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Rating: In 1992, following the excellent debut "Shadows of the Past" the previous year, Sentenced were tired of being considered, and feeling like, mere clones of Death's "Leprosy." Motivated by the great buzz in those years in the death movement and from listening to the latest albums by Atheist and Nocturnus, Bathory, and Darkthrone's "Soulside Journey," as well as bands like Primus and Faith No More, they decided it was time to evolve their music to create something more innovative and personal.
The first change came with the decision of guitarist Miika Tenkula to abandon the role of growler to focus on his instrument because he was tired of singing live. The microphone handover happened during a concert when Mika Luttinen, singer of their tour mates and friends Impaled Nazarene, was asked to take care of the vocals. However, he failed to finish the favor as he did not know the lyrics and was particularly drunk, so after a couple of songs Taneli Jarva decided to step up and became the new singer of the band (a role he would not abandon until his departure in 1995).
Finally being able to focus solely on the guitar, Tenkula, the main composer of the group, created a sound that alternated dynamic moments close to techno death, which was experiencing its glory days, with slower and more atmospheric ones, thanks to the use of acoustic guitars and keyboards. This was very evocative and capable of recreating in the listener's mind the icy Nordic landscapes described in the lyrics (especially the one in "Northern Lights" regarding the beauty of the aurora borealis) that deal with the relationship between man and the harsh nature of the Finnish winter, ancient pagan life (which at the time was not as overused a theme as it is today), and also the Kalevala, the epic poem of their nation. Further distancing the sound from old-school death was the disappearance of doom influences that made the debut album more catacomb-like, but especially Jarva's screaming similar to that of typical melo death singers like Stanne and Fridén, which created atmospheres closer to those of black metal bands; this difference can be noted by listening to a version of "Wings" from the demo "Journey to Pohjola" and featured in the 2008 reissue where Tenkula is still singing.
The final result of the four Finns' efforts is a compact album of eight tracks that can be listened to in one breath, a product of a very specific era in which death metal was searching for new directions and ways to express itself. Crafted by a band in constant evolution that would change again soon with the next "Amok," moving more towards classic heavy, and then definitively with the gothic turn for which they are remembered. An album that, according to Jarva, expresses a "strange purity" that can only be achieved once in a lifetime.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 My Sky Is Darker Than Thine (05:49)
Frozen soil... A dim moonlight
I've been... this glorious rid
Raise the arms in victory
I've seen... on this glorious night
I've kept my eyes open wide
Through my dream I was given a hint:
My sky is darker than yours, my star is brighter than yours
A glance to the moonlight shadow reveals the runes of yesterday
I am of Astral Strain, my sky is darker than thine
Die... die... die!
I... I... I... despite
Destroy!
The goals I've set to myself are far beyond mortality
To dominate, desolate everything weak that cannot stand alone
And losers shall drop...
One after one...
I am before all gods
Who art thou to come to me?
You are the great pretender
And you will always be
(so die)
Frozen time... The astral gate
I've been before on this ground
Open wide before my eyes
I see... on this glorious ride
Now I know...
It was written in the stars that I am the Wrathchild
I laugh as you cry
I am the one who laughs as you cry...
I am the one who laughs for last and laughs forever more
The goals I've set to myself are far beyond humanity
To dominate, desolate everything - I'm heading to immortality!
And losers shall drop...
One after one...
I WON!!!
02 Wings (04:31)
The scars in the wind
Guiding my path to the dark
The breath of the silent night
Approaching from a distance
Wings
I cut a thousand cuts
Streams run (down) along my arms
The stars blasted into darkness
Change scents; colours
Catch..!
The sleepless eyes
Sterilized by drops of pride
Skies...mirror...screams
Shapes foundering into the scene
Wings
Hate in my heart
Revenge in my mind and my words
I rinse my hair in blood
And mock at your lousy God
I cut a thousand cuts
Streams run (down) along my arms
Oh the scars in the wind..!
Guiding my pathway on my ride
Catch death
The sleepless eyes
Sterilized by drops of pride
Skies...mirror...screams
Shapes foundering into the scene
04 Capture of Fire (06:36)
Fire...
Fire...thou of forces the mightiest
Flame...thou wisdom the greatest
Come forth for thou art needed
Come...I was marked for thee...
Fire...
It was written in the runes drowned in the sands of time
It was whispered from behind the walls of the ancient wind
"...The Capture of Fire...fulfills thy desire..."
Oh, hear the words!
Unleash the flame us all to reign
On this victorious ride us all to guide
...And we shall...
Set the world on Fire
Set free the mighty Flame
Let loose the greatest, Blaze
Laugh as our enemies fall
Fire...thou of forces the mightiest
Flame...thou wisdom the greatest
Come forth for thou art needed
Come...I was marked for thee
Kiss the hidden words...
The words of the ancient wisdom
Piss upon the graves where thy enemies are laid
05 Awaiting the Winter Frost (05:51)
A gathering in the cold, in the North, in the dark lands of Pohjola
Where the sun had not been crossing the sky nor seen for centuries...
We were brought together by oaths we had once sworn - by blood...
...once together drawn...
We had gathered all our forces
Called together all the heroes
Equipped a hundred swordmen
And a thousand men with crossbows
Strengthened by hate and the thirst for the enemies' blood
We lay in wait for the season of no light
We had seen the frozen mist - we weren't afraid to die
And the oath we had sworn gave us reason to live on
A Calm before the Storm
(We were) Awaiting the Winter Frost
...And then a storm arose in fury
The sky was shattered by lightning...
Awaiting the Winter Frost
As the sky blackened and the stars turned red
The frost greeted us with a cold northern breeze
Off with their heads! Off with their fuckin' heads!!!
Oh, the time had come...
To slaughter the hordes of cowardice
And cleanse the North from lies
We had gathered all our forces
Called together all the heroes
Equipped a hundred swordmen
And a thousand men with crossbows
We raised our swords
Grasped the irons
Lifted our bows
And chose the arrows
The false ones' hordes were put to the sword
The strong and the weak, one by one...
Their race was slaughtered to the very last man
Our bloodfeind was done as their bodies reddened the land
Awaiting the Winter Frost
The sign of the dark and the cold
the spell of pure hate
Awaiting the Winter Frost
And the heathen peace was found
06 Beyond the Wall of Sleep (03:34)
Fade into dream...
Deep into a dormant pseudo-life
Drown into night...
Pass through the gate of sleep
I see faded colours...
I see a landscape so calm...
To live a life asleep...is to master mortality
I wander between these worlds
On a quest to find a key
When life seems to be lost
And death comes to me door
I vanish into a dream
Into a place so cold, yet warm
Within my flesh
A thorn is molesting my sleep
It's teasing me...
Am I human after all?
(no)
Faded in dream...
Beyond the wall of sleep
For the sleep of death...
It is the most divine
Sandman stabs me in the back...
Lord Ego, Punish me!
Cleanse me from humanity!
Reveal the fucking Beast!
I must drown the human ignorance
Deep in the lake of fire - Drink the wine
Sandman, stab me in the back!
Lord Ego...Punish me!
To live within a dream...is to master mortality
The quest to find a key...Still lives!
07 Northern Lights (05:16)
At the dawn...
The golden moon was shining bright
With the silvery eyes of death
They had seen me salute the flames in the sky
...Northern Lights...
...Northern Lights...
While you were asleep I was awake to be part of the dark
While you were asleep I was awake to find the truth I had sought for
...through all my life...
Taken by the North wind blow
Into the icy abyss of colours
As I fulfilled my true self
I knew your world is not for me
"...I am not one of them..."
Aurora Borealis -
A part of me still in the sky
In the light of the golden moon
In the light of the silvery eyes of the night
I wandered through fire through ice...
To the valley of the shadow of death
Chorus
Aurora Borealis -
A part of me still in the sky
08 Epic (05:55)
(now flee...)
I flee...back to the time when man was true
I see...life as it was meant for me
On this trail I meet my ancestors
On this trail I find their wisdom
From the wall of frozen time I see my own reflection
Born...in the wrong century
Torn...to a wrong reality
A winter chill - A frozen, dead reality
A blackened will - A strange, macabre certainty
Pagan roots!
Heathen life!
...if life was...EPIC!
My heart belongs to the past
- I feel attraction for the night -
my mind to the ancient times
- I view this life like a lifeless rock
I want to be trapped under ice
within my peaceful glacial tomb
Far from the epoch of trend
In the Aeon of Frost - In league with the North!
On this trail I meet my ancestors
On this trail I find their wisdom
From the wall of frozen time I see my own reflection
Born...in the wrong century
Torn...to a wrong reality
Our northernmost hearts don't belong to this world...
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