the background at some dark carnival with all its creepy pianos, and of course that cinematic nature would be honed in even further on the fourth record, and not necessarily for the better. But here, Blakkheim strikes just the right aesthetic between haunted house hysterics and worthy, varied riff patterns that are excellent at complimenting the spectral synthesizers and his awesome rasped vocals, which can be shifted around much like a Dani Filth but not quite so much a caricature. There's a refined, progressive nature to the writing here which often focuses on sinister chugging patterns interchanged with a dual narrative between vocal and keys, for example in "Dreadventurouz" which is a far cry from the more symphonic, thundering overtures he's written on previous albums. Those might have howled at you beautifully from a mountainside or castle, but here you're getting into the winding, nightmarish corridors of some fun house or museum. There are still sequences which bridge between the two extremes, yet Nightwork sounds tighter, more personal.

The use of the 'z' in song titles rather than an 's' seems goofy at first, but actually adds quite a lot to the charisma of the album, and the song titles are fucking great anyway: "The Eerie Obzidian Circuz", "Thiz Ghoultimate Omen", and of course "Rider on the Bonez" all convey the themes and moods set by the music, as well as the idea that Blakkheim is not taking it all so seriously. He's the rock star at the Halloween party, but he won't just flick his cape like a snob and ignore you, he'll have a few laughs with you and participate in the usual masquerade games. But that's not to undersell Nightwork's competence, this is an engaging, spooky and sometimes phantasmally beautiful black metal piece which was quite unique in its day, and holds up extremely well almost a quarter of a century later. What else really sounded like this? Maybe Entombed in the Midnight Hour from Dead Silent Slumber? Maybe bits and pieces of Emperor, Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, but this was every measure as interesting and worthy in the late 90s.

In fact, while there might be individual tracks on the albums before it that I hold in higher regard, I think this is quite clearly his strongest work with this project, and frankly I hope he himself will come back to Diabolical Masquerade one day, ignore the Death's Design, and pick up where this one left off. I love some Katatonia and earlier Bloodbath, but my October evenings are all the weaker for lack of new Blakkheim adventures.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.omerch.com/shop/diabolicalmasquerade

Killengod - Into the Ancient Moon (1998)

Killengod's obscure sophomore album comes across quite different up front. Gone are the weird, surreal alien things from the debut's cover, and this in fact looks as if it would be more of a black metal album, or at least it would if the logo weren't the same. Actually, when I was listening to the synth intro "Ode to an Ancient Moon", I was fully expecting them to erupt with blasting, snarls and tremolo picked melodies. After all, the first record was a bit trendy with what extreme metal was happening in 1995, so why not the 1998 album too? But this turns out not to be the case, because where the aesthetics and production of Into the Ancient Moon might differ from the debut, it's still very much brutal death metal with a Floridian foundation, only I feel a bit more of that New York intensity creeping into it here.

You still get the Deicide-like split vocals, alternating between the guttural and snarl, and they do it with a lot of character, and occasionally in tandem. The riffs, though, are far more ambitious, dabbling in more technical, varied patterns which are a smattering of thrash and brutal death, and shifting around enough with the drums that it occasionally sounds a little cluttered, with walls of riffs crashing into each other. There is a lot more technique, little pinches and melodies abound, and they also use a little more synth which recalls some of the early Nocturnus. The instruments all sounds fairly good for something at this budget, but the guitars are a bit sharper and more cutting than on the first album. There are also a few spurts of more melodic, simple riffing almost like a crude melodeath, as in the bridge of "Masquerade the Masters", but it's not enough to distract from the more abusive, intense battery they usually engage with.

Tunes like "Lord of Whores" should still sate fans of the first two Deicide records, or maybe None So Vile, and I found there were a fun, bouncy, primal grooves, although in terms of chord or note selection, this album doesn't really stand out so much. But it's competent, punishing Down Under death metal that will probably surprise those hunting deep through the underground for some competence, and their willingness to make the small aesthetic changes shows that they were a group keen on evolution and progression. It simply never progressed beyond this point...

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

Necrophagia - Holocausto de la Morte (1998)

Holocausto de la Morte was kind of a big deal since it saw Killjoy and Necrophagia resurrected from the dead, and although it carries many hallmarks from their 80s thrash-tempered material, this was really the dawn of the peculiar, minimalistic and evil death metal style that this band will forever foremost be known for. It's also interesting for me because it's a good example of an album I had little fondness for when I received the promo for an old paper zine back in those late 90s, but as I listen with what I hope to be fresh, well-aged ears, I can garner a little more appreciation for what the guys were trying here. In terms of its place in 'horror metal', while its far from a novel example by this date, I think the almost constant use of samples and themes here makes it one of the first things I think of when those two terms are joined together.

The formula: extremely basic, crisp thrashing rhythms alternated with Hellhammer-style grooves, never sounding they took more than a few minutes to conceive, but slathered with personality due to the guts gargling vocal presence of Mr. Killjoy. I mean this guy literally sounds like he's chewing on a rodent as he intonates these lyrics...a rat or squirrel being gnashed in his teeth, his tongue flicking about it to make sure the words make it to the microphone with somewhat proper pronunciation. It's the kind of comical you might have first experienced with John Tardy or Chris Reifert, only arguably taken to a further extreme. And yet, I admit it's one of the most endearing and compelling components of this band. The riffs are also engaging despite how crude they come across, especially when they're drowned in all the morbid chants and samples and narrative that gives you a drugged out effect. Remember that movie I Drink Your Blood with all the evil hippies? This album sounds like you could layer it in as an alternative soundtrack to that and it would function perfectly. It's got a kitsch quality about it like bad, bloody, cult special effects and styrofoam graveyards and as I type these ridiculous things I realize it's one of the high points for me.

The production is also really loud and easy to follow consider what an evil atmosphere it is attending. The guitars and vocals always stand out, the former shifting between their doomed lopes, My First Thrash Riff 101 or even a little more creative dissonance. The bass sounds good, but doesn't do much other than hold up those rhythm guitars with a plumpness. The drums dwell in a simple rock format, almost like Danzig, but once again that is what this requires...nothing too technical to force its way past the rest. All the eerie segues and chants seem as if they're almost randomly placed into tracks like "The Cross Burns Black", but once you're attuned to what sort of experience you're going to get, they work. The band will also launch into a mid-paced blasting on tunes like "Deep Inside, I Plant the Devil's Seed", and I did feel that some of the riffs there felt like bland grind, but at least its worth it to hear Killjoy go even further over the top of the sepulcher than he normally does. All in all, though, it's fairly catchy, and while it requires a certain frame of mind for me to even want to put this in for a spin, I'll openly admit it's grown into a go-to album when I need my fix of the late Mr. Pucci's morbid hijinks. Whatever you might think of his music, and I don't think too highly of much of it, the guy was a one-of-a-fucking-kind splatter metal icon.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/NecrophagiaOfficial

Helloween - Better Than Raw (1998)

Even though the haze of nostalgia in my brain always equates this band with my favorite season of the year, the Autumn, I've realized that they have such a virile Summer energy to them, with very little mystical or spooky, and that's alright. Even the cover art of Better Than Raw, easily the best of their career, which just SCREAMS that this is going to fit that Halloween aesthetic, does not exactly come across in the music beyond the color, the fun, and the sexiness. Better Than Raw is another gorgeous, sexy beast of an album for the Andi Deris era, and it's yet another one that has actually grown on me through the years. You've seen me mention the same for stuff like Straight Out of Hell and Rabbit Don't Come Easy, but this one probably had the steepest incline.

It's essentially a beefier, burlier take on the style the band set out with Master of the Rings and Time of the Oath, but I think many of you would agree that the production here just sounds better. Not all the songs are quite as explosive or melodically intricate, but it's damn solid and offers an array of weaponry that keeps it interesting. The classical prelude is fun, and then "Push" levels you with the tremolo picked heaviness accompanying the shouted backing vocals, plus its melodic picking patterns remind me of stuff like "Sole Survivor". The album does get catchier though, tunes like "Falling Higher" and "Hey Lord!" scratching out some simple but really effective melodies that instantly infect. It's probably the later reaches of the album that took longer to grow on me, but I'm glad they did, because this is for the most part a dynamic and consistent and heavy album that retains its accessibility. If you were a newcomer to the band or even just the Deris era, I think most of this material would immediately sell you on the band's embarrassing riches of talent.

A couple cuts like "Time" and "Lavdate Dominvm" aren't among my favorites, but even then I can appreciate the care that went into them, the former a place for the record to chill out, and the latter a mix of their more driving classically-imbued style with some variation from Andi between cleans, growls, screams and backing choruses that almost sound like some weird boys choir at some holiday celebration. I'd say though, that about seven of the tunes here are just fucking awesome, with none of the remainder being bad. There are also some bonus tracks out there on some versions called "A Game We Shouldn't Play" and "Back on the Ground", which are exceptional, for my money just as good as any of the tracks that made the cut (although I had to experience one of them through the Treasure Chest compilation, but if you're tossing this album up on iTunes or something, edit those tracks onto the end...trust me.) All in all, another fucking knockout for this era, 3 for 3, maybe not as immortal as the 1985-1988 album trio, but further proof that this version of the band was just as worthwhile, AND ALSO IT WAS GOING. TO. KEEP. GOING.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.helloween.org/

Rage - XIII (1998)

XIII is one of a few Rage albums at the close of the 90s upon which the group decided to lean very heavily on their symphonic influences and incorporate the 'Lingua Mortis Orchestra' idea directly into their metal albums. As loathe as I was that one of my favorite German acts would submit to impulses of rock opera and Broadway balladry, I'll admit that they did a pretty good job of it on the 'main' releases where the style was implemented, rather than the junky scrap EPs and Lingua Mortis album that had come out a couple years earlier. In fact, the orchestration of Christian Wolff is spun so smoothly into this record that, if you hadn't already gotten history with the Rage catalogue, you might think that this was just the fundamental sound on which they were built.

There's a tradeoff. While the musicianship of the quartet loses nothing in terms of proficiency, it's dialed back a lot to let these horn and string sections breathe. It feels like the band is really playing along with an actual symphony, and unlike other extreme metal bands who would later try and clutter everything up by going overboard, the Germans are restrained and entirely song-focused, and that's what makes this album a cut above. This is not some showboating affair, but an attempt to compose emotional resonance which makes this pleasant to listen to even decades later; a trait that would carry on to following album. Look, I'm all for the shrieking excess and dizzying speed metal licks of their earlier years, but I'll take the tunes on this one over ANYTHING the Trans-Siberian Orchestra has ever released, and I can only image if Rage had decided to focus on covers and not their original fare, they might have achieved some sort of massive stardom the likes of which that post-Savatage project did. But that just goes to show you this was no cheap cash grab on the emerging trends brought about by groups like Therion; these guys were serious about stripping down their sound and adding a new component, tastefully.

It's exceptionally clear and well-produced, with the guitars and symphonic keys in perfect balance above the very audible rhythm section of Wagner's bass and Chris E's drumming. Peavy's vocals actually sound really good hear shifting between his angrier, gritty ravings and the soothing mid-to-high pitched stuff he uses over a lot of the softer or more sentimental parts. I don't know if there's a single song on this album which lacks for something really catchy..."Days of December", "Over and Over", and "Heartblood" are all fine examples of good riffs, memorable vocal lines and keys working in tandem, and they don't have to entirely abandon the energy and heaviness of their former selves. "From the Cradle to the Grave", with its almost goofy symphonic groove, burrows itself straight into your ears and brain, and while "Paint it Black" is a really generic choice for a cover, and my least favorite piece on the album, they actually do well to merge it into this orchestrated metal style and make it blend in seamlessly with the aesthetics of all the originals.

Despite the shared DNA of Mr. Wagner, XIII is not the Rage I grew up on, but the way the band threw itself at this challenge showed restraint, nuance and an appreciation for how these styles should be balanced. The result was, at least for me, the best album they had put out since 1990's Reflections of a Shadow, and to think, a year later they'd up the ante even further...

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

http://www.rage-official.com/

Rage - In Vain - Rage in Acoustic EP (1998)

And because the three relatively useless versions of the In Vain EP were not enough, there was this fourth version, Rage in Acoustic, which was put out almost simultaneously through another imprint. This one does probably stand out if only because it does feature some genuine acoustic interpretations of the Germans' tracks, but I have to ask...was there really an audience who requested this, or was it just another component of Peavy spreading the band's wings as he did with the Lingua Mortis orchestra material? There was clearly an audience witnessing these live acoustic performances, I can assume by the clapping, and that's because these tracks are actually quite well done. In fact, I like the material here a little more than the live bonuses on the other In Vain EPs and perhaps even more than the Lingua Mortis album, but it's unfortunately scant.

The sound quality here is quite good, with the acoustic guitars and pianos just glittering in the mix...if it's really live, it was captured exquisitely. They'll add in a few swelling strings and such for drama, but the real treat here is how Wagner actually sounds great singing these. I know I've been critical of some of his performances on the older Lingua Mortis, but here he sounds like a minstrel plying his trade over a pretty sweet band of troubadours, and the trio of "Turn the Page", "Incomplete" and "Immortal Sin" definitely deliver on the promise of what a Rage acoustic outing should be. The cover of The Beatles' yesterday fits in well enough with the originals, but I don't know that I needed it and I think it's on one of the other In Vain EPs already, as is the title track. Far better would it have been had they just stretched this one out into a full-length of adaptations like the three in the middle, and then this would have been an excellent and surprising effort. As it stands, Rage in Acoustic certainly has more value than the other trilogy of releases in this series, and its proof positive they can pull this off, but it's too short to recommend hunting down.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.rage-official.com/

Rage - In Vain EP (1998)

The In Vain EP is part follow-up to the 1996 Lingua Mortis album, which featured the Germans playing alongside the Symphonic Orchestra Prague, and it features for my money a slightly better integration of the metal instruments and the sweeping bombast and dark overtures that come with that territory. There are actually three different editions of this one featuring three track-lists, starting with this "In Vain" orchestra version, and then usually a couple of live originals complemented by a cover tune. Personally I found this a bit foolish when you consider that you could have compressed them all down for a release that was under an hour, but I guess they were trying to push some sort of collectivity, and when you consider how prolific Rage had been through the 80s and 90s I guess such collectors might've existed.

At any rate, the vocals are still a bit disappointing here...he's better in the mix against the strings, drums and horns, but he still seems to strain a little with the longer notes, and he's doing it at higher registers here which can get a little awkward. The orchestra itself simmers, turning a lot of the subtleties of the metal originals into these harsher, Wagnerian swell-ups, and even in the calmer moments of "In Vain" itself it does sound quite lovely. Similar to Lingua Mortis, this has somewhat more of a live feeling to it and it's not your super polished studio attempt, but that actually gives it an organic feel that I quite liked. The live material on some of these EPs actually sounds half-decent, with the band having fun as it storms through "Higher than the Sky" and its cover of Metallica's "Motorbreath". That said, none of this is really a draw unto itself on such a short-form release.

I didn't even care for some of the covers like the Stones' "Paint it, Black" which I'd just heard too many times by that point in the mid-90s to really care when it wasn't the original. Ultimately this entire idea and release were drivel...from the kind of dull picture of the wolf's face which is then filtered to a different color for the various versions of the EP, and the really limited content. If you just took this version of the title track, through on the rest of the live songs and covers into one recording, I'd still find it mediocre and there is little chance in hell I'd have paid to import all the copies. It seems like a lazy way to cop a couple bucks from the band's audience which were all far better spent on the Rage studio albums or much of the rest of the burgeoning European power/heavy metal scene of the 90s. Skip it.

Verdict: Fail [4/10]

http://www.rage-official.com/

Borknagar - The Archaic Course (1998)

Despite its introduction of Simen Hestnæs, I.C.S. Vortex, into the Borknagar lineup, and onto the radars of metal fans the world over, The Archaic Course seemed to arrive and depart without a whole lot of fanfare. It wasn't that it had a particularly negative reaction, but there was a sense of disappointment for some who were likely expecting more of the arguably denser material that comprised The Olden Domain. Although it has just as dynamic a range between its aggressive tendencies and folksy Nordic flow, it is certainly a little more sure of itself and straightforward. But the switch between Garm and Simen's vocals might have been a sore point, or the more rambling and vaulted songwriting, or whatever perplexing reasons that it wasn't better received.

Obviously, I would disagree with any such assessment, because if it's not already painfully clear, this is my favorite Borknagar album. Not by a wide margin, mind you, but this was simply one of those important records that came along in the decade of grunge, nu metal and diminishing returns for a number of subgenres and blew my mind. This is one of those of those 90s albums that expanded my own expectations of what 'metal' music could be, what it could accomplish, and even though they've continued for decades to create beautiful iterations of this style with albums like Empiricism, Winter Thrice and True North, this remains the point where the floodgates opened and a band that had already deluged and impressed me with its earlier works simply drowned me in admiration. That's not to say it doesn't have a few flaws, some rough edges that would be hewn down the road, but I found it positively magnificent back in my 20s and feel no differently in middle age. This thing is a storm of mood and majesty across eight tracks and 38 minutes, and features a number of my fave tracks across the Norwegians' entire history to date.

Now the style here doesn't exactly distance itself far from The Olden Domain, but there was a cleaner and more cosmic feel to how the material was presented and produced. Vibrant if melancholic chord patterns continued to pull from the traditional folk influences just as much as Bathory's Blood Fire Death, and there was a lot more of a direct showcase on the guitars themselves, with percussion often segueing out for some glimmering acoustics or even the winding electric riffs. Kai K. Lie was still performing bass at this point and offers up a cool, subtle, almost psychedelic selection of grooves that lock right together with Brun's poignant riffing. In his final Borknagar performance before a tragic overdose in 1999, Grim lays out a dense level of thunder on the low end of his kit, which only helps to elevate the vocals and guitars out into the firmament, and his fills are great at adding more depth to the constant, swaggering shifts in rhythm. Ivar of Enslaved was still here helping to arrange some of the songs, as well as joining Vortex on the synthesizers, which range from ominous choirs to more slicing, proggy pads that cut through the backdrop of the rhythm instruments' atmosphere. Just because it's a little more direct doesn't make this any less complex than its predecessor, in fact as heavily arranged as their later material would be during the Vintersorg years and before, there was often every bit as much going on throughout this one.

Of course the real star for me is Simen's voice, which even with its lesser level of polish here is still one of the most distinct entities on the whole Norse scene, which contains a whole lot of bands I like that have made constant evolutions beyond their traditional roots. There is obviously a parallel to Garm, but Vortex was simply capable of presenting a wider range, like a yodeler who suddenly got all grim and serious. The snarls here are solid as well, but there was no question after hearing this that the soaring clean vocals were going to remain a central feature going forward. While he occasionally does seem to go off pitch ever so slightly, the way the voice interacts with the busy riffing was just something so new to me back when I first heard this. And having had the good fortune to see them tour on this album with Emperor, the Kings of Terror package, I can attest that it sounded even better in that setting than it did on this recording. But it is utterly mighty either way, especially in tracks like "Ad Nocturm" or "Black Token" where he alternates it with some of the more chaotic and wicked black metal rasping for a duality that doesn't sound the slightest bit forced or cheesy.

It would be hard to choose favorites here, but in addition to those I just mentioned, I'll give a nod to the beautiful, steady "Winter Millennium", "Universal" and the heavily fjord-flowing "Oceans Rise" which was a track that definitely caught on with a lot of folks, even if the album as a whole didn't. But there's not a bad track among these, not one point that I ever feel like skipping a single measure, not even for the arguably anticlimactic synth, voice and storm-sampled outro "Fields of Long Gone Presence", which has this warmth to it among the crackling thunder and shining keys which is worth its very short journey. It's totally awesome, even for the few instances where the vocals or melodies might not be perfectly executed in isolation from the rest of the mix; the flaws, and they're minor at most, only end up endearing me to the whole thing even more (and I'd say the same of Garm's stuff on the first two albums). Ultimately, with its ponderous, nature-tinted lyrics and the rich musical language the band had been developing for itself coming fully into fruition, The Archaic Course is probably one of the most underrated albums I own in my entire collection. I've still got my beat up old cardboard promo slip CD for this one, from my early zine years in the 90s, and it's well past time I upgraded for one with a booklet.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (slide into forever)

http://borknagar.com/

Auberon - The Tale of Black... (1998)

The idea of a fantastical melodic death metal band promoted a form of promising escapism that was uncommon within its niche in the 90s, although a number of bands in the ensuing two decades have merged that Swedish influence with folk metal, video gaming and other mythological and fairytale concepts. Bands like At the Gates, In Flames and Dark Tranquillity tackled more personal, social or political topics. But Auberon's debut had that look about it, with a wizard standing against some wondrous, alien landscape, which was an immediate draw for me, because I was heavily enamored of their label mates Lake of Tears, who used a similar but more psychedelic imagery for their brand of trudging Gothic doom. So I was pretty surprised, upon first hearing the music itself, that these Swedes had put together a competent melodic death act balancing the gnarled aggression of their countrymen with some solid songwriting that explored harsher and calmer passages, progressive (or at least mildly progressive) song structures, and consistent, non-flashy musical instrumentation.

Dark Tranquillity's first three albums would be the natural comparison, with The Tale of Black... coming off darker, possessing more intense bursts of riffing. The melodies are usually ingrained more into or alongside the chord structures themselves here, whereas on The Gallery they were a more overt, standout feature drawing more directly upon the lineage of groups like Iron Maiden. The leads on this record are pretty good, always moody and adventurous, without ever knowing quite where their bridge is about to come to an end; and the rhythm guitars are riffing off everywhere. Like a lot of similar bands at the time, it was like a mix of thrash and 80s power metal transported into the 'death' metal end of the spectrum through the density, guitar tone and vocals. These had a raucous rasp about them, far more carnal and Lindberg (or Laiho) than hoarse and Stanne. Occasionally, they seem to layer up and bounce off one another to the point that they're a little too raspy and hideous, which can be an amusing contrast once they surge into some part of the record where it feels more like a progressive rock guitar instrumental. Interestingly enough, these are balanced off against sections of cleaner, accented vocals that actually imbue the album with some of its more fantastic narrative feel...

In fact, these vocals are much better than the harsh style, as you can hear in a song like "The Dance" where they are more prominently on display and really bind it all together. Had The Tale of Black... actually used this style exclusively, it might even be a superior effort overall. That's not to say that the rasping sucks, far from it, but they do feel a little too 'Beauty & the Beast' contrasted with the more studied, serious and memorable cleans. The drumming is also pretty good here, double bass rolls and fills everywhere that ramp up the aggression level at least a few degrees, and helping give the tunes that air of power and desperation which made records like Slaughter of the Soul legendary. I won't say the production here is absolutely top shelf, since it seems somewhat washed out in spots, but it was a damn sight better than a lot of other bands choking along on the exhaust of this style, and all in all I was pretty happy with the debut. Not as memorable or exciting as a number of their peers, but a firm recommendation for those seeking out more in the vein of The Fifth Season, Terminal Spirit Disease, Thunderbeast, The Mind's I or The Gallery.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (so many legends waiting to be born)

http://auberonswe.blogspot.com/

Mercyful Fate - Dead Again (1998)

Much as The Graveyard proved the nadir to all those things King Diamond, an uninspired and pitifully bland paragon of career exhaustion, so too does Dead Again prove for the King's off and on alma mater Mercyful Fate. Now, to be clear, this is nowhere near as bad as The Graveyard, an album I have actually had physical altercations with, broken up only when the authorities arrived and took us both away in handcuffs. Dead Again does have a handful of choice moments, scattered throughout the track list, but even those sometimes sound like partial retreads of ideas the guitarists had pretty much perfected in the past. The best I could say for this work as a whole is that it's a competent, high 'average', but it marked a clear declination in the quality of the Danes' musical ideas, part of which I'd attribute to the front man having been so busy for just so long, kicking ass I might add. In the Shadows was a superb comeback, Time was still quite memorable, Into the Unknown solid, and then whoosh...the steam ran out (thankfully not for the followup to this).

The riffing progressions were still distinctly Shermann/Wead, with a huge emphasis on groovier patterns as heard in cuts like "Torture (1629)", "The Night" and "Crossroads". Personally I found the guitar tone and production of Dead Again in general to be solid, a little on the dry side but fully evocative of those moonlit, classy horror aesthetics that the King had always invested himself into with both bands. The producer here was involved with In the Shadows, and King did a lot of the mixing himself, so it's not a coincidence that this is thematically and atmospherically a spiritual successor to the 1993 reunion epic, with a lot of those grooves that just storm in and cut out against the lighter material ("Since Forever", etc). The problem for me is just that the songs lack the extra, intangible 'something' which made for such a hot streak from the time Don't Break the Oath had arrived all the way to efforts like Time and The Spider's Lullabye. It's not an ineffably lazy round of tunes like one will find on the painfully sterile Graveyard, which had a mix like a Tupperware party in Prude county, but for whatever reason the songs just don't connect with me quite like most of the albums that were released before it.

Sharlee D'Angelo's performance here is solid in tone but rather forgettable, I often feel like a few more interesting grooves in his own playing might have supplemented the rhythm guitars with the 'edge' I needed to carve them into my memory. The leads are in general pretty bleak, you can perceive all the shredding and technique the guys are capable of meting out, but emotionally the breaks all seem rather phoned in and fit to order the song structures rather than the phantoms and haunts which underscore many of the lyrical themes. The drums sound good, mostly laying out standard hard rock rhythms since a lot of the material is fairly mid-level on the energy and momentum scales. As for Diamond himself, he gives the usual versatile performance, but doesn't seem to imbue a lot of the individual lines and stories with the same level of personality you'd remember from Melissa, or Don't Break the Oath, or even Fatal Portrait. On a technical level, most elements that went into this recording don't sound out of place or digressive from the three full-lengths before it, but once you get beneath the surface it just seems a bit hollow...

Even on the ambitious 14-minute title track, which is a jumbled mesh of mundane progressive rock swells, corny narratives and a few seconds of the most inspired and excellent harmonies to be found here. Others, like "Fear" start off really ripe and then grow progressively less compelling, while a tune like "The Lady Who Cries" is rather a dud that I struggle to remember at all. What I find most curious is that I find King Diamond at its heights and lows to be better and worse than Mercyful Fate. Abigail and The Eye just marginally surpass Don't Breath the Oath in my estimation, though I realize that's not the Officially Approved Opinion™; but on the other hand, records like Give Me Your Soul... and the dreaded Graveyard aren't fit to spit-shine Dead Again's inverted crucifix. So, as gloomy as I might have made my position seem in the opening paragraph, it's a testament to this band, that even the album I'm least likely to appreciate in their catalog, still isn't entirely a drag. In fact, this would make a pretty solid 4-5 track EP if all the better licks and vocal hooks were abridged. But it remains In the Shadows' less attractive younger sister, safe to propose to if you blew it when you were dating the original, but in the back of your mind, you'll always be wondering where that might have led if you just weren't such an asshole... And, yeah, I realize 'sister' is probably a bad choice of words when discussing the Mercyful/Diamond canon.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (I'm drifting still)

http://www.kingdiamondcoven.com/site/