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/:: Artist :: Samael ::\
:: Album :: Passage - Live ::
:: Year :: 2024 ::
:: __ _ _ __ ::
-:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:-
:: \ / ::
:: . Genre :: Metal Source :: CD . ::
:: Label :: Shinigami Records R.date :: 2024-04-01 ::
_::__ Cat.nr. :: 3E533 S.date :: 2024-02-16 __::_
::// \\::
::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\::
:: ::
/: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\
..: Bitrate :: avg. 274kbps :..
. Quality :: 44.1 kHz/Joint Stereo .
. Size :: 95.18 MB .
. .
http://samaelsom.bandcamp.com/
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: 1. Passage 1:03 ::
:: 2. Rain 4:01 ::
:: 3. Shining Kingdom 3:32 ::
:: 4. Angel's Decay 4:05 ::
:: 5. My Saviour 4:07 ::
:: 6. Jupiterian Vibe 3:38 ::
:: 7. The Ones Who Came Before 3:57 ::
:: 8. Liquid Soul Dimension 4:04 ::
:: 9. Moonskin 4:29 ::
:: 10. Born Under Saturn 4:29 ::
:: 11. Chosen Race 4:17 ::
:: 12. A Man in Your Head 4:17 ::
:: ::
:: ::
:: ------- ::
.. >> 45:59 ..
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+/ -\------- | | ----\ release notes /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: ::
:: "Anguish, coiled in the gut like a starving worm", rails Michel ::
:: Locher, better known to the wider world as Vorph, who since ::
:: 1987 forms one half of the creative entity called Samael. ::
:: Beginning in Switzerland with brother Alexandre Locher, aka ::
:: Xytras, the band grew their music from a caustic, slithering ::
:: Black Metal into further and more celestial corners of ::
:: industrial and electronica. The song this lyric is lifted from ::
:: is called 'Angel's Decay', and 25 years after the release of ::
:: its parent 1996 album Passage, Samael has decided to pay ::
:: tribute to its nocturnal grace with Passage - Live. ::
:: ::
:: Casting off its carapace of morbid and deeply negative Black ::
:: Metal, Samael's beloved and confounding Passage emerged as the ::
:: precise balancing point between their origins and their future. ::
:: Arriving just as second-wave Black Metal was beginning to ::
:: germinate into weirder and wider iterations, one would be ::
:: hard-pressed to find a more satisfying collision of Satanic ::
:: darkness and Industrial music. Other than Mysticum and Aborym, ::
:: there were not too many bands around at the time attempting ::
:: this cohesion. ::
:: ::
:: Recorded in Krakow, Poland, along with the current lineup of ::
:: Ales Campanelli, aka Ales, on bass guitar, and Thomas Betrisey, ::
:: aka Drop, on guitars, Passage - Live is exactly what it claims ::
:: to be in the title. Sounding fresh and recharged, fans here are ::
:: treated to a worthy tribute to an album that, though somewhat ::
:: divisive of the fanbase, is regarded as both classic and ::
:: timeless. ::
:: ::
:: Everything, from Vorph's articulated growl, to his brother s ::
:: adroit keys and rich percussion, sounds like the band recorded ::
:: the studio version only a short time ago. The crowd noises ::
:: worked in at the end of the dulcet 'Moonskin' melds nicely with ::
:: the music, having the effect of making the listener long for ::
:: that incomparable live setting. Vorph offers solid ::
:: introductions to the album's hits, such as the 'epic and ::
:: Wagnerian' banger known as 'Born Under Saturn'. The guitar tone ::
:: is evident in its richness, and the band does not stray from ::
:: what they laid down back in 1996 with Waldemar Sorychta at the ::
:: helm. ::
:: ::
:: Down to the red-tinged moon on the cover, directly related to ::
:: the simple black/gray countenance of the lunar shape on the ::
:: cover of Passage, apart from the jazzed up intro to 'Rain', ::
:: Samael has done a far better job leaving this marvel to breathe ::
:: without tinkering with it. Unlike, say, when they performed ::
:: 1994's Ceremony of Opposites in its entirety some years ago. ::
:: The sonic electronic accoutrements there worked a bit against ::
:: the darker, more simplistic Black Metal of the material. Not so ::
:: here, not even a little bit. ::
:: ::
:: Samael is firing on all cylinders with a great lineup, and ::
:: their enthusiasm is evident in their playing. Whether it is the ::
:: added bounce on 'Shining Kingdom', or the stygian dancehall ::
:: stomp of 'The Ones Who Came Before', this is an essential ::
:: self-tribute to the anniversary of one of the most darkly ::
:: majestic, unforgettable and unique Extreme Metal albums ever ::
:: conceived. ::
:: ::
:: . _ _ . ::
\: :. \\ ___________ . ___________ // .: :/
__\____ :: ____ ___\ _ / BERC : 2024 \ _ /___ ____ :: ____/__
\\\f3! :: \\\ __ _/_________i_________\ /___/ /// :: cRO///
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