Artist: Samael
Title: “Solar Soul” (reissue)
Label: Metal Mind Productions
Release Date: 12/2/2014
Genre: Black/Industrial Metal
Rating: 3.5/5
Originally released in 2007 on Nuclear Blast Records, “Solar Soul” is the seventh album by the Swiss Metal band Samael. The recording was recently re-issued by Metal Mind Productions and now comes in a Digipak holder but features no additional tracks or expanded liner notes. With that being the case my original thoughts on it remain the same and I have restated those views in the review that follows. The edition is limited to 2000 copies so diehards might want to act fast if interested in purchasing.
Samael is nothing if not unpredictable from release to release and while their original sound and style from albums such as “Passage” have been inspirational to groups like Rammstein and Dimmu Borgir, their change to the more Darkwave meets Electronica style we found on “Reign Of Light” could clearly confuse a large portion of their demographic audience. Long considered one of the second wave bands in the Black Metal movement the changes to the Industrial and Technical side would find them a leader in the Industrial Metal genre. “Solar Soul” continues this journey into musical experimentation for the band and for the most part should appeal more to their original fan base as its much heavier that “Reign Of Light”. Another thing about it is while it utilizes the electronic and industrial elements on every track there is also an inherent heaviness and a stomping groove that makes it a very interesting listen. Lead singer/guitarist Vorph seems in good form from the onset of the album as it opens with the title track and the programmed drums and keyboards serve well to set up the mood of the album. I love the chorus in it since it comes across with such majestic power and as you listen to the release on the whole it seems as though many of the songs offer a chorus of this kind. Different yet similar in the fact that they are sure to find the audience singing along with fists raised into the air defiantly. When “Promised Land” begins we see that this is more along the lines of the original Samael as it’s clearly a Metal track albeit with electronically triggered drum tracks. There is more a Gothic flavor happening with the vocals on “Western Ground’s” verse and there is a nice level of atmosphere happening in the background but it is not until the beginning of “On The Rise” do we see the band really pulling out all the stops for a few segments. I would have preferred that they left this as a sweeping thunderous number as opposed to slowing it down and picking up again a couple of times as this one had a lot of the elements that people enjoy in Dimmu Borgir today, and this could have caught their attention more had they left it one style and speed.
Continue reading “Solar Soul” (re-issue) by Samael →
Artist: Amorphis
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Samael, Virgin Black
Date: 9/29/2008
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
If you live in a city like New York and are a big supporter of any genre’s music scene then you are truly a very lucky person because there is seldom a night where you find yourself with nothing to do or nothing to see – especially when it comes to live music. The city offers up countless bars, venues, and theatres where music across a wide-genre scope is delivered almost nightly and if you are thinking there is no downside to this, well there is when two major events are scheduled for the exact same night. For me, this particular show would conclude the “Finnish Invasion” that I spoke of in both my Apocalyptica and Sonata Arctica commentaries. Sadly, Nightwish had indeed cancelled their appearance based on the illness of singer Anette but we did get a killer set from Sonata. Tonight’s fun at B.B. King Blues Club would also find a killer show that featured Kataklysm, Keep Of Kalessin and Eluveitie going on at the same time over at the Blender Theater and this was really going to make the Metal heads choose because all of the bands combined had the same loyal fan base. For me the choice was simple and locked on Amorphis because the band has not been over here since early 2005 by my recollection and since that time have released two more albums. The show tonight would bring along label mates Samael and Virgin Black from Australia. Here is how the night went down if you had missed it.
Continue reading Amorphis @ B.B. King Blues Club (9/29/2008) →
Artist: Samael
Title: “Solar Soul”
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 7/17/2007
Genre: Black/Industrial Metal
Rating: 3.5/5
Samael is nothing if not unpredictable from release to release and while their original sound and style from albums such as “Passage” have been inspirational to groups like Rammstein and Dimmu Borgir, their change to the more Darkwave meets Electronica style we found on “Reign Of Light” could clearly confuse a large portion of their demographic audience. Long considered one of the second wave bands in the Black Metal movement the changes to the Industrial and Technical side would find them a leader in the Industrial Metal genre. “Solar Soul” continues this journey into musical experimentation for the band and for the most part should appeal more to their original fan base as its much heavier that “Reign Of Light”. Another thing about it is while it utilizes the electronic and industrial elements on every track there is also an inherent heaviness and a stomping groove that makes it a very interesting listen. Lead singer/guitarist Vorph seems in good form from the onset of the album as it opens with the title track and the programmed drums and keyboards serve well to set up the mood of the album. I love the chorus in it since it comes across with such majestic power and as you listen to the release on the whole it seems as though many of the songs offer a chorus of this kind. Different yet similar in the fact that they are sure to find the audience singing along with fists raised into the air defiantly. When “Promised Land” begins we see that this is more along the lines of the original Samael as it’s clearly a Metal track albeit with electronically triggered drum tracks. There is more a Gothic flavor happening with the vocals on “Western Ground’s” verse and there is a nice level of atmosphere happening in the background but it is not until the beginning of “On The Rise” do we see the band really pulling out all the stops for a few segments. I would have preferred that they left this as a sweeping thunderous number as opposed to slowing it down and picking up again a couple of times as this one had a lot of the elements that people enjoy in Dimmu Borgir today, and this could have caught their attention more had they left it one style and speed.
Continue reading “Solar Soul” by Samael →
Artist: Samael
Title: “Reign Of Light”
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 2/8/2005
Genre: Industrial Black Metal
Rating: 7/10
The new release by Samael quickly brings to mind the music of Rammstein and it was truly an interesting change of pace after so many listens to Power and Progressive Metal as I have been doing of late. Described as Black Metal, I tended to disagree and felt it was more along the lines of Industrial or even Darkwave in some fashions. Leader Vorph has definitely constructed a unique piece of music and there are even some instances across the piece where his vocals come across like Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir in tunes like “Puritania”. There are even moments when you find this can be some sort of dance piece and this is due to Vorphs replacing the ripping guitar solos and drums with syncopated patterns and well-placed synth arrangements. Opening track “Moongate” quickly caught my attention as did “Reign Of Light” but a lot of the rest of the CD sounded too similar for me to really fairly judge one track from the next. “On Earth” and “Telepath” seem to be tracks the group is pushing and have some enjoyable moments in this. The CD includes another version of “Telepath” as well as a video for it.
Continue reading “Reign Of Light” by Samael →
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