Malignant Eternal "Tårnet" Cassette

Originally formed in 1991 Malignant Eternal definitely left their mark on the nineties black metal scene. The now classic debut album “Tårnet” was self-released in only 500 units by the band and shortly after re-issued by the infamous Hot Records (Shagrath 004) in 1996. Now 24 years after its first release we present the album in full glory as digipack with booklet, noble gatefold lp on various colors vinyl and cassette. A T-shirt is being printed too. Comes packaged in a revamped layout with never before seen pictures and liner notes of founding member T. Reaper.

Uh seriously? I have no idea what the other person was smoking to give this release a TWENTY. While you can clearly tell it's a black metal album and has some similarities to other bands, this is definitely NOT a generic one. In fact, it has a very special sound to it. And honestly, it's one of the few albums I feel like I can give a perfect score to. A true gem of Norwegian black metal.
Overall, the instrumentation is great. The drums are awesome! Timing is superb, patterns are great and some are unique. They get the job done overall. The vocals are standard black metal shrieks, nothing too special with those but they aren't bad or poorly executed, so I don't feel the need to take off points for those. The guitar tone is great, and the riffs are fast, super catchy, and very well executed. And lastly, there are keyboards in here. The one thing I will agree with the other reviewer on is that the keyboards do overtake most of the other instruments. Which to me is by no means a bad thing. And considering this is black metal, I have no idea how it would when most albums tend to have some sort of keyboards in there to enhance the atmosphere. In this album, they do an excellent job of creating a very depressing and murky atmosphere. Perfect for nighttime strolls in the forests. Those keyboards mixed with the killer riffs are what really make this album what it is and give its special edge and gloomy, haunting atmosphere. The production sounds awesome too - it's low to add even more to that murky atmosphere, but it's not *too* low to where you can't hear the instruments properly. It's that nice middle sweet spot and I wish more albums were like that instead of being too low, or too good to where it makes the atmosphere less interesting.
This is one of those albums you can listen to, close your eyes, and picture an image or scenario in your head. Most notably the HOT Records reissue's cover from 1996... it just suits this so perfectly. Much moreso than the original black and blue one in my opinion.
I wanted to make this short, sweet, and to the point, so I'm not going to go track by track. But this is without a doubt an album I would recommend to anyone even remotely interested in what quality black metal sounds like. I personally feel Burzum and Mayhem and all the bands that get endlessly mentioned in the genre to no end are pretty overrated, and it's quite depressing seeing them overshadow bands like this that truly deserve some love. If you've made it this far please give this album a listen. Hopefully, you won't regret it. I sure as hell didn't!

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...