Black Dominated Annihilation

Whenever I read about a record company pushing a cover artwork without the band's consent, the debated picture is always some stale, unimaginative parody of the genre's worst archetypes. As if an executive producer asshole in a suit and with unhealed childhood wounds in his briefcase declared himself as the sole enemy of successful careers. Look at this hideous, lazy and downright insulting painting which is used for Empaligon's only full length and tell me that someone didn't want to inflict as much damage as possible upon a very promising young band. Maybe it was personal and someone in the band stole his girlfriend, I don't know.

Empaligon played the exact opposite of the artwork's intended and downright laughable aesthetics. They were raw, so incredibly raw that even Gorgoroth's debut album hides in fear to this day. The vocals on this album are as shrill, inhuman and viscious as a robotic gollum after he snorted some coccaine and decided to massacre hobbit babies with a rusty horse inseminator and a toolbox for lumberjacks. Holy crap, this is some wonderfully evil screaming and there is no one who sounds like this guy. If there ever were vocals that deserved their reverb to enhance the flavor of wide open hellgrounds, these are it. The riffs are equally hateful and distorted but cary a dose of hopeless valleys and deadly caves with them. Most of the time, the simple power chords keep it to the point with their malicious minimalism and forget everything they could do about solos or melodic leads. That's their one and only job: To keep you in awe and in a steady supply of terror through speedy and dissonant waves of darkness. It most certainly can be a dull gathering if you are not in the mood for this, as there is no real joy, complexity or ambition to be found between the strings. It's all out war and it never stops.

One would naturally expect that some lame ass drum beat from Transylvanian Hunger would be recicled for this record until you bleed from both ears, but that's not the case at all. The man in charge of the sticks can blast. Like a motherfucker. He is fast as fuck, precise as a clock and has enough stamina to whip his boys over the horizon and into the next encampment of torturing flames and biting icewinds. Who is this guy? Why does no one know his name? It's a real shame. The bassdrums are not even digitally reformed to sound like the thinned out high wind clickety clackety of so many extreme bands, someone decided to keep them on the down low to break your stereo in half. Holy shit, that's ballsy.

Empaligon go to the extreme ends of black metals intention, they sound as cold, as lonely and as obsessed as possible without hiding behind some enforced simpleness. Their music is honestly distilled and actually "true", a word that I do not use lightly in these parts, believe me. The problem I found with this record is that of atmospheric connection. This was not made for easy listening or the bored, quiet sundays of life. The record only works in hours of raging anger and burning solitude, it is like a pill, only to be taken in very depressive circumstances of exhausted nihilism. Sometimes, I think of them as the black metal's equivalent of Enmity, a band of equal emptiness and conviction.

Empaligon did not reinvent the wheel with compositions never heard of and they did not make an album as grand and as all encompassing as the legends of the nineties, but someone or something really has done them wrong. Their music is to intense for the shelf of a second hand music store. Give it a try, for even the hour most sour needs a record to deflower. I am a black metal fan and sometimes this record is actually too dark and too evil for my taste. I can't think of a better compliment for a band of this wonderful genre.

Sublime holocaust black metal at its most vile describes this hidden gem of satanic malevolence. The darkest of storms is brewing, ready to obliterate gods creation with a lightning bolt from the tumultuous skies. This is stripped down black metal delivered with enraged conviction. Only a very few times in one’s lifetime does an album come along and deliver the payload on every extreme level (and then some) and Empaligon are the dark warriors leading the blitzkrieg charge of debaucherous black/speed metal.

I much prefer the reissued album to the original pressing which was released by Metal Age Records and that’s the first time in 30 years of blasting metal that I can make such a claim. The original release does this hate spawned album no fucking justice at all!!! Its overall presentation is totally lame, way too colourful and then looks like something the Disney corporation would put out. This would have been a fitting release for some soft cock power metal outfit. The label used the artwork without the bands permission and it's owner should be beheaded. What a fucking wimp. The re-release however showcases the bands true intent of darkness, satanic supremacy and total annihilation and all hail Autopsy Stench Records for finally doing this one supreme justice. This has to be the true Panzer Division of Satanic black metal as this Germany three piece rips into it from end to end. Everything is laid to waste 46 minutes after the funeral procession begins and their intentions are very clear - total fucking decimation and I honor their Christian slaying attitude.

The vocals are as unique to black metal as Albert Einstein was to Physics. No one in the hell realms of the deepest underground sounds anything like Imperator Odiham, he truly is the sworn servant of the dark lord. High pitched shrieks devour your being as he delivery his sermon of Satanic mayhem with treacherous wrath. Songs are bleak and destructive and give praise to mighty Lucifer and the glories of eons past. Fitting material for this ripping band. Then the drum barrage will pulverize you beyond recognition. This must be the fastest one can go without using a drum machine. Eternal (fitting name) must be fueled on a lethal cocktail of high octane ethanol and nitrous as this level of speed on the skins is unmatched in all of metal. Only the cymbals tone is somewhat annoying at times but overall it’s an artillery decimation on note. Awesome to behold, diverse and interesting. At times impossible to comprehend. An incredible effort.

Finally the guitar attacks by Nihilez are the rusty spear in the corpse of christ and finishes off the brutal massacre, they are just relentless. Shock wave after shock wave crushes the listener into submission, the rhythm sections tempered with hateful spite as they are cranked out at blinding pace. This album redefined the term hyper speed. It all comes together in a blizzard of metallic thunder, laying waste to all pretenders with its crushing speed. Hail the new Lords of the infernal realm.

Satan is diabolically pleased and this album heralds the dawn of a new breed. Invoke the dark age once more.

Buy or fucking die!!!

More than a decade ago, I laid eyes upon one of the cheesiest cover artworks of all time. I immediately asked the owner of the shop to give this album a spin, anticipating some laughable gothic infested amateurish trash (you know, the kind of bands you love to hate and make fun of). But HOLY hell, was I wrong. Sure, people who regard black metal as ridiculous in general will find no exception in this, but the blasting hellfire delivered here is at least miles away from sounding weak or tame.

The hyperfast songs of this relentless album are driven by the very effective drumming. The blast beats do not lose any of their initial power and impact throughout the album, which is something I could only say about a handful of releases. The songwriting is simplistic to say the least. Even without using keys, the band invokes images of roaring black organs in the deep by use of constant droning guitar walls. The vocals are very shrieky and thus the main reason for some people to dismiss this album. However, if you dig them, look forward to one of the most brutal nightly raids in black metal history.

There is absolutely zero subtlety to be found here and only one song (Lakes of Lava) differs from the rest of the bunch (get ready for this: it is played slower!!!). The drums sound like a permanent bombardment and the lyrics are as standard as an inverted crucifix around a black metaller's neck. Slaying angels, riding on firestorms and eclipsing the sun - we've all been there, yet this time the music actually sounds like it (seriously, Dark Funeral, Marduk, etc. may sound more professional but most definitely not darker).

All riffs follow the same pattern, sinister melodies somewhere between Transilvanian Hunger and prime time Moonblood, typical power chord warfare. There are few tempo shifts to be found, mainly just short and catchy mid tempo sections that increase the momentum of the songs without changing the overall mood.

This is the kind of album that every metalhead should have at least two or three of in his collection (for showing guests why you are so damn hardcore), which leads to the only criticism I can think of. Nothing here is new or could even be called the band's very own idea - maybe except for the outstanding, uncompromising delivery. "Black Dominated Annihilation" is perfect for what it is supposed to be, but it also paints a very limited picture of what black metal sounds like (and I think these two things go hand in hand in this case). The re-release has a much better and more fitting cover artwork, so there is really no excuse to skip this one. It is pure unadulterated fun.