Unseen Age of War

From the depths of the Finnish woods comes the true black metal band Diaboli with this great compilation which displays to us how to play raw black metal. This masterpiece consists of three parts on the strength of musical style. 23 songs can be found on this CD including some intro / outro items. The first 10 songs are quite fast and violent thrashing black assaults, basically inspired by the first Bathory album, but with a specific depressive atmosphere. These are previously unreleased items and two of them are covers from Destruction (Invincible Force) and Bathory (War). Although according to the inner cover the 9th and 10th songs were recorded in October 1988, in my personal opinion it is a mistake. The band has been founded in 1992 (under the name of Sigillum Diaboli) and both sound and style of these songs are very close to the first 8 songs which were recorded in 1999 and in the same studio (Fullmoon), so the correct date of recording must be 1998. Songs from 12th to 17th are influenced by Hellhammer mostly, especially the sound of drums. Guitar themes and the rate of music are also similar but guitar sound is an entire necro swish. By the way, the 16th song is the cover of Hellhammer classic The Third of the Storms (Evoked Damnation). The „Nordic” version of Chaos, Thy must prepare to fall and Supreme can be found on debut album namely Mesmerized by Darkness. At the end of the CD there is Descent into Hell from 1992 which is a kind of obscure black / death metal. Sound is more powerful than in the foregoing and vocals are nearer to death metal. The macabre atmosphere is occasionally raised by mysterious keys from the background. This CD is dedicated to the memory of former vocalist Grimn’R who has committed suicide in 2001, at the age of 26.