Windir - Arntor (1999)

As soon as you hear the interchange between the accordion and the synths of "Byrjing" that herald Arntor, you know there's been a little sea change in the years since the Windir debut. As I mentioned on that review, it takes a bit of finesse to pull this stuff off without coming across as goofy self-parody, something that plagues a lot of folk metal oriented acts (even Finntroll, a band I happen to love). Valfar used his music to honor his ancestry, the heritage of his region, and took a lot of responsibility in doing so. The synths were actually pretty good on the debut, so I'm not surprised how well they're used throughout Arntor, but it's the rest of this production that has stepped everything up over its predecessor. I would be remiss to point out that this also largely a solo venture: he has numerous contributors for vocals, lead guitars, and the same drummer and clean vocalist (Steingrim and Steinarson) from the debut, but Valfar is in command.

Arntor is immediately a more developed, textured affair than the debut, with numerous improvements. The guitar melodies are still extremely excellent, some of the best ever from the Norwegian scene, and they have such a grasp of antiquity that the sound of them feels like you're in some epic poem or watching some documentary about Viking or Scandinavian culture. The bass lines are highly improved, with a good supporting groove that adds yet more character to the compositions. The vocals are still the same rasp, but they've been blended into the riffs so much better here that they sound excellent and never obnoxious. There are still clean vocals implemented, with some festive whoops and shouts, but it always feels timely and thematic to the whole. The male choir vocals on "Kong Hydnes haug" and elsewhere are superior to those of the debut, delivered with a more brazen confidence, and I also think the mix of the drums for Arntor is better, you can feel the kicks so much more, they're using some more warlike march rhythms and such and get a festive rock groove to them when the music moves at a more moderate pace.

There are a few of the dour clean vocal lines in tunes like "Kampen" which remind me more of an Otyg or early Vintersorg delivery, taken seriously but still a little dweeby along with that simple verse rhythm, so that's not my favorite stuff, but with the exception of that one track this is a godlike effort. Songs like "Saknet",  "Arntor, ein windir" and the epic Viking trance-inducing "Svartesmeden og Lundamyrstrollet" are among my favorite in their entire catalogue. I was never 'late' to the Windir party, they are a band I heard as soon as many other folks did, and initially liked, but in the last decade a lot of their albums have been growing on me with each new wintry season. Maybe that's tacky, and I'm an old fool, but this is when I really like to experience Valfar's music, and we've had a good coating of snow here in the New England area lately and it's just bringing out all the feels. Killer disc.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

Arcturus - Disguised Masters (1999)

What way to better champion your newfound eclecticism than the obligatory 'remix' album? Disguised Masters is not built entirely of such distractions, but much of its playtime is devoted to versions of tracks off La Masquerade Infernale injected with drum & bass, industrial, looping, and other electronic mediums that were so popular throughout the 90s. On one hand, their material lends itself well enough to casting the widest net possible, it's not as if they hadn't (and wouldn't) incorporate this stuff straight onto their originals, but unfortunately this record suffers where many of its kind do...just because you 'can', doesn't mean you 'should', and the practice rarely translates into anything justifiable or memorable enough here that I've ever wanted to spin back through it. That's not to say this is some immature, amateur bout with the techniques, but just not very impactful even if you're compelled by the idea of such already gonzo tracks being reshuffled into some fractured dancehall of the imagination.

I suppose the two new originals here would provide the biggest carrot on its stick, but the intro "White Tie Black Noise" is just a swell of ambiance that ties into "Deception Genesis", a track that admittedly does feel like a B-side off La Masquerade, with a sort of progressive dark trip hop vibe which wouldn't have been out of place on Ulver's electronic records. In fact if you just line up the timing, this seems like it was Rygg's headspace for most of his projects, and it could just as easily fall under the catalogue of one as the other. There is a bit of mystique to this one, I like the bass grooves, the little sweeps of strings and the creepy narrated vocals, plus you get a little guitar in its depths. The odd re-imagining of "Du Nordavind" is also pretty interesting, a more frightening, noisy carnival version from the older album. Beyond this, though, I found very little consistency in the remixes. The 'G. Wolf Levitation Mix' of "Painted by Horror" has some nice, clunking percussion and eeriness about its dark ambient thrums, but it just never adds up to much after the first few moments. There's an ensemble/classical re-recording of "Ad Astra" which is also quite soothing, where the 'Magenta Experience' remix is just kinda cheesy beats being layered onto it.

I do think that the hybridization of forms here, like neo-classical ambient to jungle was pretty novel for this period, but it might have been better served for another project of perhaps a full-length where it was used more in new originals than chunks of earlier songs. It's pretty clear that Arcturus got the hint, since they implemented similar ideas so tastefully and sparingly into the full-length after this, but as it stands, Disguised Masters is a not-unpleasant but unnecessary excursion into the collective mindset of a band already on the fringe of its genre, trying to transmogrify onto the fringes of other adjacent sounds that were fomenting in the same era. Lots of good individual beats and grooves, little direction. The low point in their canon, but not irredeemably so.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/arcturusnorway

Annihilator - Criteria for a Black Widow (1999)

Even though Criteria for a Black Widow was released only two years after the laughable Remains, it bore all the hallmarks of a band coming to its senses, a 'comeback' album not over any major gulf of time, but over a gulf in common sense. If you've heard Jeff's commentary tracks for these albums, he'll tell you himself that he was going through some rough times and that Black Widow was an attempt to get back to what mattered, to a full band where he didn't have to perform all the vocals and instruments himself, and back to a style that put Annihilator into the ears of rabid thrash bands in the first place. And he went to great lengths to that effect, reuniting with Rampage and Ray Hartmann to hopefully rekindle the magic from Alice in Hell. Even the cover, though cheesy, seems like a return to referencing the 'Alice' character in some capacity, and there are self-referential song titles here like "Back to the Palace" or the sequel song "Schizos (Are Never Alone) Part III". With all these pieces in place, did Criteria for a Black Widow restore the faith after a near-decade of dysfunction? Was it enough?

Well it damn near tries to be. Now let me qualify that I don't think bands need to try and always ape themselves to forge a comeback, but rather to take where they were at on those seminal works and then ask what should have come next if the decision making had been better. Criteria is a manic thrash metal album which drops most of the nonsense like the hard rock-isms of the earlier 90s, or the industrial weirdness of remains. There might be a bit of Pantera groove remaining, but its largely unobtrusive, and at least seems to fit the songs where it appears. Where Black Widow falls short is that it does little more than just get the band back to a respectable level. 'We get it guys, and we're back!' Only it lacks the nuance and inventiveness that the band had been on the precipice of when they released their debut album. There's nothing forward here, just maintenance, and sadly a few of the tracks and parts slack behind the rest to create an uneven experience.

It works best when the band are channeling the faster, nastier thrash metal which reminds me of anything from their own earliest works, to a bit of Holy Terror, or Dark Angel, or the like. Cuts like "Back to the Palace" and "Nothing Left" are fairly relentless, with Jeff's leads flailing around and some gnarly vocals that make it feel like Randy Rampage never skipped a beat. A few of the tracks that utilized catchier choruses or melodies ("Loving the Sinner") are also pretty competent, at the very least devastating what the band had been putting out in the fateful 1993-1997 period, but there are a few vocal sections that miss the mark, a few boring riffs here or there, terrible lyrics, and compositions that seem as if they needed a little more time gestating before being committed to disc. For a home recording, it sounds alright, but again it doesn't all feel terribly consistent. The entire time I was listening through this album, I felt like this was a 'warmup' to a truly greater return to form that might manifest if the same lineup could just stay in place. 

There was also a bit of buzz around this, more excitement than I had remembered in years surrounding the band, so when I got the promo in the mail (back when I did my old paper zine), I was just happy that Jeff had touched base with himself, with what Annihilator was supposed to be. To that effect, Criteria for a Black Widow is an important transition or de-transition, one that would stave off a lot of foolishness for the group's still-extensive future to follow. Sure, they might fuck up again, but not to the level that they had sunk throughout the 90s. And with luck, since a lot of the traditional metal forms would start to re-emerge from the murk in the new millennium, there'd be an audience again with which to share this newfound lease on the steel. As for the album itself? Forgettable, but not offensively so.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.annihilatormetal.com/

Hellspell - Devil's Might (1999)

Another forgotten album that haunted the Invasion Records roster, Hellspell's Devil's Might was a one-off Swedish black metal effort which resembled a lot of its peers for the day. The band's name was rather a catchy one, but perhaps it was the completely awful digital artwork of the devil himself that held fans back from checking this one out, or a saturation of Satanic black metal by the close of the millennium when the audience was starting to seek out something different. I feel confident though, that had this album dropped 3-4 years earlier, and been better-looking, it would be one of those gems we froth over akin to a Sacramentum, Lord Belial, or Setherial. That's not to say it's in any way unique or remarkable, but it's one that I can break out from time to time and enjoy listening through.

Part of that is the great production, which highlights every evil riff, snarling vocal, and the intense battery and blasting of the drums. Hellspell is like a more compact Dark Funeral, the songs tend not to wear out their welcome like some of their more elongated Swedish peers, they hone in on just a few riffs, dowse them in wicked chords and atmospheres and growling, and entertain. It's never just mindless blasting, the bands is fully capable of doing so, but always chooses to service the riff and structure rather than go on muscular tandems with no payoff. When they do opt for a longer tune, like "Reconstruction of a Lost World", the riffing goes wider and more adventurous, they play around with some slower tempos and mood over the more conventional black metal aesthetics, but you can already tell that it's starting to stretch itself a little thin, and thankfully there are fewer cases of this, and the nearly 6 minute closer "Devil's Might" is one of the best tunes on the whole album. The male clean choir to open "Demon Lord" is also sweet, but I wish that tune was a little more substantial to support more of them.

All told, though, Devil's Might is a scorcher that never really dulls other than perhaps that one longest track, and certainly strong enough that it should have garnered more attention than it got. Again, this might have been a question of packaging or the limited reach of the label, I personally found Invasion to be a fascinating way to connect with underground European black or melodic death metal acts that were new to me over in the states, but not a lot of bands emerged from that roster with much success. Still, they had a good ear for the second-stringers or third-stringers and I often have nostalgia to listen back to a lot of these, which is why I'm covering so many. This sole Hellspell album is no classic, but it's also got an evergreen feel to it that sounds just as potent today as it did when I first heard it, and it was also the work of a duo that was also responsible for another band on the same roster, Non Serviam.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

Indungeon - The Misanthropocalypse (1999)

Indungeon must have come to the same conclusion about their debut Machinegunnery of Doom that I did 25 years after the fact, because their sophomore effort The Misanthropocalypse is instantly more explosive and exciting than what they were writing just a few years prior. Now, they might not have really settled on a real direction yet, having just slapped it all together as a project, and the shift in quality here does come at the potential expensive that this could be considered a lot more trendy and 'current' with the melodeath explosion of the later 90s. With bands like Darkane and Soilwork releasing great statements in the wake of At the Gates, this group wasn't to be left too far behind, and thus there is very little sense of being deliberately old school as they were with Machinegunnery.

You might have encountered this album if you were digging deeper into the 'melodeath' of the era, or possibly the melodic Swedish black metal stuff like Dissection and Sacramentum, and that's exactly the crowd it would appear to. Workmanlike, but fast and involved melodic rhythms twisting about the shuffle of upbeat drumming, with the snarled, tortured vocals spilling all over it like fleshy entrails being torn from the carapace of some robot or Space Marine's armor. Yes, at its foundations you still have the 80s thrash influences, like most of this style, I can hear a little Slayer at the onset of "Sentenced to the Flames", for instance, but this one's meant for the brawling, boisterous weekend clubs where the band would presumably open up or interact with some of those bigger names in melodic death metal that were exploding all around the world, beyond just the Swedish scene. To that end, it's competitive, convulsing with energy, gang shouts and riffs that never suck even if they don't swindle their way straight into your memory.

It's furious, frenetic, and makes the debut sound like the tanks on its cover slowly treading along and taking heavy fire. The leads are serviceable, but there aren't enough of them and they don't stand out against the more brazen rhythm guitars crashing about the record's atmosphere. There's also a little bit of a bluesy flair that occasionally pops up like some of the licks in "Battletank No. II" that sound a fraction out of place and make The Misanthropocalypse sound more like a party than you'd hope. But considering that this would prove the project's swan song, you might as well go all out and bring your best Jimi Hendrix with the Bolt Thrower-meets-Nocturnus cover artwork. There is nothing really exceptional about the album, but if you're craving lost underground gems from this style and/or period, or you're a fan of perusing the good old Invasion Records roster (as I am), this one can still be a decent use of 35 minutes.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Sculpture - Sculpture (1999)

Sculpture was another band of German hopefuls within the Gothic metal niche, and while the band name and cover art to their sole, eponymous debut might seem rather obvious and bland to those who follow the stuff, they definitely made up for it with a production that would rival whatever their peers like a Darkseed or Crematory were putting out. Of course that makes a lot of sense, since half this band was involved in those, in particular Stefan Hertrich doing the vocals and Lotte on the keys and guitars, and if you're a fan of either, then this is something you'll probably want to check out at least once. At MOST once. I'm not saying that it didn't deserve to be swept under the rug, but it's a curiosity that it was ever really green lit, I guess the members' bands were doing better for Nuclear Blast than I'd have thought.

Lots of synth-work, brazen and big bass lines, and a sort of poppy 80s new wave blood that courses through the songwriting veins. Guitars are simple but loud, and if you dug Stefan's grainy Goth vocal slice through his mainstay, then you'll feel right at home listening to this, it could have just as easily been a new Darkseed album and I wouldn't have known the difference, other than perhaps the more prominent use of the keyboards. The tunes are all fairly dynamic, with some different riffing styles and structures, but the one thing they lack is a real payoff when you get to those choruses, you almost always feel like the way they've written the verses and riffs deserves a little something more when you arrive at those critical junctures. In fact, they can get considerably worse...

An example would be "Deniers" which throws a shitty slap-bass line right in the middle of a driving Goth metal song, or its silly mid-90s Metallica lead guitar. That last comparison is not alone, because I think "Bring Me Down", their compilation song, also has that big, bluesy guitar with a riff and tone that sound like some of the more rock & roll Metallica. I've often through Stefan reminded me of James Hetfield's voice with a little post-Gothic Nick Holmes, so make of that what you will, but it doesn't really benefit this album. In fact, I almost feel like the more synth or pop driven pieces like "I'm Free" are just better than the heavier tunes, but even there the lyrics are very simple and dumb as they are on most of these songs...in the end, Sculpture has a big production worthy of its constituents, and about 50% tolerable ideas, but it never hesitates to snag defeat from the jaws of victory.

Verdict: Fail [4.5/10]

Cryhavoc - Pitch-Black Blues (1999)

While I wasn't so hot on Cryhavoc's debut Sweetbriers (other than the cover), Pitch-Black Blues feels a little closer to what I had inwardly hoped for when I saw all the comparisons to their fellow Finns Sentenced. Granted, this isn't quite so much in the ballpark of my Amok, my personal favorite from that band, but the music resembles its own successor Down a lot, only with a rougher vocal approach that falls somewhere in between the two frontmen for that other band. Also, what the fuck is with this band and having chicks covered in sheets? Granted, this one isn't nearly as alluring as its predecessor, but is that some weird fetish of the bandmembers? Had this band continued beyond just the two discs, would we have been treated to other female forms wrapped up in tarps, tapestries, carpets, bearskins, silly string?

Pitch-Black Blues trounces the debut album in most categories, the most important being the superior production and the catchier songwriting. If you know their countrymen then you know this, it's melodic, accessible heavy metal given a slightly Goth edge by the grain of the vocalist and the general mood and seriousness of the riffing. The mix here is clear and potent, giving us everything from the smooth grooves to the bass, the snap of the percussion to a rich and full guitar tone which isn't too heavily distorted but perfect for this style. A number of the chord progressions and arrangements of the tunes here seem actually like later day Amorphis, so if you're into the Tomi years this is a gem you too might want to check out, it's kind of wedged between these two other, better-known Finnish bands...

And that might be half the reason that people didn't flock to it much, since you were getting these components better written elsewhere. Although this album is arguably better produced than Down, I think the songwriting over there was a bit more memorable, that's not to dump on Cryhavoc, because every time I listen to this one I'm engaged well enough by tunes like "The Wind" or "Metamorphosis", but they don't stick around much beyond that, where on some autumnal or snowy day I will reflect back on my favorite Sentenced stuff often. This is 100% the first contact point for this band, though, skip its mediocre predecessor and head straight to this one if you're looking for B-reel Finnish Goth metal with a hard rocking attitude and a lot of...women under sheets of some sort.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

Skymning - Stormchoirs (1999)

Another gem from the Invasion Records roster, Skymning arrived onto the Swedish melodic death metal scene with an even more pronounced reliance on the former half of that genre. Essentially, they were writing power metal tunes and slathering the sorts of growled vocals you'd expect form their peers right on top of them. Certainly, bands like a Dark Tranquillity or In Flames could also be equated to using traditional, melodic metal aesthetics, but this group took it to a whole new level on their debut. You could imagine this entire record with a different vocalist and it might sound like a large number of Euro power metal acts, and I'd also say that in that capacity, it might not wind up with more of an impact that Stormchoirs did. Having the nastier vocals does the music a service, since it wouldn't be considered expert level in that more accessible genre.

It's a rush, a pretty good album for those who were diehards for melodic death metal at the time, but I do have a few surface complaints. The cover artwork and digital logo look pretty bad in retrospect, and I find the production to this one very washed out, and not in a particularly memorable way that just places it in an older studio era. Also, while the riff patterns were quite exciting for their day, nowadays they feel rather predictable since we've heard them all so many times since. There wasn't a novelty to the songwriting here as, say, a Soilwork or Darkane had, and again I think that's because the actual songwriting was being confined more to carrying these glorious power metal anthems forward, hell there are even some harmonies here (as in "The Question") which harken back to Iron Maiden and direct NWOHBM influence. But when the time was right, and this melodic death style was enormous here in the States due to the popularity of At the Gates or In Flames, I think Skymning would have banked a lot more if they only had better exposure. Right time, right place, wrong band?!

I like the music, but a lot of the components do feel dated, from the mix on some of the drum kit to the overall lack of power in the instruments. Not the compositions, mind you, because they blaze forward with abandon, but the heavier, faster passages sound a bit murkier than when they tear out some gleaming harmony. They have some softer parts where the bass becomes prominent, again reminding me of Steve Harris and Iron Maiden, but they don't exactly set up the ensuing elevations into harder riffing very well. It's apparent that Skyming also grew tired of this style, and potentially also thought of it as being more trendy than interesting, and so their later albums showed a lot of progression and growth, but there's no question that Stormchoirs had a potential which would have been realized with greater exposure and top notch production budget, and I think they were initially one of the more hype Invasion bands because their style just hit the mark at that exact point in time.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

In Thy Dreams - The Gate of Pleasure (1999)

The Gate of Pleasure is hardly one of the more memorable melodic death metal efforts of the later 90s, but it certainly slaps the band's prior effort hard in the face and lets it know who its daddy is. This is much more savage and dense than its predecessor, and takes ever so slightly more of a risk. By this time, bands entering this niche had to walk either of two roads to make a dent: dial up the extremity, or dial up the melody, and I think when compared to Stream of Dispraised Souls, this one chose the former, not that there isn't a lot of intrinsic melody, rhythm guitars popping off into the usual patterns you'd expect from those in the footsteps of Dark Tranquillity, In Flames and At the Gates, but they don't go out of their way to be 'pretty' on this release, it's much more tuned in to the aggression of the style.

And that is both its strength, and maybe a little of its weakness, as most of the nine tracks and 32 minutes here flow together so tightly that I'd have a hard time picking any individual tunes out of the lineup. They make an interesting use of a guest violin in the opener "Into Infinity" and "Probing Insanity", but I almost wish they would have used it throughout the entirety because it creates a fairly delicious contrast, bringing in a little classical flair to the punishing proceedings. The rhythm guitars are quite solid, the drum battery is claustrophobic and intense, and this one hits a lot with the low end below Jonas Nyrén's rasp, which to be honest, is pretty standard for the Tomas Lindberg style, although this guy splatters it wherever it needs to be to keep the material sounding as dangerous as its going to get. There are a few breakdowns here or there, but they generally keep this stuff fast and frenzied and not just a little angry, but I do feel it lacks a little something...more leadwork, or atmospheric melodies flailing off the top, or more of the use of the violin while they had the guy available.

Even without that, though, The Gate of Pleasure is a passable mid-level effort which kept the band alive in a snowballing scene that had arguably just hit its apex, or was about to, before teetering off across the following decade. The issue, besides the sameness of the material, is that bands like Darkane and Soilwork had arrived with very impressive debut albums, characterized by much stronger songwriting that I frankly think could rival those 'big three' of the Swedish melodeath scene, and a couple other second-stringers like Sins of Omission were also delivering material that was just more memorable, but if you are a diehard for this strain of death and/or thrash metal then The Gate of Pleasure is intense enough to engage you for a short while.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

Sins of Omission - The Creation (1999)

Sins of Omission was another Swedish band trailing in the footsteps of the formidable At the Gates, and I'd say that they probably had one of the closer sounds to the Slaughter of the Soul era, with a few pretty notable exceptions which push their 1999 debut over the top from just a trend hopper to something well worth having. From the stunning as usual Kristian Wåhlin artwork to the excellent punch of the production, this was one of the better efforts I heard from the tenure of Sweden's Black Sun Records, a label with some promise that unfortunately didn't survive very far into the new millennium. But that is clearly no fault of this quartet, who had much of the promise of their own influences but never quite broke to a broader audience, and I know I sound like a broken record but it was all due to the saturation of this sound.

But in the hands of Sins of Omission, this sound was still damn potent by the close of the 90s, and this is an album that not only gives some instant gratification but sticks around as a finer example of the style. For one, I think the lead guitars here, and a lot of the surgical, almost neo-classically defined melodies, are often SUPERIOR to that better known band, almost as if they were twisting in a little of another obvious influence, In Flames, over the more snarling and thrashing subtext of At the Gates, and it's really damn effective on numbers like the unforgettable opener "Eager for the Fray" or the title track. The riffs through the whole album are pretty much 75% hit, and 25% just okay, but everything seems pretty well plotted out, and while they aren't always as intense as their primary inspiration, they make up for that with those melodic adventures which are often more akin to an evil power/metal vibe of the era. The rhythm guitars have a punchy, razor-sharp slice to them which sounds timeless, the bass is good, the snarling of Toni Kocmut is a strong send-up to a Lindberg, the only thing I thing I would ask more from is the drums, which are more than passable but sometimes a little subdued in the more rock-oriented beats.

They occasionally get a little stranger, like in "The Experiment" where they try the harmonized, operatic mid-range vocals, or the mellow and emotional touches to "The Serpentine Route" with the proggy and eerie acoustic guitars; but it's pretty brief before they get back to the neck-jerking action. The Creation is with ease one of the better albums of this style which gets no love, and whether you're a huge whore for Slaughter of the Soul or you enjoy other bands in its wake like Darkane, Soilwork and Impious, this is totally an album worth snapping up if you find it in the used bins anywhere. Just as virile sounding today as it was then, and might have even gained a little value for me as I've gone back to it through time.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

Scheitan - Nemesis (1999)

The biggest shocker is that Scheitan, based on the dominant style of Nemesis, seemed to have been signed to Century Media based on the 'black & roll' style they showcased on the first half of their sophomore album Berzerk 2000. You'd think the talent scout would have been a lot more interested in the black metal of the debut, but here we are on a much larger label, with a lot more exposure, playing the accessible rock music but with the same snarling vocals. Fortunately, Nemesis is a bit better developed and more committed to this style than its predecessor. The production is a slight step up and for the most part, the arrangements of the rock riffs are better, the bass playing is more noticeable, and his vocals just work better with the material than they did the last time out.

This is basically a mid-point between such 'black & roll' and just standard, simplistic Gothic metal with snarls instead of deep, manly vocals. They still implement a lot of guest female vocals, probably even more than before, but they still sound awkward and lacking confidence to add an effective dimension of the ethereal or melodic to the tracks. Also, the band gets a little too cocky with dumb ideas like repeating "Emergency" over and over at the end of that track, a dick move that doesn't benefit in any way. A number of the tunes here sound a lot like Kreator's lamented Endorama, only the Germans could dial up their history and add a lot more gravitas to their compositions. There's also a vibe of some Sisters of Mercy, only with the rasping vocals slathered over the top and much heavier guitars punched in. The Cemetery side project Sundown is also a worthwhile comparison, only that project was vastly more catchy and utilized more of an industrial/electronic side.

If you condensed this down to 3-4 of the better tunes, it would be passable for the style, since I do dig the production and it's just catchy enough to warrant a few spins. Unfortunately, on the whole this album is just not much better than its predecessor...at least it's not split between the rock style and the lesser produced black metal which was a pretty big mistake on Berzerk 2000, but despite its slick sound and accessible energy, they just aren't churning out the memorable chorus parts and melodies that would be needed for this to put them on the same level as a number of other European Goth metal acts. So when it comes to my personal interest, Scheitan is a one-and-done, Travelling in Ancient Lands is the go-to and the rest are just shy of a disaster.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

Helloween - Metal Jukebox (1999)

The idea of cover albums in power metal is no rarity; groups such as Hammerfall and Powerwolf have put out some pretty damn good collections, plugging their selections directly into their own sounds and ending up with something they could use positively to expand out their set lists and pay such tributes forward. When Metal Jukebox was first announces, I was naturally curious, since this was coming from a band that was a favorite of mine, and I wanted to hear what choices they'd make and whether they'd translate them into a proper Helloween feel or if they'd try to conform themselves a little more to the picks. I think, for the most part, they succeed in the former, with the caveat that this is nothing special overall and beyond its value of a curiosity, there's only about an EP's worth of material here I enjoy revisiting.

The opener is a scorcher, a cover of one of my favorite Scorpions tracks "He's a Woman, She's a Man", and the generally over-the-top Mr. Deris does a fantastic job applying his more schizo, crazy side to the original Klaus vocals without derailing it...plus, the slightly heavier approach with the drums and guitars really works on this one, and it's no surprise that it's probably one of the more obvious covers of the band you'd do beyond "Rock You Like a Hurricane", etc. ABBA's "Lay All Your Love On Me" actually comes off like a track from the Time of the Oath sessions...the production on the guitars isn't perfect, but adding the heaviness is awesome, and it's really atmospheric, with some great bass grooves. Focus' "Hocus Pocus" is a fun track to begin with, and while Helloween makes it sound even sillier than the original, it's still a damn fine cover and Deris really stretches his vocals here. Otherwise, there just aren't many that inspired me all that much..."Space Oddity", "All My Loving", "White Room", or Faith No More's "From Out of Nowhere", which is one of the bigger surprise inclusions, all do a decent job of emulating the originals and inserting Andi's voice, but they're all forgettable and taste-wise some of them are just too uninspired and generic as selections.

The others beyond that just aren't all that great, or a little disjointed and uneven like their "Locomotive Breath". Nothing here is terribly miscalculated, for instance even on some of the weaker covers they pull off a good guitar tone or vocal line, but it's almost like in showing the band's diverse influences and roots they end up making Metal Jukebox a less coherent or interesting experience. I've certainly heard far worse cover collections, don't get me wrong...as long as you're into the Andi era and a lot of classic rock and hard rock tuneage, you'll be entertained for enough of a window that you won't regret the experience, but I almost wish they had ramped up the intensity with a few more ragers like the Scorpions cover, or some better, highly arranged adaptations of stuff like the ABBA track. At least this is a superior diversion for Helloween fans than the lamentable Unarmed album about a decade later.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.helloween.org/

Rage - Ghosts (1999)

Some might be hesitant to praise Ghosts for its ballad-heavy, rock opera feel, and the relative lack of speed and heaviness compared to so many of the Germans' records past and future. But damn if this isn't one of the last truly great, and most unique efforts Rage would produce, which took me entirely by surprise, even with the preparedness that XIII offered me. Ghosts is a more distinctly 'symphonic' metal album than the one leading up to it, with a wider variety of both orchestral and synth sounds that create a broader arsenal for them to rock against. It's also a concept album, and really capitalizes on the emotional potential when one is speaking of life, afterlife and the veil between them, and it does this with some of the catchiest anthems the band would weave through their entire 90s catalog.

This is by far the best work Christian Wolff performed for the band in the studio, with a mix of epic, Wagnerian pianos and symphonic swells, and some more proggy synthesizers where it suits. The riff set on this album is likewise incredible, with each of the rhythm guitars playing perfectly off the keys and vice versa...everything shines, nobody smothers anyone else. The drums are great, they sound like they can support an entire in-the-flesh orchestra, and while Peavy is more focused on vocals here, the bass playing is fluid and he pops in a couple cool lines and fills to keep that end of the sound interesting. His voice is still in fine form, not reaching the pitch needed for early screamers, but sustaining quite well in that higher-mid range. There are a couple moments where the lyrics and his voice interact in a mildly goofy way, but I think that's just because you've got this big German dude singing in his second tongue and it's bound to have a few creases. Still, the meaningful lyrics go a long way to compensate for any flaws you'll find there, and he's still doing some harsher howling or lower crooning in here contrasts nicely against the passionate chorus sequences.

Even if I'm throwing on the bonus tracks for this one, that's about 13 tunes, with few that could even be considered weaker than the rest. Maybe I occasionally forget about "Six Feet Under Ground" or "End of Eternity", but they're both fitting to the concept and pretty decent as I revisit them. But the emotional core for this album is the martial, measured "Back in Time", the doomy trudge of "Ghosts" and unforgettable "Love and Fear Unite", with its sweeping synth flutes and strings that erupt into this totally awesome chorus which will make me smile if you have even a faint resemblance of a soul. The album goes a lot deeper than, with stuff like "Vanished in Haze" which is a prom ballad not unlike Bon Jovi's "Never Say Goodbye", only a lot better and with less glam bullshit; or the even more cheesy but heart-punching "Love After Death", yet another of these slower pieces with acoustic guitars in the verse that explode into some nice, climbing riffs and orchestration. There really aren't many complaints I can conjure up over the core 50 minutes of material, it's a ride...provided you're willing to get on...

I mean if you're only familiar with the band's early era as Avenger or the first 7-8 Rage records, you might be a little shocked at what you've got on disc here. There might have been tiny hints on stuff like Reflections of a Shadow, or the fat they obviously liked classical music (i.e. the intro to Secrets in a Weird World), and were quite catchy with it. But Ghosts is that whole side idea manifest into the best the band would ever do it, and while it's probably too accessible for some, there's nothing exactly sellout or commercial about it...this shit just wasn't that popular by the close of the last century. Maybe Therion, maybe the Trans Siberian Orchestra's evolution from traditional bits of Dead Winter Dead era Savatage into an entire band, but most were gettin' their nu-metal on by this time, or we had to suffer major metal bands of the 80s continuing to churn out shit. I'm not saying Ghosts isn't a little too teary-eyed and cheesy, or that hearing Peavy tackle some of this stuff with his style of voice doesn't induce a fraction of loveable cringe, but the sum results are so well written and sincere that this is still a good listen decades later, and certainly the best step Rage ever took outside the comfort zone to which it would, in some capacity, return.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

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

Machine Head - The Burning Red (1999)

I don't know what could possibly possess a band to spend years listening to and touring on an album like The More Things Change and then come to decision that they need to do this again...but that seems to be the motivation behind Machine Head's third full-length The Burning Red. If there's one difference here it's that the guys are clearly trying to sound a lot more like Korn than they already did, so you can bet the chug-laden hip hop influences are being cranked up to the extent that even Diabolus in Musica might be embarrassed to be found in its company. Full disclosure, as I've said before, I don't actually have a problem with the idea itself of mixing rap music with heavy riffing, it's just so rarely that I've heard it done well. If I do, it'll have my respect. Most of the nu metal bands who flirt with the idea take more of a rhythmic influence from that hybrid, with the bouncy beats, lyrical attitude, bass lines and guitar tricks that are attempting to emulate record scratching or other stylistic translations.

Korn had already worn us out on that with their first 2-3 albums and Machine Head doesn't seem to accomplish much more than that several years later. So if you're truly enamored with Life is Peachy or Roots, get on with your bad self, but I think The Burning Red is notably worse than either of them. Robb does try his hand at rapping in the actual lyrical delivery, as in "Desire to Fire", and that comes off just as goofy as you'd imagine, you can just picture in your mind the hand movements he'd be making as he was bouncing along in the studio. I'm not saying he's the worst at it that I've ever heard, but once it surges into that lame chorus groove which sounds as if it's just been replicated off the last album, it just becomes too unintentionally hilarious. Add to that the monotonous crooning he adds to try and keep it all in the radio realm during the age of Creed and Alice in Chains, and we're in for one dumb fuck of an album. But it doesn't stop there, because that's basically the formula for almost the ENTIRE experience...dull churning nu metal guitars, rapped out pissed off lyrics, funkier or dissonant guitar lines and almost no ability whatsoever to turn in an interesting chorus. I mean come on, even Linkin fucking Park can deliver on the chorus, the best Robb Flynn and the bros here can accomplish is to sound like Limp Bizkit's steroid-addled cousin...or like a Jonathan Davis with far less personality and equally dumb lyrics.

When this formula IS abandoned, it's to go even further into post-grunge woozy commercial 90s heavy rock territory with the 'emotional' parts like the verses in "Silver", which just sound like some drunk guys trying to get their Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Silverchair on. The lyrics once again come off like some distraught middle schooler who really wants you to know all the pain and castigation he's been through BUT HE IS STRONG AND DON'T FUCK WITH HIM...as long as it sounds personal, has no capacity to engage anyone with genuine intellectual depth, and rhymes, let's pay ball. They read like the lyrics Fred Durst would have come up with if he was doing an audition for Hatebreed or Madball before they jettisoned him from the rehearsal space moments later. You could literally punch Durst in over Flynn on "Exhale the Vile" and not know the difference. Give me any lyrics about Satan, Vikings, motorcycles or B-movie bloodbaths any day over this nonsense! The cover art sucks. The cover SONG sucks..."Message in a Bottle", how original...Excel did a great version of that a whole decade before this lazy and laughable execution. Maybe when you were in Vio-lence and actually had an ounce of talent, you should have paid more attention to the other thrash bands from your State?

Verdict: Epic Fail [2/10]

https://www.machinehead1.com/

Konkhra - The Freakshow EP (1999)

As Konkhra maneuvered through the 90s, they started weaving a lot more groove and direct rock & roll influence into their sound, not unlike other European bands Gorefest, Entombed, Desultory, and so forth. While some of them were able to successfully meld the styles together, at least after some growing pains, these Danes struggled to make much of a dent. Albums like Spit or Swallow and Weed Out the Weak continued to get progressively dumber, and I'd say The Freakshow EP might have been the lowest point for them, although the Come Down Cold full-length also features some of the tracks here and others like them, so that was arguably the more substantial crisis than a throwaway short-player like this one.

Essentially this is bluesy hard rock & roll with a lot of similarities to Black Label Society, or Pantera's later 90s material, and it definitely tries to ape a lot of the swagger of the latter. Guitars are pretty standard stoner rock fare, with wah wah pedal sprinkled on liberally. The riffs are far from the worst, and there are some leads or flashes of melody throughout that aren't bad for 90s alt metal, but it's the vocals mixed with the music that really kill it for me. Gone are the gutturals and snarls, having been replaced by a 'hwaaaaaahhh' 'yeaaaaah' gravelly pitch which is just nowhere near as cool. I mean maybe if Anders Lundemark was playing in a low down dirty raw blues band and tried belting out these sorts of vocals it might actually sound pretty good, but here it's just goofy, and even if you can believe it emits more passion or character than just the cookie cutter growls of yesteryear, I'd argue that character sounds like a morbidly obsese Phil Anselmo about to go coronary, or someone doing a bad L-G Petrov impression while cocked out of his mind at the corner bar.

Although the music isn't terrible, just tune in to the two covers of "Prowler" and "Orgasmatron" to see how vapid the original compositions are by comparison. Hell, the latter tune has barely anything going on with it, and never has, but it's still better written than Konkhra's new originals, and the vocals sound pretty horrible trying to ape Lemmy with that lower, creepier register, which lazily lopes alongside the zipping, bluesy leads and super primitive chord repetitions. Musically the tunes are played pretty close to the belt, but there are better covers of them and these certainly don't tack on much value to what is a pretty lame release altogether. Even divisive death 'n' roll records like Swallow the Snake, Soul Survivor, or Vermin's Millennium Ride are far superior to this one. And I don't want you to think I just look down on this hybrid of sounds, hell I enjoy every album Entombed has ever made except the two in 1997-1998 (which just took the rock thing too far), but Konkhra's contribution to the niche were weaksauce.

Verdict: Fail [4.25/10]

https://konkhra.com/veryfuckingmetal/

Nebular Moon - ...of Dreams and Magic (1999)

Much like a religious fanatic who starts speaking in tongues, I find myself becoming possessed whenever I have the hint of some metal band in my brain whose material I've owned or listened to before, but that I suddenly can't remember in name. I think I've heard so many tens of thousands of records in this genre over these last four decades that I've started to develop gaps in the gray matter, and I often find myself paralyzed until I can figure it out. Praise be to the INTERNET, for all its social media horrors and other negatives, that it can be a useful aide for my particular condition. It was the sophomore album of Germany's Nebular Moon during my latest episode, which I remember acquiring at a local import shop along with a whole pile of Century Media, Invasion Records, Head Not Found, No Fashion and Last Episode releases. Four of those labels are now apparently defunct, have been for some time, and I find that truly saddening, since they were such reliable hosts to a lot of lesser known but worthwhile black and melodic death metal bands developing over that decade.

Perhaps Nebular Moon were not among the most inspiring or distinct of those rosters, but since my mind went through the somersaults of remembering this record I figure I'd damn well write about it so that its existence sticks with me forevermore, since its music obviously doesn't. I feel that I've never entirely explored the German scene, so prolific from that point until now in the black metal medium (as with others), but I don't know that this quintet ever really stood out among it. What we have here is basic, competent black and death metal, probably leaning more to the former, often played slowly and miserably in melodic doom territory, and then dowsed in synthesizers which accordingly provide for most of the emotion and atmosphere that wells up over its 40 minute run-time. That's not to say that there aren't a decent variety of riffs being played, but I found a lot of them pretty limp and uninteresting, switching between stock chord progressions that underlie the synthesizers, tinnier melodic lines, and some tremolo picked sequences which don't really conjure up the hellish-ness the album could use. The vocals are a crude snarl, often accented with some guttural backups, solemn choirs, screams and others which seem bent upon giving the album a more Gothic/black metal appeal which it never quite achieves. The drums are alright but they're not given a hell of a lot of great music to play along with so they are reduced to mere functionality.

I don't want to be a complete downer on this one, because there are a few points, like in the songs "Schwanengesang", "Awakening in Black Thorns", or "Beyond the Sky" where I'd occasionally get swept into what they were doing, largely because I have a soft spot for this style when its played well, or played at all. Considering how much atmospheric black metal would continue to (and still continues) to take off these days, it seems like ...of Dreams and Magic is just one of those many albums that a handful of the style's practitioners might have heard and taken a small amount of collective inspiration from. When it all hits its stride, and you have those decrepit rasps alongside a shimmering synth line and a decent guitar pattern, and then it all erupts into a black metal charge, I do feel a little of ye olde excitement. I also love the cover artwork, the band's logo, and the general mood of what they were attempting, but they really only pull it off for about half the album. The lyrics are a bit of a mixed bag of laughable Gothic metal stereotypes: 'I desire her body, which is fine like a lotus bloom'. 'And the voice of silence started to cry', 'My skin awaits your aching kiss on my neck'. By laughable I mean borderline hilarious, but during the age in question I suppose they were pretty standard attempts at the whole Cradle of Filth shtick.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

Notre Dame - Vol. 1: Le théâtre du vampire (1999)

Though some might say it suffers from a bit of an identity crisis, Le théâtre du vampire is certainly a crazy record that lives up to the vision that it presents, an almost vaudevillian pursuit of extreme metal which fuses a number of sub-genres together. The band name and title might trick you into thinking this was some French Gothic black metal outfit, but in fact this was a Swedish project assembled by the prolific Snowy Shaw, who performs most of the instruments here alongside a former partner 'Vampirella' and at least one real and one other imaginary musician who bear the surname 'de Sade'. So right away, just from the handles you can tell this was going out for something cheesy, perhaps Shaw seeing the success of groups like Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir and...Ancient, and being the diverse performer he is, deciding to throw his hat into that ring...

And what a circus this debut is, a mix of black, thrash and groove metal dressed up in all the Gothic architecture and theatrics you would have expected just from looking at its evocative cover photo. A lot of people would probably liken this most to Cradle of Filth, and that wouldn't be too far from the mark, at least when the band is executing a faster, black/death riffing strategy as in "Le Theatre Du Vampire" itself, or "A Sleighride Through Transylvanian Winterland". But I found a larger portion of the record more measured, more inclined towards Gothic rock or doom metal influences laced with bigger, groove metal guitar riffs redolent of when a lot of thrash was jumping those hurdles earlier in the 90s. However, they don't exactly start kicking out the frantic Jonathan Davis vocals, these parts are still draped in a mix of manic whispers, female spoken-word or operatic sections, as well as mid ranged vocals that have a biting, creepy Gothic edge to them. I'm probably not doing well to sell the experience, but it's actually a fairly catchy combo even though it comes off slightly scatterbrained.

It's definitely hard not to start laughing through a track like "Black Birthday (Hip Hip Hooray)", but even then the band doesn't seem like its intentionally trying to amuse you, and because of that this disc can get a little awkward, almost as if there was some space here where more creative ideas could have been slung together, but Shaw and company just went for something a little more lighthearted and silly...meanwhile the guitars are still pretty cool there, thus the weird contrasts. The black metal rasps also get a little too crumbled, almost as if he's snarling them while eating cereal or his throat is literally drying up as he's delivering each line, and it's unintentionally comical even more than Dani Filth's mode gremlin-like moments. But despite the cringe factor present, Le théâtre du vampire rarely comes off as if anything less than a good effort was put into its composition. Even the 15 minute closer "Spiderella's XXX", which plays out like a sampling dish of everything else you find on the album, propped up with even more haughty Operatic garishness and weirdness, seems like there are a few memorable ideas tossed around. So this record just barely gets a pass from me, if you could imagine black metal being conceived at a Big Top or freakshow rather than a desolate castle or woodland, this seems to follow that angle of development.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Dellamorte - Home Sweet Hell... (1999)

If Dellamorte had shown up during the huge Swedish d-beat death metal revival that struck around the 'oughts, I think they might have made some in-roads as one of the more savage, raw bands to adopt the style. Unfortunately, their tenure in the 90s came at the tail end of when the audience was first starved for the sound, with bands like Dismember going strong, and others like Entombed having already been there, done that, and moved into other pastures (before the inevitable ID crises that would lead them back). So I can see why they were overlooked, but those who really enjoy that sort of late 80s/early 90s aesthetic unraveled by Nihilist will probably find a soft spot for these guys as a sort of pure gorehouse approach to the niche, a lot closer to Dismember than others.

Home Sweet Hell... was their third and final full-length and it hits like a truck with a fat, imposing Sunlight Studio tone slathered in some sustained, raw-throated, angry fucking vocals which give the other vocalists in this one-limited field a run for their money. They're not all that different than how L-G Petrov or Matti Kärki hammered them out, but perhaps a little more snarled and outraged, and you can often hear some backups shouted alongside them which creates a mild variation on what you're used to. The guitar riffs are straight from the book of the first three Entombed records, or Indecent & Obscene, with an often heavy emphasis on the death & roll riffs, mixed in with some simplistic, chunky chugging parts that carry a lot of heft due to the straight to the face production of the record. The drum kit in particular gives it a lot of rock & roll feel, not to mention the implementation of wah wahs, lots of grooves, and chord patterns that are painfully simplistic. Dellamorte truly relies on the sheer volume and potency of what they play to impress the listener, they are about as far from subtle as you can get, and even if there were nuances you might not hear them because of how the album is mixed.

This is an effort that I've always wanted to like more than I do. The vocals are savage, the power is undeniable, but it ends up with a barely passing grade from me simply because there are too few riffs worth a damn here, most just being coughed up from the playbook of pre-existing Swedish death metal bands, or rather, duller versions of those played more intensely. On occasion it really rocks the fuck out, as in "Into the Fire", and if you're a fan of all things blazing and d-beat then I can't imagine tracks like "The Tombs of My Fear" would turn you off. I mean this album pummels the fuck out of you...the tone, the pounding bass-lines which hover just below the rhythm guitars, the grooves and the momentum that they shift between, but I just think the album needed a little more attention to the riffs...if there were another dozen or even half-dozen killer guitar parts on this one I'd get so much more mileage out of it, but at the very least it's a sobering blunt instrument to the eardrums when I'm in the mood for the densest, simplest and most pissed-off sound that this sub-style can mete out.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Mercyful Fate - 9 (1999)

Dead Again did not leave me with any huge expectations for its potential successors. It wasn't a terrible record, but the next rung down on a ladder of compulsion that started off high through the magnificent comeback In the Shadows, and then slowly scaled downwards with each subsequent effort over the 90s. But when the buzz about and artwork to 9 seemed to point to a revival of their sound on the legendary Don't Break the Oath, I admit to a degree of giddiness, since that remains my absolute favorite of the Fate canon in both songwriting and the mood that its sharp, gleaming studio production evokes in me every time I hear it.

Sadly, this was just nowhere near as good as the Danes were in their prime, opening with a dryer, if stylistically loyal track, before admittedly starting to hit closer to the mark further into its playtime. I had a much stronger reaction to it when it was initially released, but have felt any fire for it cooling off in the intervening years, despite it looking pretty snazzy. Roughly 4/5ths of the lineup had the collective ability to knock this one out of the furnace, with the exception of drummer Bjarne T. Holm, and even he had been around for the two records before this (which is not exactly cause for praise, I know). Ultimately, though, this is about an EP's worth of reasonably strong material diluted by an equal amount of tunes that don't work nearly as well, and approximately nothing anywhere that can even approach 1994's Time in terms of raw catchiness and construction.

The production is not exceptional, but it's solid...a bulked up Don't Break the Oath with a deeper end, which sounds good on paper but can't overcome the redundant feel to a number of the songs. The band shifts between faster paced heavy/power metal numbers like the opener "Last Rites", and the huge Wead and Shermann just about perfected on In the Shadows, as in "The Grave". These latter are coincidentally my favorite moments on the record, anchored by D'Angelo's lines and really driving home the dynamics as they erupt into faster paced segments, leads and King's falsetto shrieks. Drums are workmanlike, and the rhythm guitar tones are perfectly adequate and clear with enough chug to the lower end mutes that they feel fulfilling. Diamond's voice is a xerox of his finer years, capable of effortlessly harmonizing and capitalizing on that disparity between the soothing mids, the screams and the narrative, lower range...the only issue is that most of the individual lines here just don't feel as memorable as they were on the first five solo discs or the first three Mercyful Fate full-lengths.

Far be it from me to claim that the formula was 'tired', here, it's more likely that these particular assemblies of beats and notes didn't glue themselves to my ears like their predecessors. There is no sign throughout 9 that they've lost any of their competence or drive, though it would be difficult to claim anything here was really that ambitious either, especially not the lyrics to songs like "Sold My Soul" and "9" itself, which seem like no effort was spent. It might seem like I'm coming down hard on an album that I essentially find 'good' when I sum up all its parts. There's not seriously wrong anywhere. This is a step above Dead Again in most departments, and has some quality leads and a couple tunes I crave from time to time, but it's not even qualified for consideration when I want the 'full experience' and have records like Don't Break the Oath, Melissa, Fatal Portrait and The Eye lying about my flat.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (time has disappeared into an unknown evil)

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

Samael - Eternal (1999)

While Eternal is clearly a spiritual successor to Passage in terms of its spacey aesthetics, focused cover imagery and further progression towards electronics, it might also be viewed as one of the strangest evolutions in Swiss metal since the much maligned Cold Lake over a decade prior. It's unforgettable predecessor maintained a darker, frightening edge to it in spite of its fantastic riffing and general accessibility, but with this fifth full-length, Vorphalack, Xytras and company would go all happy on us. Pop some xstasy. In fact, it's generally better to think of this record as some sort of industrial universal space-dance music which just happens to retain a metal riffing and garbled, harsher vocal aesthetic than a proper metal recording (akin to The Kovenant's Animatronic without the corny Marilyn Manson band image), and absolute anathema for a chunk of the band's original audience who were stuck at Worship Him. 'No, fuck that man, this band lost it after the first rehearsal in 1987.' Ha!

But herein lies the catch. Despite Vorph's weird whispered and growled vocal lines through Eternal, which resemble pop and hip hop structures just as much as the gnarled, passionate black metal of his prior output...despite the increased importance of typified dance beats and synthesizer lines through which Xytras is attempting to bridge the classical and EBM fields....despite the fact that half the guitars on this album are merely low chugs or chords used to accent the beats...and despite the odd, raw production which would seem out of place for industrial/pop and was likely due to the band's novelty at blending these mediums, Eternal is a charming album. Yeah, it often feels like the band came up with the idea while enjoying a hot tub by starlight, in the Alps with some rich bankers' wives giggling over these artsy young studs they managed to wrangle, but there is this sentimental quality created through the contrast of choir synthesizers, reverberating electronic percussion, schmaltzy lounge organs/percussion (on a few tunes) and Vorph's 'Wait, we were recording that?', diabolic yet mouth-breathing presence that somehow transcends all the inherent flaws and musical faux-pas to produce something worthwhile...

Guitars. They're here, but divided into three camps. First: the aforementioned palm muting or syncopated chord phrases which are there to serve more or less in tandem with the other percussion (examples: the verses of "Ways" and "Us"), a technique you'd expect from a lot of industrial radio rock like Stabbing Westward or Rammstein. Second, and these are better, these floes of warmer and melodic chords, faster or slower, used to emotionally elevate many of the chorus vocals; they've got an alt rock feel to them, but definitely are one of the elements that were drafted forward from Passage. Lastly you've got a few living clever phrases like the creepy melody that comes into the verse in "Ailleurs" (or "The Cross"), and these are probably the most effective on the album, meaning I wish there were actually a few more. Missing are the brilliant, meticulous black/thrash progressions from the prior album, a blow that is felt by this listener, but in the end I can't rightly say that they would have worked with the overall feel and structure of the songwriting. Still, they hadn't voided the guitar as an instrument altogether, far from it, and the notes used here are at least more memorable than the two full-lengths to follow, even if their respective mixes put more emphasis on the riffs.

The synthesizers play an enormous role, largely through the choir pads which are used to give much of the album that cosmic, ethereal effect, like a seraph floating between planets with its glimmering sword out front. Probably a bit cliche, but Samael do them justice with simple but catchy patterns. In addition Xytras uses a lot of busier piano phrases which are amongst the most complex lines of notes on the album, and then they step even further outside with a mixture of 80s prog/New Age and cheesy techno-inspired sequences which occasionally sound like Tangerine Dream writing house music. It's all well and good for me, since I listen to a lot of that anyway, but others are just not going to be so welcoming of this stuff if their expectations were Blood Ceremony 2.0. They'll be even LESS welcoming of the weirder moments like in "Being" where the pianos get all saloon-bluesy with the goofy little electric guitar trills, or in "Radiant Star" where the organs make the intro feel like The Doors are about to stroll into a pastry shop on a Paris corner. I happen to love that song, the chorus is particularly timeless and emotional with Vorph's protracted growls, but it's pretty bizarre how they got from that point A to B and certainly was unique for 1999.

As for the beats, the more danceable nature of the writing definitely brings their artificial nature to the fore more so than Passage, an album that could have just as well been executed with a drummer, but lost no points for the slick programming. Usually they go big and industrial but there are a lot of subtleties here, electronic/pulse stuff hidden in both calmer moments and greater swells which does occasionally hover on glitch without the warping. Since they were at this time really into all the fire swinging cosmic carnival theatrics in their performances, there is definitely a bit of hippie drum circle aesthetic here, only it's represented electronically with some lighter percussion rather than the thundering of some tribal gathering. That said, when the band needs power, like the clashing accents to the chorus of "Together", they really come through, so despite the theoretical superiority this recording might have had with an actual human striking a kit, I don't have much of an issue that they chose to go this route again. Masmiseîm also sounds pretty electrified, with some bass lines that sound quite synthesized, but the simplistic grooves he metes out in tunes like "The Cross" are critical to contrast against that hovering nightscape of keyboard atmosphere.

Lastly, we come to the vocals, which are basically the whispers, semi-growls and rasps of the last album only seeming a little more laconic and poppy in their implementation. The guy's voice does have a hard time standing out against the more shining electronic aspects, and many could be forgiven for thinking the guy sounds absolutely goofy, but it's part of what gives the album it's sense of impossible charisma, since it runs contrary to most of what people love about a good pop or EBM band...a strong singer with an 80s penchant for choral melodies that engrave a tune into memory. Vorph's performance IS memorable, but incredibly flawed all the same, which was either a brilliant or stupid move depending on who you ask. A lot of the meters and ideas seem half-formed, but it is nice that he'll occasionally lay out a larger growl for balance. Lyrically, though, this further emphasis towards spiritual exploration and personal meanings, far removed from the evil occultism on their old material is a bit of a shock. The song titles are incredibly, efficiently Zen and the lyrics almost constantly attempt to uplift the listener with traces of Eastern mysticism and pacifistic enlightenment. It's almost as if they had a Darjeeling Limited moment somewhere between 1996-1998 when they were thinking how they'd follow up their masterpiece.

And that's about the best I can do, good readers. It's a unique album for sure, but one of those 'I'll allow you this one' deals for me, where I admired the band's transformation but wouldn't necessarily want to hear them try this again (which they sort of did, sadly). The first track "Year Zero" is pretty representative of the sound of the whole album, but it's actually the least interesting/memorable so I question its front placement when everything else is so much bloody catchier. That aside, I really liked the album. It's touching and heartfelt and all those sorts of things a Samael record probably shouldn't have ever been, but its combination of airy, raw production and its humanitarian, philosophical approach to industrial metal was one I really went for when the album released, and I still quite enjoyed it when listening to prepare for this review. Are the simplistic, repetition-focused lyrics meek? Sometimes, but just as often they're extravagant. Is it a disappointment after Passage? What wouldn't be? But if you're open to electronic influence, space raving on ski slopes, and listening to music that your girl/guyfriend might also dig on when you introduce it to them, then this might work for you. "Ailleurs", "Ways", "The Cross", "Infra Galaxia", "I", "Radiant Star"...all great songs... in fact only "Year Zero" is worth skipping.

There are no guilty pleasures.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10] (the move is fixed at the furthest point)

http://www.samael.info/Above/index.html