The Somberlain

The Somberlain really broke the mold when it came to melody, black metal, and the Swedish scene in general. Nothing like this had been attempted before, and even Dissection's follow ups don't have this kind of feel. I want to draw some parallels with Tiamat's Astral Sleep, in terms of the acoustics and dark atmosphere, but Dissection are much blacker and more metal than those guys (not to mention infinitely better musicians--Jon Nodtveidt in particular, but we'll get to that).

Let me really underline the professionalism on display of the musicians here. Everything is tight and on top of that, the structures and arrangements are masterfully executed, with every single note chosen and played perfectly. The longer numbers don't drag on in the least, even when it takes something like three and a half minutes before "Black Horizons" to get to the first verse. The layers of guitars take on a nearly classical feel, something Iron Maiden and Metallica had pioneered, yet Dissection have managed to bring to perfection on their debut. The title track has this amazing break where there are three different guitar lines going at the same time with some of the greatest lines ever in metal:

"I flew over crystal ground
My existence numb
Over orchards of grievance
Sorrow and tears
This beautiful silence
It calls me now"

Shit, that's some real poetry. Especially when you contrast it with the part where Jon proclaims his desire to commit arson upon Heaven itself in "Heaven's Damnation," the most raging of numbers of the album, though it does conclude with another Zwetsloot interlude. I'd say that "Heaven's Damnation" and "The Grief Prophecy / Shadows over a Lost Kingdom" are both the heaviest and weakest songs on the album, although that's like pointing out the least hot women in Kyiv. The rest have some great doomy moments, either in the lyrics that express sadness alongside the evil, or the actual riffs, like the chorus of "Frozen" or the verse riff of "Mistress of Bleeding Sorrow." Sweden is, after all, the domain of Candlemass, those bastard children of the absolute masters (Black Sabbath), so it's a genius move to add some of their DNA to this masterpiece. There also seems to be a strong Mercyful Fate feel in the Byzantine nature of the structures, melodies, and acoustic interplay--and Mercyful Fate may damn well be the best pure heavy metal band (alongside Sortilege, of course!), so that Danish influence only helps the Somberlain: every one of the riffs and melodies are memorable and extremely tasteful.

John Zwetsloot, who would soon depart after this album, provides three instrumental acoustic numbers that really tie the album together and divide it into three chunks. His classical guitar skills are evident, and I would imagine he aided Nodtveidt in some of the more challenging arrangements. Apart from a few tremolo sections, this sophistication would really separate Swedish black metal with the Norwegian variety, and the Somberlain definitely relies more on updated classic metal elements than what was happening over the border. Dan Swano's clean production highlights the precision of Dissection, a clear contrast to the works Greighallen was pumping out at this time. Apparently, Jon Nodtveidt's preparedness for recording impressed Dan himself. I would be surprised, too, when a bunch of kids barely 20 wrote, let alone recorded this in my studio.

The Somberlain is nothing short of a masterpiece. Both of the first two Dissection albums really captured their artwork: Storm of the Light's Bane feels like a cold, yet beautiful wasteland of death, and this sounds like the Transylvanian epic unfolding on the cover and in the castle picture in the booklet. There's a gloom not present on Storm, probably due to the greater emphasis on riffs and moody passages. Compare it with debuts by Sacramentum, Dawn, or even Opeth, and it becomes clear that Dissection had the perfect alignment of darkness, sophistication, and directness that also characterized Metallica's sophomore and third albums in the thrash world.

I love Dissection. Always have. They were the most influential in pushing me into the endless pandemonium of extreme metal music during my formative metalhead years. While it may have been the majestic and much more lauded Storm of the Light’s Bane that led me on this path of utter chaos and darkness, the moment I laid my eyes on the deeply evocative and mysterious cover of The Somberlain, I felt sucked into its black canopy of endless evil and beauty. The title track, despite its evil dispositions, seemed to gently grab my hand and take me on a transcendental journey beyond the living, a place of immense rest and rather odd tranquility where I witnessed a gradual numbing of my senses as if darkness was slowly and gently consuming me in its comforting grasp... That exotic melodic intro resounding in my ears, followed by complete black metal chaos and resorting, again, to a soothing and hypnotising melodic effect with expressive undertones had a striking effect on my impressionable mind. That moment onwards, there was no looking back...

But even before this hauntingly beautiful and mesmerising song, there's another equally spectacular one in Black Horizons, the album opener. Replete with its dark and forbidding intro signalling the foreboding doom and then opening into a wide expanse of some of the most exquisite guitar melodies I've listened to, it's one of the finest songs composed in all of metal - the magic starts at the four-minute mark when that short acoustic passage, very flush-fitting and beautifully wrought, surfaces and leads to the elongated instrumental section, where the intertwined riffs and melodies sound ethereal and cocoon you in their hypnotising effect, your suppressed senses not wanting this beautiful harmony to ever end. Dissection has always been praised to have some of the most unique and beautiful guitar melodies but another aspect where they're in their own elite league is the acoustic passages, some of the smoothest to behold and very elemental to mood shifts within a song's setting. The softer and acoustic parts are pressed on even further on the short little instrumental numbers in between the longer and main songs, serving good respite from the chaos and expanding on the mysterious tendencies of the album.

The guitars are dark and quite sinister in their tone, but equally beautiful. They are, of course, the most dominant element in the sound, deploying hammering black metal riffs to usher in unfettered chaos and momentarily slowing down to a doom metal style of pace, as observed on the closing sections of A Land Forlorn and In the Cold Winds of Nowhere. Not only do these somber sections sound sublime, they also evoke a certain dread within, a feeling that's both warm and dark in its nature. What exacerbates that is the bass, surprisingly clearly audible on an album such as this. The production’s a bit muddy but the basslines are sonorous and clear-cut, bestowing a distinctively melancholic aura to the album's undertones and sounding absolutely appealing in the most relevant sections. It's such a pleasure that despite all the distortion and the wall of sound effect, they managed to emphasise the bass and made it an important part of the sound. The drums are equally fun to witness. I'm personally not a big fan of the snare sound and the drumming style, I think, cannot be labelled as black metal's tighest or most exotic, but the relatively easygoing attitude means there's an odd charm to moments of frenzy when Ole Öhman decides to give it his all and confers some neat, fast and unique drum fills; the judicious use of double bass is very appealing, too.

What strikes me as this album's finest characteristic is how effortless it feels in its execution of evil; I still enjoy a good amount of Norwegian black metal but even I'll admit that it tries a bit too much to be acknowledged as evil and sometimes comes across as rather cheesy and hilarious in that pursuit. Not the case with Dissection. The unmistakable evil they achieve in their music feels totally natural and effortless, as if the band members were born for this and their instruments were possessed with a dark, black aura when recording this album. It's definitely one of the darkest albums I've listened to that's right up there with early Bathory or Mercyful Fate or Slayer's Hell Awaits as paragons of simple and natural evil. The lyrics are in a similar vein, capturing the darker themes and a nod to the pretentious nineties movement of satan and evil worship, though this isn't made super-obvious in the writing style. However, the likes of Black Horizons, The Somberlain, In the Cold Winds of Nowhere and Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow are actually beautifully written and rather poetic in their nature; celebration of death or mourning a dead spouse is kind of reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works and this, at times, actually seems like the ideal album for him to listen to if black metal was a thing in the 1800s.

To think that Jon Nödtveidt was only 18 at the time of this album's release beggars belief. Yes, he had some very talented musicians surrounding him as part of this band and together they were able to achieve a sound that's unique and distinctive but there's no denying that Nödtveidt was the principal force behind the band's direction. One can disagree with his beliefs and opinions on certain things or maybe even disdain him for his actions but there's no taking away the sheer musical depth he possessed; his knack for such a style of music gave us two of the best black metal albums of all time, albums that in a way gave birth to a new genre of black metal altogether. His extreme metal vocals are some of the coolest and wickedest too, this side of David Vincent, almost as if the devil himself has taken possession of the microphone. Oddly enough, I come pretty close to his vocal style in my bathroom singing sessions where I recalcitrantly shred air guitars and go haywire in thrashing imaginary snares. I was so obsessed with this album at one point that I remembered nearly every lyrical bit, every guitar note, every drum fill and all the delightful basslines. Still do.

All these years and I still don't know what that name The Somberlain exactly means; my best guess is that it's a weird wordplay of "somber" and "lane", apparently embodying a solo quest on an uninhabited path or something of the sort, but my guess is as good as anyone's. What I surprisingly, and importantly, realised as of this writing is that this album just turned 30! Goodness me, it wasn't even 25 when I first discovered it. Where the hell's time flying to? But even all these seemingly fleeting years cannot blemish its rock-solid credibility. Just like what it was then, a far superior record than anything that took inspiration from it or sounded remotely close, it still reigns triumphant over all of modern meloblack metal. Popularity polls may often have Storm of the Light’s Bane overshadow it as the definitive melodic black metal sound and there's some truth to that, but the sheer beauty and unhinged darkness on The Somberlain remains unparalleled. I think SOtLB is the better overall album but The Somberlain has better individual songs. For all its beauty, it remains formidable nonetheless but once you give in to the enveloping limitless darkness, there's no coming back.

Recommendations: Black Horizons, The Somberlain, A Land Forlorn, In the Cold Winds of Nowhere and Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow, as well as the sweet little instrumental tunes. Truly fantastic and mesmerising songs.

About a year ago, I reviewed Dissection's second album "Storm of the Light's Bane", in which I basically proclaim it as the best album in the melodic black metal genre. Since then, I've heard some albums that have come close to SOTLB's quality, but the points I made in that review still hold up well. However, until now, I haven't done an in-depth look on their debut album "The Somberlain", which was released just two years before SOTLB and right when the black metal craze was at its peak in terms of its controversies. Since it's kind of a slow day, I figured I'd review this album and see how it would lay the footprints for its more superior successor.

Beginning with the instruments, one thing to note is that this record sound noticeably different from SOTLB, as shown right in the first track "Black Horizons". This 8-minute epic starts off with an ambient sound that is quickly snuffed out by the guitars and drums. The guitars riffs do sound melodic, but they are less epic in sound and more raw and cold, making the riffs sound more harsh, but still melodic. The drums are also more primitive in its sound, and its beat patterns are more chaotic and simplistic in technicality. The bass in particular is easily the weakest part of it all, as it's inaudible much of the time and doesn't do anything special. This might make The Somberlain sound very weak on paper when it comes to the instrumentals, but that's not the case at all. When the guitar riffs take on a more melodic approach, they are executed wonderfully, as it does push through its melodic atmosphere through its limit. Not that some of the more brutal riffs are terrible, but the true highlights do stem from their more melodic moments. "Black Horizons" is no doubt an excellent track, but "The Somberlain", "A Land Forlorn", and "In the Cold Winds of Nowhere" are also just as strong. And that's not even mentioning the acoustic guitar tracks like "Into Infinite Obscurity" and "Feathers Fell", which do offer a more calming atmosphere from the rather abrasive tone of the metal tracks. The instrumentals of The Somberlain might not be as pretty as their next album, but they still does sound fantastic, especially with their melodic moments.

The vocals are also pretty different. Jon Nödtveidt pushed his vocals to some great heights in SOTLB, which contrasts the vocals on the debut heavily. His shrieking sounds more raw and authentic, and lacks some of the nice production of SOTLB. This is especially the case in "The Grief Prophecy / Shadows over a Lost Kingdom", in which the track has a more traditional black metal style with some melodic touches. Jon reflects this style well with his shrieking that echoes a bit, making his cries of the prophecies sound more urgent and evil. There are a couple of hiccups in the flow, but they're minor and don't affect the overall delivery too much. Even though Jon hasn't reached his peak in his voice yet, he still does provide a fantastic vocal performance with might.

The lyrics are also great too. I remember finding the lyrics on this album to be okay, but nothing special. Looking back at them now, they're a lot better than what I remembered a year ago. Take the lyrics to the track "The Somberlain" for example, where this verse quotes:

I flew over crystal ground
My existence, numb
Over orchards of grievance
sorrow and tears
This beautiful silence
calls me now

This verse is about flying over a crystalized land as the person flyer comes to what calls him. The songwriting is generally more simple in its descriptions and does leave a bit of room for interpretation, and that might be where I found a problem back then. However, I think it does work here, as with the simplistic descriptions, your mind does paint a cool, yet dark picture of the Somberlain that I don't think you could've accomplished with more detailed verses. And that's not mentioning that these lyrics work really well when paired up with the instrumentals, as the melodic guitar riffs and shrieks of Jon do enhance the mixed tones of the story even more. While the songwriting here isn't as complex as SOTLB, it's still effective in its storytelling.

Overall, the general tone of this album is more simple and easy-going than SOTLB. While the guitars are more harsher, the instrumentals are generally laid back, Jon's vocals are more basic, and the songwriting is simplified. It might not be the epic beast like SOTLB, but as far as albums that are simple, yet effective in their melodic styles go, I think The Somberlain does this job really well. I highly recommend you check this album out if you're looking for a slightly different take on the SOTLB sound.

Dissection has always been a complicated band to me, my first encounter with them was with the famous Storm of the Light's Bane and I have to admit that I got bored on the first listenings and I left them quite aside. Some time later I listened to a couple of Dissection songs on random playlists, and they caught my attention, they belonged to the album “The Somberlain” so I decided to give them a try.

After listening to the main discography several times, I think I can say that this is the most complete album Dissection has ever released. All that is concentrated on this album is what for me should always be Dissection, fast yet melodic songs, multitude of intervals, winter and night atmosphere and a medieval touch, this last one thanks to the acoustic intervals of John Zwetsloot. And it is this last one that I consider that more credit deserves in the brief golden age of Dissection, the album opens with “Black Horizons” that is next to “Heaven's Damnation” the best track of the album, and in both you can find the authorial presence of Zwetsloot. Both themes are very much based on the diversity and progression of the theme and also have a deep atmosphere. His songs in general are for me the best part of the album, the keyboard part in “Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow” is a highlight of the work. The rest of the compositions are for me where the rest of the album loses strength.

I consider the first half of the album the most remarkable, from "Frozen" the rest of the songs are a bit weaker, except the already mentioned "Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow" and the instrumental interludes. The second half is more repetitive and I think it resorts too much to melodic sequences that although they are very beautiful do not really reach any special point. But it makes sense since this album was built from songs already released on demos and the songwriting talents were yet too mature.

Another complaint I have about this album is the use of the instrumentals. They are good, and they give the album a charisma that the rest don't have, but I don't understand the way they use them, in fact, you could say that they don't give them any kind of use, they seem more like fillers when they could be more than that " Feathers Fell" is at least used as an outro, and "Heaven's Damnation" has one of these instrumental models in his closing seconds but "Crimson Towers" and "Into Infinity Obscurity" don't play any role and I think it's a waste.

This album had all the right elements to become a classic, but these were not used in its entirety in the right way, but this did not have to be a bad thing, the members were young and this was their first album, they still had a lot to prove and with the experience gained from this album, the next one raised some great expectations. . . . That for some reason were not met.

To the layperson, blackened death metal may look like a tagline too far. But even a casual sampling of artists tasked with playing this style should make one see the light (or the black). Take the ear candy of melodic death metal, the euphoria or Iron Maiden, add a smattering of gothic melodrama to the riffs, lyrics, and vocals, and combine this with an excess of tremolo strumming, and you get some way to encapsulating this style. Or at least how it differs from either black or death metal.

Sweden’s Dissection need no introduction. Mired in controversy and eventually ritual suicide, they are responsible for two of the best known and most universally loved Swedish metal albums going. The first of these, 1993’s ‘The Somberlain’, tends to live in the shadows of the follow up ‘Storm of Light’s Bane’ (1995); and I for one have always been conflicted about which is the superior release. The heights of the first half of ‘The Somberlain’ may be higher, but it is the less consistent release.

‘The Somberlain’ boasts some heavy weight metal anthems, broken up by minimalist baroque acoustic interludes that perfectly break down the album into bitesize chunks. The guitar tone for the metal tracks is sharp and clear enough to bring out the complexity of the twin guitar leads. The drums however, at least the snare drum, is too tinny for music of this pace and intensity. The playing is creative and competent, but the snare clashes with the sharpness of the guitars which means the latter is at times lost in the middle, especially during the faster passages. An attempt has been made to compensate for this by lathering the snare with reverb, which only serves to draw yet more undue attention to it. Vocals are a standard mid-range rasp that allow the lyrics to carry forward without distracting from the music.

However, the music is captivating enough to soar above such small quibbles over production. After the massive opener and title track the album slows somewhat, and disappointingly seems to lose momentum. There are plenty of decent riffs and leads to sink your teeth into certainly, but they are trapped amongst too many off-the-shelf metal riffs that are ultimately forgettable. I hesitate to call them filler, because Dissection set the bar so high for the first third of ‘The Somberlain’ that by comparison tracks like ‘Frozen’ and ‘In the Cold Winds of Nowhere’ just cannot compete. It must also be said that by the second half of the album that snare sound becomes tiresome. It would work on a harsher album, but melody and layered composition are the aim of the game here, and anything not in service of this is an unwanted distraction. It would be unfair to say that this is a front-heavy album and all else is filler however. There are many riffs to love scattered throughout and its place in history is well earned.

But this style is capable of so much more. I do not resent Dissection’s fame, as a popular take on an extreme metal style they played it very well. They also mastered the art of consistency on their legendary follow-up ‘Storm of Light’s Bane’. It’s just that when it comes to blackened death metal, underneath the surface there were many more artists, perhaps with less exciting album titles, that just played it straight up better. See Sacrementum, Dawn, and Kvist for examples.

Originally published at Hate Meditations

No doubt, the world has seen a lot of sick minds - and Jon Nödtveidt belonged to the prime examples of this species. Usually, I put a "R.I.P." behind the name of a dead musician, but I am not quite sure whether Nödtveidt ever wanted to rest in peace. Guess he was just seeking another cosmos where he could bring his entire destructive energy to life. I do not know exactly whether he has found this place, but I am sure that his music is still relevant for legions of metal fans and, even more remarkable, thousands of genre musicians. Dissection have left a highly influential legacy which consists of two parts, "The Somberlain" and "Storm of the Light's Bane". The rest is not worth mentioning, at least from my point of view. Therefore, I am happy that this review deals with the debut of the Swedish legend.

Honestly, I am not totally convinced of "The Somberlain". It is no perfect album. Nevertheless, it holds some more or less perfect songs. The epic double strike at the beginning boasts with ingenious designs, fantastic sections full of fury, great melodies and a massive dose of flawlessly integrated breaks and tempo changes. The falsetto of King Quartz is missing, but the atmosphere of the songs matches the artwork which lies in close proximity to that of "Abigail". "Hey coachman, which road do you take?" - "Dear guest, this route will lead us directly into everlasting perdition." - "Thanks a lot, I just wanted to know it."

But neither "Black Horizons" nor the title track marks the absolute climax. Well hidden on the eighth position, "In the Cold Winds of Nowhere" sends shivers down my spine and a layer of ice covers my skin immediately. Immortal have written some great and icy tracks, but even if Demonaz stays overnight in his top performance fridge, he will not achieve the level of coldness that these winds create. By far not. The main riffing seems to be the melting pot of all Dissection-compatible feelings. It expresses stress, desperation, mercilessness and negativity in abundance. Furthermore, it illustrates the murderously effective guitar sound of the album and the speedy instrumental part adds a strict and straight component to the song. Although this classic is more compact than its big brothers at the beginning of the running order, it evokes the same massive amount of emotions and becomes a blessing and a curse at the same time. The remaining tracks stand in its shadow. And I am talking about the regular tracks, not about the pretty useless instrumental, acoustic guitar intermezzos.

The regular songs show really good facets of pretty melodic death / black metal, but they fail to score with ingenious elements. The tempo changes work and give the whole album a dynamic touch. Nobody can deny that the young Nödtveidt and his co-authors had admirable compositional skills. Therefore, the guitars create interesting, atmospheric riffs in abundance, but the somewhat complicated songs lack accessibility, at least to a certain degree. In comparison with its successor, it gets clear that Dissection had (minimal) difficulties to come directly to the point at this stage of their career. I do not ask for less complex song structures, but "Storm of the Light's Bane" shines with a higher effectiveness. Anyway, in order to bring this review to a correct end, I must say that the well, but not superb produced "The Somberlain" is a really strong album and its impact is still being felt. You say I am too critical? Well, maybe I also belong to the sick minds I have mentioned in the first paragraph.

Through the mists of time it was decided amongst the fans of black metal that the sub-genre had to be lo fidelity for the sake of atmosphere. No one really questioned it that much, it was just what you did. Then along come these Swedes (the same nationality as General Quorthon might I add) who decide to hell with that, we're gonna make black metal that sounds crisp, clear and given the production values of a Judas Priest record. The really fucked up thing is, it worked!

The common narrative amongst so called "true" black metal fans is while The Somberlain is the classic of Dissection's career whereas Storm of the Light's Bane is trying too hard to sound mainstream. Never mind the fact that SotLB is about on average 80bpm faster than this one, but this album is catchier. Honestly, The Somberlain is the more rock & roll of the two (and there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever).

The sound here can best be described as cold. Not quite as cold as say, At The Heart of Winter, which has the ambience of someone leaving the door wide open of a giant crystal palace, but you will experience hypothermia when listening to this. Some of the people who foolishly believe this is death metal think this is a placebo effect brought about but the dark blue tinted album cover. My response is that album cover was chosen as part of the artistic statement. Jon wanted to make black metal, not flood the death metal market even more than it was in 1993.

Highlights: Black Horizons is a fantastic opener and a very strong candidate for the best Dissection song ever. At 4:16 we have what can only be described as a black metal break. Yes, a black metal breakdown, you read that correctly. Granted this is Dissection we're talking about, so it is a brief acoustic moment before the song kicks back in, but it is brief enough for you to adjust your neck for more headbanging rather than wonder why traffic has stopped. Things get even weirder with a longer acoustic breakdown which is punctuated by, of all things, a King Diamond high note followed by some exquisite vocal harmonies. When you really look at it, quite a few rules of black metal are being broken here, but it doesn't matter because everything that happens here simply rocks. The title track has a morbidly sublime opening harmony that gives way to some half-Kreator, half-Tormentor blackened thrash insanity. That gives way to a crimson aurora buffet of Iron Maiden-esque doom (things X-Factor should have sounded like ex. #1241) around 2:26. Then THAT gives way to the frightening return of Mille Petrozza's world famous Riot of Violence bandsaw at 3:35 to split James Bond and Goldfinger's giant golden slab in half. Great shit all around. The best guest spot award goes to whoever laid down that sublime Super Nintendo sounding keyboard solo in Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow. Some instruments are just tonally perfect, and that moment is kissing the fingers at Louis restaurant in the Bronx after having the veal.

Every black metal band who decided they were tired of atmospheric trappings and wanted to make something with a sound that would blow your speakers owes a war crime bearer bond to The Somberlain. Far Away From The Sun, Darkside, At The Heart of Winter, Sons of Northern Darkness, none of those would be able to exude the haunted mansion constructed from crystal shard madness without this album. Of course, the music is great too, so you should buy it for that reason.

In the early 90’s Swedish death metal was at its popular peak. Entombed, Grave, Dismember, Unleashed and co were pounding out slabs of thick and heavy demise for the ears of their minions. All was well in the land of the dalahäst, in other words. This gory scene laid the foundation for the genre’s evolution into even darker realms, into spheres of sophistication and the occult, into haunting melodies and epic soundscapes, into the magnificent world of the likes of Unanimated, Necrophobic, Decameron and of course the almighty Dissection. “The Somberlain”, D’s first full-length, was one of the first and is still one of the best examples of quality melodious Swedish death metal with a blacker atmosphere than the all-out death of the forefathers mentioned at the top. For me this is as much a classic as “Left Hand Path” or “Like an Everflowing Stream” is, as this record took the extreme music scene on a walk along a path never trod before, and it was the first full chapter of the transcendent testament Jon Nödtveidt’s genial abyss of a mind forged and left for us mere mortals to perceive.

Finding a balance between evil thrashing, catchy melodies, Satanic pounding and epic arrangements is not easy. Here it is almost brought to perfection, and most of the songs were written when mastermind Nödtveidt was between 14 and 17 years old! Makes your mind boggle… Most of the songs are hit material deluxe and possess lots and lots of super-quality riffs and melodies. If there ever was blackness which was both evil and beautiful at the same time, it was this disc. Only surpassed by its sequel… The number of amazing guitar riffs and leads thrown on this disc is mind-blowing, not a second goes by without some hook grabbing at you. Everything is well-played, though not mechanically as there is life (death) to the articulation. The only minus comes from the somewhat sloppily played acoustic interludes done by Zwetsloot.

Speaking of sloppily played... Ole Öhman is one of the most untight extreme metal drummers I’ve ever heard, but he’s also one of the most fun to listen to. Lots of creative fills and beats played with passion, though not with much precision – that is, when analyzed today. Back then he was at least average in that regard as well. I have no clue as to how much of a dictator Nödtveidt was on the drum front, but no matter who made up the arrangements, he made them well.

The production is raw. Very raw. Not the heaviest production out there, but that wouldn’t suit Dissection’s music at all anyway. The guitars have a very nasty edge to them, which makes them cut through well in the mix. The bass is muddled somewhere in the background, the snare drum has an OK sound in the middle and the kicks assault you up front together with the vocals, which are very clear and pristine sounding. Jon Nödtveidt has always been one of my favorite extreme metal vocalists. His articulation is unsurpassed and the wicked edge to his screams always conjure up images of evil demons in my head. Here he hadn’t reached his full potential yet, but still easily gets a perfect score. Yes, exactly.

The lyrical themes are strength and ascent to divinity through darkness, despair, and death. Absorb and relinquish your weakness and become the great black flame. It is obvious here already that Jon was enthralled by the afterlife, and his lyrics prophesy his demise. Poetically and passionately written, though somewhat amateurishly at times (keep in mind he was 15-17 years of age while penning these) they still convey his emotions very well. Also to be found are more aggressive anti-Christian calls to war such as “Heaven’s Damnation”:

Watch the sky, the crimson tears of heaven
Fade to black, and welcome the night of all nights

Being the egocentric bastard I am, I’ll quote myself: “If there ever was blackness which was both evil and beautiful at the same time, it was this disc”. The atmosphere on “The Somberlain” is pure evil, divine and blasphemous. This is a milestone not just in death/black metal but in all music, a truly sophisticated work of lustrous black art.

Storm of the Light's Bane advanced Dissection's sound to a new tier of confidence and intensity. It offered their most memorable songs, and it's definitely the first album I'd refer to a tentative newcomer, should anyone yet remain uninitiated to the band. All the same, I hold The Somberlain as the better of the two 'original' Dissection records. Why? Unlike its more song-based successor, The Somberlain keeps its focus on riffs, despondent, unrelenting, and eerily beautiful. Despite the mythology that's built up around the band, Jon Nödtveidt, and their association with the Temple of the Black Light, the greatest thing about Dissection has always been the guitarwork, which continues to stand out amidst a subsequent horde of sycophantic copycats. The Somberlain is every bit as well-realized as Storm of the Light's Bane, but there's a more consistently piercing urgency in the music here I think was lost when they matured their sound.

To be honest, I've never regarded Dissection with the same exultation as others do, and am still only half-convinced that Storm of the Light's Bane deserves half of the acclaim it gets. All the same, The Somberlain manages to stand out. It's among the few Second Wave albums that would sound as strong released today as it did back then. All of that, keeping in consideration that it had a large hand in starting this genre's melodic subset. Although they hadn't opted for full-blown Iron Maiden harmonies as they did on Storm of the Light's Bane, it's still worthwhile to consider how daring it was for a black metal band to hug so close to metal's melodic traditions. By 1995, black metal was well-established and practically untouchable. But in 1993? The formative turbulence was in full swing, and there was still some lingering concern as to how it might stand apart from other genres. Dissection openly parlays with traditional heavy metal on this album. A shrill falsetto paired with the guitars' mid-paced gallop someways into "Black Horizons" sounds like it may have been drawn from some time balls-deep in the 80s. Even when Dissection are conjuring metal conventions however, there's an unmistakable sense of evil and foreboding. Though it's undeniably polished for its style and especially its era, the album's guitars still sound appropriately cold and raw. The emphasis on relatively straightforward riffmaking does not belie the album's black atmosphere. Despite their youth lack of direct precedents, Dissection did not pull any punches on this one.

Jon Nödtveidt's decade-or-so of musical experience, paired with Dissection's early demos and his tenure in Satanized had resulted in this notorious frontman knowing very well how to put a riff together by the time it came to conjure The Somberlain. Listening to "Black Horizons", it would have been apparent within minutes that this band was onto something different compared to most of their Scandinavian contemporaries. Although the blackened tone is never in question, I'm actually most reminded of Opeth's masterpiece Morningrise. That album struck me as a parade of anxiety-stricken riffs, interspersed with welcome acoustic respites; The Somberlain may be described very similarly. While "Black Horizons", "The Somberlain" and "A Land Forlorn" stand out as excellent tracks, I wouldn't say this album has the same immaculately structured compositions as its predecessor, nothing like "Night's Blood" or "Thorns of Crimson Death" at least. The use of riffs here is less pristinely tactical than it would be, but that's one thing I really like about The Somberlain. Though the album feels imbalanced in the way it offers its best (and longest) eggs all at the start, the music is jam-packed with riffs in a way a more rational songwriter may have done without.

Comparisons between this, and Storm of the Light's Bane are likely to be brought up until the modern world is nuked to extinction, or mankind somehow evolves past the point for subjective argument. Neither option seems probable anytime soon, so I'll leave by saying one isn't necessarily better than the other. The Somberlain's certainly my favourite, and there are less things that overly bug me about it, but I can't help but think Dissection's maturity come their second album was a very good thing. For a notably chaotic individual with an accordingly chaos-based philosophy, Jon Nödtveidt's music grew closer to order with each new release. For a melodic and otherwise straightforward album, The Somberlain actually sounds unpredictable at times. As the relevant philosophy progressed towards ever-darker regions, Nödtveidt's songwriting contrarily grew more rational and centered. As I've said before, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but in terms of sheer atmosphere, evocativeness and consistency, no later work from Dissection could surpass the debut.

If I was going to say which is my favourite death and black metal scene ever, then surely it is Swedish! Why? Well, the answer is simple: just look at how many amazing, classic bands and albums this country has spawned in past 30 years! It is unbelievable and totally influential. And if I was going to mention which are three or five my favourite and important Swedish bands, then Dissection would surely be among them. It is undisputable how great influence the music of Jon Nödtveidt had on countless bands and that Dissection was responsible for creating something exceptional within the death and black metal scene. It’s one of those names, which you simply must know. So, let’s write some words on the classic debut album of the Swedish band titled “The Somberlain”! Oh yes, this is some fantastic stuff and probably the best thing, which Jon Nödtveidt composed (with great help of other band members of corpse, who on this record were John Zwetsloot, Peter Palmdahl and Ole Öhman).

It is fascinating that so many bands from these early days – and that obviously includes Dissection as well! – had already such a unique, recognisable sound and style already in the demo stages. You play “The Grief Prophecy” or “The Somberlain” and you just know this is Dissection; no other band was playing something alike to them (Necrophobic may have been close sometimes, but they were different anyway… and all those followers like Sacramentum, Dawn or Vinterland were great, but yes, they were followers!), no one else had such songs, which had such unique structures and arrangements. And even the voice of Jon Nödtveidt sounded different! And so damn amazing hehe! Already the first two songs, which open the album are enough to call it a classic, legendary LP! They are “Black Horizon” and “The Somberlain” – surely two best tracks here in my opinion. I just love their melodies combined with aggression and dark atmosphere, harsh vocals and it is simply impressive how built they are. It is not simple verse / chorus type of rock song; there are many fantastic, lengthy instrumental pieces, killer guitar work, which delivers insanely memorable harmonies, plenty awesome riffs, some extra parts played on acoustic guitar… Surely classic heavy metal of such Iron Maiden must have had an influence on building such songs, because it is not a common harsh, simple, primitive black / death metal. But what I especially love about Dissection and “The Somberlain” LP is that it may be melodic and atmospheric in many parts, but it doesn’t forget also about being damn obscure and aggressive. That’s the main strength of Dissection, I think.

So, “Black Horizon” and “The Somberlain” are amazing songs, but obviously the album has more to offer. All in all it is 45 minutes long material and damn, basically every song here is a winner like “Frozen”, “The Grief Prophecy / Shadows over a Lost Kingdom” and “Heaven’s Damnation”! But hey, what’s the point mentioning all these titles, if the whole LP is so killer and high quality? And more so, on top of everything that I mentioned, I also really love the production of “The Somberlain”… and that nice artwork of Necrolord is also a piece of art. All together, this album, just like all similar classic extreme metal records, deserves 100 out of 100, no less!

I must also mention that I was lucky to buy an ultimate vinyl edition of “The Somberlain”, released by The End Records in 2006. And it is simply astonishing, breathtaking release! Why is it called an ultimate edition? Just look at all the bonuses! Great booklet with some huge photos, lyrics and it’s also a double LP. Vinyl number one is the album, but vinyl number two gather many truly essential early Dissection recordings, which are: “The Grief Prophecy” demo 1990, “Into Infinite Obscurity” 7" EP, “Demo 1992” plus some live and rehearsal songs. So yes, it is a ultimate reissue and a perfect collection of the best what Dissection had to offer, especially as those demos and EP sound also fantastic, I especially love “Into Infinite Obscurity” EP, especially “Son of the Mourning”. You can hear how amazingly the music of Dissection was evolving, how it was getting better and better. But the demo and EP also sound fantastic; sure, their production is harsh and crude, but I simply love it! So, if I was going to recommend you buying any version of “The Somberlain” then it would surely be this one, with all these bonus stuff. Ha, killer!!!!

Standout tracks: “Black Horizon”, “The Somberlain”
Final rate: 95/100

Around the time of the release of “The Somberlain,” Sweden was experiencing a massive output of death metal. There were the giants of the genre and there were even more bands releasing demos left and right. Dissection, though, would embrace the darker sounds of black metal and help spawn a whole new wave of terrific bands from the country in Sacramentum, Arckanum, Lord Belial, Vinterland, etc. When metalheads usually discuss which of Dissection’s first two albums are better, it’s usually a pretty split crowd between this one and “Storm of the Light’s Bane,” but both records are worthy of praise for not only their influence, but for how damn good they are.

“The Somberlain” has a dark feel to the music (as do most black metal albums), but the atmosphere on this album is quite different from others. It’s cold, chilling, haunting and absolutely brilliant. A song with the title “Black Horizons” should sound evil, and it does throughout its eight minutes of life. Eight minutes of tempo changes, dark and beautiful melodies, sinister tremolos, acoustic guitars and Nodtveidt’s vicious vocals make for an insanely good song, and album for that matter, as a lot of the songs here contain a lot of the same kind of elements. Every song (not counting the instrumentals) has a fair amount of melody, whether it’s through the tremolo patterns or a soothing melodic solo that pierces through the blistering riffs, Dissection always has just the right amount of melody.

In addition to the cold aura and the melodic tendencies of the band, every other member of the band does their part to perfection. Nodtveidt’s vocals are harsh growls that compliment the bleak backdrop very well. His vocals are also pretty understandable and not just guttural shrieks. The rhythm section on this album is also top-notch, as I was able to find a standout moment on the drumming on every song. I was also able to hear the bass quite fine, as it thumped along or even provided some great fills in the background of the tremolo frenzies. “The Somberlain” proves to be a game-changer for not only the band (who would go on to top this effort with their masterpiece “Storm of the Light’s Bane”), but for the Swedish black metal movement as well. When it comes to getting lost in a flurry of melody and darkness, there just aren’t too many bands out there that can do it better than Dissection and this full-length is usually one the first records I reach for when that time arises.

Highlights
“Black Horizons”
“The Somberlain”
“Heaven’s Damnation”

Originally written for Nightmare Reality Webzine.
nightmarerealitywebzine.blogspot.com

"The Somberlain" is Dissection's first full-length album, and definitely their best release to date. The production fits the music extremely well, with the mix not sounding too clean, but showcasing a somewhat rawer and “colder” sound. The music is also very different from their older material (Reinkaos, Maha Kali, etc.), being more atmospheric and ‘passionate’, whereas their songs are more straightforward heavy metal/melodic death in their later work. “The Somberlain” is also Dissection’s last full-on black metal release, as “Storm Of The Light’s Bane” introduced the band’s further exploration into melodic death metal territory.

Generally speaking, this is a solid melodic black metal release that exudes a strong heavy metal influence and seems to, in a way, create the outlines of the melodic death metal sound as we know it today. The songs are very diverse and all of them follow a progressive trend quite different to 90’s black metal…That's why "The Somberlain" is so unique and revolutionary - It's different, fresh, and never gets boring or monotonous.

The guitarring on this album is absolutely breathtaking, and reaches a level of sheer melodic perfection on songs such as "Black Horizons" and "The Somberlain". Brilliantly skilled classical guitars are used on the songs "Crimson Towers", "Feathers Fell" and "Into Infinite Obscurity", which are utilized perfectly as they break down the tension that is built up by the intensity of the other songs, and set a tranquil mood for the storms that follow. A more minimalistic, yet skilled approach on the drums by Ole Ohman creates a very dark atmosphere which could not have been done better by the likes of Nick Barker or even Hellhammer himself. Jon's vocals sound flawless and cold as they hit you at full force on every song, proving himself as one of the best black metal vocalists to have ever graced the scene.

The album opens with the 8-minute opus "Black Horizons", which takes you on a fierce nocturnal journey by combining ferocious shredding with vast tempo-changes, acoustic guitars and even an old school, Iron Maiden-type yell in the break of the song. The chorus is extremely catchy, and it will have you singing (growling?) along from the second you hear it. The riffs are some of the best I've ever heard, and are very reminiscent of Dark Tranquility and At The Gates at times.

Another masterpiece is the title track, which mixes harmony and brutatlity at an intense speed with a perfect solo that will leave you weeping for it's sheer beauty. The song really progresses perfectly, with many tempo-changes and differences in the style of the riffs. Some great blasting occurs around the end of the song, and the double-bass work is also top notch. What an epic piece of art!

Tracks like “A Land Forlorn” and “Heaven’s Damnation” feast on great tremolo picking and then evolve into more mid-paced sections, only to break out into mighty, double-bass driven frenzies of old school death metal likeness. Thrashy elements and an acoustic piece on “Heaven’s Damnation” really breaks the mould and sets new boundaries by still maintaining the heavy metal/black metal formula that works so brilliantly throughout the album.

One of Dissection’s trademarks, "Frozen", begins with a build-up of toms, snare and Black Sabbath type riffing only to burst out in a cold verse of melancholic stature. My favourite part of the song is around 2:10 and onward, when a dark formation of riffing breaks out onto an old school black metal sound. A definite anthem.

Dissection also expirement in their song “In The Cold Winds Of Nowhere”. It starts off quite slowly, with a walking riff at a doomy pace and then builds up to a punky tempo quite similair to the trademark Carpathian Forest sound. The chorus is very catchy, and the famous chant “In the cold winds of nowhere!!” makes this a song that completely dominates, both musically and lyrically.

Diversity is further explored in "Misstress Of The Bleeding Sorrow", which is a medley of phases, each complimenting the other. The intro is lead by Ohman, combining amazing double-bass drum patterns with medieval sounding guitar harmonies. A more heavy metal and doom-influenced approached then leads through the first two minutes of the song and then harshly speeds up for a full-on mental assault of tremolo picking and monumental battery. This song is very diverse and is very atmospheric, it creates a genuine mood of darkness, depression and melancholy.

Then there is also “The Grief Prophecy”; the shortest song on the album, and really action-packed and progressive. One of the best riffs ever to this date, which is an extraordinary hybrid of melodic death and heavy metal, slithers it’s way through a slow paced build-up and is executed perfectly. The tempo then changes to the jumpy, fast paced rhythm that has set the trend for most of the album and the song finishes with a tremendous exclamation of demonic growling, battery and riffage.

This album is definitely a classic in metal, and, in my opinion, the essential melodic black metal record to own because of it’s flawless balance between ferocious brutality and melancholic passion.

Dissection's debut is a stunning hybrid of melodic death and black metal. It maintains an epic feel, along with an acceptable dose of brutality without losing that cold black metal feeling. The Somberlain almost makes you not care that Jon Nödtveidt was a homophobic asshole.

The band has an original sound, with a riffing style that can only be described as epic, it's not really all that frenzied or brutal, but it does have a very dark sound, and does come off as genuinely evil. The drumming is generally pretty standard, with the odd blast thrown in for good measure. The bass work is largely unnoticeable, and when it is nothing about Palmdahl's work is really impressive. But it fits in well. Over the top of that, Nödtveidt growls out some decent or on occasion very good lyrics in a black metal-esque manner, although he is a little easier on the ears than many.

The production is really quite good, definitely raw, but not sacrificing too much note clarity or power to create the effect. Along with this, the mix is very good, with everything sounding solid, including the low end, which makes this album sound quite a bit more Death metal. Really, the only thing that sounds really ugly is the vocals, and that could easily just be explained as Nödtveidt just having an ugly voice.

The songs in themselves are quite varied; most songs have slower, colder, more epic sections, spaced between faster and heavier parts. And a few songs even have magnificent acoustic interludes from John Zwetsloot. Unfortunately, all the songs have these variations in them. So all the songs have the same elements in them. It’s like saying that Deicide are varied for having the multi-tracked vocals. Which is true, but hear it on every song, and the variation needs variation. So the songs that aren't quite so amazing start to end up sounding like less enjoyable, short versions of the first two monsters. And for that reason, you may as well listen to the better songs.

To make matters worse, the first part is loaded with Dissection classics. Black Horizons is a massive track, which gives us the standard cold, epic riffs that are scattered all over this album. Faster sections with blast beats, a nice acoustic interlude added to make an even more strange collection of music. Followed by some fantastic melodic playing, for good measure, a power metal soaring vocal gets thrown in there. And basically the song has amazing atmosphere completed with great music. Not to mention the lyrics that are grating out of Nödtveidt's throat are basically the perfect lyrical description of the music. It just suits the music amazingly.

Then of course you have the title track, which alternates between being haunting and evil, and simply tearing your face off with some higher speeds. "A Land Forlorn" has some oddities in the riffs, along with a few sections that sound kind of doom like to me. But really, with the added content of these three songs you've heard everything that the band has on offer here. Just with added epic feeling, and enough time to go off on a tangent and play darker, softer metal, with just makes them feel more complete. The shorter songs, really have nothing new to offer, a few of them kick a little harder and faster, such as "Heaven's Damnation", but really, Brutality isn't exactly what makes Dissection such an enjoyable band.

So once those are done there's not all that much to look forward to, just more of the same, condensed. The songs aren't bad, they're really quite good, they still sound cold and evil, they still sound epic, Some are better, some are worse, but they're just shorter versions of the other songs. I just never found myself paying too much attention after "Heaven's Damnation" starts.

Musically, there are a few reasons for the apparent onset of boredom. The band still writes epic sounding songs, so they never stick to a high tempo, or low tempo, or single approach really for more than a minute or so, but more noticeably, Dissection have a very distinct guitar sound. And they really like their original guitar sound. As a rule, the guitars are aimed at being evil and haunting rather than brutal, so there’s little to no chugging. Instead, we get riffs that are very up and down, an average riff moves between a number of very different sounding notes, and then after 4 or 8 repetitions, will noodle out with a few little displays of technical picking. The best example would probably be the first riff of "Black Horizons". Riffs like these are all over the album. There are a few slightly different approaches here and there, which have more of a harmony over a chug or just fast buzzing riff. But really, those two together make up almost the whole album.

Now, a lot of these riffs are stunning, and there’s no truly bad ones (Which explains the high score, although I don't deliberately seek out most of the songs after a the first few). But really the best versions of the riffs are at the start, and nothing really new shows up after about 20 minutes of listening. Making the rest really quite redundant, despite its quality.

Actually, I lied; one good thing does come out of the later album. The solos. Instead of long, melodic sections, with occasional acoustics, the shorter songs begin putting more focus on the solos. And both the guitarists can really play, which again helps most of these songs remain fresh. For Instance, "In the Cold Winds of Nowhere" really isn't that good of a song, to me it's one of the most filler sounding tracks. But it's got about a minute of soloing in it, where everywhere else the solos are really short and don't exactly get to build to the same levels of weirdness and originality.

As the final boredom inducing element on The Somberlain, the only really good elements of the band are the guitars and the vocals. The vocals are a blend of a death growl, and a black metal scream, and while not being too far removed from other vocalists, he is pretty good. But like the guitars, he bathes in the fact that he's got an original idea going, and sticks with it the whole way through. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, but on "Black Horizons" he shows all these interesting and good vocal ideas (Power metal wail, followed by some more quiet cleaner vocals, but only used in an orchestral sense), but they don't make an appearance. And with such an epic sounding album, some of these changes could have made everything a little bit more fun.

The drums are really quite dull, with only brief moments of originality or general thought. The bass is worthless. So when you've only got two things going for you, you really have to make sure that they are first: Good enough that they can overlook any other shortcoming. And second: Good Enough that they can stay interesting for the whole duration of an album. Dissection only passed on the first requirement.

This is Dissection's debut. A band that would prove to be an inspiration to many black and melodic death metal bands alike. The melodic element of their raw sound became something that was much sought after in the following years, but this is where it all began.

This album is one that is so well crafted that it within this facet that lies its genius. The acoustic interludes written by Zwetsloot are just right to make links between the album's sections. Black Horizons and The Soberlain kick things off in style, with two of the band's biggest songs songs, not to mention epic, being played back to back. From then on one is sent into a dark atmospheric bliss with cold remnants and melodies to be remembered and felt down to your very core.

Dissection are an evil band and that came through in their sound in the early days. The melodies are catchy yet definitely have that old feeling to them that makes you know you're listening to black metal. The guitar work here is very good, with nice interplay and interesting and tasteful solos to boot. Jon's vocals come out very well although the album's production is very raw to say the least. His voice leads the way for the eerie soundscape to behold. The only flaw may be found in the drum patterns. Ohman was not the most skilled of drummers but in this case one can get by that and simply enjoy the music and its effect.

A very interesting and groundbreaking release, this record is a classic.

"The Somberlain" reigns with "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas", "Black Metal" and "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" as one of the great black metal classics. Everything fell into place for this release...and I mean EVERYTHING. The production is enjoyable, the musicianship is amazing and the songwriting is deep as the darkest well. Vocals mix to create an aura of violence and chaos while the drums/guitars shred atmospheric holes in every space they manage to touch. Evil as evil can be...this record went slightly unnoticed for no good reason at all. Dissection never failed the black metal world, and possibly even surpassed many of the so called "legends" that the media hype that surrounded the first wave ended up promoting. Despite having his own little murder rap and drama...Dissection made music that has only gotten it's just due in the past few years.

I wish I could pick some key songs from this record buy everything is of an equally enjoyable value. The songcraft is both epic and enganging while avoiding the pitfalls and extra-fat that tend to mar albums with such a scope. Also, another trait that seperates them from the "epic black metal" pack is the ability to create an aura of violence that most brutal bands lose when they attempt to drift towards a more thoughtful atmosphere. Little can be said about this record that hasn't been said before...it is an excellent example of epic, violent and thought-provoking composition.

Dissection have created a record with a mood, style and presence that few could even begin to approach. If not for the murders and untimely demise of the band I am sure that they would have received more attention for the music than for the drama and they would be one of the largest acts (not that the returning version won't be) in black metal today.

BUY OR DIE!