Seen Through the Veils of Darkness (The Second Spell)

It is approximately 25 years ago that a country catapulted itself on the metal map. Due to the early works of Immortal, Mayhem, Burzum and so on, it came to our conscious with the uttermost vehemence that Norway did not only have a pretty metal-compatible nature (cold, dark and hostile), but also a creative resource nobody had previously been aware of. The phalanx from the fjords attacked on a broad front and Gehenna's first EP satisfied all those who were interested in atmospheric slow-to-mid-paced sounds. "Seen Through the Veils of Darkness" showed a slightly modified approach. Today we know that the band changed its style more than once, and certainly not only for the good. But here we have no drastic reorientation. Gehenna took the more or less logical next step. The material has more craggy parts. Already the opener surprises with some fast eruptions. The voice is also more aggressive than it was on the EP. Finally, the level of complexity has increased as well. A song like "Angelwings and Ravenclaws" that ran steadily like a silent river does not show up on the here presented work.

The more extrovert style does not disfigure the musical approach of the band. Despite the gain in vehemence, the melodic component remains a relevant feature. The same applies for atmospheric elements. In my opinion, the keyboards are not too dominant, but they do their best in order to shape pretty spooky tracks like "A Witch Is Born". The battle between the guitars and the keyboards results in a slightly turbid sound. Seems as if the album has been recorded through the veils of darkness... but that's not bad, the mix also has an opaque facet that fits the Norwegian origin as well as the group's musical orientation. I am nearly tempted to say this is the perfect sound for songs like the dense, compact and quite straight "The Mystical Play of Shadows". The only negative thing I can say about this track is that it sets the bar too high for the next tracks. The uninspired "The Eyes of the Sun" constitutes the filler of the album - and the overlong next track also does not fully convince me. Its configuration lies in close proximity to some opulent Cradle of Filth pieces and after having dropped this name, I feel bound to mention Dimmu Borgir as well. Those of you who seek a less relaxed version of "Stormblåst" will probably find the album that makes your day.

I wish I could "Through the Veils of Darkness" call an excellent classic. It has a spiritual touch, the right balance between atmosphere and aggression and its best pieces have nothing lost of its fascination. No doubt, it is a classic, but "only" a good album, because the last third does not hold exciting highlights. In addition, the slightly awkward yet fascinating charm of "First Spell", which was evoked by its somehow natural flow, does not occur again. Simultaneously, nothing already indicates the coldness that partly formed "Malice" (just think of the almost industrialized "Ad Arma ad Arma"). Nevertheless, the full-length holds a lot of great melodies to discover. "Shairak Kinnummh" sets standards, but "Lord of Flies" uncovers some mighty harmonies as well. It is still a pleasure to lend an ear to this work. Despite its minor flaws, I admit that it has a firm place in my heart, because it belongs to the roughly twenty works that always come to my mind when thinking of the Norwegian black metal heyday.

From the initial rush of "Lord of Flies", Gehenna seems almost a new band, for in this brief passage the band are firing up the engines far beyond the plodding pace of their EPs. That said, this opening burst of energy is not necessarily representative of their first proper full-length, which soon returns to the moderate gait of keyboard saturated, thick chords and wide snarling. Seen Through the Veils of Darkness (The Second Spell) does balance itself out a lot better than the previous recordings, and in terms of production and composure it was their best album to date, and one of their best still, but for me it still seemed rather second rate by comparison to many of the other Norse bands whose sounds were far more aggressive or inspired.

They play it quite safe through the opening tracks, and one of the problems with this is that the guitars usually serves as nothing more than a given lead weight to support the melodies of the keyboards, like the glorious shanty-like passage that dominates "Shairak Rinnummh". There are riffs aplenty down their, but nothing at all extraordinary, mere floes of easily predicted chords that play second fiddle to the atmosphere created through the raucous distortion and rasping. That's not to say that they're bad songs, because the keyboard crossbred with the rhythm is generally enough to evoke a spooky, cryptic mood, but on something like Emperor's In the Nightside Eclipse you've got both this symphonic architecture and blazing guitars to match. The album does improve in this manner the deeper one gets: "Vinterriket" and "The Eyes of the Sun" both have moderately more interesting axes that carry their own weight, and perhaps the rock-like notes in the longer track " A Myth", but for the majority of the album the playing does not distinguish itself beyond the cloying, distorted dirt of its tone.

Fortunately, those keyboards are often eerie enough that the album succeeds despite itself, and the storm-like drumming of Dirge Rep and the vocals of Dolgar and Sanrabb keep the ear affixed to the onslaught dichotomy of atmosphere and hostility. The production of The Second Spell is rich, flustered and oblique, comparable to Emperor or Dimmu Borgir at the time, but the songwriting would probably be better considered a 'poor man's' version of those artists, as it is rather simplistic next to a Stormblåst and the songs are never quite so catchy. There is some dynamic variation present, from the slower paced piano-driven piece "Dark Poems Author" to the rolling thunder of "The Mystical Play of Shadows", but little by way of sophistication. The ensuing album, Malice, far surpassed this one in terms of its creativity, but if there's one thing I can say fully in favor of The Second Spell is that it strangely does not sound a day older than when it first arrived. It's that nostalgic wish fulfillment which allows it to persevere as a minor cult classic, and fans of similar sounds on the first two Ragnarok albums, or perhaps Enthrone Darkness Triumphant and In the Nightside Eclipse will best appreciate it today.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

After a long period of lack of interest in music, particularly metal, I find this CD for like eight bucks at my local CD store. I listened to a little bit of Gehenna a couple years ago and remembered thinking they were pretty good. After listening to this album beginning to end while walking around outside at night, I remember what black metal is.

Gehenna's style of black metal is so in touch with its roots but still so fresh. It is undeniably evil sounding, and just flat out aggressive in some parts, but there is still that oddly soothing and mystical feel about it that I just love with black metal. I'll start with the vocals: HOLY SHIT. Raw and violent are good words to describe it. But tame and restrained would work as well. The shrieks seem so effortless that you don't get that, 'I’m trying really hard to be METUHL' type vibe. Plus there is so much control over the vocals, higher shrieks to lower growls, with a real nice ebb and flow to it. Definitely some of the best black metal vocals I’ve heard.

The guitar work is as usual what is at the heart of the album. Plenty of tremolo picking and distortion, but certainly not excessive. There is a nice variety of fast and mid-paced (never really slow), and it never comes off as mindless shredding with the treble all the way up and thinking that you’re a visionary. The guitar work is as brilliant as it can get for a black metal album of this type, but its real strength is that it works with the other instruments and never 'hogs the stage' as it were.

For instance, I can actually hear the bass on this album. I will remind you again that this is a black metal album. The bass is audible (can't get over that) and sounds great. It adds thickness to the music. That seems like a good word. But unlike a lot of albums that just have the bass there, this one has it complementing the guitars very well. I will say that though it is audible throughout the album, it never really deviates from complementing the guitar work. So it is still in its traditional role, but it's audible, and on a black metal album we don't really want to hear funky bass licks. Just a nice touch.

The keyboards are the driving force for the mystical aspect of this album, and you can almost sense them pulling you out of a segment of more aggressive riffing. This album's keyboards are great not only because of the more atmospheric aspect of the chords as we usually see, but they are also thrown into some of the faster parts as well. The keyboard breaks in "Shairak Kinnumh" are an awesome example. I guarantee they'll get stuck in your head.

The drums are typical black metal. Some blasts here and there with plenty of fast paced hammering away. There isn't anything real special to point out about them. Except that the production of them is very good, especially when compared to the usual wet cardboard effect of lower-fi black metal. In fact, the production overall is very good. It is low-fi and dark, but not to the point of being stupid. Everything is mixed well with just the right amount of volume for each instrument.

In conclusion, there is not really any in particular flaws with this album. This album is EXCELLENT black metal. I only really took two points of for not being my favourite album of all time. Shame that Gehenna doesn't get much attention. Thanks for rekindling my love for metal, Gehenna.

**EDIT** On repeated listens this album does not grow anymore memorable, and particularly the second half does not excite me as much as when I first got it. There still are no real flaws to grasp onto, but it just is one of those albums that doesn't benefit from repeated listens. The atmosphere diminishes, but it is still well worth your time.

For excellent craftsmanship and great black metal aggression with a lot of unique flavor that sadly does kind of grow old after a while, Seen Through the Veils of Darkness gets a 77, or a 4 out of 5.

The Norwegian black metal scene was undoubtedly the biggest thing to ever happen in terms of black metal. It created a whole slew of bands and more or less cemented black metal as a metal genre (seeing as before it there were only a handful of black metal bands). Now, when we all think of the Norwegian black metal scene we all think Mayhem, Emperor and of course Immortal, but here is a band that was going strong with them but unfortunately, didn’t get as much coverage.

This album really is a great slab of symphonic black metal, almost rivaling Emperor’s In the Nightside Eclipse, in my opinion. It contains some amazingly grim and cold sounding synths and to be honest I believe this album is symphonicly stronger then anything Emperor have EVER put out. It contains all of this while also having a strong amount of melody and atmosphere to keep you absolutely entranced throughout the record. The guitar in Veils holds that ever so lovely black metal tone, the buzz-saw blade sound of the guitars from the tremolo chords and all; superb work in this department. The drumming is also absolutely godly, being highly diverse in the drum work as to not sound like a drum bot or generic black metal drummer, blast beating with the chaotic riffs, slow paced drumming for the more mellow moments and an impressive display of basic drumming for the more acute moments. Another thing I noticed on this record is that you can actually here the bass guitar! Amazing! Albeit, it’s not anything unique and just follows the guitar lines, but still, it gives the album a fullness that some black metal bands fail to do because of their lack of bass. Finally, the vocals are nothing unique sounding, but Dolgar utilizes that rasped screech perfectly to garner that ambience of a tortured soul. All together these form a melodic, grim framework for a great black metal album.

The lyrics on this album revolve around evil, death and plagues with a song dedicated to dark poetry a le’ Edgar Allen Poe. The lyrics aren’t terribly great, but considering some of the stupid lyrics that extreme metal has come up with, they were fairly decent. The production on this isn’t very good, perfect for black metal. It’s not bad enough that it’s incomprehensible like Darkthrone, but it’s bad enough to get that dark, cold black metal feel. The atmosphere of this record is a mixture of a little bit epic, very dark and cold as well as somewhat depressive, mostly attributed by the depressive synths. Veils is somewhat all over the place in terms of pace. There are some songs which are your usual chaotic black metal, while there are also some slower paced parts. The choruses are generally fairly catchy and one will find themselves muttering “a Witch is born” or “Ee are back forever’ when the songs are playing.

This album really is one of the better black metal albums I’ve ever heard and I would highly recommend it to anyone who just came off an Emperor or Limbonic Art binge or just to anyone trying to get into the black metal scene. Its mix of dark melody, tortured black metal aggression and encapsulating synths make this very well worth the listen.