review by Matthew "Newbreed99" Haumschild___

Samael has been out of commission 

for what it seems as an eternity.

This CD isn’t suppose to come out in the United States until next year. I don’t know about any of you, but no one should have to wait this long for a CD, especially since this disc has been out in Europe since Early November, or even October depending on location. Samael has been out of commission for what it seems as an eternity. Between “Eternal” and “Reign Of Light”, it seems that Samael has had some record label disputes that unfortunately aren’t published anywhere, and if some people can remember, Samael recorded an album for Century Media before Reign of Light and Eternal. But never got released! They even toured the U.S. to promote it. Sounds like a giant soap opera. Rest assured this CD was worth the wait! Let’s take a listen shall we.

Moongate

At first listen, my very first thought was “Oh great, another “Ceremony of Opposites” album. I heard conga and a slower beat so…I kept listening, and started to really like what I was hearing. It didn’t sound like anything off of Ceremony. It had an upbeat tone to it. Listening to the lyrics and the way they are sung are just awesome! Lots of hooks in the lyrics in this song, especially in the chorus, it is hooks like these that kept my attention. I have so many visions for this song. I can picture a girl making her way though a crowded club, or the singer screaming into the mic. In a twisted way, this could be a club song. Meaning, this song could make it to a deranged dance club where girls are just going nuts for this song. It’s upbeat in it’s own little way, catchy lyrics, pounding drums easy guitar work…but where’s the bass?!?!?!??!?

Inch’Allah

Goofy title. Starts out with this techno-dance like beginning, then the guitars kick in along with the vocals, and whatever dynamic the band was hoping for in the beginning has changed drastically. It became darker and it slowed down a lot! In the second verse, in the beginning half, it’s just the singer, keys, drums and bass in almost a dance like trance, again the guitars kick in and change everything. I found this song also terribly addicting. The guitar riff(s) in this song are just powerful, heavy and straight to the point. Vorph uses his typical style of vocals, monotone yet romantic. This song could have easily been done by Static-X. This is an awesome song, probably my favorite on this CD.

Reign Of Light

I wish more bands did this with their lyrics. After listening to this song over the first time, the main thing that stuck with me, was the way the chorus was sung, “We shall RISE, RISE, RISE!...” few words later “SHINE, SHINE, SHINE!” then the rest of the chorus and song are built around those parts. Just, wonderfully done. The mixing in this song is great too, and the way this song was put together too makes one want to speed heavily in their cars while driving on the freeway (motor-way). One of the riffs I like is after a chorus, the guitar player would play a sharp scale upwards really fast, then go back to minor chords. There are lots of surprises in this song. Another highly addicting song.

On Earth

Not exactly the heaviest song on the album. I would have to say this song has a lot of Samael’s writing style that they have used I the past. The chords sound like the same patterns they have used in the past two albums. I guess if it works use it right? What sets this song apart is that this song, talks about world unity, which is HIGHLY unusual for a metal band! I did like the way Vorph sung all the city names. I like listening to this track mainly for the way it’s sung.

In conclusion, this CD is very good! This CD was also mixed by Stephan Glauman, who mixed some of Rammstein’s stuff so I knew it was going to be great. The sheer quality alone was phenomenal which was another thing that surprised me. Samael, since they had left Century Media, started their own label so the quality of this CD was up in the air due to lack of money bands usually have. Nonetheless, this is a solid album, worthy to have in anyone’s CD collection.

            rating: 9/10

Matthew Haumschild is a staff writer/editor for gryphonmetal.ch since 2002

He is based out of Minneapolis Minnesota USA he can be reached at matthaumschild@yahoo.com and  on facebook.com  

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