Until this point today
I have had little desire to listen to music, I was in a bit of a funk.
There are only a few albums that can bring me out of such a musical
funk. I call them re-calibration albums. The albums I listen to when
nothing else seems to speak to me, and at minimum they get me back to
enjoying music for musics sake. At best they rekindle my love for and
passion for all things musical.
To say that metal was formative
in my music tastes would be a disservice to how much I have enjoyed and
still enjoy the genre. There are a few albums that solidified metal as a
mainstay for me, and this is a prime example of such an album.
With
Anthems... Emperor would write one of the most complex and intricate
black metal albums ever created. From the first notes of Alsvatr to the
triumphant climax of With Strength I Burn there is not a weak moment on
this album - it is simply perfection.
I don't say stuff like this
often or lightly. Anthems has been a mainstay with me for well over 20
years at this point... closing in on 30. The speed is blisteringly fast
for a majority of the album. Tasteful breaks are inserted to give the
listener a tiny bit of respite (such as at the end of Thus Spake the
Night Spirit). The riffs are barely controlled, they are like
mathematical chaos, controlled but just barely, swirling all around the
listener and threatening to devour them if your guard is let down.
This album sits at number 3 in my all time top ten - it is simply the best black metal album ever written.
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