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Rating: In the era of the full splendor of the entire Nordic Black/Death scene, where the cacophony and malevolence emitted by bands belonging to that world were prioritized over any desire to refine their musical technique, Dissection composed an album that proved to be the right compromise: the icy atmosphere of the most blasphemous black metal combined with an unusual sophistication in melodies and compositions, as well as a technique of decidedly higher caliber than the average.
The charismatic frontman Jon Nodtveidt brings to life a record that lays the foundations for a new conception of the genre to which it claims to belong, as happens with all those groups possessing a remarkable emerging personality from their earliest works. In short, this "The Somberlain" shows us a young band and, to be fair, still a bit green, but at the same time determined and with a clear idea of the result they want to achieve. As an emblem of the album itself, the opener "Black Horizons" can be taken as an example, over eight minutes of poetry and malice broken in the middle by a sudden, unexpected acoustic break: already one immediately notices how well the structure of the piece in question has been crafted, but what strikes the most is the extraordinary evocative power of each single passage and the pathos of Nodtveidt's voice, with that well-chosen, albeit eerie distant echo effect.
The quality of the entire work is consistently high, and the alternation of fast rhythms with more paced ones (see the title track) definitely keeps boredom at bay, usually a common denominator for albums of this genre. This to demonstrate the indisputable compositional ability of a band that a few years later would enter the legend, after having churned out that masterpiece called "Storm Of The Light's Bane". The best, as often happens, was yet to come, even though unfortunately it would not go further, but that is another story...
Impossible to remain indifferent to this album (the band's first full-length), a true must for all adherents of the black flame, a piece of malevolence from a period when black metal was more alive and real than ever, when bands like Mayhem, Marduk, Emperor, or Dissection themselves truly believed in what they were doing, when records were carriers of the most sincere and pure feelings, and the wind from the desolate northern lands seemed to gently rise to the sound of every single note.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Black Horizons (08:12)
From my Tower I behold the landscape below
I see the river of blood in fury flow
I stare into the night, yet my visions clear
From the distant villages every word i hear
I am the almighty, the one with wisdom wide
I am the great shadow and from daylight in my tower i hide
I have seen the abyss and all that lies within
I am the great shadow and i was born in sin
Thy shadow swept by like an angel fading to grey
Thy eyes were like weakening candles leaving the flames to die
Thy pale cold face, once so full of life
Now its torn as of thorns of ice
Thy towers fell to the ground
I am the almighty, the one with wisdom wide
I am the great shadow and from daylight in my tower i hide
I have seen the abyss and all that lies within
I am the great shadow and i was born in sin
Yes this is the land, the land of the black horizon
Where the shores are covered with the bodies
of thy followers
Triumphal vengeance, Dethroning the shape of thou
Fade I say, wither away
I am the almighty, the one with wisdom wide
I am the great shadow, no daylight over my kingdom ride
At the black horizons, my eyes and souls the wind
I am the great shadow and i was born in sin
I am the almighty, the one with wisdom wide
I am the great shadow, no daylight over my kingdom ride
At the black horizons, my eyes and souls the wind
BEHOLD THE LAND OF SIN!
02 The Somberlain (07:07)
I fell deeper and deeper as light now was gone
I could feel the dark embrace my soul
Agony was no more, and so was pain
At this point of solitude I knew I was there...
There where I belong
Thus far a long journey through my soul's infinity
It has been a journey far beyond mortality
I have found what I wanted, tranquillity
I'll thrive on evil, eternally
I flew over crystal ground
My existence numb
Over orchards of grievance,
sorrow and tears
This beautiful silence...
calls me now
Black fog devours me but I can see it all
The monument of my past,
the land of seven horizons' before my eyes
I reach the land of spiritual rest
It's the dawn of descending
- I am the Somberlain
down to evil divine domain
Lord of infernal, gather my strength
Carry me through the gates
It's the dawn of descending
- I am the Somberlain
down to evil divine domain
For I'm eternal night
- I'm the Somberlain
Precede my evil divine domain
04 A Land Forlorn (06:40)
The mountains below we reached by our will
The flames of our swords are burning still
Temptated by the night to spread hate and fear
Were the revenge the blackest, Their souls is our prey
Storms of evil, thunder and might
Their moons in our eyes, a guiding sight
Were in the march of profanity
The darkest breed, again well rise
forth against the flocks of the weak
Well approach a land forlorn
Our hordes arrived / Oh hordes of white,
watch us take your lives
As false youll fall, falseness disappear
(The Land) where eyes are blind we have found
Battle sign under the shape of mine
Darkest souls now set free
We rose again, damnations reign
Watch me absorb your thoughts
See me ruin your halls of light
Weltering in your sadness for infinity
Were the march of profanity
Your tragedy, falmes will rise
forth against the flocks of the weak
No return, A land forlorn
05 Heaven's Damnation (04:42)
Music: Nödtveidt/Zwetsloot
Lyrics: Nödtveidt
Striking over oceans of blood
Over kingdoms in fears
Where the night bred it's cold
Dark the winter drew near
Watch the sky, the crimson tears of heaven
The darkened mist of burning hate
Ashes of the past, Years that fell into oblivion
Visions so dim they had, memories of a time
yet to come
Watch the sky, the crimson tears of heaven
As damnation reaches the hidden lands
Through forests of profanity
The sound of cries
Brought forth by the night sky
Invoked by their own tongues
Yes they're truly awake now
The souls that were sleeping under the tree of death
And I laugh as I burn down the pearly gates of light
And forever I'll be within the arms of abomination
Embracement of eternal dark
With the ancient souls at the sides
Wastelands bathed in evil...
are one with the blackened sky
Watch the sky, the crimson tears of heaven
fade to black and welcome the night of all nights
06 Frozen (03:47)
Far beyond all light
Within the black and the coldest breeze
Caressed by the dark, I had my sleep
Awakened by the moon
Nocturnal life, my powers to be
Keeping myself alive by sucking your mortals blood...
Frozen winds of immortality
as I drown in obscurity
Still feeling the taste of blood...
It makes me so strong...
I spread my wings...
Into soul winter I fly...
Tears in my eyes turns into fire
as where I belong...
The cold within, it chills my skin,
my heart and soul...
In ecstacy I shred myself
to release whats held within
In solitude Im having my pride
I, Transylvanian son...
Frozen winds of immortality
as I drown in obscurity
I fall deep into whats for me unseen
Eternal flames lick my face
In purgatory Im all within
But Im forever bound to my frozen soul...
08 In the Cold Winds of Nowhere (04:22)
Search for my subconscious
Lead me into myself
A need to discover the dark
A will to enter these gates
Oh, This temptation
to end this empty life
In my dreams I saw my real side
A journey through forever
my visions oh so bright
Watching eternity open
as I turn out lifes light
Oh, this temptation
to leave this earthly shell
Deep inside, the toll of deaths bell
In the cold winds of nowhere
With a sigh I pass away
Falling, into harmonic sleep
Then Ill find my prophecies wasnt lies
Falling, into the abyssI come...
I...I am dying...
Death...Does heal me...
In the cold winds of nowhere
10 Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow (04:36)
Music: Nödtveidt/Zwetsloot
Lyrics: Nödtveidt
So dark, I'm facing my destiny
As far as pleasures led my disciple was me
For ages I have been searching for my bride
Since she passed away grief became my guide
As darkness falls above
- It will be there for centuries
My mistress of sorrow she will hear my call
I sort of entered the other side
when those words were called up to the sky
As darkness falls above
- It will be there for centuries
Mistress of sorrow, please hear my call
As darkness falls above
- It will be there for centuries
No mistress of sorrow ever heard my call
[dedicated to life]
11 Feathers Fell (00:41)
Feathers fell... like leaves from a tree
Blood ran... like water from a sea
Angels cried... as the rain poured
Feathers fell... they'll fall no more...
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