Norway has always, and will always, produce the best black metal. Is it because of their enormous forests? Their long dark winters? Who knows, but Fimbulwinter's Servants of Sorcery is a criminally overlooked album, with a very unique sound to it, that really demonstrates the prototype of Norwegian black metal.
We are first graced with a very eerie intro, that makes me imagine a lost traveler in a dark forest, sleep deprived, and on the brink of passing out. We are then thrown into the official first track, "When the Fire Leaps from the Ash Mountain". The production isn't too great, and not in a black metal sort of way, it's just plain bad. The instruments tend to blend together and can become hard to differentiate what you're hearing, it also has lots of cracks and popping, but that's most likely because this entire album is simply a remaster of their rehearsal demo. The riffs are very interesting, often times sounding like thrash metal riffs or speed metal riffs, just with incredible amounts of distortion and tremolo picking. I bet if the riffs were slowed down, this album would sound like a rough Rigor Mortis demo. We are also treated to some breakdowns, which is not incredibly common in early Norwegian black metal, but I assume this is due to the obvious thrash metal influences as previously stated.
The drums are excellent, lots of variation and blast beats, however I'm unsure if they're from a machine, or there's an actual drummer behind them, as there's no credits to be found for who the drummer is. The bass has this deep droning tone that corelates well with the guitars, and during the breakdowns it sometimes sounds like Electric Wizard with that warping, phaser sort of sound! The vocals have lots of growls and screams, fitting in perfectly with the evil vibe of the album. Speaking about that, this whole album has lots of themes of wizardry, and the occult, giving off that general vibe from the songs (If there were lyrics anywhere for this album, I bet it would be lots of magic stuff and what not).
This album, although not really getting much attention, seems to have had some help in creating the Norwegian Black Metal scene, and experimenting with what sounds work, and what don't. Also, love the album cover, adds a whole other layer of atmosphere to the album. Just look at that dark forest he's parading around in, and that outfit is wicked. This album is solid, and should certainly be listened to if you enjoy early black metal. From ashes to ashes, dust to dust, listen to this album you must...
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
