Classic Day – Gored Mess

Laying the ground work on some of the sinister sounds that would come out of Europe, Samael was a heavy influence on early black metal that would span a lifetime of following records. With Samael however, their earliest record of Blood Ritual would be the most important in their career.

he aggression that follows the black, metallic overcoat of ultimate darkness that is Samael becomes a bloodied mess within the first moments of “Beyond The Nothingness”. A body bag of a track, the fire begins as Vorphalack rifles away with the guitar and vocal aspects as Xy performs on the percussion and keyboards. Masmiseîm handles the bass and works ultimately to constrict on Blood Sacrifice. Few records hold the instrumental weight that Samael can conquer and the keyboards are especially a high regard of the record. The instrumentation is as important as the death curdling segments of vocalization that is a mix between screams and growls of a truly otherworldly source.

There are distinctions within Blood Sacrifice that feel as a forced attack on the listener as Samael demands the attention from the listener. They stand as a dedicated and relentless movement to punch throughout the droning tracks. Flurry after flurry comes into frame as the door is then lifted on Blood Ritual to unveil a wealth of secrets spewing from the hydra. Samael holds these various movements and workings up to the flame as each play through of Blood Ritual continues to surprise and hold elements that still become discovered even over 20-years later.

Continuing into “Macabre Operetta”, one of the more lumbering and heavy-hitting productions from Samael. There is this constant rush from the band, and seeing a new direction is as refreshing as death can be. Without these tracks, Blood Ritual would become a monotonous mess. The group does not have a single leader however, as each member guides within their own way. The importance of Blood Ritual comes from Samael having these offset pathways that break off and then form once again at the track’s end.

Through the near hour of blackened death coming from Samael, Blood Ritual proves to be as substantial as it once was even back in 1992. Through the trifecta of near physically hurting musical destruction, Samael holds a sense of hope behind their sound. Relentless in nature, Blood Ritual takes the best of the aggression and forms it into one digestible piece.

Listen To Blood Ritual Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes