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 Post subject: Thoughts on Samael?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 4:36 am 
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Ist Krieg

Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:07 am
Posts: 6498
Location: USoA
Been listening to a lot of their back catalog recently and wonder: Were they actually good? Definitely midpaced and groovy for 'black metal', I can't get through anything more electronic based from Passage onwards--crazy as Passage was one of the first albums I downloaded on Napster way back in 2001. Even Ceremony of Opposites has a lot of filler, some really good tracks on Blood Ritual though.


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 Post subject: Re: Thoughts on Samael?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:14 pm 
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MetalReviews Staff
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Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:02 pm
Posts: 29788
Location: UK
I need to relisten to some of the later stuff, but I think a lot of the industrial-era stuff has aged badly, whether due to production choice or otherwise (compared to the likes of DHG and Abigor's experiments, for example, although I am biased there...!). In Samael's defence I think they were one of the first groups to really embrace it as a post-black direction so had the early adopter problems - Kovenant's SETI wasn't out until '03, for instance. Everything up to and including Ceremony of Opposites is at the very least solid if not downright classic - it came out, what, two weeks after Transilvanian Hunger? - and they were very forward-thinking and should be recognised as influential...

The downside of that is that it's very much to their detriment that they got stuck in the industrial rut, which I don't think has produced much that's particularly good after Passage/Eternal...? particularly when you look at other groups like Havoc Unit. I can't remember even listening to their last album, Hegemony, but I should give their discography another go overall - good thread!


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 Post subject: Re: Thoughts on Samael?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:56 pm 
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Ist Krieg

Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:58 am
Posts: 14403
I've had some good times listening to Samael but I don't listen to them very often. Solar Soul has some good tracks on it. I used to listen to their black metal stuff a little bit but it was never something I had to keep coming back to.


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 Post subject: Re: Thoughts on Samael?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 5:07 pm 
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Ist Krieg

Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:07 am
Posts: 6498
Location: USoA
I think I agree with both of you generally. Samael's industrial stuff is basically just pop/rock unlike DHG or Abigor who were obviously doing a lot more, so it doesn't age particularly well. Solar Soul was one I liked for a minute too husker. Ceremony (and Blood Ritual) has some great groovy tracks, without sounding like Celtic Frost as you'd expect, so I guess they do deserve credit for developing their own style. Maybe that's why I brought them up because they were definitely unique, even if they weren't great.


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 Post subject: Re: Thoughts on Samael?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 11:32 pm 
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Ist Krieg

Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:07 am
Posts: 6498
Location: USoA
Went back and listened to Worship Him. Definitely more Celtic Frost here than later on, but not annoyingly so. On a track like Morbid Metal :lol: they speed it up which provides some nice contrast.


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