Right...I knew this was coming after I heard the shitty "Intermezzo II".

Let's clear things a little bit. SATYRICON have totally, repeat, totally changed just about everything about themselves since the last albums. Gone are the Nordic melodies and lyrics of mother-nature. Gone are the synths that made "The Shadowthrone" such a fucking brilliant album. Gone are the days of SATYRICON standing in forests far up north. Gone...

This has all been replaced now by pictures of Satyr & Frost bathing in sewage slime probably under some foreign urban refugee-camp of concrete blocks on the outskirts of Oslo. This is the first image the album's so-called "artwork" suggests.

Onto the music; it's aggressive and I'd say the boredom level any band could achieve just reached its climax on this album. Opening track "Tied In Bronze Chains" lasts for over ten minutes (just about ten minutes too long in my opinion) and it left me wandering 'should I burn this album right away, or wait just a bit longer?' I decided to wait. Next track "Filthgrinder" is a totally boring, pathetic excuse for a song that will want to make you puke if Satyr's new gay bald-head look doesn't. As to the lyrics of all the songs on this album, forget it, I've tried to understand what the hell they were raving about, but I eventually gave up...some post-modern misanthrope shit about sleaze pigs and filth on the walls written by Satyr in his new BMW while licking Marcus Staiger's (Nuclear Blast) ass.

There are also instrumentals on this album that are just a waste of time for the band and a waste of money for the fan. The song "Havoc Vulture" starts with a tremendously gay melody and eventually pursues its own level of gayness to a level beyond belief. Only the song "Prime Evil Renaissance" reminds me at times of old Satyricon and is the only good song on this album.

Then there's a cyber-hyper-futuristic shit of a song called "Supersonic Journey" which I think would be better off if rocketed into space. This is followed by another crappy instrumental which leads on to "A Moment of Clarity" during which I usually drowse off and my body is still physically there, but my mind is somewhere between the green trees and the blue skies...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....huh what the fuck?!? oh yes, this is my usual reaction to the song "The Scorn Torrent" which features some incredibly lame riffs and unbelievably annoying vocals in the middle that sound like some King Diamond clone whose balls were cut off.

What else is there to say? This album manifests a complete lack of any creativity whatsoever and it seems to me that Satyr seems to be nowadays trading his oh so true nordic image for mobilephones and BMW's. I'm sure Satyr is proud about the way he has managed to pervert his music into this kind of horseshit. Pathetic...

On his MoonFAG web-site, Satyr is proudly announcing about how "Retard Extravaganza" got some top billboard spots in some norwegian fag-contest, and afterwards raving about how Satyricon didn't receive some norwegian grammy award at their commercial anti-black metal contest "Spellemansprisen". I never thought black metal would come to this.

Well folks, norwegian black metal was gasping for its last breath of air...this album just hammered the last nail into its coffin.

1/10

© 2000 naargrim