Year: 1990
Genre: Death/doom
1. Oppression Freedom / Oppression (Reprise)
2. Servants of the Warsmen
3. Goden
4. Power and Might
5. Destiny
6. Eternal Frost
7. Into Darkness
So, Anybody who is fairly into death / doom knows who this band is. Death / doom was getting a strong running into the early 90's and this band started out with a really good demo, leading to this album. The demo was a fast mix of death with some doom elements, with a cold atmosphere to it. But this album took the image, sound and production of that demo and decimated it. The band slowed down their tempo to a crawl, they upped the brutality, and made the production enough of a heavy one to send earth into a black hole. "Servants of the Warsmen" and "Destiny" are the fastest it gets on this album. The rest is grudgingly slow and the riffs distort and reverb for ages, with the bass heavy, up front and as bottom heavy as a 800 pound person who had lipo on only the upper half of their body. Some people love a clean production and some people love sludge...both ends of the spectrum have good sounds but I love sludge and distortion more, and holy sh** does this production deliver. The vocalist also, shines on this release. The vocals are like a clean death style, like Paul Khur from Novembers Doom. Easy to understand in most cases and unique. It's ruff, gruff and hasty, like a demented lumberjack.
Overall it's not fast and technical but the riffs are composed perfectly, placed perfectly and are incredible. Basic, to the point but with enough depth to keep your attention without any hesitation. How they drone is attention grabbing too. They echo, creak and groan every last distortion effect until the strings are exhausted and are carrying on nothing but skeletal remains of what they used to be.
The drumming deserves spotlight too. Nothing ridiculous and attention-whoring either, the patterns are tastefully slow, crushing and the fills add some meat to the the sparse soup that is perfect by itself but could use some spice. Everything drumming-wise is precisely and constructively placed.
Ah, this is all incredible, and it was game changing back then. Nobody had a sound like this. It blew away everyone and pioneered death / doom while laying down some ground work for another sub genre called funeral doom. But, this couldn't last for a second album. The band put out an E.P. of their demo and an extra track, and then disbanded. This furthermore cemented their place in death / doom history and especially has just now gotten the recognition it deserves. The band has also gotten back together of sorts and have been playing shows recently, which is awesome in itself. So if you like incredibly slow, perfectly constructed, and atmospheric doom /death, PICK THIS UP!!!!
Favorite track: "Destiny"....mmmm them mid-paced drum tempos and power riffage
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