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"The Evil that Challenged the Ancient Sign, The Horde that Guards the Hidden Gate of the Tombs, feasting on what its inhabitants become: all these abominations are inferior to The One Who Stands at the Threshold of Darkness..."
Necronomicon, Abdul Alhazred (uncertain translation)
The Night. Foscolo, Leopardi, Pascoli, Wilde, Goethe, Huysmans, and all those who explored human perceptions, even in the slightest, wrote about it. But none of them was able to describe the irrational fear that grips man in the presence of Darkness. This ancestral feeling is instead manifest in the masterful "Opus Nocturne" in all its disarming force.
"The Appearance Of Spirits Of Darkness" has the task of banishing the light. A spectral organ, with passages rich in pathos, produces sweetly malevolent evolutions…
The mighty guitar wall of "Sulphur Souls" shatters the atmosphere with a torrential explosion. Gravf, predecessor of Legion, delivers growls that are nothing short of abyssal, at times even overpowering the enraged drumming of the ever-excellent Andersson. B War rules with chilling riffs, shaping the sound like an infernal Demiurge, dialoguing with the voice in a horrific alternation of bestiality. "From Subterranean Throne Profound" confirms the impression of the first track: the mark of Nordic black metal is branded on every single, sulfurous note. The track is dominated by an unwholesome, unsettling growl. The tones do not wane with "Autumnal Reaper": there is no melody in this album. The only trace of stylistic virtuosity that emerges among the demonic tortured wail of the guitar and the drilling rhythmic pattern imposed by the drums is offered by a sinister bass, which knots the violent instrumental backdrop in passages of eerie slowness. Once again, B War reigns in "Materialized In Stone". The pace of the track is set by his work. The dark phrasing of his bass provides the background to the vocal insertions of Af Gravf, overshadowing the sound. The guitar adds an oneiric, surreal touch, replacing the tyrannical bassist in the final arpeggio, which accompanies a frightening growl.
The display of stylistic brutality is evident in "Untrodden Paths (Wolves Part II)". No space for change of scheme, no guitar passage. A single, devastating riff that undergoes the glorious entry of the usual B War. Unbounded violence and cruelty, aimed at worshipping the Darkness.
"Opus Nocturne" is introduced by a very somber solo followed by the drums, giving rise to an unsettling phrase. Gravf, with a deep but not scratched timbre, hails the night.
"Deme Quaden Thyrane" makes its entrance with relative slowness on low tones. The guitar proposes a fierce element. The musical massacre continues in ever darker shades in a crescendo of speed.
Perhaps one of Marduk's best pieces, "The Sun Has Failed" seems to rise from the earth like the lament of the Beast locked in the abyss. The guitar weaves fast webs of solos, cadenced by fierce drums. The bass offers unsettling scales. But it is Gravf who makes this piece a true gem. His voice insinuates itself acidly between the notes, chanting a lullaby made of darkness. His scream lacerates the parts, breaks every scheme, awakening the most ancient human fears, until it evolves into an imposing growl, which merges with the echoes of a majestic storm, a voice of thunder that gets lost in the thunder.
...and the sun fell...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Sulphur Souls (05:37)
Praise hail Satan
Our wrath is about to be unleashed
Upon you - oh lord of goodness
For so long we have waited and believe us
The future will be a vast black memory on your grave
Behold
From our synagogue of Satan
We say to you
Black metal warriors of northern lands
Lift your swords up high
Let us praise
The horned one
The lord of the sulphur souls
The city walls of Babylon
Are now decorated with the bodies of your
Weak followers
Here they hang begging for our mercy
With a symbol of your teachings
We can't do nothing but hate
Behold
From our synagogue of Satan
We say to you
Do never lower your heads in awe
For a god so good and mild
Let us praise the one with black horns
Woe
Woe to you oh falling god
See how we scorn your work and worshippers
See how they hang in shameful nakedness
On the bloodstained walls of Babylon
The white sun bites us
But why be afraid
The bright morning star has turned black
Your empire is ruined oh god of life and light
And I am your Judas
04 Autumnal Reaper (03:29)
The coldest winds embrace the lands
Awakend from its ancient slumber
By a circle of sleepless eyes
Autumn reaper, dress me in ice
Let my blood freeze in your eyes
Towards a dark sky, monolith points
Created by unknown hands in a darker age
The threes bow for this wind, the cursed
That will live on forever
The winds of autumn cold and loud
Dressed in ice it dies, the life
Standing as frozen shadows
Under flickering stars
Autumn reaper dress me in ice
Let my blood freeze in your eyes
05 Materialized in Stone (05:07)
The solemn tones of an ancient clock
Have announced midnight
The air is thick and heavy
A vast deathlike stillness pervades all nature
A faint pearl of thunder comes from far off
Drifting clouds obscures the moon
As I passed onto the path in darkness
The wind must have grown colder for I felt myself shiver
As I walked towards
Unaware of the light
I struggled through the night
A materialization of my fear - the light
Through stealthy shadows
Through darkened halls
As the first rays of the sun emerges from
The horizon
Unaware of the light
I struggled through the night
Materialized in stone
Embraced by the woods as my throne
Materialized in stone
Forever stand alone
08 Deme Quaden Thyrane (05:04)
On a cold mist october morning
In the year of the lord 1462
The horses appeared on the hills of Brasov
The process of damnation would soon begun
Dracul would show the world how to correct
The rumanians which lacked strength or showed disrespect
The following story is just one of many on Draculs way
To outwipe every opposer who didn't him blindly obey
He killed by crushing them under the wheels of barrows
Others were undressed and skinned alive
To their very bowels and others were still impaled upon wooden poles
Or fried over the glowing embers placed under them
The cold wind of death follow in his way
Deme quaden thyrane
Some of them were run through with stakes that impaled their heads, breasts
and behind
Until the pole was driven through the mouth
To ellude the lack of any cruelty he drew stakes through
The breast <breasts?> of mothers and then he went on by impaling
Their infants upon theese <?>
The cold wind of death follows in his way
Deme quaden thyrane
So many have to die
By the horrible ways of torturing them
With such instruments that can only be invented
By the most nefarious cruelty possessed
Uttermost dreadful tyrant that ever existed
But the hungarian king Mathias Corvinus now Dracul betrayed
And for twelve long years Vlad now in the kings prison stayed
But the bonds of blood that Dracul in prison tied
Made his king in Wallachia again with Mathias as an allied
With lord Stefan Bathori's army and military skill
Dracul now will make all saches, boyars, Danesti's and turks blood chill
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