Distributed as First Spell and not the compilation with the same tracks.
Comes in a digipak.
1994 was a great year for black metal. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Hvis Lysett Tar Oss, Pure Holocaust and Svartalvheim are only a few of the genre's classics released that year, and for somewhat reason, First Spell is excluded from the list. Why?
This album has atmosphere, and a hell of it. The excessive keyboards that accompany the album are actually in place (at most of the album) and add to its creeping and chilling nature. The melancholic ice-cold riffs and powerful bass lines are performed with a high level of skill, and the vocals feature not only screaming, but hissing, whispering and even growling at times. From the very beginning of this album, the church organ wails to warn you of the upcoming terror- dark, melancholic, melodic, but still in-your-face-kvlt madness resembling a fusion between The Damned and Immortal.
The songs themselves are diverse. Some featuring an epic and upbeat feeling at times, with suddenly contrasting into a morbid and sombre atmosphere- imagine a Type O Negative album covered by Emperor. The enhanced bass and keyboards, with melancholic acoustic parts, which are a fairly uncommon thing among black metal albums of this time, are shown here in their full pride and glory- but are a little over emphasized and make the guitar sound buried deeply under the wall of sound this album makes. The lyrics are something between In the Nightside Eclipse and Burzum. Sometimes juvenile and pseudo-philosophical, and sometimes sophisticated and deep. This doesn't interrupt the album's atmosphere and feeling- and is only a minor part of it.
So that's it. You've already reached the end of your forest journey, with no blast beats and overlong intros, but with a great foggy atmosphere and corpse paint on your face. Recommended.
''First Spell'' is a great and unique interpretation of symphonic black metal, and remains among my favourite symphonic metal releases. Just as many other black metal bands, Gehenna seems to take inspiration from Lord of the Rings. The melodies are something of their own, and I have yet to encounter any releases sounding too similar to this.
Unlike many other black metal bands, Gehenna doesn't seem to aspire to create an evil atmosphere. Gehenna has more of a haunting sound, and they achieve this by whispering rather than screaming at times, as well as using a church organ (resemblance). When listening to ''First Spell'', it really reminds me of the Nazgûl, riding their horses through cold and dark forests. I think the opening track somewhat describes the atmosphere, ''The Shivering Voice of the Ghost''.
What I find quite interesting about this EP is the fact that the synth isn't just in the background, it's quite predominant. For instance, there's a synth solo in the opening track. The guitars also play an important role, and the riffs are great. They consist of tremolo picking mostly, and they are well complimented by the synth. The tempo stays fairly constant, and it is a medium fast tempo. The bass is also quite good, mainly due to the fact that it's relatively loud in the mix, and the tone sounds really fat, in lack of a better term, which adds depth to the release.
Overall, I'd say ''First Spell'' is a great EP, and I'd recommend it to those new to black metal, however I think that all black metal fans could enjoy this release.
Sample:
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