This edition contain:
-Prophecies Of Pagan Fire Cassette
-Towards The Skullthrone Of Satan Cassette
.Sticker
-Pin
The tracks are listed sequentially.
Release by Misantropologi récords.
What is unusual in this album is that it is very.. shy. What do I mean? Well, when you look on the cover, on the band photos of that time and when you listen to the album you notice that it doesn't show anything brave, it doesn't shock you, what's more - you rather know what might wait for you out there... You would think - "another typical BM album, again..." - but it would be a mistake...
"Prophecies of Pagan Fire" doesn't attack you with itself, but waits for your attention. However, it holds many secrets in itself, many things that you wouldn't think of. Though it starts comperably to the other play-as-fast-as-you-can-and-praise-satan BM bands, it changes quickly to a great, atmospheric work that shows a very interesting, though not really innovatory side of black metal.
What you will find here are great, various riffs, various tempos, nice vocals, monumental keyboards, acoustics and great atmosphere. Some of the songs are more Swedish BM - style, some remind me early Satyricon ("Tales from a Blackened Horde"), some have a death metal riff inside and so on and so on... You will never get bored - I promise.
The album doesn't provide anything new, actually. It develops what was invented in black metal some time before releasing this material. Don't ignore this album as it holds the essence of black metal.
Sometimes destiny is weird, or even bad because a band like Enthroned deserved more attention…for sure. After the very good debut, they release in 1997 this excellent “Towards The Skullthrone Of Satan” that is definitely faster and more evil than the album before.
The production is quite raw but exalts the guitar sound, always brutal, cold and truly evil. The drums are fast and raw in the snare-bass drum sound. “The Ultimate Horde Fights” is on blast beats with the screamed vocals typical by Sabathan.
Well, the main Enthroned characteristic is to mix in a perfect way obscure guitar lines with fast tempo, so we can find more “mid paced” parts where the true satanic soul is expressed through bestial, malevolent lead guitars lines. “Ha Shaitan” is great and check out the satanic melody from the guitars, especially during the mid paced part. The hyper speed restart part in this song is something unbelievable…
“Evil Church” is my favourite one here. A track to worship, admire, love…rarely Enthroned expressed themselves in these levels. The track is perfectly balanced between obscure melodies and black metal massacres. The refrain is a piece of history of this genre. A small gem. “The Antichrist Summons The Black flame” and “The Forest Of Nathrath” are again a perfect mixture of black metal assault parts with lots of tempo changes and dark melodies. Fucking great.
Listen to the great black melodies to “Throne To Purgatory” or to the gloomy beginning of “When The Horny Flames…”, this one with excellent solos breaks. Really, this is the very first, in my opinion, Enthroned great work. I believe it’s better than the debut, especially for the guitar song writing and for the burden of fury and Satanism.
An album to admire in black metal. Back to the roots of evil with Enthroned.
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