Behemoth - From the Pagan Vastlands...

Production: Fuzzy and distorted, unclear jambox bedroom production that fits the atmospheric nature of the music.

Review: The dominant influence here is Immortal, but that comes through mainly in the love of melody and the vocals, with the added touch of heavy, low, thundering horses'-hooves bass drumming.

The addition, which some may interpret as gimmick but I think works much, much better is the use of acoustic guitar over unearthly black metal pushed slowly into the background. It follows the style of the more competent Scandinavian material, with flowing melodies interweaving with some intriguing death-metalish riffs played without as much of a rough-cut emphasis, building songs which rise and extrude and then return to lay more potent vocals over some beautifully-executed metal.

Tracklist:

1. From Hornedlands to Lindisfarne
2. Thy Winter Kingdom
3. Summoning (of the Ancient Ones)
4. The Dance of the Pagan Flames
5. Blackvisions of the Almighty
6. Fields of Haar-Meggido
7. Deathcrush (Mayhem cover)

Length:

Behemoth - From the Pagan Vastlands...: Black Metal 1994 Behemoth

Copyright © 1994 Wild Rags

Of the immediate second wave of black metal, this is one of the better options. Simple and often unsurprising but aesthetically beautiful and rhythmically well arranged. Out on Wildrags in the US.