Description

Digi cd featuring two remastered albums from 1991 on one cd.

While Beherit’s early recordings became total cult items and the band has been praised incessantly to this very date, their brother band Black Crucifixion, hailing from the very same circles in northern Finland, never garnered the same amount of attention. The Fallen One Of Flames is, nonetheless, an essential piece of the country’s black metal history along with the originators – namely Beherit and Impaled Nazarene.

The Fallen One Of Flames comprises five tracks of which three are actual black metal, starting with ”Flowing Downwards”, a lengthy feast on mid-paced, simple riffs reminiscent of Samael with subtle synths in the background. ”Master Spirit” is a faster, blast-filled piece and hence more clearly in the vein of Beherit, also due to the whispery vocals. ”Goddess of Doom” was originally a bonus track on the first 50 copies of the tape, but luckily it is included here as well as it is as strong song of muddy, evil black metal in a fitting, dirty soundscape. If you’re to explore what the history of Finnish black metal has to offer in its very first years, The Fallen One Of Flames is a logical purchase among the obvious ones. It convinces with its deep dark atmosphere and knows to crush with riffs.

The live recording Satanic Zeitgeist was recorded at the legendary Day Of Darkness festival on the 23th of August 1991, a year before the band released their first demo The Fallen One Of Flames. This is a brilliant live recording. I’ve heard some criticism about the sound production here, but I can not fathom that: this sounds brilliant! I’d go as far as saying that it sounds better than the demo due to the sharper and tighter sound in which these swift songs work very well. As implied, the compositions are simple here as well and they profit from being enough short. ”Black Crucifixion” and ”Satanic Zeitgeist” are pretty damn great songs of utter morbidity and all that is possibly evil, most perfectly apparent when the blast beats get high in tempo and the vocalist does maniacal, high-pitched screams that bury everything else in the background. Needless to say, Venom and Sarcófago covers fit like a fist to the face to the slew of tracks here, and I’m especially fond of the latter, ”Nightmare”. A worthwhile re-release undoubtedly, and wholeheartedly recommended.

Track list:
1. Intro
2. Flowing Downwards
3. Master Spirit
4. Goddess Of Doom
5. Outro
6. Phobos Watching You
7. Black Crucifixion
8. In League With Satan-Venom cover
9. Satanic Zeitgeist
10. Nightmare-Sarcofago cover
11. Leaving Rovaniemi By Night