Rating: 8.0

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2003

Record Label: Selbstmord Services

Track list:
1. A Glorious Time Of Eternal Darkness
2. Pleased By Your Pain
3. Far Beyond The Light
4. A Timeless Darkness
5. Svart Pulserande Energi
6. The Castle Where Emptiness Dwells
7. Du
8. The End

Leviathan (Swe) - Far Beyond The Light

Sir A. - Everything

This has got to be one of the most deceptive cd's I've heard in a while.
‘What's so deceptive about this thing then?' you may wonder.

There are two layers of music at work here, not just in the guitar department, but even the drumwork for the most part consists of a double layer. It's the 'Filosofem' trick done in a new way. The first thing one is likely to hear upon initial listen is an extremely distorted, bottom-end heavy guitar spewing monotone ‘riffs' over an extremely repetitive double-bass pummeling, while somewhere behind this impenetrable soundwall weak vocals are barely audible. However, repeated listens will enable one to hear a veritable maelstrom of bleak, alien-sounding riffs behind the wall and a second, much more varied drumpattern beneath the bass-drum pummeling. Upon even further listens the two layers even invert themselves in the mind, so that the bottom-end guitarwall and bass-drum become a type of ambient backdrop for the mutating riffs that form the core of this release, not unlike 'Pure Holocaust'. Even the initially weak sounding vocals become more and more audible somehow, gaining in strength and malice with each repeated spin of this disc. The production that enables this effect is stellar indeed.

The riffs themselves are firmly in the Thorns/Burzum schools of riff-building, yet do not sound derivative at all and form a true evolution of the style. The atmosphere evoked by the core-riffs (the ones behind the soundwall) is utterly alienating, the progressingly stranger songs representing in my view a spiritual journey through an infinite abyss towards Oblivion itself. The atmosphere perfectly represents the songtitles and overall aesthetic as presented in the photographs of a bleak, abandoned mansion done in the style of old brownish photo's.

The opening songs are the most standard in composition, representing a more mundane aspiration towards darkness, with the ending of the fourth track heralding fully the transcendental journey towards the Void with its closing jarring riffs. Then follows a nameless ambient-noise piece indicating a transition in style and indeed the last two proper metal-tracks are far more abstract in their delivery, overflowing with twisting riffs in counterpoint to one another, freakish leads spiralling around the crushingly despondant bottom-end guitar, finally culminating in the closing accoustic/synth track “The End”, a strangely soothing piece of music, as if to signify the end of the journey has been reached and a union with Oblivion, a release from this coarse material reality, has been realised.

This is a tremendously powerful and evocative release for those willing to look beyond the murky surface. It's far more varied in tempo, structure and riff-application than it initially appears; there are usually two or three distinct riff-patterns playing simultaneously, giving texture to each other through interplay and to themselves by successive little mutations of the starting patterns and the buried core-drumming is perfect in giving added significance to certain parts, building tension, adding in varied little fills while never being distractingly flashy (á la Fenris circa 'Under A Funeral Moon').

This is my pick for the best Swedish release of 2003 and fans of intelligent, contemplative and genuinely dark black metal should seek this out immediately. After the first few listens a whole Abyss of dreadfullness shows itself to the attentive listener.

October 25th, 2006