Sacramentium
Thy Black Destiny
Century Media
Nine Reasons:
- Produced by Andy LaRocque (King Diamond’s guitar player, for fuck’s sake)!!
- Drummer Nicky Rudolfsson (aka Terror) is the Keith Moon of the black metal scene. You have to hear this man to believe him! Plus he is the vocalist/songwriter for Swordmaster and Deathwitch. Buy those records too!
- The press release states that Thy Black Destiny is a fist in the face to the current goth-laden and vampiric black metal scene. All hail.
- No keyboards.
- No stupid face paint or pseudo-evil posturing. Sacramentium express their misanthropy in their music. Speaking of which, they up the musical ante of black metal, with technical prowess and tight, brutal songwriting. A lot of their “peers” are looking really stupid right now.
- For slowing down the ending of “Thy Black Destiny” to an excruciating crawl. The song becomes a doom epic, just like the first Asphyx album. Thank you.
- “Weave of Illusion” is an intricate masterpiece of hatred. The guitars are Carcass-like in their interlocked movements, and the song structure consists of so many independent movements that I think of Nile or Cynic. Or even Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.”
- I have to mention it twice – musicianship and violence co-exist in the world of Sacramentium. Thy Black Destiny is your lord and master.
- The vocals! Absolute sickness and originality. After nine years of listening to death metal, I thought I had heard EVERY vocal tone possible, but I was wrong. I am reminded of Martin Van Drunen’s best bits on Pestilence’s Consuming Impulse , but Sacrementium’s vocalist has more range. Fear this.
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