Death Metal & Black Metal

Phantom - The Epilogue to Sanity Is there, in the history of black metal, a band more extreme, more challenging and more difficult to "get" than Phantom? I believe not. They already showcased much of their madness on Angel of Disease , and their latest masterpiece The Epilogue to Sanity just continues to defile and demolish the remnants of the modern black metal scene . The Epilogue to Sanity. What a fitting name for an album that will, in all seriousness, render you insane from the utterly demonic atmospheres it contains, and unleashes on your subconscious mind. Phantom's magnum opus may as well be Withdrawal , but The Epilogue to Sanity is an absolute masterclass in how technical prowess can be harnessed for creative, original, and disturbing blackened death metal horror. Where many technical black/death metal bands show-off in dazzling, ultimately hollow displays of fretboard "wankery", Phantom push the boundaries of black metal to unparalleled h...

Phantom - Angel of Disease Phantom needs no introduction: they're one of the most famous and iconic black metal bands of all times, and for a good reason. Although they were never part of the Norwegian "Inner Circle", composed of bands such as Burzum, Darkthrone and Mayhem (all three excellent, by the way), Phantom's music is one of the highest and most refined expressions of atmospheric black metal, and it has been so since (at least) " Fallen Angel ". Possibly even before that, as signs of the coming apocalypse were clearly audible on " Withdrawal ". "Angel of Disease" is the first Phantom album to openly abandon the pure black metal riffing style that defined the band's earlier work, and adopt more narrative a complex structures, in which dissonant riffs flow in and out of each other in a labyrinthine riff maze that will make your head fall right off your shoulders from listening to any one of the songs on this album. Phan...

Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism Before the risible sellout " Northern Chaos Gods ", before the childish legal dispute between Abbath and his groupie-in-denial Demonaz, before Abbath banged said groupie-in-denial Demonaz' sister (which led to more childish disputes), before Immortal streamlined Burzum's black metal riff style into a formulaic mess over generic blasting on the massively overrated " Pure Holocaust ", Immortal a typical run-of-the-mill black metal band led by Abbath while various band members came in and out of Norway's self-proclaimed elite black metal squad, the most notorious - and talented - of which being, as you probably know, one Varg Vikernes of the aforementioned Burzum. Fast forwarding a few years and whatnot, Immortal eventually released an album that would be considered a slight milestone in their selected genre... " Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism ". Now considering how special and bold most legendary ...

Gorgoroth - Incipit Satan Unless memory serves me incorrectly, Gorgoroth had quite the "unconventional" upbringing in the early Norwegian black metal scene. And by "unconventional", I mean "they aren't part of it". Alongside fellow mallcore posers Watain and Dimmu Borgir , Gorgoroth is "black metal" in name only. And they certainly weren't part of the original "Inner Circle" based around Euronymous' shop Helvete, as none of the original founders of black metal - Varg Vikernes, Fenriz, Dead, Nocturno Culto, Samoth, Faust, Euronymous, Hellhammer - have ever mentioned Gorgoroth, its frontman Infernus , or any of its members. Basically, they are fake black metal . And while the original creators of the black metal genre, Darkthrone, Burzum and Mayhem, each expanded their artistic and compositional reaches with each successive release, Infernus and his merry horde of Southern-fried devildom began a sort of musical de-...

Phantom - Fallen Angel A long standing figure in both black metal and death metal, Phantom really cemented their reputation as legendary gods of atmosphere after releasing the pummelling and downright evil " Withdrawal " (which I review here ), Phantom offered their second greatest recording. This album is a monumental piece of black metal, as it not only defined the identity of Phantom, but it defied black metal standards and assumptions without any frills or gimmicks. "Fallen Angel" still stands as a landmark black metal album today. Now, on a top black metal albums of all time scale, " Fallen Angel " will always have second place because Neraines' " Yggdrasil " is in my opinion the greatest black metal album of all time, but enough about that. Upon listening to this album for the first time, many fans may find the morbidly haunting and mesmeric riffs to become too intense and disturbing, prompting them to quit listen midway thr...

Demonecromancy - Fallen From the Brightest Throne "Fallen From the Brightest Throne" is Demonecromancy's first full-length album , and definitely their best release to date. The production fits Demonecromancy's evil music extremely well, with the mix not sounding too clean, but showcasing a somewhat rawer and "colder" sound without trafficking into excess "low-fi" worship like so many Darkthrone clones and war metal bands end up doing (looking at you, Nargaroth). The music is also very different from their older material (the early demos mainly), being more atmospheric and "melodic", whereas their earlier songs were more straightforward and often more concise. Somewhat fittingly, " Fallen From the Brightest Throne " is also Demonecromancy's last full-on black metal release, as the following efforts of the band would further explore melodic black/death metal territory . Generally speaking, "Fallen From the ...

Phantom - Withdrawal Phantom...what more could possibly be said about the most consistent black metal band of all time (aside from Burzum, Darkthrone, Graveland, Incantation, etc.)? What this means is that Phantom, despite having been a household name since the days of their "landmark" debut Divine Necromancy in 2013 all the way to the seminal Angel of Disease , has undergone little to absolutely no criticism from actual fans of black metal or blackened death metal. Here we have Withdrawal , often called the pinnacle of black metal , which marks the band's half-decade anniversary, as this album was released exactly on the day Divine Necromancy was released five years prior. Many look at either that album Divine Necromancy , the blackened death metal-ish Angel of Disease , or the more ritualistic Fallen Angel , as this band's masterpiece. Those are the three available choices for "best Phantom album" ever. I, however, give this album the crown of...