The Secrets of the Black Arts

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The Secrets of the Black Arts
Dark Funeral studio album

Publication
(s)

January 28, 1996

admission

June 1995

Label (s) No fashion records

Format (s)

CD, digipak

Genre (s)

Black metal

Title (number)

11

running time

40:53

occupation
  • Blackmoon : guitar, vocals with Satanic Blood
  • Ahriman: guitar
  • Themgoroth: vocals, bass
  • Equimanthorn: drums

production

Dark Funeral, Peter Tägtgren

Studio (s)

Abyss Studio

chronology
Dark Funeral
(EP, 1994) 		The Secrets of the Black Arts Vobiscum Satanas
(1998)

The Secrets of the Black Arts is the debut album by the Swedish black metal band Dark Funeral .

Emergence

The pieces were written between 1993 and 1995; My Dark Desires and Shadows over Transylvania had released the band in 1994 on their EP Dark Funeral . Like this, The Secrets of the Black Arts , which was originally due to appear in the late autumn of 1995, was initially recorded from January 15 to 21, 1995 at Unisound Studio ; however, Blackmoon described these recordings as "shit that not even a ten-year-old kid who loves Burzum would find good," for which he blamed Dan Swanö , the studio's operator. Blackmoon stated that it was the only member of the band against the publication of the Unisound recordings. The album was therefore re-recorded in 1995 (in the supplement with Anno Satanas MCMXCV, although this does not correspond to the years according to the Church of Satan's calendar , which began in 1966 with the year 1 Anno Satanas) in the Abyss Studio and mixed there. It was produced by the band and Peter Tägtgren . According to Blackmoon, he played all guitar tracks because Ahriman was often drunk or hungover in the studio when he should have recorded his tracks. When Angels Forever Die was made between the Unisound and Abyss recordings . A music video was shot for the theme song The Secrets of the Black Arts . The album was released on January 28, 1996.

The re-releases on double CD by Regain Records and on double LP by Back on Black also contain the recordings from the Unisound Studio. These were remixed in April 2007 by Daniel Berg beach (Dug Out Studios) digitally and by Peter In de Betou (Tailor Made Prod) in May 2007 mastered .

Track list

original
  1. The Dark Age Has Arrived - 0:16
  2. The Secrets of the Black Arts - 3:42 (Music: Dark Funeral; Text: Blackmoon / Themgoroth)
  3. My Dark Desires - 3:47 (Music: Blackmoon; Text: Themgoroth)
  4. The Dawn No More Rises - 4:00 (Music: Blackmoon / Ahriman / Themgoroth; Text: Blackmoon)
  5. When Angels Forever Die - 4:07 (Music: Blackmoon / Ahriman / Themgoroth; Text: Blackmoon)
  6. The Fire Eternal - 3:55 (Music: Blackmoon / Ahriman; Text: Blackmoon)
  7. Satan's Mayhem - 4:54 (Music: Dark Funeral; Text: Themgoroth)
  8. Shadows over Transylvania - 3:41 (Text and music: Blackmoon / Ahriman)
  9. Bloodfrozen - 4:21 (Music: Blackmoon / Ahriman; Text: Blackmoon)
  10. Satanic Blood - 2:11 ( FROM -Cover)
  11. Dark Are the Path to Eternity (A Summoning Nocturnal) - 5:59 (Music: Blackmoon / Ahriman; Text: Themgoroth)
Bonus CD / LP of the re-release
  1. Shadows over Transylvania - 3:41
  2. The Dawn No More Rises - 4:00
  3. The Secrets of the Black Arts - 3:42
  4. Satan's Mayhem - 4:54
  5. Bloodfrozen - 4:21
  6. My Dark Desires - 3:47
  7. Dark Are the Path to Eternity (A Summoning Nocturnal)
  8. The Fire Eternal - 3:55

Music style and lyrics

The music is "very fast with numerous blastbeats , a dark, evil atmosphere with screeching vocals and blasphemous lyrics". The production is clean for Black Metal but still reasonably raw. When Angels Forever Die , The Fire Eternal, and Satan's Mayhem , which follow each other, all begin in a similar fashion, which Blackmoon says was not intended. While Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic writes that the band only knows one speed (namely the highest), Blackmoon explains that the album was built up as it should be for an album: at the beginning fast, then a little slower and gradually faster again before cool it down for the last few pieces; this probably explains the similarity between When Angels Forever Die , The Fire Eternal and Satan's Mayhem . Steve Hoeltzel from Chronicles of Chaos compared the music with that of Setherial and Enthroned , whereby they integrated frequent tempo changes, atmospheric interludes and wild guitar parts into their fast Black Metal, whereas Dark Funeral is monotonous.

reception

Hoeltzel was amused in his review about the statements of the musicians like "The Master of Diabolical Possession & Black Magick" and "The Lord of Destruction, Evil, Darkness, and Death"; With all these commitments it is a miracle that they found the time to record a CD of fast black metal together. Being all of this seems to stand in the way of composing interesting riffs, with The Dawn No More Rises and Shadows over Transylvania showing interesting guitar shredding. Conversely, with the percussion it obviously helps to be the "Commander of The Infernal Demon Legions", which is demonstrated in every piece. The vocals and bass, however, are pretty common for Black Metal. Most of the material sounds interchangeable and the better pieces edible, but not overly interesting. However, the band could compose great things if they invested as much time in their music as they did in their performance. According to Frank Stöver of Voices from the Darkside , the release looked commercial; he has nothing against a good cover by Kristian Wåhlin , but he wonders whether it is necessary to publish a special digipak version with color pictures of the musicians. Musically the album is pretty good, although the new recordings of My Dark Desires and Shadows over Transylvania are not the best decision.

Rivadavia describes The Secrets of the Black Arts as pretty predictable but extremely enthusiastic. The musicians understand nothing of tension and relaxation; In contrast to bands like Mayhem and Emperor, Dark Funeral's album leaves no room for imagination and even less for the senses. However, it is the right album for someone for whom 41 minutes of sonic hell is the idea of ​​a good time. About.com's Chad Bowar sees the bonus material as sufficient reason for fans of the band to purchase the re-release. According to Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann from Rock Hard , with The Secrets of the Black Arts , Tägtgren has "succeeded in creating a highly acclaimed and highly acclaimed black metal production". The magazine put the album on the list of "250 Black Metal Albums To Know".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Dark Funeral - Biography ( Memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 27, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b c Dark Funeral - Discography ( Memento from March 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 27, 2013.
  3. ↑ Frank Stöver: Where the cold northern winds blow .. . In: Voices from the Darkside , No. 5, 1995, p. 33.
  4. ↑ a b c d Ryan Harding: BLACK MOON 2001 Interview. Feo Amante's Horror Thriller, 2001, p. 2 , accessed on March 27, 2013 (English).
  5. ^ A b Chad Bowar: Dark Funeral - The Secrets Of The Black Arts. About.com, accessed March 27, 2013 .
  6. ^ A b Eduardo Rivadavia: The Secrets of the Black Arts - Dark Funeral. Allmusic , accessed on March 27, 2013 .
  7. ^ A b Steve Hoeltzel: Dark Funeral - Secrets of the Black Arts. Chronicles of Chaos, December 8, 1996, accessed March 27, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Frank Stöver: Dark Funeral . The secrets of the black arts . In: Voices from the Darkside , No. 9, 1996, p. 68.
  9. ↑ Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann: Dissecting table . In: Rock Hard . No. 310 , March 2013, p. 75 .
  10. ↑ 250 Black Metal Albums That You Should Know . In: Rock Hard . No. 269 , October 2009, p. 75 .