Today’s review is of Swiss Black Metal band Samael’s album “Passage”, celebrating its recent rerelease.
Together with “Eternal”, this album marks the transitional period between their particular type of Black Metal and their Electronic music progression. These two albums are pretty hard to describe, since they still have the mystic and grandiose aura of their initial releases while straying notably from Extreme Metal (though still not from Metal in general).
Perhaps best described as Industrial Black Metal with Gothic Metal influences, the full-length may also be considered to be pretty Avant-Garde. Though many fans of their early material dislike it, it has a really singular ambience that may remind of Rammstein mixed with Tiamat and their own style, and while it truly has little to do with the first 3 albums, it may also be easily enjoyed by metal fans with an open mind. Relying highly on synth and piano to create a slightly more upbeat ambience with hard hitting guitars and bass melodies that bring Gothic Rock to mind, the full-length is also dark, though it perhaps strives more towards a kind of epic that may only be produced by Samael themselves. There surely haven’t been any other albums similar to this one or its continuation. My personal highlights are “Rain”, “Shining Kingdom” and “Born Under Saturn”.
I recommend this album to fans of Symphonic Metal, Gothic Metal, Industrial Meta, Industrial Black Metal and Avant-Garde Metal. My rating is of 10/10.
VARG THE MIGHTY
