Salem - Collective Demise

Today I thought I'd post another Salem album.
As I said before, Salem is the first Israeli extreme metal band, and pioneers of the Oriental Metal movement.
As such, they have a historic significance of sorts, especially with the rise to fame of many bands whose way was paved by this one, such as Orphaned Land and Melechesh.
But unlike many bands that are historically significant, I think this band is fucking awesome!

This is their third album, where they seem to return to their brutal roots a little.
It's considerably heavier than the previous effort, A Moment of Silence. Musically, it's faster and it has a thicker, crushing, dissonant sound.
Lyrically, it's also heavier. While the album before dealt much with grief, sorrow, regret, suffering, fear, the deaths of loved ones, and other similar topics, this one seems to lean more towards war, destruction, misanthropic hopeslessness, and specifically the second Intifada.

In conclusion, this is a great album in general, but it'll be enjoyed most by those who appreciate slow-paced death metal or the doom-death thing, and especially those who want different lyrics than the usual death metal stuff.

Salem - Collective Demise


Tracklist:

1. Broken Yet United
2. Coming End of Reason
3. Slave
4. Act of Terror
5. Act of War
6. Collective Demise
7. Dead Eyes
8. Feed On Your Grief
9. Decadence In Solitude
10. Recall
11. Al Taster
12. Inhuman Greed

The 3rd And The Mortal - Tears Laid In Earth

Today I feel like posting this album, The 3rd And The Mortal's debut album, Tears Laid In Earth.
This band formed in 1992, in Trondheim, Norway. Notably, one of the founding members was the gorgeous and amazing Kari Rueslåtten, who is today a famous pop singer in Norway, and who I will be posting later on.
This is the band that started it all. I think it's safe to assume that most of the average readers of this blog have at the very least heard of bands like The Gathering, Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Epica and Theatre of Tragedy. All of those bands, and more, owe a lot to these guys.

The 3rd And The Mortal started out playing a form of doom metal that used distorted guitars and heavy drumming with clean guitars and Kari's beatiful voice.
They would later become more and more experimental.

I won't rant about this album. In fact, I don't think it's an amazing piece, although it has some pretty nice atmospheres, and excellent vocal work. What can I say? I'm a big fan of Ms. Rueslåtten, even though I'm not 100% sure how to pronounce her last name.
I would recommend this album to anyone who has any interest in metal history, particularly regarding all these famle-fronted bands, to hardcore fans of Kari, and to people looking for slower, darker stuff that's not quite the typical Doom.

The 3rd And The Mortal - Tears Laid In Earth

Tracklist:

1. Vandring
2. Why So Lonely
3. Atupoéma
4. Death-Hymn
5. Shaman
6. Trial of Past
7. Lengsel
8. Salva Me
9. Song
10. In Mist Shrouded
11. Oceana


EDIT: It has come to my attention that, for some bizarre reason, I posted this album missing one track... or rather, substituting one track for another in this band's following EP with another singer, a song called From The Depth of Memories... it's a great song, and I like it better than the one it substituted, but for the sake of doing things right, I'll be correcting this mistake and sharing said EP in the following days.

Salem - A Moment of Silence

Today I bring some great Israeli metal, from a friend's request.
This band is Salem, the first extreme metal band from Israel and pioneers of the Oriental Metal movement. They play a form of Doom/Death Metal that features Oriental scales, which sound pretty exotic to us in the West, but it also sounds great in metal.
Definitely check them out if you're into the more well-known Melechesh or Orphaned Land!

Salem formed in 1985, and have released six full-length albums since then. This is their second, and considered by many, including myself, their best album to date (probably the most accessible, too). Then again, I haven't listened to their new album, though the reviews are not favorable so far.
This album has many songs I consider classic, not only for Salem, but songs that should be metal classics. One such song is the title track, without a doubt.

But I'll let you see for yourself and decide...

Salem - A Moment of Silence

Tracklist:

1. A Moment of Silence

2. Winter's Tears

3. Hour Glass

4. Flames

5. Set The Controls

6. In Another Dimension

7. The Worst To Come

8. An Unwanted Guest

9. Symbiosis

10. Eyes to Match A Soul

11. Who Will Comfort Me Now?