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"Above" album text

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Tracklist
01
Samael - Under One Flag
Under One Flag text
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02
Samael - Virtual War
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03
Samael - Polygames
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04
Samael - Earth Country
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05
Samael - Illumination
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06
Samael - Antigod
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07
Samael - In There
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08
Samael - Dark Side
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09
Samael - God's Snake
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10
Samael - On The Top Of It All
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11
Samael - Black Hole 1
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album info:
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Disky1
ŽánrMetal
Pozice
Propuštěn2009-03-07
Nahrávací společnostNuclear Blast
Grafy
PřidalApril 5th, 2012
Naposledy aktualizovánoMarch 17th, 2018
OAbove by Samael

Type: Full-length
Release date: March 6th, 2009
Catalog ID:NB 2322-2 / 27361 23222
Label:Nuclear Blast
Format: CD
Reviews: 6 reviews

Yeah, that's right. I said it. There's two ways to judge an album (or any work of art): contextualized into when it was released, or just based on its merits compared to anything else. I certainly won't deny how influential or original the first 3 albums were, when you consider when they were released. However, if I simply had to pick which Samael album I want to listen to out of their discography, this one wins for me.

I checked out some old Samael when I first got into metal back in the early 2000s and thought it was cool, but never really got that into it. They impressed me live last time I saw them, and I decided to go through their whole discography before seeing them again soon. I enjoyed their first 4 albums, but I have to admit, I wasn't blown away. If I want to listen to early 90s 2nd wave black metal, I'm still going back to Darkthrone, Burzum, or Immortal. In fact, if you want to be a genre snob about it, I'm not even sure how early Samael gets called black metal. There's almost no tremolo picking or blast beats. Would black/doom metal be more accurate for their early material? Anyway... I'm not a fan of the middle industrial albums from Samael, and began to wonder if they ever put out anything else worth listening to. Enter this album:

I'm going to argue this is not only the best, but also the most black metal Samael album. Right off the bat, with "Under One Flag", this album explodes with more aggression and blast beats than Samael has ever used before. And it stays that way for the rest of the album. The vocals are a high shriek the entire time, no clean vocals to be found. The guitars use a lot of tremolo picked riffs that form good melodies, combined with some fast-paced power chords. There's nothing too technical, but there's enough energy and melody behind the riffs to constantly keep things interesting. The bass doesn't do anything special, but is audible in the mix.

I know Samael programs most of their drums now, but honestly it's not glaringly obvious on this album. However Xy combines the fake and real drums here, it makes for a great sound. The blast beats and double bass drive the fast pace and aggression of this album, combined with some good fills. The only thing really lacking due tot he programming is the cymbal work. For a band that went so heavily into electronics for several album, the keyboards really take a back seat here. There are only occasional synth melodies, but they are a pleasant surprise and enhance the album when they do show up.

I give this album a high rating, because it doesn't lose steam at any point. The tempo slows down at times to keep things from getting repetitive, but the vicious drums and tremolo riffs always come back. The song "Black Hole" is the highlight of the album for me, with headbang-able riffs and a catchy chorus, (which kinda describes how this album fits in Samael's career.)

I've been waiting all my life for this to come
This brand new world is where I want to live

Before you know it, the album ends, and you have to restart it to hear it again!

P.S. If you really miss their techno stuff, the digipack comes with an electronic remix of "Black Hole".

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If I had to briefly explain what this album feels like, it's kinda like if Samael suddenly dropped their usual semi-elegant attire to the floor and exclaimed "RRROOOAAARRR" (umlauts above O optional). Above basically sounds like Samael, with several anthemic tracks and some familiar-sounding melodies, but rawer, wilder and more aggressive. Vorph's vocals, while still easily recognisable, sound a bit harsher and closer to what you'd expect from a black metal record, the more moderate kind of riffing found on the previous couple of albums is mostly replaced by fast, aggressive tremolo picking, while Xy's programmed drums now often just enter full blastbeat berserk mode. The problem is, while there's nothing wrong with the idea, with approximately half of the album working well as evidence, the other half sounds quite confused and, unfortunately, monotonous.

It starts very well - Under One Flag is pretty much the definition of what I described above, it's a classic anthemic Samael track in the vein of My Saviour for example, but wilder and more intense. Vorph's vocals are powerful and passionate, the drums combine a mid-tempo marching pace with some more aggressive sections and double bass, the riffing is intense but melodic. Virtual War is an excellent follow-up, being a much faster track with an instantly catchy main riff, and a great heavier break in the middle.

However, Above loses its momentum over time, and it becomes simply monotonous already halfway through. The guitar work suffers from serious lack of variety, mostly sticking to the same semi-melodic fast riffing style, and only rarely bringing something different to the table; there are a few heavier riffs and a few leads scattered around somewhere, but they're pretty rare. There are a few moments when it feels like something new may happen; for example, In There begins with a very promising, melodic guitar intro followed by an interesting drum rhythm... but then, almost immediately after it descends into the same barrage of fast wall-of-sound riffing as the rest of the album. The drums also suffer from monotony, often just permanently sticking to the same fast double bass patterns, which is definitely disappointing, as Xy has showed many times he knows how to use drum programming in a more sophisticated way; the synths and keyboards also barely exist here. The bass... well... is there, I guess. Which brings me to another main issue with the album...

Which is the production. It wouldn't be that bad, if not for one thing: it's fucking LOUD. It's not Death Magnetic loud, but it's just a tier below that. The sound overall is quite modern with a slightly dirtier, sharper feel to it, but the excessive loudness makes the album simply tiresome to listen to, and together with the aforementioned variety issues, it does not work well for the album at all. And since the majority of Above consists of fast double bass drumming and the guitars creating a total wall of sound, it really feels like it's starting to punch you in the head about halfway through. There's a difference between a record which is heavy and intense, and one that's simply ridiculously loud while not even being that heavy.

Now, I don't want this to sound like this is a bad album, as besides the two excellent opening tracks, it still has some strong material - Earth Country is a marching, anthemic track with some faster sections, while Black Hole and the closer On The Top of It All both contain a bit of heavier riffing and manage to sound more passionate in their intensity, especially through Vorph's vocals who literally sounds like if he's trying to drown out all the instruments on these two. His vocal performance on the album is noteworthy overall, the much harsher vocal style he adopted on this album works quite well, and is one of the strongest points of Above.

Looking at Above as a Samael album, it's disappointing, as a band known for variety and creativity fails in this exact department here; around half of the album sounds like the band running out of ideas (after listening to the album around a dozen times I think, I still find it difficult to say anything about Illumination or God's Snake for example). Looking at it as just a random extreme metal album, it sounds like a band writing a very solid experimental EP and then trying to stretch it to a full-length album. If this actually was an "Above EP" with the tracks I mentioned above and a production which isn't brutal and merciless mostly for the album's dynamic range, this would be a pretty successful experiment. Unfortunately, as a full album, it's not a disaster, but unfortunately it's not successful. It's definitely intense and tries to sound powerful, sometimes with great success, but a fair part of the album ends up being simply monotonous even after multiple listens.

And it's a pity, since the artwork is quite awesome.
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Everyone would think that after such a successful album as Solar Soul Samael would unleash a similar follow-up and stabilize their songwriting style with that record. Well they couldn't be more mistaken as Above is again a deviation from what seemed like a guaranteed path to victory. The band wanted to pay homage to their early influences and as such made a brutal album showing a more vicious side. This album was originally intended to be released under a different name but ended up falling under the flag of Samael. What's more interesting about this is that the band itself dismisses Above and rarely plays its songs live. Mas even went as far as telling me to "forget about this one" when I chatted with him at the end of their gig. Why all this hatred towards Above then?

The answer is quite simple actually once you press play and your senses are assaulted by blast beats and an accompanying barrage of double bass, raw and heavy as hell tremolo riffs, raspy high-pitched vocals and a strong fast pace that propels you at a speed you're not accustomed to with Samael. That was "Under One Flag", the bursting opener that shows the band going for a hybridization between their distinctive past phases, resulting in what is actually an industrial black metal album. The main complaint about this album will be immediately visible, the bass-heavy and "wall of sound" production. It's not as predominantly intrusive as some of the better know examples of this kind of production, like Anthems To The Welkin At Dust, but still it's a bit all over the place and presents all instruments mixed at front with the vocals and bass drum being very pungent. The production is oppressing and smothering as are Vorph's vocals, spewing forth devastating screams and making him sound as if he wanted to tear down a wall with them.

This was only the first song on the album and already your senses seem to have been beaten to a pulp, and as "Virtual War" is unleashed you pray to Cthulhu for forgiveness and ask the unholy one for a chance of survival. A frenzy of thrashing beats and Vorph's torturous screams lead you onwards for four minutes in an unrelenting and brutal path to disintegration. You try go gasp for air but the brutal mid-paced "Polygames" continues the process of striking you down with an overwhelming sense of brutality that only falters a bit at the more relaxed and extraterrestrial vibe transmitted by the following "Earth Country". But don't think for a second that you'll have many chances to regain your breath as this album never ceases in tearing down your expectations of survival, mashing you continuously until only grains of dust are left of you.

There are a few other songs that deserve some wording, like the thundering ride that is "Black Hole" with some great thrashing beats and fierce riffage that make it one of the heaviest tracks on display, in direct contrast with "In There" which is one of the calmest with its mid-paced middle section. And then there's the clear nod to the past with "Dark Ride" and its unnerving similarity to "The Black Face" from their first album Worship Him. In fact the initial riff is actually the same and I hate it when Samael reinvent their older songs like this. Like the past rehashing made on their nineties' EPs, with rearranged songs from their first three albums, I feel the need to go Nero on them and move my thumb downwards.

People complain a lot about this album, mainly because it came out after the amazing Solar Soul and showed Samael straying from their path yet again. And as addressed before, the production job done here didn't bring them much laurel either as it's all over the place, but I feel that it actually fits the mood of the album and only enhances the industrial and mechanized feel it intends to deliver. I could live with a slightly lower bass drum and vocal tracks, but apart from that it actually fits the purpose.

Samael wanted to make a heavier album and they surely accomplished that task with Above, as its one step above in brutality when comparing it to any other effort in their careers. They've constantly flirted with black and industrial elements during their lifespan, but never have they made such a deliberate binding of the two. This album ends up being Samael's ugly duckling because it abandons their typical songwriting style on either of those fields and goes for a more basic and stripped down brutal approach. I don't find myself spinning this album that much exactly because of that fact, I love Samael's experimentalisms and to hear them do an album that is as basic as this ends up being a tad monotonous. Nevertheless when I'm in the mood for more brutal stuff and Samael ends up in my crosshair I can still appreciate this record for what it is and what it tries to achieve. It's not bad nor is it amazing, and it's far away from Samael's usual, but it still packs a decent punch to be thoroughly enjoyed from time to time.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Samael have been on a tear in the past few years, but to be honest they've been producing the type of albums that only the dedicated fanbase would be able to appreciate. Fused with elements of pop, electro and even a kind of rappy vibe, Vorph's vocals were just growing stranger and stranger. Their last album Solar Soul was quite good, but not at the level of the romantic Eternal or the monumental Passage (which remains one of my favorite metal releases of all time).

It is with some surprise that Samael have dialed back the years on their latest album, for a heavier approach reminiscent of both their black metal roots and their first few forays into synthesized gothic mayhem. It's an interesting maneuver that may put them back on the radar of dispossessed fans who abandoned the band in the early 90s, but should still appeal to those into the Romantic modernisms of the band's cosmic unity consciousness.

Above opens with the shattering "Under One Flag", a brutal number with some traces of glorious melody hinted at its fringes. "Virtual War" continues this style of Passage on Prozac. Vorph's vocals are truly back to the roots, loud in the mix, black as night but lacking a lot of the goofy but endearing phrasing they've had on the past 3-4 full lengths. "Polygames" begins even heavier than the first two tracks, but it does give itself some room to breathe with its epic, sweeping chords and synths. "Earth Country" and "Illumination" are likewise very heavy tracks for this band, but they possess a little more of the melody and anthem qualities of the previous album. The album seems to save its catchiest surprises for its latter half. "In There" is a majestic track with some galloping rhythms and desperate guitar charging. "God's Snake" is a total Passage style song, and just about as good. "On the Top of It All" is another of the best tracks on the album, with a trippy intro that soon transforms into a grinding death metal bit, and then again into some bluesier bruising leads.

If Above has a weakness, it's that the band seems to have gotten too heavy all at once. The album does not lack for consistent energetic brutality, but it's simply not as catchy as what we are accustomed to. Granted, this might be a good thing to a great many people...obviously the band wanted to deliver their fastest and heaviest offering in a good, long time. Samael is probably unlike to come up with another Passage, but Above makes a concerted effort: it simply lacks that classic album's penchant for timeless and memorable tracks. However, if you've been avoiding the band because of their poppy side for the past few albums, it may be time to re-subscribe.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

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Well I got this album and was excited to hear it. I saw Samael a few months before the release of this album, and was anticipating another great industrial/electronically infused metal album similar to Solar Soul.

To be frank, I really like their music, it's well made, thought out, and executed. Despite my undying love for their back catalog, from Passage back to Worship Him, I cannot help but enjoy all that Xy has added in regards to wonderful atmosphere and fantastically choreographed synth work.

Be that as it may, when I put the album for the first time, I was accosted by some super fast double bass, and then blast beats. The crunchy industrial metal-ish guitar work was gone, and in it's place was a smooth, and seamless riff-tasm of atmospheric ecstasy.

I found myself throughout this album seeing a melodic death metal album. I really have no other way to explain this, because the industrial elements are gone completely from Above. Will those elements come back in future works? I have no fucking clue, seeing as this release floored, and surprised me unlike anything I have heard since Morbid Angel's Heretic album. This is a good thing with the aforementioned....not so with the latter.

On to the musical elements...So as I said before, this sounded like a melodic death metal album. The riffs seem to me along the lines of a recent Amon Amarth album. Fast drumming, quickly progressing riffs; musically quite similar. The bass is quite inaudible, and I hear very little synth...I think I really can only hear it well in smatterings throughout the album, mainly in Black Hole. The vocals are also a bit further back in the mix. This really doesn't pose as much a problem to me as it did in the first couple times I listened to it. The vast differences in this album from others makes it seem almost appropriate. Vorph's vocals are very distorted, not gravelly and grunted as in almost everything they have ever did...basically from Ceremony on, but screamed. Screamed and distorted, and high.

This band has been a chameleon of sorts throughout their elustrious career, and they get better with age. It seems that every time they get to a pinnacle with a certain sub-genre, they move onto another category. They never really stray that far from their original black metal roots, as it is still seen in Vorph's vocals and the overall sound they make; but again Above has shown a shift in their focus, and Samael has upped the ante and aggression. Here is my thinking regarding this morphing of Samael through the years. They went from good symphonic/industrial style black metal up until about the Eternal period in their catalog. That is where I think they made a shift to more industrial and electronic metal, most apparent in Era One, and the Xytras album. They gradually became the highly atmospheric, and fantastic industrial metal sound seen in Solar Soul. This is the new branch in the Tree of Life that is Samael. Rooted in black metal, always influenced and never far-straying...Just growing as a unit into something more grand and beautiful as before.

If you are reading this review and were not happy with their industrial directions, I invite you to take three quarters of an hour (39 minutes actually), to listen to this fabulous effort. I cannot see many being disappointed with the results. I only took points off for length (I wanted MORE) and that the excellent keys were all but absent :(

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Originally, this album started off as a side project of the member of Samael. They wanted to do a more urgent metal album paying homage to the bands that got the doing music in the first place. Somewhere along the way, they decided they liked the album so much, that it should be the new Samael album. And what an album it is!

It doesn't matter if you only like newer Samael, or the older Black Metal incarnation of Samael. This album is far and away different from anything they've yet done, and your opinion on the direction of the band will have little bearing on your opinion of this album. For starters, this album is fast. Not fast for Samael, like some songs from Worship Him were, but fast period. This album is fast even for Black Metal. At the first listen or two, it will all blend together. But give it some time and everything will begin to click.

The guitar is very thick sounding, but still possesses a great sense of melody. In a sense, this is the most melodic album Samael have ever done, until the drums and vocals kick in. Xy is using the same half programmed/half played style he started on Solar Soul, and this album is all the better for it. The drumming is relentless, over the top, and probably the loudest instrument on the album. Vorph's vocals are pushed a bit in to the background with a touch of added distortion. His screams are raw, powerful, and piercing, and sound a bit different than any of his previous work. The bass isn't audible note by note, but it is present and adds a thick bottom end to the songs as well. In fact, for an album so fast, the bottom end may be a bit much on the first few spins, as it is hard to make out the individual riffs and melodies.

At first, I was not fond of this album. Samael are no doubt my favorite band, and that includes all their albums. I don't prefer their old style to their new style or vice versa; indeed I like it all. One of the great qualities of the band is to write very catchy music that still has a lot going on under the hood, and the more you listen the more you get out of it. Above is a bit different in that regard. On my first few listens, I only heard fast drums, faster guitars, and a fuzzy screaming sound in the background that sounded vaguely like Vorph. But after listening to this album many, many times, I have been well rewarded. This album packs one hell of a punch, and doesn't relent from the first track to the last. Samael's sense of dynamics is a bit lost, but their power comes through plain and clear. Only the last track, the "Verso" mix of Black Hole sounds remotely similar to other Samael material, most notable the "From Malkuth To Kether" remix song on the Exodus EP.

I'll say that this is one of Samael's best albums yet, and really takes time to appreciate, as does all good music. Listening to this is making it hard for me to go back to their older albums, even Ceremony. This album is brutal, mean, vicious and very, very fast. But it also doesn't forget what year it is, and is still chock full of Samael's more "new age" oriented lyrics and themes. Indeed, the best of both worlds for Samael fans.

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