The Priest of Satan

Rare is it when a black metal album is too good to be true. But this is the case for the absurdly underrated "The Priest of Satan" by the Swedish band "The Black."

To start, the album design is magnificent; it has the right kind of atmosphere that is synonymous with the Scandinavian black metal scene in the 80s and 90s. The songs are all worthy of their genre, and the album itself kicks off with an eerie instrumental track to bring a hellish atmosphere to the forty-minute epic.

The drums are my only real problem with the album; they seem to be far too drowned out to hear amidst the vocals and guitars which is a shame considering how good they are when one pays close attention. The guitars are exactly what to expect from black metal; low-fi and nearly impenetrable. The vocals are probably the most valuable jewel in the crown, as they carry a sort of desperate anger that I find unique with the genre and suit the album perfectly. Interestingly enough for the album, there are in fact keyboards that go with some of the songs, and I actually find them somewhat refreshing. They don't go into symphonic black metal, but they add a nice touch to some of the more melodic elements of the guitar riffs every now and then (as rare as they might be.)

When it comes to songs, there isn't a single weak one for the album. All are atmospheric, brutal and unforgiving in their tone and delivery with a hint of majesty when it comes to tracks like "The Black Opal Eye." In terms of a favorite song, it is extremely difficult to pick. "The Goat of Mendes" starts off slow in terms of guitar riffing and drums, but eventually pick up into a thick wall of black metal blast beats. The only other song that I can thing of that can contend with first place would be "The Book of Leviathan," and it is more of a track I often go back to every now and then because of a personal preference.

All in all, it is an absolute recommendation for any major fan of black metal, and I implore a lover within the genre to listen to it, as despite its quality, it has received a criminally low amount of attention. It is a very personal favorite of mine, and will be on my music shelf for a long time.

One of the best things about being a metal fan are finding those weird forgotten albums and demos that then surprise you in their high quality. Sometimes these forgotten albums are remembered by a few but are not talked about in the general public either mainstream or underground. The Black seems to be remembered by a few but in general this album is not something that is well remembered. I found out about it through reading about the drummers ambient noise project which has been released on Cold Meat and seems to have quite a following. I wasn't too into that stuff (thus why I can't remember the name) but I found out about this metal project of his that he did with Jon from Dissection and I felt that I had to hear this forgotten gem.

Well putting it on what does it sound like? It's a very old school release, don't expect mountains of blast beats or anything, in the songwriting this is very much in the vein of early Marduk, and albums like the first Immortal albums. The primitive death metal elements still bare their heads here and there, before some melodic primal Swedish riffs raise up or maybe some just dark early black metal barbarism. There are touches here and there of keyboards to add a bit extra atmosphere, but the atmosphere is pretty thick as it is. This is one of those albums that you can really feel that evil obscure atmosphere so important to the early black metal bands.

Jon's vocals are insane on this release, similar to his work with Ophthalamia, they are way more aggressive and hateful then his vocals on Dissection's albums, at times even reminding me of Mayhem's Dead is sure hatefilled intensity. They add a lot to the album, really bringing a far more brutal feeling to certain songs.

Production is the rough 90's sound, drums are warm and natural, I like their sound a lot, particularly compared to the whole triggered insanity of nowadays metal. The guitars sound full yet still have a buzzsaw feeling a bit. The bass is underlying the guitars, not very distorted and audible in some parts and not so much in others. When the keyboards are added they are hovering a little above the guitars, but usually they help to add a horror movie feeling so I like them.

The mood on this album really puts this album up there. It's very evil and dark, like watching some odd half remembered 70s or 80s satanic horror movie. The ritual has started in the dark cold woods, flames and demons and the knife is raised for the sacrifice and out there is satan standing encloaked in black. Yes that is partly what this album brings to mind. With the grainy production and sweat soaked hate, slowing down so we can focus on the horror of the zombie being raised all bloody and hungry...

Overall I have to say if you really enjoy that special magic of early second wave pure black metal this is a must listen. Some people used to the sounds of black metal today might not enjoy the mixture of some primitive death metal riffs, etc. but thats their loss. Recommended for fans of early Norwegian black metal and albums like Necrophobic's The Nocturnal Silence or Marduk's Dark Endless.

"The Priest of Satan" is a CD I just recently stumbled upon and I was pretty surprised when I heard that Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection fame was a great part on this album; in all honesty, I never thought that Dissection was a good band to begin with - I enjoyed a few bits on "The Somberlain" and "Storm of the Lights Bane" but I never grasped even half of the supposed greatness in those albums. While i didn't hate "Reinkaos" as much as most Dissection fans, it still wasn't anything worth listening to more than once or twice.

This album changed my outlook on Nödtveidt's career quite a bit. "The Priest of Satan" is a disturbingly raw black metal album with quite a hazardous production and hate virtually dripping from every riff, scream and drum hit. Jon's vocals are rawer than usual, showing a more aggressive side of this usual delivery. The riff construction and arrangement is deeply rooted in traditional black metal, yet spiced up with a nice dose of oldschool heavy metal influence in the slower sections. Imagine old Gorgoroth playing Mercyful Fate and you'll get the idea. Drum work is nothing to write home about, but Make Pesonen does the job rather well, especially in said slower, heavy metal-esque sections. The bass is rather audible overall, adding a nice heaviness to the record without being technically stellar or noticeable as a separate entity.

The lyrics subject mainly focuses around the entity that is Satan and his surroundings, but I can't say more since the band does not seem to share their lyrics anywhere (if they are to be found somewhere, please correct me here). Anyway, as one can see, Jon's satanic beliefs are already overtly present here.

Overall, the album is rather consistent, switching tempos often enough (even though the fast songs don't quite have the quality that the slower ones possess - The Goat of Mendes a welcome exception by combining both ways excellently) and with a variety of ambient elements thrown into the mix.

I recommend this album to any fan of raw black metal and to BM fans with a special liking towards traditional heavy metal influences.