As I stated before, "De mysteriis dom Sathanas" is
often cited as the granddaddy of black metal. Although the album is not
undeserving of such title, for my there are two others that hold that title.
The first being Darkthrone's "Under a Funeral Moon" and of course,
Immortal's "Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism". Now, I'll be the first to
admit, that this not Immortal's best release, but it is a very underrated black
metal album. Their following release such as, "At the Heart of
Winter" or "Pure Holocaust" would set some high standards of what
future black metal bands would try to achieve, but their debut should not be
overlooked. I've always felt that this album was pure rawness in the grandest
terms of black metal. Sure it's not as fast and ferocious as their other
releases, but what it lacks in tenacity it more than makes up with its
atmospheric capabilities. Elements of doom seep into the songs as well as the
use of acoustic guitars and a touch of keyboards, which adds to the layered
complexity of these tracks.
With that, I must say that, I certainly have a biased view
toward this album. This was the first black metal album that I owned. I picked
it up at the second hand music shop in high school and digested it over and
over before I even realized other albums such as "Under a Funeral Moon"
or "De mysteriis dom Sathanas" existed. My opinion about this album
being one of the must haves may be a little skewed, but regardless, I still
think it is a fine piece of black metal nonetheless.
Highlights: “Call of
the Wintermoon” “Unholy Forces of Evil”
“Cryptic Winterstorms” “Blacker than Darkness”
Rating: 4.5
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