Rating: 7.0

Country: Iceland

Release Date: 2005

Record Label: Draconian Records

Track list:
1. Fire And Steel
2. Evil
3. Heroes In Black
4. From The Grave
5. Our Time Is Coming
6. Cut You Down
7. Flames Of Hell

Flames of Hell - Fire and Steel (Reissue)

Sigurdur Nicolaison (Bass)
Steinpór Nicolaison (Guitars, Vox)
Jóhann Richardsson- Drums

Well this is something I've been hunting for some time now, reputedly one of the very rarest/most sought after pieces in heavy metal history. A cursory glance at a distro list some weeks ago yielded this revelatory discovery, a reissue whose origins I haven't the slightest clue about. Friends have offered conflicting opinions about the legitimacy of this reissue, most of them prompting me to believe that this is a bootleg of sorts, something that is affirmed by the slightly grainy (though thoroughly listenable) sound quality.

Factor into this the absolute mystery surrounding the band themselves- not a single interview or photo of the band exists, and all the information we have about the band is derived from a distant cousin of the Nicolaison brothers (who himself obtained this information from hearsay, I believe!), and you have a highly collectible item for all heavy metal geekazoids. I do wish I knew more about Icelandic heavy music, for between the two Icelandic records I own (Icecross' self-titled record from 1971 being the other one, which is equally dark, iniquitous and weird in execution..spooky heavy progressive), there must've been a host of equally cool and off-balance heavy acts.

As one may expect from such obscenely obscure and highly rated records, the music contained within the grooves is likely to disappoint. This record has been touted from here to kingdom come by ardent collectors as one of the foremost examples first wave black metal, with frequent comparisons to the likes of Bathory, Hellhammer, Mercyful Fate and the like. While there certainly is a primordial, primitive rawness to the music that I find comparable to the likes of the first two bands, as well as a je ne sais quoi mysticism and mystique that I find rather comparable to the last, as a whole I find the record far too inconsistent and clumsy to be placed in such esteemed company.

Instead, when playing this record I can't help but think of Satan's Host and Parabellum, two completely different bands from the other side of the world to be sure, but who share a similarly amateurish charm and exotic, impenetrably esoteric and evil atmosphere. Like those two bands, Flames Of Hell are clearly setting goals that exceed their limited capacities as musicians, pursuing epic song lengths when more succinct, terser sketches would do, wringing the life out of riffs that have outstayed their welcome, mucking up fills and other such little ‘'mistakes'' that would constitute what we have come to regard as ‘'sloppiness''. What we are all cognizant of as discerning aficionados of REAL METAL, of course, is that sloppiness is not in itself a negative, but for Flames of Hell the results are not always favorable.

Musically, this bears a slight similarity to the aforementioned Parabellum in the sense that it is chaotic, often atonal savagery (some parts of this album sound almost improvisational to me, can someone confirm this?) that often engages in doomy, apocalyptic passages. Yet, there are a host of really strange quirks here. For instance, refer to the rocking breakdown that surfaces in the title track, a section that genuinely sounds like the boogie blues break in “Teacher's Pet” gone HORRIBLY awry. Steinpór Nicolaison adorns said passage with some frenzied, absolutely random atonal guitar runs, adding to the gnarly, uncompromising twistedness of the song, and it really is a winner on an otherwise uneven outing. The vocals will certainly take some getting used to, but if you're an avid fan of Tim Baker's elven shrieks in Cirith Ungol, these should not faze or deter you in the slightest. Indeed, the sheer ‘'WHAT THE FUCK''-ness of the material on offer can be intensely charming- take, for instance, the rampaging, over-the-top, Cirith Ungol -with-an-attitude-problem “Evil”, complete with an outrageous hollered chorus and a tumbling, messy riff complemented by throbbing, ubiquitous bass and truly idiosyncratic percussion.

The album's centerpiece, the 11 minute long “Heroes In Black”, however, will try your nerves, a droning, nefarious piece that, to its credit, manages to be the bee's knees for about 6 minutes, before your mind starts wandering to other thoughts, like that copy of 'King Of The Dead' that lies perched on your CD shelf. This is very much Flames Of Hell's “Triumph Of Death”, in that it is similarly accidental/amateurish and utilizes the same dynamic shifts and morbid, despairing atmosphere, but the difference, of course, lies in the fact that “Triumph Of Death” does not bore you in the slightest. The martial drum snare buildup that intersects the main, funereal riff is pretty cool, but doesn't save the track from sagging. “From The Grave” is Venom speed metal, straightforward, bass-driven, pummeling stuff that really benefits from the totally odd mix, the bass coming all the way to the fore to thrust the pace into full throttle. Of further interest is the cool guitar and bass interplay that erupts in the lead break, great stuff to be had! Yet, this novelty is short-lived, and ultimately the well-flogged riff wears thin as the track nears its conclusion.

“Our Time Is Coming”, it has to be said, is perhaps the primary reason that you should give this album a chance. Grandiose, spooky, totally individual doom that oozes personality and gruesomeness here, all delivered in trademark novice style by the fine Icelandic lads. This is the closest these folks come to a Cirith Ungol outtake here, the track emanating a garish and grisly atmosphere that, while exhibiting the same lack of dynamics that is so prevalent throughout the rest of the LP, sounds far more cohesive and powerful than the rest of the proceedings. Here's where it all COMES TOGETHER, the dissonant, bizarre descending guitar runs, the lumbering, ponderous basslines, the Mark-Shelton-after-too-many-cigarettes-meets-Tim-Baker falsetto warbling/shrieking, the morose, morbid guitar riffing. Good stuff, get someone to burn it for you!

As a collector of rare metal, such disappointments are commonplace. When albums have been as widely discussed and touted amongst collector's circles as this one, it is almost certain that they will dismay you in some way. To its merit, this album sounds quite unlike anything I have ever heard. Still, its assertive individuality is not in itself a virtue, and while there are CERTAINLY moments of complete occult metal brilliance on this record, as a whole I do not find enough greatness in it to warrant its mythical status in heavy metal history. I do like it, though I suspect when I have a nagging urge to throw it on in the future, I will stick to “Fire and Steel”, “Evil”, “Our Time Is Coming” and “Flames Of Hell”.

April 7th, 2006