1. Empreror - Thus Speak the Night Spirit
2. Old Mans Child - Soul Possessed
3. Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
4. Borknagar - The Dawn of the End
5. Katatonia - Murder
6. Arcturus - Wintry Grey
7. Opthalamia - After a Releasing of Death
8. Einherjer - Naar Hammerem Heves
9. Rotting Christ - Coronation of the Serpent
10. Sacramentum - Black Destiny
11. Ulver - Hymn 1
12. Samael - Black Trip
13. Mayhem - Necrolust
14. Tiamat - Astral Sleep
15. Opeth - Nectar

Since all the songs on this $4.98 compilation deserve mention, I will do a track by track analysis.

1. Empreror - Thus Speak the Night Spirits off of Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk.
Click here for Emperor.

2. Old Mans Child - Soul Possesed off of the Pagan Prosperity
This song is really good. They have a really fat and distorted sound. The precision of the drumming is excellent. Heavy riffing, atmospheric keyboards, and really sick vocals give this band their trademark. The riffs are seem to be re-arranged but is still an overall great song.
Click here for more Old Man's Child.

3. Satyricon - Forhekset off of Nemesis Divina
This song starts off with a weird intro but soon develops into full black metal chaos. Their musical style takes a while to get used to, but you'll probably end up liking it. It's somewhat noisy and chaotic but at other times it's sort of atmospheric.
Here's more Satyricon

4. Borknagar - The Dawn of the End off of the Olden Domain
Click here for Borknagar

5. Katatonia - Murder off of Brave Murder Day
This is an excellent black metal band and they are somewhat doom influenced. This song is sort of slow and has a great melody. The song's intro has a monotonous guitar part but then the rest of the is based around the rhtythm of that intro. The singer in Opeth sings for this band. Very good band.

6. Arcturus - Wintry Gray off of Aspera Himes Symfonia
Consisting of the drummer Hellhammer from Mayhem, the vocalist Garm from Borknagar, the bassist Skoll from Ved Buens Ende, and the guitarist August from Tritonus, this supergroup is excellent. They show the unity and creativity of the black metal community very well. Garm's eerie vocals fit in perfectly with the atmosphere of this band. The drums are tight as hell and the overall sound is perfect.
Click here for some more Arcturus

7. Opthalamia - After a Releasing Death/Castle of No Repair (part II)
The distortion on the guitars is pretty weak. The melody is ok. They need some more bass. Not much to say about this song.

8. Einherjer - Naar Hammerem Heves off of Far, Far North
This song is good. I like the piano intro. It has great black vocals and good distorted guitars. It also has great atmosphere. In the middle of the song, they start having a dual between the church choir and distorted black vocals. There are some great melodic, heavy and fast riffs in this song.

9. Rotting Christ - Coronation of the Serpent off of A Dead Poem
This band is pretty heavy. I like the fact that they also do melodic stuff in between the bonecrushing riffs. I wish they had more distortion though. Their vocals are pretty good. They shout more than they distort.

10. Sacramentum - Black Destiny off of the Coming of Chaos
Wow. Melodic and heavy. Cool. I like this band's stuff. Good name for the album. The music is very chaotic and agressive. They have a good sense of melody. The last riff of the song is the best!

11. Ulver - Hymn 1 off of The Madrigal Of Night
Ow, my ears!! This band has no bass to speak of and too much midrange. It sounds like the Dead Kennedys on a bad acid trip or something. This song is just fucking awful. But there's a really, really cool acoustic interlude near the end of the song. Apart from that, this song totally sucks.

12. Samael - Black Trip off of Ceremony of Opposites
This song has a really fast and heavy intro. Then a slow ascending riff begins. Now the vocals come in. Pretty good black vocals. Great sounding band.

13. Mayhem - Necrolust off of Live in Leipzig
This band is just total fucking agression. It also helps that some of the band members are mentally unstable. Excellent vocals. Really fast riffing. Pure energy mixed with pure hatred. Go buy this album before it's too late.
More Mayhem

14. Tiamat - Ancient Entity off of The Astral Sleep
(Yawn.)

15. Opeth - Nectar off of Morningrise
If you like laid back acoustic guitars and bass and distorted, nasty sounds in the same song, this is your band. All their songs are over ten minutes long but they don't seem quite so long. They usually let the instruments do the talking. Great band.
Click here for some more Opeth


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