Ghost BC - Infestissumam (2013)

I realise that I should be moving right along onto N now - but the only band left I have is Nightwish, lots of Nightwish. I love Nightwish, but there's only so many times you can use the word "ethereal" in reviews. And  since I purchased this album, I 've become slightly obsessed with it.

Firstly, I would like to thank my brother - who is possibly the only person reading this blog (if anyone else is, please make yourself known to me). He suggested I might like the band, shared with me their cover of an Abba song and that lead me to watching them endlessly on youtube until I finally decided to buy one of their albums. And oh, it's been playing on and off in my stereo ever since.

Ghost hail from Sweden and they are a band cloaked in secrecy. They formed in 2008, making them younger than most of my albums (let alone the bands) and perform on stage in robes. The vocalist is known as Papa Emeritus II, and he resembles a Satanic pope. The other band members are all merely Nameless Ghouls. This is their second album (I'm getting the first for my birthday) and it is an attractive affair. My brother recommended I acquire the NZ/Aus edition, which I purchased via the newly discovered WowHd whom with their free shipping and prompt delivery will probably now consume a generous portion of my expendible income. Either that or encourage me to participate in more online surveys, since I earn points that can be spent on $10 vouchers. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure mine is that edition as it cost somewhat more than the other versions and does indeed seem to contain artwork that some might percivably consider to be Heretical.

The cover pays homage to the movie Amadeus, with his anti-lordship, Pope Emeritus II, hands upraised above an infant in a manger. Behind him, the sun illuminates all in orange and sepia tones. Lucifer was, after all, the Light Bringer.

The BC was added for legal reasons (there's another band called Ghost) and according to the band, it's silent. It also contains a "Parental Advisory" sticker, although I do not recall anything in the lyrics. Maybe that is a warning against the artwork? Most of the lyrics seem to be either Latin or somewhat Satanic. Apart from the somewhat heretical nature of the art, the colour - oranges and browns, really appeals to me - and I must admit it, I'm not perturbed or offended by sepia images of orgies and of a more ghoulish nature. In fact, the surreal nature of some of them is excellent, and makes me want to stare at them again and again to take in all the details. I think my favourite is the giant cat,  surrounded by three headed dogs, that seem to be choking a rather cadaverous man whilst being whipped by tiny men.

This album is about the antichrist. According to wikipedia, "Opus Eponymous" concluded with the birth of the anti-christ, and this is his rising.

The album opens with the chanted title track "Infestissumam": Imagine a choir of faceless monks, looming out of the darkness, revealed in jagged sepia-tinged light. Powerful and ever so slightly ominous. The music soars with their voices, overwhelming it and sweeping it away on an epic tide.

It links into the powerful opening rifts of "Per Aspera Ad Inferi" (through hardship to Hell) in which Papa Emeritus II's strong and melodious, almost sweet, vocals rise and soar. Heavy rhythms and the occasional snarled growl of a savage beast, the stirring melodies of keyboards, build to a beautiful symphony.

Papa Emeritus II has the sort of voice I would attribute to Lucifer, the Lightbringer, shortly after he fell. Glorious, melodious, but ultimately sinister.

Crazed out carnival rhythms lead us into "Secular Haze", an appealing progressively orientated number with jerky, staccato rhythms intermingling with the soar and melody of Emeritus's voice.

"Jigolo Har Megiddo" has a poppy, lively melody, with a late 70s, (perhaps, or maybe earlier, it makes me think a little of an evil Abba) vibe to it. It's quite heavy on the synth-pop feel with an added hint of menace. It is exceptionally playful and bouncy, sure to be a hit at parties and probably quite acceptable in the retail workplace, if one does not pay too much attention to the lyrics...

"I am the one who preys on weak - I offer everything they seek..."

This band just screams to be played as loudly as possible. I hope my neighbours like Ghost too!
(and if they don't, tough!)

Sinister, dreamy, languid and soothing are all words to describe "Ghulel/Zombie Queen". Nobody can sing such macabre lyrics with such romantic beauty:

"Putrefaction - a scent that cursed be, undercoat of dust..."

Then follow it up with delicate piano and soft guitars. It is nothing short of an oxymoron. There's  the deep throated voice of an organ, then all turns faster, determined, sinister, enraged, surging into a melodious, triumphant chorus. The Zombie Queen has risen! There's even a bit of surf guitar in this track.

The menacing "Year Zero" (uncensored video, viewer discretion advised) is set to engulf you. It starts steady, pounding, with a looming undertone of threat. And, of course, there's the chants of:

 "Hell Satan - Archangelo..."

Modern in sound, melodious in verses, ominous in chorus. The looming menace is like an atom bomb mushrooming and heralding the apocalypse.

Tinkly, discordant, disconcerting, then Emeritus swoops in like a hawk on its prey, pinning the weak beneath his mighty "Body and Blood".  With its keyboards and regular rhythms, it is rather reminiscent of something from a bygone era. Maybe the 70s.

"Idolatrine" has a haunting melody, it begins with a confused whirlwind of sound that sorts itself out into a straight forward, fast paced rhythm. Insanely catchy.

"Suffer little children to come unto me..."

There are elements of Voivod's "Angel Rat" in the "Depth of Satan's Eyes". Slower and steady, with the cruising, soaring vocals and a somewhat mellow feel.

Low and menacing, we are treated to the steady tones of the "Monstrance Clock" (brand new video!). Eerie, ominous; the worshippers gather, marching through the dark with their black candles blazing to pay tribute to the monstrance clock. This is an anthem, a hymn, a celebration. Reflected in the video, in which fans "confess" of their love of Ghost.
(A "monstance" is an object of piety, one cannot help but wonder what a monstrance clock measures - the days til doomsday? Quite possibly, lyrics seem to indicate it.)

"Come together... together as one. Come together, for Lucifer's son."

There's a lengthy pause after this track, before we are treated to the two bonus tracks. The first "La Mantra Mori" is slow and almost dreamlike, with a languid surreality. The lyrics are repetitive, simple:

"We focus on your death
We focus on your death
You share not the blood of ours
Thus we focus on your death" 

 This is the entire lyrical content of the song. It is haunting and also rather ominous.

Final track "I'm a Marionette" is the compulsory* Abba cover. And what a cover! The original is pretty nifty too, being darker than your typical Abba track. Performed by Ghost, it takes on a new level of mechnical ominisity (look, I invented a word!). The poppy beats of Abba are heavier, leaden, jerky and disconcerting. The chorus is sublime and creepy. I'm glad I purchased the Deluxe edition.


Words cannot describe how I feel about Ghost. They are intensely addictive, beautifully contradictory. Their sinister lyrics intermingle with their tongue-in-cheek appearance and gloriously inspiring and stirring combination of modern sounds and more classic (rock) stylisations. They are also instrinsically catchy. I actually stopped listening to this album for a week or two - scared that I was overdoing it and would make myself tired of it, but then I was struck by a deep and demanding desire to listen to it again. And again.

This is definitely my favourite album for 2013, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next (or came up with first, since I'm getting "Opus Eponymous" soon).

In terms of the satanism... I listen to Christian music, I listen to Satanic music. I'm an agnostic-with-a-touch-of-pagan myself** but I prefer bands like Ghost and Mercyful Fate to the entire Norwegian Black Metal scene, because they are musically superior (and melodiously superior). One cannot help but wonder if Ghost are entirely, instrinsically Satanic, however, or just setting their tongue firmly in cheek. As long as they're not burning down beautiful wooden Norwegian churches or brutally murdering members of other bands, they can believe whatever they like.

I'm going to have to rank this another impossible 11/10.
(Since the last time I did this was with Diabloswing Orchaestra, I think we all have to agree that my brother has an excellent idea of what sort of music flies my kite).

* It is requirement for all Swedish bands to cover at least one Abba track during their career. Ok, so I made that up. But metal Abba covers are the best!
** As in, I'll invent my own religious beliefs if I have to. 
 

Memento Mori - Rhymes of Lunacy (1993)

This is one album I was very excited about. As a major Candlemass fan - I had many of their albums on cassette, I had been highly disappointed when Messiah left, and was thus very happy to see him starting a new project. Other members of Memento Mori included Mike Wead of Hexenhaus. Anyhow, needless to say I ordered it as soon as it became available and eagerly awaited its arrival.

As far as albums go, it's not a particularly dramatic cover-  the purple on black print renders it almost invisible and the cover is fairly plain but quite nifty, featuring the MM bat emblem. I used to draw that all over my school books.

*sigh* Ahh, nostalgia.

Inside there is only the lyrics to one song - but that's okay because you can't read them anyway due to the dark font. There's a photo of the band, in which Messiah looks very rotund and everyone else looks like a long-haired clone. The centre double-page spread is taken up with advertisements for other Black Mark albums.

The album opens with the atmospheric chords of instrumental "The Rhyme", the guitar sounding faintly oriental and fairly moody and dramatic.

It merges seamlessly into the achingly slow chords of "Seeds of Hatred". Messiah's voice is still a thing of power and beauty, swelling into a crescendo that could lift volcanic ash into the sky and move the earth. The drums are slow and slightly trebbly.

"Morbid Fear" brings with it a heavily brooding sound and ominous choruses:

"Deep within your soul, wayward child..."

Also some nicely dramatic and intricate guitar-work, intermingling with slamming bass. Strong harmonising.

With strength and power, "The Caravan of Souls" marches on - slowly, ponderously yet a force to be reckoned with. They are the power, the ominous and the intricate. Wead is truly a fine guitarist. Lead by Messiah's Voice, more souls are drawn to join the journey.

With the aching cry of the desert wind, and the beat of hooves (or rather, drums), we approach "Lost Horizons".  The technical aspects and slow rhythms herald the looming and the ominous. Intense and dramatic, powerful. Strong harmonising.

With the subtility of a steamroller, the immensity of "When Nothing Remain" advances like an avalanche. Messiah's voice builds into soaring, roaring from the heavens, punctuated by staccato drumbeats and an ominous wall of sound. The lyrics are filled with the futility of everything we say and do:

"Do you believe our souls survive to live on lucky clouds above?
Or do you fear, when our time is up, something evil awaits below?"

More twiddly guitar strokes and we enter into the instrumental "Forbidden Dreams".

"Little Anne's not an Angel" is something a bit different, it has lyrics suited for a glam song but is, of course, still laden with the ominous and the powerful. The vocals are strong, but threatening, the chorus pretty epic - but then again, so is everything that comes from Messiah's throat. Little Anne's fate is a sad and depressing one. She's not an Angel, and she sin after sin won't get to Heaven. She sells herself and loses her soul and ends up in Hell.

With a long and drawn out beginning: "The Fear of God" involves some pretty intensive guitar and a lot of drum. Then the vocals crack in, and the pacing turns slightly playful - in a slow and looming kinda way.

"The Riddle" starts low, with the rising of the wind and guitars, weaving a spiralling and intricate pattern, like swirling smoke or a dust-cloud looming.

"The Monolith" looms, Messiah's voice like musical thunder whilst the guitar falls like raindrops.

Induitably a powerful album, a force of musical nature. Powerful, but lacking the heartbreaking emotional of Candlemass. Messiah's voice is fine, Wead is a superb guitarist and the compositions are solid and ominous, but it lacks a little in emotion and spirit. Best played LOUD.

Rating = 6.5/10.

Nemesis - Day of Retribution (1984/2007)

In Edling's own words (from the 2007 re-release of this cd):

Nemesis was never a great band. We were ok some days, crap others. But we rehearsed often, had so much fun, with a burning ambition to do better...

Leif Edling, guitarist and vocalist, was 21 at the time of this album's original release, and he later went on to form Candlemass, one of the most epic and inspiration doom bands ever to step out of Scandinavia. Nemesis was not his first band, but it was the first that released an actual album (an EP). There were 2000 copies pressed originally, about half of which sold and the young, naive band never signed a contract and thus got a bit royally screwed when their record label went bust. After the release of this EP and the legal issues, and the fact they couldn't get another vocalist or a reliable second guitarist, AND a company called NEMESIS were going to sue us if they didn't change the name... Well, the band split and from the ashes, Candlemass was born.

The cover is pink. Edling hates this. He thinks the warrior woman on a horse looks like the scribblings of a 5 year old. This is the second time the album has been re-released and it still features that cover! I kinda like it - the warrior on the horse is abstract, indicated more with smudges of ink than actual lineart. And the CD is inside a nice slipcase with the same image on it. Inside the sleeve is Edling's little rant. It's rather self-deprecating, and quite amusing. That's where I got most of the above information from.

Edling likes this particular re-release - even if it does come with the original pink cover! There's some old photos (so young!) and a bunch of bonus demos - so let's give it a spin, shall we?

"Black Messiah"* has achingly slow drums. Leif's voice is powerful, echoing and deep, ending in a snarl. Rather like a devil, or fallen angel. This is the only album he sings on, even the early Candlemass album has a different vocalist. Deep, slow beats, ponderous rifts. It is raw and sludgy, like something rising from the darkest pits.


Faster, filled with raw savagery, "In God We Trust" makes an effort at catchy choral melodies but does not quite suceed. Does have an interesting, slower bit, giving Edling a change to demonstrate his ability to do doom-esque vocals.

"Theme of the Guardians" is likewise slow and sludgy, ponderous and filled with haunting doom.  The vocals are almost drowned out by the thunderous stormcloud wall of the guitars. Still, it chimes through every now and then, like the tolling of a heavy bell.

We pick up the pace a teeny tiny step, for "The King is Dead". It is dramatic, Edling's voice a chameleon, turning one minute from low, deep and bordering on melodic, to a savage snarl.

The final on the EP - "Goodnight" was an Angelwitch rip-off and not supposed to be on the album at all - but it's one of my favourites. Edling's voice rises from the sludgy mix of guitars and drums, a haunting, fallen angel. It actually reminds me of early King Diamond.

Now we're into the bonus demos, from 1983 - including all of the above, except "goodnight".

The first "In God We Trust" is very raw. The drums sounding not unlike someone thumping on skins way off in the distance. The guitars are a sludgy wall, over which Edling's voice soars and swoops, sounding slightly fuzzy around the edges. It truly makes you appreciate how much mixing and polishing goes into creating the sound that gets to the pressing. It does, however, make the lyrics easier to hear.

"Theme of the Guardians" seems to have greater clarity of sound. Again, the vocals dominate the mix - a nice change from the earlier tracks in which they kept getting bogged in the sludge. Lyrics still indeciperable, except for the occasional word here and there.

This version of "Black Messiah" is pretty good. Edling's voice is strong, although at times sounds a little strained and painful (for him, not me).

And in this version of "The King is Dead" I can actually decipher the lyrics:

 "And the prophet said 'The king is dead, but where did he go?
To serve in heaven? To rule in hell?'"

Ah, literary references.
The mix seems stronger, more polished here, or perhaps I'm getting used to the sludgeness. It truly makes you appreciate the clarity of sound you get in modern recording studios. Then again, the sludge can be half the charm.

And keeping in the whole medieaval theme - let's "Burn the Witch". I can almost see the circling villagers, flaming torches and pitchforks in hand, chanting along with the chorus.

"Burn the witch, burn her down; burn her down to the ground..."

How do you burn a witch to the ground?

Churning, thrashing: "The Act" is fast and frantic. I *think* it's about either attending a metal concert or performing one. Drums are a bit tinny. Actually, listening closer - I think it might be about sex.

Edling is not actually a bad vocalist, comparable with Johann Lundvist from Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. I suspect he is largely let down by the mix, which has all the sludge and garage sound typical of the early 80s.  This is a ponderous, doom-laden and, at times, quite vicious album.

My ranking is 6/10.

* This was recorded by Candlemass under the name "Incarnation of Evil" (on Ancient Dreams), if you wish to compare the two vocalists.

Lions Share - Two (1997)

Swedish band, Lions Share formed in 1987, suffering through many line-up changes. This is their second full length album (as you may have guessed) and is a progressive, melodic hard rock album with metal elements. They are now classified as "Power Metal" by Encyclopdia Metallium.

Just had a listen to a couple of their more recent tracks. Not overly impressed. This one is better.

It has a sort of progressive-hard-rock look to the packaging. Cover features two molten dolphin leaping from a chessboard. Black on white inside, very straightforward and very easy to read. Lyrics one page, band member photo on the other. They all look rather serious. On the back int contains the legend "Absolutely no gates used in this cd". Not sure what that means. So I asked google:

A noise gate or gate is an electronic device or software that is used to control the volume of an audio signal.

So, you learn something new everyday. I guess that means their sound is more authentic?

A chugging with pompous organ-synth opens "Wild at Heart". Full bloated, stirring. Guitars shift in and the rhythm surges forth. Vocals enter, smooth, almost sweet of a pitch not unlike Dream Theater. Surges into more full-blown shouts and bellows, with backing vocals sweeping around it like disembodied voices. Soemwhat savage and aggressive, as befits the lyrics:

"You know I've got a mean streak and you know that nothing can stop me now!"

The keyboards go a little wild in the solo.

The "Lord of the Pain" enters with lower, smooth vocals overlaid with gutteral shouting. Loud, aggressive, with violent rifts and churning emotions.

"Transient" starts with a blast. Shouting and singing combine in this sci-fi themed song with its rock rhythms.

The super-dooper-power-ballad "Don't Come Easy" feels almost like a parody, it's so different from the others. Vocalist Andy Engberg almost seems to be crooning. His voice is filled with passion and this is just like those good old-fashioned rock ballads of the late 80s/early 90s, complete with sing-a-long chorus and backing vocalists. It's uncanny, and quite beautiful, really. Engberg should sing more often.

"Shadows" was the first song I heard by Lions Share - played on MTV and it's a pretty epic hard rock piece. It starts with an aural assault like an avalanche of sound as the guitars and drums thrash, before Engberg's voice rises with the power and clarity of a deity rising from the stone. It is an immense and mighty song.

This is followed by another semi-ballad, "Baptism of Fire" has its slower moments. It is a stirring piece, complete with choirs. And latin. It makes me wonder if Lions Share are a Christian band. There's even a touch of Enya-style warbling. For a heartbeat, no more. There are some odd and intricate little quirks weaving their way through this track, bringing it into dramatic and passionate life.

Now it's time for a New Wave cover. Secret Service's "Flash in the Night". Not sure why metal bands like to cover New Wave tracks - this is the third I've heard in the last week. Here's the original. Whilst keeping the rhythms and structures the same, it is transformed into a dark and brooding Hard Rock piece, still retaining the keyboards. Immense and solid.

Another loud and dramatic piece, "World Gone Wrong" offers more of the heavy rifts, melodic shouted vocals and loud instrumentation, including keyboards. Not a bad piece, but nothing new or dramatic.

We conclude with an instrumental "Rat Race". For an instrumental, it offers little different from the actual songs, except for a bit more keyboard and that rising of drama and tension that builds then fades within a few beats.

Overall, it's an entertaining enough album, if a little too similar to the other bands of the late 90s for my tastes. Except for when they jump back into an 80s power ballad. Bit too shouty and not enough singy.

This earns it a rating of 6/10.

Candlemass - Ancient Dreams (1988)

Candlemass are a magnificant band, and this is the second in their Trinity of Divine albums. No, they're not called that because of their religious overtues, I'M calling them that because they are so epic, so beautiful, so haunting that nothing else I have even compares to the majesty and emotion of the sound and the power of Messiah Marcolin's voice.

Like "Nightfall", the cover is taken from a classical painting by Thomas Cole. There are four in the set, and two of them feature on Candlemass albums. This one is Youth. You can view them all here.
It shows a rich and fertile landscape, onto which the youth sails in his golden craft, hand raised as though hailing someone. The river weaves its way off into the distance, towards a ghostly castle or cathedral. In the full image, the angel is standing on the bank and waving, but it is not visible on the CD cover. It is an image to evoke a journey into the fantastical, the mysterious and the potentially dangerous.

A simple two-fold cover, the lyrics are printed in an itty-bitty teeny tiny font that you need glasses to read. On the back are tiny thumbnails of the band. They look very 80s, rather lacking in the majesty and power that their music evokes, although Messiah still looks like a wild-haired monk. I always found the skull on a cross logo to be a bit tacky, given the sheer intensity and beauty of the music. Then again, Candlemass are not the most serious of bands.

The album opens wiht the epic "Mirror Mirror"*. Charging harmonies, chugging guitars, twiddly melodies and then the Voice. Heavy, intense.

Similarly intense, "A Cry from the Crypt" has the characteristic galloping bassline and chugging guitars.

Great and looming, "Darkness in Paradise" descends. The lyrics are filled with bittersweet pain, the vocals a force of nature. Lyrics remind me of "Solitude":

"I'm standing here in silence, disgraceful place of peace, watching the shadows come closer. The birds they sing no longer, the winds they blow no more..."

Ominous dark rhythms.

"Incarnation of Evil" is brooding and immense, looming and ominous.

Starting a wee bit faster, "Bearer of Pain" before falling into similar patterns. Whilst Messiah's voice is indeed very fine, he attains the same pitch and structure for the first five tracks of the album. Individually they are epic, but together they do blur somewhat into one another.

Which makes the next one, "Ancient Dreams" a welcome change. It starts with guitar (bass?); an echoing, sitrring rhythm that reaches deep down into the soul, before the other instruments join in.  Messiah's voice is like a crystaline shard, carrying you to a mystical, magical world where dreams become reality. This was one of the very first Candlemass songs I ever heard, and it still stirs my soul to this day:

"There's no tomorrow, just sadness and sorrow, hold on to thee ancient dreams..."

The higher pitch of the guitars and the lilting nature of the vocals make this one stand out as something quite remarkable and inspirational.

Immense and powerful, "The Bells of Acheron" ring out. Some nicely demented piano in here.

The vocals on "Epistle no 18" have an intense radiance to them, seeming to come deep from the heart and soul, soaring to the skies. The music is a heavy, brooding and dark counterpoint.

Finally we conclude with the "Black Sabbath Medley". Sabbath were induitably the inventors of the doom sound, and this is a fine tribute to them. It begins with "Symptoms of the Universe", but instead of Ozzy's nasal whine we have Messiah's mighty lungs pounding forth the words, before switching to "Sweet Leaf". I can imagine Messiah, the crazy monk himself, stalking back and forth across the stage, howling into the microphone as he gestures at the crowd, then bringing his hands together and turning to face them as he switches into "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Then a bit of headbanging as the guitar solo comes in, fading into the lower throbbing tempo. Indeed, the mental image is so clear I cannot help but wonder if I have watched live footage**. After a brief solo, "Electric Funeral" takes over, then a bit more stomping and head-banging. A final flurry of instruments and it's over. Pretty epic tribute though!


This is a mixed bag for me - it contains two of the most awesome Candlemass songs ever - "Ancient Dreams" and "Epistle no 81", but the others are kinda same-ish in their epic scale and immensity. Messiah has a magnificant voice, but it does get a wee bit repetitive after a time.

So this one will get an 8/10.

* Candlemass's videos show they do not take themselves very seriously. It is quite entertaining, but at odds with the music.

** I do actually have footage of Candlemass live, with Tankard and Kreator I think, but the sound is distorted and messed up so I've never watched it.

Lake of Tears - Crimson Cosmos (1997)

Now we get to the point where Lake of Tears become truly awesome. Still retaining much of the doom, but shaking off some of the gloom, they took on a psychedelia edge, somewhat reminiscent of what Cathedral were up to at the same time - only LoT do it so much better. Quirky instrumentation, colourful artwork, lively music and Daniel's  voice all weave together to form one of my most played albums.

The cover is as psychaedelic as the music. A wizard sits in a duck-boat, with his companion corgi, whilst accompanied by a top-hatted gentleman riding a frog and a gnome atop a metallic fish. Around them, butterflies with strange patternings flutter. Behind, a forest of toadstools rises to meet the moon. The inside is fileld with whimsical colourful pictures, clearly detailed in colouring pencils - devils frolicing in bubbles, a grandfather and his grandkids staring at the Old Man moon. For Devil's Diner, candles are set, awaiting the diners. A manic jester, a frowning fairy and an angry wizard all illustrate the lyrics. Charming and delightful.

Our journey begins with "Boogie Bubble"'s sludgy guitar twiddliness before the bass and drums and full on guitars come barging on in, bringing with them delightfully bouncy rhythms and Daniel Brennare's slightly husky, raspy tones. This song makes me think of goblins riding bubbles. Or devils.

The opening chords of "Cosmic Weed" are also heavy and sludgy, as though slightly bogged down. The rhythm is slower, slightly doomy. The lyrics - well, you can pretty much guess what they're about:

"Come, come, try some cosmic weed and glance a world so strange indeed..."

Another with the typical doom arrangement is the crushing "When my Sun Comes Down" which has a haunting eerieness to it. The music is also kind of intense and low, making for a melancholic edge.

Then we slip-slide across the keyboard and enter into the rockin' beats of "Devil's Diner". The liveliest song so far, this is one that I have - on several occasions, danced to. Admittedly, not quite in the fashion of the scantily clad lasses in the clip. The piano and the rhythms give it an upbeat vibe.

This is followed by the almost folk-ish "Four Strings of Mourning". Again, the guitars and drums are mixed quite low, making them feel kinda sludgy and evoking feelings of forests and trees, their leaves turning from green to gold and drifting to the ground (but not quite as autumn themed as their next album). The slow paced verses lead into a slightly more upbeat chorus in which the music circles with the lyrics.I can almost hear the symphony of the frogs and crickets. There's a quite a decent guitar solo as well. It almost makes you feel a wee bit giddy. Or maybe that's because I'm doing as the lyrics say and:

"...spinning around in circles every day... spinning around and finding no new way..."

 The ghostly, spectral chords of the instrumental "To Die is to Wake" bring with them a melancholic, bittersweet echo of memories. The sort of song that carries you away on broken wings and takes you into the land of lost dreams.

"There's a fairy in my head and I call her Lady Rosenred" starts us off onto one of my favourite tracks on this album - the quite bouncy "Lady Rosenred" in which Jennie Tebler* does most of the vocals, with Daniel shadowing her. The references to "dragon fairies" inspired me to create a diminutive dragon species.

The next song is inspired by the Dragonlance books. "Raistlin and the Rose" is a haunting, melodic and melancholic number, filled with bittersweet rifts. It is an eerie and moody peace, fading out with echoing guitar and the spctral whisper of pipes.

"He calls him friend, and says he'll change, she calls him friend and he deceives again..."

The album concludes with the mystical and enchanting "Crimson Cosmos". The slow, light guitars, the whispers of flutes and Daniel's low and powerful vocals combine together to create a haunting and oddly nostalgic** number. It brings a shiver down my spine, and a tear to my eye.

"One went to seek the loss. One went to seek the darker side of us. One went to seek the cross. Only to find a crimson cosmos."

 There is something of a leisurely laziness to this music, which evokes the mood of talls trees and enchanted forests. Of mystical realms, and childhood nostalgia. I would go so far as to describe it as having a sort of fantasy/stoner vibe. The doom influences are still clear here, but they have stepped away from the death/thrash and more into a haunting, evocative and somewhat spiritual eerieness. The low, sludgy feel to the instruments, the low vocals, the somewhat surreal lyrics all contribute to both be soothing yet interesting, and somewhat quirky.

I believe this album deserves 9/10.

* Apparently she's Quorthon's little sister.
** Of course, the nostalgic thing might just be me - This album has been with me for quite a time and I have listened to it on numerous occasions, thus it evokes many memories.

Bathory - Blood on Ice (1996)

It seems fitting to follow Avantasia up with something equally atmospheric and epic - one of Bathory's earliest concept albums, "Blood on Ice". This tells the story of a boy, aged 10, whose village is destroyed by a terrible beast. He is the sole survivor, and makes his home in the forest, learning the language of the beasts. Until, one day, a one-eyed man comes upon him in the forest and informs him that he has been chosen as champion of the Gods and must fight their battle in the shadows beyond the world. To aid in this quest, he is given a sword (probably tyrfing) and an eight-legged steed, sleipnir and will be guided by two ravens (Huginn and Muninn). Before he can achieve this goal, he must gain some supernatural powers - which seem to be acquired by purposely maiming himself (losing his heart and his eyes). Then he is given wonderous powers, and heads to Hel to take on the two-headed beast that slaughtered his family.

This is a brilliant classic, which was recorded in 1989 but not released until 1996 because it was considered not quite appropriate for Bathory's sound. After the success of "Hammerheart", however, and pressure from the fans, it was finally remastered and released to reasonable acclaim.

The cover is stunning, and very blue - depicting many things - the eight-legged horse, a swordsman with no eyes (and oddly pointed ears) which I assume is the hero, a snake, an old wise man with a cauldron, an army riding black horses, wild Nordic scenary, a hooded figure with four wolves and in the centre - a sword, wrapped in orange flames - the only other colour on the page. Inside we have a lengthy explaination behind this album and many other things that were going on in Quorthon's life (including the release of his solo album, helpfully entitled "Album"). Then the whole thing again in a language that is possible Norwegian, but could also be German. Then, the lyrics - also in both languages.

"Intro" opens the CD with a herd of sheep and a great menace looming on the horizon, narling and the solemn beat of drums indicating impending doom and tragedy. Then, stampeding hooves, something wicked this way comes. The sheeps bleating becomes more desperate, the ominous beats continue... Shouting voices and we crash into the epic but ominous "Blood on Ice". Choirs and doom-laden drums add to the menace. For a band with so few members, Bathory certainly manage to create a solid wall of sound - it's like a great rolling avalanche moving with slow but steady desolation.

A beautiful and acoustic number, "Man of Iron" (which he prounces i-Ron) brings forth the spirit of the forest and the trees. Our hero grows older, learning the language of the animals and never giving up his desire to seek revenge for his peopl. Quorthon has a truly lovely voice when he sings.

A rather more sinister and rapid "One Eyed Old Man" enters the forest, and tracks down our hero in this tumultuous, wild and frantic piece.The rhythm is surprisingly melodious. Production seems a little "gluggy", however. It ends with a prophecy and a promise.

"The Sword" is a wild and raucous ride, more reminscent of Bathory-of-old. It seems our hero has received a particularly important weapon - one forged in fire and ice. Now is the first stage to his vengence and his future as the Chosen One.

His second "gift" is "The Stallion" and this track is heavy ubt flowing, like the immense and powerful horse, white as snow, with eight legs that can "run as if you carried wings".

His journey begins with a visit to "The Woodwoman" a strange being that:

"...she leaves no footprints in the snow..."

I love this song. It's haunting, and eerie, with beautiful vocalisations (with a touch of the raw and rough) and a good narrative. The production seems clearer here too,  a clarity lacking on some of the earlier tracks. Another almost-ballad where the guitar and the background noises speak of icy mountain peaks, and forests buried in snow. Here he exchanges his heart (has it placed in the pit of a snake) for the ability to take a mortal wound.

But the self-dismemberment does not stop here, for now he continues on to "The Lake". Another immense, heavy, multi-laden track with great heaving waves and turbulent waters. Into this lake, he throws his eyes which grants him the ability to see from within.

Now that he has no eyes and no heart, it is time to call upon the "Gods of Thunder of Wind and of Rain" to aid him in his task. This is another steamroller of sound, with epic structure and again totally makes you feel like you're out there in the glaciers,standing with your arms outspread and staring with empty eyes up at the raging, tumultuous clouds.

"The Ravens" is a slow, short number, hauntingly beautiful and oh my, Quorthon can actually sing pretty jolly well. Huginn and Muninn are his eyes in the sky, guiding him to Hel to face his destiny.

And finally he has his "Revenge of the Blood on Ice" - an immense and impressive thunderous epic that runs for almost ten minutes, and ends with the lost spirits finding their way to Valhalla.

Overall, I do not like this album as much as "Twilight of the Gods" or "Hammerheart" but it is still an epic venture. The sound is a little rough and raw, despite being remastered and re-edited and it feels somewhat to me as though he would be more befitting of being on vinyl rather than CD. It is powerful and intense and deserves a rating of 8/10.

I have just found out/been reminded that Quorthon was found dead in his apartment on June 7th (he had died 4 days previously),  2004, of suspected heart failure. He was only 38. RIP Quorthon, one of the most noteable men on the black metal scene.

Tad Morose - Sender of Thoughts (1995)

Tad Morose are a Swedish progressive metal band that formed in the early 1990s. This is their second album. Their music blends Heavy Metal with keyboards and epic rhythms in a style reminscent of Rainbow and bearing some semblance to Power Metal - but not quite as fast paced as most of the other european stuff from this era (like Italian bands Rhapsody and Skylark). This is also one of the Black Mark cds that first started appearing in local stores and even in the libraries! So, I at first hired it from there  until I eventually picked up a copy for $14.95* - it still has the original label on it - it was from the CD Store in town - one of the many that have now been swallowed by the ravages of Itunes and earthquakes.

The vocalist for this album is Kristian "Krille" Andren. After this album he departed, doing some time with Memento Mori** (replacing god Messiah Marcolin )  and then spending some time with Wuthering Heights before joining Bloodbound.

It has an intriguing cover - almost all of it cast in shades of red - Egyptian style statues line the back, before them a levitating ornate picture frame, in which a blue face with bright red eyes gazes out. It looks as though liquid is leaking from the base of the frame, forming a droplet that has cascaded outwards, rippling to the edges of the cover.

I have no idea who designs these album covers, or where their inspiration lies, but I've seen some weird ones whilst writing this blog!

Inside, lyrics superimposed over grainy pharoah faces and other scenes taken from the cover and cast in monochrome. The band  do not look amused, as they gaze sideways out of the rear page, glaring at the fellow that dares to take their photo.

Now, onewards into the music.

Keyboard's delicate tinkling leads us into the heavy bass of "Fading Pictures". Kristian's voice soars across it, powerful and strong as it swoops into the chorus.

"Sender of Thoughts" opens with keyboards and pianos, before cascading into a sound not unlike early German speed metal (such as Paradox and Rage) and then swelling into the more progressive vibe again. After this for a short time, Kristian's voice breaks the keyboard with delicate, almost longing tones. Around the music soars and swarms.

Another epic and heavy song is "Morning Sun" with its bold guitar and sturdy rhythms, fading out into keyboards.

A somewhat mellower number (kind  of) is "Lost in Time" which starts with aching piano and then swells into melancholic guitar and bass. It is not a ballad - not even close, however, as the music continues its steady, strong progress.

Also throbbing with restless tension and hopeless emotions, is "Different Eyes". Which proclaims:

"I want to live again, trying to make things right...."

Not so much aggressive as laden with heavy frustration and thrumming with feelings of hopelessness. A desperate desire to change things, to fix the past, but a frustrating inability to achieve that goal.

"Time of Silence" is more of the familiar - heavy with restless desires and edged with tension and a little frustration. "Forever Gone" is likewise similar.

Neither "Circle of Souls" nor "Here After" offer anything new to the mix. They both begin with heavy bass (and a little keyboard), the guitars and more keyboard coming in and then, finally, the vocalist joining them.

It is "Gates of Babylon" that is probably my favourite of the album. Starting with high, echoing keyboard given it a haunting, magical feel. The guitars come chugging along in, and the vocals join them in this fine cover of a Rainbow classic. It just feels more lively, more alive, than the earlier albums. I think it is a slightly faster pace and the music less laden with tension and restlessness.

The chaotir, crashing piano of "Netherworld" is a discordantly wonderful instrumental to end the album. Very short, it is over within a heartbeat.

Tad Morose are a decent band  - their sound something like a combination between the progressive, keyboard-y power of Dream Theater and the heavier bass and solid rifts found in thrash metal, with a touch of speed. Kristian's voice is a powerful force - mostly of medium to relatively high pitch, but more operatic than a screaming howling banshee. Too slow and steady to qualify as speed, or even really power metal, and the basic structure and pace of all the songs is more-or-less the same, making this quite a repetitive album, especially when trying to break it down into tracks.

But overall, a pretty good album and definitely worth 7/10. I would like to see a bit of variety in other albums, however. I wonder how Memento Mori sounded with him***?

* This may not sound very cheap to you Americans, but in NZ most new cds are $29.99 and upwards, so it was a bit of a bargain. I consider anything under $25 to be a good deal. This has, alas, lead to most serious music buyers purchasing their discs from overseas - which is also helped by the strong NZ$, and means that the local stores lose sales, and thus have had to close down one-by-one-by-one. Now there are maybe five CD stores in the entire city - two Marbecks (used to be the CD Store) and three Pennylane Records (which sell second hand as well).

** Memento Mori and Hexenhaus are, as far as I'm concerned, the same band. They both changed the line-up so many times that the only anchoring feature was guitarist Mike Wead.

*** Damned good! They're a faster pace and his voice is a little more variable. I might have to listen to some more!

Ritual - The Hemulic Voluntary Band (2007)

What can one say about Ritual? They are a not very well known band from Sweden who amalgamate folk and rock with a touch of progressive. They have released very few albums, and although they have a website, they do not appear to be updating it regularly.

I think if I were to give their music a sound, I would call it "Goblin rock".

What drew me first to this album was the cover - which features some rather weird little critters playing instruments. Several songs are based on the moomin series by Tove Jansson. The cover is quirky - and right up my alley given that I love things a wee bit weird and whimsical. The booklet is a delight - from the charming cover to the interior illustrations - which include the lyrics - including one in the form of a tale (based on one of Jansson's picture books) and the whole thing is designed to look like a book.

In style, their music is very quirky and kind of "organic". The sounds are slightly disharmonious, a little higher in pitch than you regularly get, with quirky little rhythms and reels. Like the dart of insects. It is very, very, easy to imagine the band to be these relatively formless, long muzzled beings.

I cannot remember when I bought this album, but I cannot help but feel that it inspired the gnome species in my novel "A Midsummer Knight's Quest". Heh, fancy that.

Instruments listed include: clavinet, harmonium, grand piano, rhodes, irish bouzoki, hammer dulcimer, recorders, whistles, nyckelharpa - I don't even know what half of these are!

The first track is the "Hermulic Voluntary Band" with its quirky, organic rhythms and a small dose of additional chaos. Erratic beats and little trills make it feel slightly discordant.

"In the Wild" is a slightly more refined number. The vocals are a bit smoother and the music somewhat restrained, although still prone to darting off into unexpected little rhythms. It fades into some rather sweet piano and then the rather discordant guitarish instrument takes over like a darting, swarming, biting bee.

A somewhat melancholic and rather quirky ballad, we have "Late in November" - which has recorders. This is from Snufkin's perspective.  Snufkin strikes me as rather an introspective nomad, who cherishes walking in the late autumn.

The is a sense of the ominous in "The Groke" as she stomps on in in a rhythmic march, bringing the winter and death with her. Her presense is ominous, and the music portends to this, but there is also an edge there - perhaps she is not so much evil and nasty, as just misunderstood?

"Waiting By the Bridge" is a poppy, lively little number. It is about Moomintroll waiting for his friend to come and take him away on a grand adventure. It is filled with cheer and hope.

Now we have the final track - and it is so epic it is longer than the other songs put together, clocking in at a massive 28 minutes. "A Dangerous Journey" opens with a cheerful rhythm and begins the tale of a young girl called Susanna, who seeks adventure.

"Life was so humdrum and always the same."

That is, she sets down her glasses and has them stolen - and replaced with another pair - a pair that change the way she sees the world (and grows her cat into a monster-cat). Here the tone changes, taking on an ominous edge, as the cat races away into the forest. She follows, and finds a swamp filled with ominous creatures and then a barren sea shore. Where can cat be? Things turn strange as she comes upon a peculiar pair. Things turn more sinster as, nearby, a volcano erupts.Whilst the lyrics are quite ominous, the nature of the music still makes it all sound very upbeat and exciting. Rather a contrast.There is a brief bit of dramatic tension coming towards the end of the track as they are pursued by a monster. But luckily a balloon swoops down and snatches them away to a pleasant valley where they have a picnic.

Oh, and the cat comes back.

For originality and quirkiness of sound, Ritual would easily rate a 10/10. Alas, for all their charm and whimsy, the music is just ever so slightly discordent and can be irritating if played too loudly or too many times. So I'm going to have to give it a 7/10.

Nightingale - Breathing Shadow (1995)

Another in my Black Mark collection.

Nightingale is Dan Swano of Edge of Sanity with his guitars, a keyboard and a drum machine.  I believe in later hours he acquired an actual backing band, but this entire album was recorded over 7 days in January. Essentially Swano had a fascination with goth rock (esp the Sisters of Mercy), and thus decided to spend a week or so recording an album. This is the result.

And you might be surprised to find, it is actually pretty good.

Packaging wise, it looks as cheap as you would expect a CD made in a week would look - red skulls gape out from the otherwise black cover, whilst the name "nightingale" sits above them in one of those ugly shadow fonts. Inside, a simple fold with over saturated colour and red font on black that renders it kind of difficult to read. Actually, it looks like the only working colours in the printer were black, red and blue. Hrm...

First track, "Nightfall Overture" opens with a swelling of keyboards and, combined with, the preprogramed beat of a drum machine a fairly artifical sound. Swano's voice, however, is lush and low, although also to reach slightly higher pitches. The music is variable and interesting and does not sound entirely programed.

The drum machine kicks us into "Sleep..." with its regular beats - beats that could be straight from the Sisters. It is repetitive, and somehow also hypnotic.

Picking up the pace slightly, is "The Dream Reader" which has a rather nice swooping bridge and quite a lot of keyboards. Like "Sleep" it is quite a hypnotic sound, very pleasant to listen to. The keyboards bring it to life.

"Higher than the Sky" has a slightly heavier beat, and a very nice keyboard melody. Makes one think a little of gliding through the sky, soaring around clouds and rising on thermals. Peaceful, almost serene.

Finally, some guitar - acoustic guitar I believe, adding a far more authentic touch to "Recovery Opus." It's something of a ballad - and seems to be about how the narrator has recovered from insanity. Or have they?

 "It's a mess here in my head... so I'll do what the voices say..."

I guess not...

 "The Return to Dreamland" is an actual instrumental - or possibly Swano didn't feel like singing along while playing his guitar. And there seem to be actual drums - unless a drum machine has a "drum roll" function? It's a slow paced, dreamy number with a few faster moments.

Probably the finest track on this album is "Gypsy Eyes" which is one of the few that I have actually danced to (in fact, we've played it at a few parties). The drum machine is back in force, but the pace is good, the lyrics interesting. Very 80s and very synth-goth. Maybe that's why it seems to be quite popular.

The vocals are very low and deep in "Alone?" Heavy with melancholy, and the light de-de-de of the accomapnying music accentuates the gloomy air. It sounds to me like Swano has accidentally "killed" his imaginery friend/voices in his head and this becomes more frantic, desperate and tinged with madness as it reaches the ending:

"...but it's not my shadow... it's not my shadow..."

The drum machine is back in "Lesson in Evil". There seems to be a theme of insanity and mental illness in these lyrics. Makes you wonder? They're somewhat sinister.

The album closes with "Eye for an Eye" which has the same smooth vocals, pleasant sound and somewhat macabre lyrics. The shadow is back, making me wonder if there is an ongoing theme running through this album - almost like a concept album.

For a one-man-one-week project created in his home studio, this is a pretty decent album. It's definitely different from Edge of Sanity (although the lyrics indicate that the narrator is approaching that edge) and proves that Swano can sing - and sing very well indeed. However, it could be improved manifold if Swano also happened to play the drums. Which he does, on later albums. Cos the slightly tinny, very electronic repetitive beat of the drum machine is no substitution for the real thing.

Let's go with a rating of 6.5/10.

Morgana Lefay - Past, Present, Future (1995)

You will probably notice I have a lot of 1995/96 albums. This was because I now had my own disposible income. Not much, for sure, but since I was still living at home and not paying board - it allowed me to expand my collection. It is also about the time when I started buying mainly cds instead of cassette tapes.

Morgana Lefay began in Sweden as "Damage" but renamed themselves after the sorceress from King Arthur. Their sound is thrash style music - heavy, slowish rifts, but the guitars and vocals are more power with Charles Rytkönen have quite a higher pitched voice, with a somewhat sinister edge. He screams rather well. After self producing their first album, they released four with Black Mark, before dumping Black Mark and the "Morgana" and switching to Noise under Lefay. Presumerably this change was to enable them to break the contract.

This is a very attractive album, and comes with a poster. Due to a rather significant design flaw - the poster will not fit inside the CD cover and has to be stored separately. It contains the cover illustration on one side - an hourglass crackling with electric energy and covered in either spiderwebs or a finely woven silk. This is actually a "zoomed in" image from the cover of "Secret Doctrine", plus the lyrics to two of the "brandnew" tracks, and on the reverse is a bunch of band photographs, and their previous CD covers. I have three of their previous albums, but these were acquired much, much later.

One of the brandnew tracks, "Sculptures of Pain" is a powerful piece with desperation in the vocals and heavy rhythms.

I love the opening to "Lost Reflections" which is eerie and sinister.

"Locked in the attic, been here so many years, Shanna won't set me free..."

I still wonder who Shanna is. The music playing counterpoint to the snarled vocals is thin, spooky. Until... BOOM, it roars into a dramatic explosion of a guitar solo almost 3/4s of the way into the piece. It appears, being trapped in the attic, has driven the narrator quite insane...
Shanna had better watch out!
This is a cover of a Crimson Glory song.

Another haunting number, "Rumours of Rain" starts slow and sinister. It is taken from the album "Knowing Just As I", becoming increasingly frantic as the song progresses, before fading out to melancholy.

Then we walk the "Alley of the Oaks", take from "The Secret Doctrine". It is a menacing place to meander, filled with dark shadows and sharp teeth hidden in the gloom:

"Was there something behind me? What did move over there?"

"Battle of Evermore" is a melancholic number, starting with aching guitar chords and solemn vocals. It is from "Knowing Just as I". Not to be confused with the Led Zep song by the same name. The angels are at war.

"Angels fighting angels, Heaven is painted red. Crimson rain is falling..."

Another brandnew track, is a fantastic cover of "Voulez Vous" as Morgana Lefay pay tribute to Sweden's most famous band, ABBA. It's a fast-paced number, filled with energy and also rather amusing. I love heavy metal covers of pop songs.

"The Mirror" holds darkness and fear, hidden in ominous lyrics and solid beats. Taken from "The Secret Doctrine".

Aniother slow. melancholic and achingly sorrow-filled song is "Last Rites" - a song about being sent to the gallows. Also from "The Secret Doctrine". Dying alone, his fate is to feed the crows. We never find out his crime, not on this album, anyhow.

A fitting follow up - "Sorrow Calls" or rather, screams. This one is from "Sanctified". It starts slowly - as many of these tracks do, then builds and swells in frenzied desperation.

"Why?" Asks Rytkönen  in this slow, bittersweet number. The vocals are achingly mournful, almost lost. I think this is a song about the dissolving of a relationship. His voice is a little softer here, less raw around the edges, melodic and melancholic. From "Sanctified".

We conclude with another brandnew track - "Symphony of the Damned" an extravagant almost 10-minute track tinted with a range of bitterness, anger, desperation and despair - all of which Rytkönen's voice does very well. I cannot imagine him ever sounding truly happy.

This was the first Morgana Lefay album I owned, and in all honesty, probably the only one I really needed. The songs follow a similar structure - slow beginnings, bitter but sweet vocals, building into a heavier eruption of sound and with a strong atmosphere of the slightly sinister, slightly macabre. The lyics are also really interesting and, for the most part, completely audible. It contains two or three tracks from each of their previous albums and four that have not been on anything else, and is a rather nice "snapshot" of their career up to (and including) 1995.

I rate it 7.5/10.

Lake of Tears - Headstones (1995)

I remember the first time I heard this album - I found it a glorious experience. Black Mark were a relatively new label on the scene and suddenly our local stores were carrying four different titles - this and Tad Morose were the two that caught my eye (the others being of a rather less melodious nature). I was going through my goth phase at the time - you know the sort - black clothes, morbid music, gloomy music, writing bad poetry. Actually, the poetry was not too bad at all, but that's beside the point. I was also a poor student, so it was some time before I actually could afford to buy them, but luckily the library had a copy for me to hire and thrash.And thrash it I did!

Lake of Tears are a Swedish band, formed around 1990. In the early days, they had a very heavy, slow doom-gloom-goth sound but this later caught an edge of psychadelia and took some surprising, but wonderful, transformations. I shall share those albums with you later. Around 2000, after four albums, they broke up, then got back together again in 2003 releasing a further two albums. Somewhere in the middle there was "Neonai", recorded to fulfil their contract with Black Mark (and I am grateful that they did). They have just released an album entiteld "Illwill" which is apparently death metal, but I'm listening to House of the Setting Sun on YouTube and it is definitely NOT death metal. Ooooh, it's giving me shivers - in a good way.

If you wish to try Lake of Tears for yourself - they have TWO "Greatest hits" compilations. So, well worth it. Of course, I own all but two of their cds (the first and the last) so I think I'll be okay.

I WILL NOT buy Illwill, I MUST stop buying more cds! I haven't even listened to "Moonlight and Mushrooms" properly yet.

Anyhow, back on track.

This is their second album, and it introduces melody to the hardcore ragged sound of their debut album, "Greater Art". "Headstones" is a brilliant, gloom laden album.  Daniel Brennare's voice is capable of so much more than grunts and growls. It has a melancholic cover - a figure pinned to a tree with ivy, a cemetary in behind. How very gothic. Not much inside but the lyrics.

A shrill guitar squeal leads us into the burgeoning bass and the powerful force that brings us into "A Foreign Road". Brennare's vocals are rich and deep, the sort that brings a shiver to your spine (as has already been noted).

Acoustic guitar brings sweet, sweet melody with the flight of the ravens into "Raven Land". The vocals are rich, haunting, slightly sinister. The overdubbing is used to splendid effect and the music creates stirrings of great monolithic rocks, abandoned towers and black birds, fluttering hither and tither, quarreling or

"... bringing tales of the dead, dead in times before..."

"Dreamdemons" starts with a roar. Heavy chords, whispy keyboards adding an atmosphere of phantasmic mist, twining between the rifts. As usual, Brennare's voice is wonderful.

Slow and deep, "Sweetwater" flows, the liquid vocals gliding between the delicate guitar and in line with the thrumming bass.

The mysterious "Life's but a Dream" is quite probably backmasking. (it is - and here it is). Hrm, looks like there was some truth in the claims of satanic hidden messages.

The tolling of bells and gentle acoustic guitar brings a sense of mourning to "Headstones". What a magnificant, beautiful song. The guitar, Brennare's lovely voice... so gothic and so wonderful. Makes you think of a lonely hill, clad in low trees, a path weaving through them. Birds in the trees (a few ravens, perhaps?). Ah....*

"Twilight" is another moody, atmospheric piece.The keyborad solo is a nice touch.

The fury of "Burn Fire Burn" erupts with power. It is one of my least favourite pieces from this album.

Oh, but the glory that is "The Path of the Gods (Upon the Highest Mountain, part 2)"! It begins with flute, and Brennare speaking in his oh-so-wonderful Swedish accent. After this introduction, it slides into the heavy bass that characterises this album. I've never heard part 1, which I assume is on "Greater Art". I also really, really love the line:

"Seek the openings in sanguine painted clouds..."

"Sanguine" is such a wonderful world - and one of my favourite colours too. No, not blood! In colouring pencils, you sicko-phant! Evocative language, the shadowing of female vocals, the chug-chug-chug of the bass... It all combines for a wonderful aural experience. The keyboards accentuate it. I love the "stars" bit. I can almost imagine Brennare snatching them from the sky, and handing them to me, having them flicker away like tiny fireflies or luminscent hummingbirds.

A magnificant album - one of the finest and most evocative and emotional Gothic Doom albums I have ever been privileged to hear and own. It is masterfully crafted and truly touches my spirit. I have to say, whilst their later albums have lost a little of the charm - the first four LoT albums are amongst the finest in my collection.

My rating = 8/10 (and that's only because some of the others are EVEN BETTER, believe it or not).

I urge you, if you haven't heard Lake of Tears and you love atmospheric metal with sexy, baritone vocals you should buy these two albums NOW:

Greatest Tears vol I: This one seems to contain the heavier, more doomy songs
Greatest Tears vol II: This one has more of the psychadelic, progressive stuff

Or, just do what I did and BUY THEM ALL! (well, except the first and the last).

I am going to focus on Black Mark and, whilst still staying with the alphabet, give their CDs priority, where I own them.

* If you think this music is evocative, you should try "Forever Autumn" which is superlative - but I'm going to listen to my LoT CDs in chronological order, I'm afraid - not that you need worry, because they're all brilliant.
 

Diablo Swing Orchaestra - Pandora's Pinata (2012)

Thank you to my brother for this delightful CD. It is truly a gorgeous little package and definitely quirky and weird - the kind of music I love (along with Heavy Metal, that is). This is going to be a hard album to categorise and will be a fun one to review. No two tracks are alike!

The Diablo Swing Orchaestra are a Swedish Octet. According to wikipedia (and their website) - Ancestors of their band performed in historic Sweden in defiance of the ruling religious beliefs of the time, forcing them to go into hiding. They would put on clandestine performances to the peasants and eventually had a bounty put on their heads and decided to put on a spectacular final show before being matyred by the church.

The packaging is beautiful - it's a digipack, which always look neat but never fit in my CD rack, and thus must languish in an unsteady pile beside it, on the coffee table. However, instead of being a flimsy cardboard affair, this is a solid little hardback book, with pages and all. The cover is whimsical and colourful, reminiscent of childhood and innocence - two children in a forest - a pinata, from which a snake has emerged, seizing the stick from the girl's hand. The inside is filled with psychadelic treats of dice and candy, the font playful and bright.

Truly a delight.

The music is similarly playfully eclectic, with the musical styles switching and the rhythms changing and evoking a wild and crazy carnival feeling.

The album opens with "Voodoo Mon Amour" with its trumpets and chugging bass. Swing or jazz? I'm not really up with my non-metal classifications. Anyhow, the vocals match, this is crazy stuff. Crazy but awesome. The lyrics are equally crazed:

"...we reek as mammals do..."

 "Guerilla Laments" starts with a percussion and a triumphant cascade of horns. I also detect something of a latin feel in their music.

We begin "Kevlar Sweethearts" with cellos. The vocals are gentler, soft and sweet. However, like kevlar, there is a harder edge as well. It is quite a haunting song.

The cellos lead us in to "How to Organise a Lynch Mob" too with their slow and longing voice. Then, it is consumed by "Black Box Messiah" as the synths and a far more modern sound takes over, reminsicent of the 80s pop explosion and peppered with strange vocals. Okay, so I have no idea how to classify this, but the vocals are a little Muse-ish, along with their rising power and striking the inner core of the soul in a slightly chaotic manner.

A rather heavier number, "Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball" has the force of the great ball itself, swinging in ponderous and threatening arches, getting closer and closer to contact. The chugging bass intermingled with twanging cellos. More synthesizer. Vocals quite Muse-esque, but with more horns and trumpets, and violin or cello,  and therefore superior. The intermingling of thrash, synth and classical instruments is masterful.

Not that I don't love Muse.

 "I have come to erase you, I'm here to replace you..."

There are also some aggressive numetal vibes here too, which are made more impressive with the addition of cello. I do not like numetal, but I REALLY like this!

"Aurora" starts like a starburst. Little percussive lights flickering over the horizon, exploding into fire. The vocals are almost-opera but more reminiscent of a musical. There are also some soothing folk vibes. Beautiful, transcendent and brought to life by the orchaestral melodies.

They're back into the cellos with "Mass Rapture", building into something epic, with a chugging more modern metal sound, but jerky rhythms from another era. The melodic, chanted choruses are haunted, beautiful, with a hint of opera.

We're back into the musical-meets-Muse vibes with a "Honey Trap Aftermath". The lyrics are staccato, punctuated by horns and with a distinctly jazz (?) vibe.

Dramatic staccato and horns deliver us into the mighty "Of Kali Ma Calibre".  The rum-tum-tum-tum of the drums leads us into the operatic vocals.  This is pure, symphonic Power and Might. Swelling from the speakers, pounding us with its majesty, before falling into chaotic rhythms, and then descending into a few brief chords of grindcore, swelling and slowing into the purity of violins. This is insane and wonderful.

The final track, "Justice for Saint Mary" has rather slower vibes and is also pure symphonic metal - violins and cellos weaving a fine web of power. Slow, melodic; haunting and rich. The drama builds, the tension mounts... the music becomes more frantic, the violins desperately against the deep howls of the cello, the drums, and other instruments rising, rising into an almighty storm, intense in its power and fury. Rising... Rising... Rising... And then it quiets and comes crashing down into....

... okay, I'm not going to tell you how this piece ends. Listen to it instead!

Pure majesty, power and originality - such an eclectic blend of metal, symphony, swing, jazz, latin and, well, everything else, can create only two things - a confused cornucopia of noise or this - something that truly needs to be listened to - and listened to LOUD - something that will reach deep within the core of your being, spark all the synapses in your brain that relate to auditory delight and invigorate you with boundless energy and positive vibes.

This is one album that you will play, and play again, and again, just to experience the full blend of emotions and sheer epicness of this album. It is extraordinary.

Yeh, you understand it - I really, really, really like this album. In fact, I'm going to rate it 11/10.
That's to say, it's currently the most interesting and intense album in my collection, and I feel a little sorry to listen to something else, as I suspect after this one it will be rather an anticlimax.

So in advance, I apologise to you, Eluveitie, for Diablo Swing Orchaestra are a hard act to follow.

And special thanks to my awesome brother for finding me another new favourite band - first he introduced me to Mercury Rev, now Diablo Swing Orchaestra. He is truly the Best Brother Ever.
(His blog is: Dances for Architecture and he writes better about music than I do. Check him out).

Candlemass - Nightfall (1987)

Ah, the beauty and majesty of Candlemass. I know this band well, having discovered them way back when I was in my early Metal Years. This was, if I recall, my first of their albums, and I originally purchased it on cassette tape. I own the CD now, of course.

Messiah Marcolin, vocalist at this time, is a Metal God. He has the voice of an angel - albeit a somewhat large one and slightly sweaty one. That is to say - it is a lovely, beautiful voice but so much power - the sort of power that could devastate buildings or rise mountains from the sea.

He is magnificant.

This is the first of the Trinity of Divine Candlemass albums.  As I own them all, they shall all be listened to, dissected, admired and enjoyed. I am undecided as to which is my favourite, but as this is the first, it defnitely rates highly.

Okay, so you get the idea, I love these albums. I love Messiah. They are beauty and power and... let's just listen to it already, shall we? Actually, I vaguely remember analysing some of these songs for a  school project/poetry assignment. We had an awesome English teacher.

And don't worry, I'll try and find you some videos too - in case you are one of the unintiated.

Firstly - this album jacket is beautiful, taken from "The Voyage of Life: Old Age" by Thomas Cole. It depicts an aged man, in a boat afloat on a lonely ocean, dark clouds looming overhead, a ray of light splitting them asunder. Before him hovers an Angel, a vision of white and glory. In the very centre, small and unassuming but very easy to read, is the band name and the title. The sleeve itself is a simple affair - a one fold cover with all the lyrics printed in small but legible font, set against the twilight clouds.

As I noted previously, most metal albums from this era begin with a short intro piece with haunting music or - in this case - crashing lightning or perhaps a cracking "Gothic Stone".

Whatever it is, it quickly fades into the looming majesty of "The Well of Souls". Messiah's soaring and powerful voice rises above the doom-laden chords, filled with his passion and dedication to protecting the world from:

"...hatred and scorn..."

Perhaps because Messiah's customary attire is a robe, crucifix and he pretty much looks like an epic avenging monk, it is very, very easy to envisage him as the "old man" whose life is dedicated to protecting the world from the looming threat of Satan.

Lyrics indicate that he is unsuccessful in this endeavour, yet like in the earlier track "The Sorcerer's Pledge", the battle is a non-climactic one. In this case, daylight destroys the darkness. Let us just be thankful that they write lyrics, not novels.

"Codex Gigas" is another pounding instrumental, with ominous, slow beats and brooding atmosphere. I am imagining someone carrying a heavy load, ponderously through the dark.

Ah, the opening chords of "At the Gallows End" bring a shiver to my spine and a tear to my eye. Partly it is nostalgia - but also it is a beauty lead-in - slow and haunting, with Messiah's wonderful voice dripping with raw emotion and loss. I am standing with him, waiting for my death. What a swan song.

"Only the vultures will come to see me hang..."

Pounding bass, dramatic and chilling. 

And oh, now we have the most beautiful "Samarithan". Every song a memory. Slower rhythms, slightly lower vocal register; sorrow and compassion weigh down the words. A homeless man, offered sanctuary - a simple act of kindness that brings with it much reward. This song is a thing of beauty.

I am never quite sure if Candlemass are technically a Christian band - their lyrics are filled with Christian imagery, but they seem to regard it with more honour and respect than the bands that preach about hellfire and damnation. It feels biblical in the oldest sense of the word, and noble.

The ponderous and dramatic "Marche Funeral"  bridges us between this song and "Dark are the Veils of Death". This is a faster paced, and somewhat more dramatic slightly hectic song, almost desperate at times. Messiah's vocals are no less than stupendous.

"Enter the great adventure, just wait and see..."

I think Candlemass helped me to "survive" my teen years. Whilst they are, technically, a doom band, their lyrics are not filled with as much death and despair as other bands of that ilk* - they have hope - of the afterlife, of redemption, of the triumph of good against evil.

The devastatingly beautiful "Mourner's Lament" follows. A song laden so much with mourning, loss and anguish. A father mourns his deceased son. A song that sends shivers down my spine and a thrill in my heart. The power... the raw emotion... The whispered "Rest in peace" brings a tear to my eye.

Why, you could almost say that I'm "Bewitched" - which is coincidentally, the next (and almost final) track on this album. It is a song with decidedly pagan elements, putting it at odds of every other track on this album:

"Bewitched by delight, you'll reach the night dancing and singing to my fiddle. So take my hand, and understand, that no-one will see you again." 

It is a splendid song, and somewhat more upbeat than the rest of the album. Of course, the video is something of a letdown, thanks to be exceedingly cheap and cheesy and rather silly. I suspect that the band are not quite as serious as they pretend to be. Still, noone is immune to a little fun.

Candlemass are an amazing band, and this is an awesome album. Along with the other two Messiah-vocaled Candlemass albums, they are some of the finest doom and gloom albums ever made. Even the nostalgia aspect notwithstanding, it would be a crime against metal to give this album anything less than 10/10.


* Stay tuned for Confessor (music to kill yourself to). But they'll probably have to wait until I've looped through all my Candlemass. Ironically, Confessor helped me in those angst-ridden years too.