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Rating: I find it natural to review only the albums I particularly enjoy, and that have not already been reviewed by others (and often the task is arduous). Great was my astonishment, therefore, to find that no one, among the many admirers of the genre here on debaser, has yet examined an album like this, of primary importance within the realm of less orthodox Black Metal.
In 1997 the release of the then semi-unknown Norwegian duo "Limbonic Art" drew an attention that in the extreme music scene was usually reserved for seminal bands. The album sparked, in specialist magazines and among connoisseurs, a real debate, which is partly still alive, despite the fact that today Limbonic Art no longer exists, and their contribution is increasingly relegated to oblivion. But what, in the project's proposal, so shocked the more or less seasoned listeners of Black Metal's extravagances?
Well, if a stylistic attribute like "Symphonic" can be applicable (and not by opposition) to a violent, minimalist, and under-arranged genre like Black Metal, this is perhaps the only case where such an application would be legitimate. The only one, mind you, also in relation to the band's other works, absolutely not comparable to this; nor, for that matter, to the more or less tacky and semi-serious formulas offered today by various Dimmu Borgir, Cradle Of Filth and the like, aimed at applying classical, or pseudo-classical solutions to a purely "song-oriented" or otherwise simple structure and of immediate accessibility. On the other hand, the comparison with some works by Satyricon or Emperor is legitimate but not pertinent, due to stylistic differences, approach, intentions (and those who know the bands in question know what I am referring to). They are ensembles that, although having many similarities, when listened to show all the differences that fortunately distinguish them and make them, in their own way, original.
The strange and explosive mixture of this genre masterpiece is the result of a skilled balance between harmony, colors, shapes of symphonic music, and the sensibility (only seemingly poles apart, in my opinion) of extreme music. The redundancy and baroque sense that ooze from every track often contrast with the refinement and lightness of some themes, hidden and almost unintelligible among the stormy guitars and the drums (also electronic, like all the other effects, which are however of excellent quality) in "blastbeats". The atmospheres evoked by the skilled use of keyboards are now epic, now bucolic, now wizardly and esoteric, played on the contrast between delicate melodies and others decidedly dark, wrapped in heavy layers of effects. Extensive use of electronic sampling and synths, so that the stylistic contamination often appears pushed to the extreme, as in the case of the splendid "Under Burdens of Life's Holocaust", a sort of ballad with a spectral and ethereal melody (listen to what they manage to do with cellos, even if virtual!) that transforms, in the second part, into a fierce war-song. Memorable the entire first half (and the first three tracks in particular) of the album, the highest point of Limbonic's entire career. Complete, complex, satisfying, and divinely arranged episodes. Less engaging, yet still valid, the second part.
Some aspects of "In Abhorrence Dementia" lend themselves to some criticism: first of all, the length. Not that the album is boring or verbose (despite lasting well over an hour, without considering the bonus tracks...), however, some episodes tend to prolong themselves excessively (which is not highly desirable in the case of an album of not easy listening like this). No track, to be clear, lasts less than seven minutes. Another necessary note regards the screaming, not bad, but decidedly conventional. Pleasant and surprising, instead, some rare dark-ambient and noise openings. The lyrics feature the usual high degree of romantic and unhealthy exoticism, as do the track names, all definitely over the top: "A Venomous Kiss of Profane Grace", "Misanthropic Spectrum" (sic!), etc.
In conclusion, this work by Limbonic Art is an audacious and extremely elaborate piece, highly enjoyable, which should not be missing in the record collections of lovers of extreme music as well as experimental music in general (as for classical music enthusiasts, well, I don't know if they would appreciate it, although I hope they would...).
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 In Abhorrence Dementia (07:26)
I admire the spiritual force of evil
A pure supreme instinction in survival
Never underestimate the powers of hatred
When the blackness overwhelming
With a hostile image against all living
The splendid visions of malignant breeding
The dominions on Earth shall return to the beast
As the darkside awaits the capture and feast
With dark surrounding illusions
Possesion in passion, simplicity is intuitive
Native forces of violent misery
The soil in a man`s heart is stonier
In stench of rot and sour ground
The obedient fall into cruelty
Where all arts of life shall be undone
A madness wells up in me
As I swallow the pain
Where unbounded evil reign
In Abhorrence Dementia
02 A Demonoid Virtue (07:39)
Higher, Higher burning fire
Unite with me in dark desire
Inflaming greed awakens to breed in me
The night has predatorial eyes
Drifting in a pale disguise
Beneath the spelling moon
The spirit rises out of darkness
The spirit rises...
Voices call for my soul
The cunning serpents kiss I taste
Baptised beside the ancient lakes of
FIRE, FIRE burning higher
Unite with me in dark desire
I perish in a bliss of cruelty
Tormented souls will never ... rest in peace
In the flames an omen blaze
Enforcing through the cosmic haze
To cross the line and dare to glance
And enter the cold void where death romances
In mysteries
In the flames an omen blaze
Enforcing through the cosmic haze
To cross the line and dare to glance
And enter the cold void where death romances
In mysteries
O' raging fire enlighten me with sin
05 Deathtrip to a Mirage Asylum (12:14)
Life is deceiving while death is revealing
The mystic forces in the soul
Mind is receiving the certain dark feeling
The murderous sources of the ghoul
Life is the enemy while death is the sacred key
To absent sights that recall
Dimensional tyranny enslavement in cruelty
In darkness one float or one fall
Th the abyss` morbid enigmas
Far beyond the earthly grave
Soul betakes to drift astray
Infinite horizons of pale grey skies
A still born heart within there lies
The sanctuary that once was lost
Is streaming endlessly in holocaust
The astral corpse is still pulsating
In a mirage asylum awaiting
The final destination, the ultimate denomination
In limbonic life I`ve slept
Dreamt that cryptic seals me kept
Sheltered from all visual sight
Cause shadows chased every sign of light
Awakened from an ancient slumber
Recalled to act of strife
My spirit old any my body cold Remains in dark demise
Immortality beloved am I to dying
And the whispering of secrets to my soul
I am born to sing this sorrow
Evil has no rest in me
The invisible addiction of darkness, emptiness
And the ghastly silence...devour
Deathtrip to a mirag asylum
Cut the string the chain to soil
Unleash the powers within death`s coil
No darker emotion is there to find
Than the fading felling of a dying kind
Deathtrip to a mirage asylum
In limbonic life I`ve slept
Dreamt that cryptic seals me kept
Shelterd from all visual sight
Cause shadows chased every sing of light
In the light of my personal sacrifice
In the shine from the ruins I testify
Far more savage the spiritual vulture
In the light of my personal sacrifice
In the shine from the ruins I sanctify
Unto the valley of the shadows of death
08 Behind the Mask Obscure (07:15)
[Overture]
In distance from the light I redeem my gloria
In darkness I have sights a high esteemed fantasia
In hellfire and damnation my undead soul walk the land
Throught the endless mist of time
I`m born ro darkened adventures retlaiated in lifes obscure
To seek vengance for my pains
To serve the hatred in my veins
In centuries I have wandered
With deaths shadows drifting faithfully
In the darkest forests in mans domain
I rceived my strenght and sorcery
My demon search for a doorway to be free
For once again to desecrate the hearts serenity
Transcend mortality live throught eternally
And feast upon all misery
that is gathered here in life
In hellfire and damnation
my undead soul walk the land
Throught the endless mist of time
i`m born to darkened adventures
retailed in life obscure
Seasons they rise and fall
I have seen throught them all
With harsh evil prophecies
I gave birth to inhumanity
09 Misanthropic Spectrum (07:17)
Gloria Sathanas
The undivine deceptor
Enemy of all holiness
The eminent destructor
Brings life into misery and death
The magic sights of thy third eye
Triumphant wargod rising tall
Sparkling rain falls from the sky
When thunder's blasting heavens wall
Gloria Sathanas
From four points in the horizons
A circle's drawn in fire
By sword I kneel in union
Within my burning empire
A mind sincerity
And obedience to the sources of its nature
A heart in cruelty
Reaches out for evil forces in the obscure
To be crowned as a legion of darkness
I'm weaving a spell of black energy
In aspects of might to obliterate
Breeding the wrath into plain hate
In apocalyptic rage
I curse time and age
Humans bleed for me
Coronation of dark victory
Gloria Sathanas
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