Limited to 1000 copies. Comes in fold-out cover, printed with lyrics.
The second and final 7" EP from the Cult US Black Metal band FOG. "From Within The Darkness Beyond Eternity" is as epic as it is monumental and ripe with hate driven technical Black Metal drenched in Philosophical Luciferian themes. FOG deliver two tracks of slithering darkness that were to be the last two songs recorded and released by this obscure US Cult
It is a well-known fact to everyone interested in black metal that USBM is often perceived sceptically. Sure, the US is rather known for death and thrash metal; black metal bands are few and far between, and they are even less recognised here in Europe, but whenever I actually do get to hear one of them, they are great. I remember seeing Abazagorath, Krieg and Demoncy live in concert in my hometown Vienna some years ago, and in spite of a playing in a venue known for its shitty sound, they were amazing. Another prime example for excellent black metal from across the pond are Fog.
Whenever I listen to the intro riff of the first track, "From Within the Darkness Beyond Eternity", the Ukrainian band Hate Forest comes to my mind, which is mostly due to the guitar sound. This is not your usual distorted black metal guitar, but something much more subtle. The guitars don't seem to play individual chords, they rather "flow" along, and the picture of a really dirty, swampy river comes to mind. If you've ever listened to Hate Forest's "The Most Ancient Ones", you know what I'm talking about.
Apart from the guitar sound, however, this release has little in common with Hate Forest. Not only is the overall sound completely different, but riffs change much more often as well. In fact, it is safe to say this two-track EP features more riffs than some full-length black metal albums do. Especially in the title track, being the more artistic of the two tracks and consuming nearly 8 minutes, the guitarists are constantly conjuring up new riffs. They drop the solemn intro riff after about one minute, at the same time the first blast part starts, and by the time the song reaches the two-minute mark, I am already counting riff #4. After the blasting has ended, we get a nice calm part, giving acoustic guitars and bass an opportunity to shine, but don't expect the band to drag on this – electric guitars return soon, and the blasting continues, complete with yet more riffs. From about the five-minute mark on, everything becomes pretty confusing and the song seems to fall apart, but I'm a hundred percent sure that this disintegration is not due to lack of musicianship, but done on purpose. These guys sure can play their instruments, and they know exactly what they're doing.
Regarding the vocals, Lord Typhus, the owner of Dark Horizon Records, does neither growl nor scream, but he isn't only speaking with a harsh voice, like – most prominently – Immortal's Abbath does, either. It's hard to explain, but the vocal style he uses is more on the hateful, but solemn side. I think that actually "singing" might be the most appropriate term to describe it. Singing with a harsh black metal voice, of course.
Despite being much more accessible and to the face, there's no doubt track #2 is still Fog, as all the trademarks that made the opener great are present here as well. The guitars sound more generic (not in a bad sense!) this time around, but still the riffs are great and the band don't cease to constantly dish out high-speed blasting punishment. The vocals are a bit different here, as Lord Typhus uses a more aggressive style and is really screaming near the end. The lines "Destroy the kingdom of God" and "Children to the wolves" are two of the most prominent and memorable lines here.
Not much can be said about bass and drums. Just like the guitars, they are accurate all the time and do their jobs extremely well. The interesting thing is that although the production is pretty rough and especially the drums seem to be underproduced intentionally, you can hear the bass most of the time if you listen closely. It has short appearances in the foreground for a few seconds during the calm part on track #1, around the 3-minute mark, and at the beginning of track #2 together with the drums.
Now does the fact that I gave this record a rating of 100% mean that this is the best black metal release ever? No. For the simple reason that it's much easier to produce a flawless, all-the-way-through interesting two tracks than an entire album of top-notch stuff. Nevertheless, a 100% rating does of course mean that you should get this as soon as possible! Note, however, that "From Within the Darkness Beyond Eternity" is available only on vinyl. Running the risk of sounding like a nerd, non-vinyl player owners like me would want to download it in the form of MP3s from the Internet, but afterwards buy the EP to support the band and own an original copy of this great piece of music.
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