Silencer
Death - Pierce Me

Anguish, anguish, and more anguish in a cold, endless sonic whirlwind, this is "Death - Pierce Me" the first and last work by Silencer, before the band disbanded due to the internment, in a psychiatric hospital, of their raving frontman Nattramn (legend has it of the Swedish frontman's crazy antics, including self-amputation of his hands to replace them with pig's feet...).

But the web is full of news about Nattramn, let's focus instead on his delirious album.

Admitting that this is not an album for refined palates, and in my opinion, it requires a good preliminary knowledge of black suicidal and depressive metal. In this alienating work, with riffs that are not particularly complex yet essentially wicked and well-crafted, managing to channel into the darkest and most depressive realms of metal, the voice inserts itself, if we can call it that, of Nattramn, a jeremiad that often doesn't align with melodies, sounds, or noises, a voice that follows its own tracks and almost always pursues its twisted and demonic path, a continuous lament that flows ever more in darkness, where the light is ever more dim, there where there is no return. However, when Nattramn's screaming meets the sharpest riffs, then these two sides of the same coin begin to dialogue and intersect, reaching incredible diabolical heights. And it is here that one can truly speak of a "suicidal masterpiece," and in my opinion, in this case, we are really close.

Title track and first demo, "Death-Pierce Me" slowly accompanies us with its initial arpeggio into the labyrinths of a sick brain mass, that kind of voice that comes out of the Swedish singer's mouth is not a voice from this planet, piercing screams, cries on the edge of bearability, nearly broken vocal cords, occasionally brush against massive and sharp riffs. On the whole, the first track lets us understand what the entire album is made of.

"Sterile Nails And Thunderbowel" insinuates itself with relative calmness and introduces us to a cold winter wind that soon turns into a Siberian storm thanks to the excellent drumming and the inhuman laments of an incurable psychiatric patient. The unexpected rhythm changes interspersed with screams, growls, and coughs on the border of masochism make the whole thing terribly depressing and nauseating.

"Taklamakan," perhaps the fastest track of the entire album but in my opinion also the most predictable, breaks the barrier of pain to spill into murderous rage; here Nattramn in his delirium does not seem to blame himself but shows hatred towards society, towards a world that does not understand him and cannot accept him, a planet inhabited by strangers to him, enemies, perhaps people to fight against with any weapon until the last breath of life. This excellent track with a strong emotional impact and misanthropic reminiscences introduces us to the two most valuable and intense tracks of the entire work of the Scandinavian group.

In "The slow kill in the cold," one is led through dark and macabre yet at the same time fast and angry riffs into a brain deviated by illness, an incurable and restless gray mass, and on listening, one is overwhelmed by mixed anger and pain, a piercing pessimism pervades us, in this piece Nattramn is ever closer to the more empathetic interlocutor...

But the real definitive track, where perhaps Nattramn finally reaches the underworld and finds an end to his affliction, is the incredible "I shall lead, you shall follow" where pain, hatred, alienation, and the most absurd schizophrenia and unpredictable in its most eclectic form find a perfect marriage with the instrumental part, and the whole is articulated in a true masterpiece of suicidal black metal, exuding suffering in all of its 11 minutes.

"Feeble Are You-Sons Of Sion" the sixth and final track closes the tale without a reason, a sad and melancholic piano pronounces the end of everything.

In summary, to the most orthodox listeners of the genre, Nattramn's screams and verses may seem almost ridiculous but in my view in this important work, they reach the supreme pinnacle of the genre; in the malevolent giggles, the inhuman screams, the cries, here the pain and suffering are really felt and from all this only a dark message transpires, a message of death.
No way out, no escape, no redemption... only suicide as the end of suffering.

In conclusion, an album that is not easily forgotten, a milestone of the genre to be cherished jealously in the darkest and gloomiest corner of one's home. Highly recommended!