Various Artists
From Within The Purgatory Vol. 1
[Extremity]
Ok, lets start with the basics - 26 different bands, spread out over
2 CDs, with a running time of just over 138 minutes. All of these tracks
have been previously released (with the exception of the Dark Funeral track),
which would usually lump this into the "just another BM compilation put out
for the sake of making money" category, but at least a good amount of the
tracks do come from somewhat smaller labels, and so it's not quite as horrid
as most . The packaging itself is a pretty nicely done double gatefold
digipak, although the front cover artwork does leave something to be desired
(unless of course you happen to find the idea of some sort of owl headed
demon of the night to be "cool"), but then again, we're judging this on the
music, not the artwork, so lets move on...
The music itself...hmmm...well...if I had written this review just after listening to the first disc, I would have promptly recommended passing on this, as the majority of it is rather bland. There are a few standard tracks by fairly well known bands (Dark Funeral, Einherjer, Katatonia & Arcturus come to mind), a couple of complete turds (Dearly Beheaded's "Pantera being fucked in the ass by Fear Factory" sound, and Eternal Solstice's "second rate Discharge/Disgust with no balls" approach to metal), and 1 gem hidden in the lot (Unlord). That leaves us with 6 tracks remaining, and frankly, unless you want more "keyboard driven, maidenesque, Swedish melodic black metal" to listen to, the rest of this disc is a washout (although in all fairness, Andras did have a rather "rocking" tone that kept me from being completely bored, and I didn't mind Mystic Circle's approach towards female backing vocals either)...but then I gave the second disc a listen...
Ok, so it's nothing really earth shaking, and it does have a few tracks that hold no mystery to anyone (Summoning, M”rk Gryning, Satyricon, and Lord Belial), but personally, I found these "big band" inclusions to be of a far better grade than their counterparts on the first CD (the Summoning track alone puts it head and shoulders above the rest). While the first disc had only 1 excellent (and somewhat lesser known) band (Unlord), the remaining bands sort of meandered along the standard BM path, but I found the second disc had a much more varied feel : Defleshed and their "all head down, fast as fuck thrash influenced death metal", Belphegor's brutal black/death metal mix, Siebenbrger and their dark, soothing (to me at least) rhythms and folkish female backing vocals, and even Diabolique's "My Dying Bride meets the Swans" blend of gothic rock/metal managed to capture my attention for a moment. Of course there's a turd buried here (I have *no* idea what Sadist are trying to pull with their suck ass progressive rock keyboards and 80s styled metal guitar solos), and some might find Blackstar (I kept thinking this is what Megadeth might sound like if they attempted a groove based Black Sabbath/Iron Maiden mix) or Sacrilege (my vote for Dissection clones of the year) to be boring and uninspired, but generally, I think at the end of the day, the majority of the material here saves the collection as a whole. And lets face it, 2 bland tracks (Altar's "death rock" for a lack of a better description, and Solefald's gothic/clown/black/circus metal - which had the most hilarious mouth harp ending I have ever heard in my life) are better than 6...
So is it worth picking up ? Well, if you can't wait for the next in the line of Blackend compilations to come out, you should run right out and get this. And if you can't stand anything which even remotely reeks of the Scandinavian scene, avoid this at all costs and track down some Countess/ Ildjarn/Vlad Tepes instead....everyone else...well, judge it against what you already have, but if most of the second disc are bands you haven't heard of, I'd take a chance (you probably won't regret it - here in Toronto, where decent black metal titles run anywhere from $23-32 a pop at HMV, this is a steal at $19)...
As an afterthought, I decided to include the track listing for both the CDs, as nowhere on the external packaging is there a complete list of the bands featured, or any type of track listing whatsoever...
DISC ONE
Crown Of Thorns : Angels Die
Midvinter : Dödfödd
Graveworm : Awake
Dearly Beheaded : The Escape
Dark Funeral : Ravenna Strigoi Mortii
Eternal Solstice : Inserts
Einherjer : Storm Of The Elder
Mystic Circle : Graveland Dreams
Andras : Diabolical Christening
Katatonia : At Last
The Moaning : Dying Internal Embers
Unlord : Schwarzwald
Arcturus : Alone
DISC TWO
Defleshed : Walking The Moon Of Mars
Mörk Gryning : Supreme Hatred
Summoning : Flesh And Blood
Sacrilege : Summon The Masses And Walk Through The Fire
Altar : World
Diabolique : Blood Of Summer
Satyricon : Mother North
Belphegor : Purity Through Fire
Lord Belial : lamia
Siebenbürger : Vampira
Solefald : Red View
Sadist : I Rape You
Blackstar : Instrumental
© 1998 chorazaim
The music itself...hmmm...well...if I had written this review just after listening to the first disc, I would have promptly recommended passing on this, as the majority of it is rather bland. There are a few standard tracks by fairly well known bands (Dark Funeral, Einherjer, Katatonia & Arcturus come to mind), a couple of complete turds (Dearly Beheaded's "Pantera being fucked in the ass by Fear Factory" sound, and Eternal Solstice's "second rate Discharge/Disgust with no balls" approach to metal), and 1 gem hidden in the lot (Unlord). That leaves us with 6 tracks remaining, and frankly, unless you want more "keyboard driven, maidenesque, Swedish melodic black metal" to listen to, the rest of this disc is a washout (although in all fairness, Andras did have a rather "rocking" tone that kept me from being completely bored, and I didn't mind Mystic Circle's approach towards female backing vocals either)...but then I gave the second disc a listen...
Ok, so it's nothing really earth shaking, and it does have a few tracks that hold no mystery to anyone (Summoning, M”rk Gryning, Satyricon, and Lord Belial), but personally, I found these "big band" inclusions to be of a far better grade than their counterparts on the first CD (the Summoning track alone puts it head and shoulders above the rest). While the first disc had only 1 excellent (and somewhat lesser known) band (Unlord), the remaining bands sort of meandered along the standard BM path, but I found the second disc had a much more varied feel : Defleshed and their "all head down, fast as fuck thrash influenced death metal", Belphegor's brutal black/death metal mix, Siebenbrger and their dark, soothing (to me at least) rhythms and folkish female backing vocals, and even Diabolique's "My Dying Bride meets the Swans" blend of gothic rock/metal managed to capture my attention for a moment. Of course there's a turd buried here (I have *no* idea what Sadist are trying to pull with their suck ass progressive rock keyboards and 80s styled metal guitar solos), and some might find Blackstar (I kept thinking this is what Megadeth might sound like if they attempted a groove based Black Sabbath/Iron Maiden mix) or Sacrilege (my vote for Dissection clones of the year) to be boring and uninspired, but generally, I think at the end of the day, the majority of the material here saves the collection as a whole. And lets face it, 2 bland tracks (Altar's "death rock" for a lack of a better description, and Solefald's gothic/clown/black/circus metal - which had the most hilarious mouth harp ending I have ever heard in my life) are better than 6...
So is it worth picking up ? Well, if you can't wait for the next in the line of Blackend compilations to come out, you should run right out and get this. And if you can't stand anything which even remotely reeks of the Scandinavian scene, avoid this at all costs and track down some Countess/ Ildjarn/Vlad Tepes instead....everyone else...well, judge it against what you already have, but if most of the second disc are bands you haven't heard of, I'd take a chance (you probably won't regret it - here in Toronto, where decent black metal titles run anywhere from $23-32 a pop at HMV, this is a steal at $19)...
As an afterthought, I decided to include the track listing for both the CDs, as nowhere on the external packaging is there a complete list of the bands featured, or any type of track listing whatsoever...
DISC ONE
Crown Of Thorns : Angels Die
Midvinter : Dödfödd
Graveworm : Awake
Dearly Beheaded : The Escape
Dark Funeral : Ravenna Strigoi Mortii
Eternal Solstice : Inserts
Einherjer : Storm Of The Elder
Mystic Circle : Graveland Dreams
Andras : Diabolical Christening
Katatonia : At Last
The Moaning : Dying Internal Embers
Unlord : Schwarzwald
Arcturus : Alone
DISC TWO
Defleshed : Walking The Moon Of Mars
Mörk Gryning : Supreme Hatred
Summoning : Flesh And Blood
Sacrilege : Summon The Masses And Walk Through The Fire
Altar : World
Diabolique : Blood Of Summer
Satyricon : Mother North
Belphegor : Purity Through Fire
Lord Belial : lamia
Siebenbürger : Vampira
Solefald : Red View
Sadist : I Rape You
Blackstar : Instrumental
© 1998 chorazaim