Gehenna
First Spell

In the 90s, the Scandinavian peninsula experienced, at least musically, one of its highest peaks. Metal, born in the United Kingdom 10 years earlier, landed on the cold shores of Norway during those years in its most extreme forms, giving birth to that notorious musical movement known as "Norwegian Black Metal," a genre that still today is capable of unsettling listeners like few others. While bands like Mayhem and Dark Throne dedicated their efforts to making their sound as dirty and "uncomfortable" as possible, a new name, unfortunately destined to remain within the niche of the diverse Norwegian nineties universe, emerged, mixing gothic elements imported from the English school of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride (such as slow and rhythmic tempos, symphonic arrangements, and romantic and decadent lyrics) with new experimentation in the black field, without sacrificing sound clarity and melodic quality. They are Gehenna, who debuted in 1994 with the EP "First Spell." And the opener "The Shivering Voice of the Ghost" immediately highlights the fundamental pillars of their music, with a long instrumental introduction entrusted to the pipe organ and lyrics worthy of the best Poe:

Where the wind blows I am
Where the wind blows I will always be

In the pale shadow
The voices around me
Screams in my soul and heart...

The vocals are in scream, a common feature of all extreme Scandinavian metal and beyond, but they are not as overpowering or annoying as those of certain contemporaneous black metal bands, instead appearing to almost blend with the instrumental background woven by the band and orchestra, never being inappropriate. The lyrics are unsettling, with their gloomy and decadent settings, yet always elegant in form and never uninspired or too direct; the tempos are particularly rhythmic slow/mid-tempos, clearly influenced by gothic metal.

Other songs are also of excellent craftsmanship; among them, the beautiful final "Morningstar", although at a certain point the band's "flat" style causes a certain habituation. Another flaw of the album, in my opinion, is the lack of attention given to the production of the guitars, in favor of excellent symphonic background work. But, all in all, this EP is an excellent debut for a great Norwegian band that, back in 1994, knew how to break away from all standards, experiment within symphonic gothic/black metal without fear, and with excellent results, even if, unfortunately, it remained confined to a corner of the complex Norwegian scene.