Samael - Illumination

[@Ashizimack]

Samael is always the best !!! I love it!

[@Vallfar]

Above is the best album for time Ceremony....I saw Samael on Brutal Assault in Czech Republic last year.Greetings for all metal fans from Poland.

[@CMT12875]

Hands down my favorite Samael song.

[@evilii]

Man these two songs are kick ass! I love the other stuff too, but like they said they are going back to the roots. And this really is the Samael I first heard!

[@darksaga80]

I have to say I started listening to this album a lot more recently and it's really growing on me. I also realized this is the blistering style SAMAEL has been missing over the past few albums. I now appreciate every song on the album. Complete awesomeness!!

[@silentnoise74]

"the vocals felt like some alien God or something that sits on a throne somewhere out in space " YHEA! that's exactly the image that came to my mind too!

[@anataria]

this IS SAMAEL!! I appreciate this album soooooooo much... And also with Reign of light, Solar Soul, even Eternal... By the way, the album cover's graphic is impressive too, as always.

[@LordNothing]

sounds very SAMAEL!!!

[@Tukker1970]

Fantastic.back to the roots :-)))

[@my9demons]

I have just found out samale and their great work. I-m listening line 24/24 ,and to think about it ...from '94 to now all of their songs beat's almost every band from now these days..... Just GREAT!!!!!!

[@ChuckyDoll79]

Bringing back the great sound of "the 2nd wave of black metal (1991-97)" for 2009! Great move! I respect it. :)

[@richardzkb]

this song is one of the best of the new album !!! OMFG !!!

[@brutalictesku]

Damn good! Powerful song. Samael is back! \,,/

[@Pec3t]

That's what I call "real back to the roots". Now, I have just one wish more. Hope that someday In Flames will do the same thing as Samael:)

[@DanielLegendaryJarl]

Indeed... listening to this new album almost made me go 16 years back in time when I used to basically listen to 'Blood Ritual' and 'Ceremony of Opposites' all day long. It's fucking good to have them back.

[@FirstMetalHamster]

I like this album, it's so damn full of power.

[@xxMADxxSCIENTISTxx]

Yeah, I am first ;] Awesome masterpiece - can't wait for their new album :D

[@Arkandji]

I love all styles of Samael, they really progressed and greated a new awesome sound. I do not like bands that stagnate on the same sound for over 10 or more years. Samael really did a great job here.

[@Carnall1]

Nie ma sprawy:)

[@ptysiak94]

i must say my fauvorite albums of Samael are Solar Soul and Reign Of Light but Above is AWESOME also

[@timeravager]

great, great, great, as everything from Samael

[@EraOneSamael]

i completely forgot they had a new album out, this is amazing!

[@r2sleepio]

Too cool

[@Videotubelord]

This year they should tour with dimmu borgir :D I'm not comparing them to Dimmu, but i like that Samael came back to metal+black metal riffage. Never stopped listen to Samael and will never do!!! Every major change they done i liked, but last one is best change ever!!!

[@Tehstroyer]

Thanks, added to description...

[@UnidentifiedLifeform]

@lndrymtthw I think thats why I like Samael so much, they dont care what their fans think of their new music style, they make the music they want in the styles they want, and if fans don't like it, it doesn't stop them, I greatly respect Samael for that reason, and I really don't like their black metal stuff as much anyway, i find the very spiritual almost psychedelic themes alot more compelling than than the black metal themes, to me most black metal themes seem too samey, but that's just me

[@abyss1891]

Gut!!!

[@elddr2]

yeahhh samael i like this f........ song god

[@jwa1882]

Holly fucking YES!!!! This is a truly refreshing sound to hear from this band!!! SOOOOOO glad they pulled their heads out of their asses!!!!

[@MortemCP666]

Nice :)

[@Tehstroyer]

@Haemoglobinic: Yes, but it's the third RELASED track. It was relased on their Myspace before the album came out...

[@my9demons]

@DCHCD if you had listen to solar soul in a tehnical way you would see that it's a diffrent style....like an experimental one. From my opinion Solar Soul is somenthig that gives industrial a bit of credit and something to hold on for the new bands...

[@UnidentifiedLifeform]

@lndrymtthw theyve already confirmed on their myspace taht this was jsut a one time deal, this wasnt even meant to be a samael cd but they basically got lazy and instead of starting a new band they just relesed it as a samael cd as opposed to releasing it as Above which was gonna be the bands name, and you must remember samael does their music for the love of making new music, they dont give fans what they want, they make the music that THEY want to make.

[@UnidentifiedLifeform]

@lndrymtthw now i do see where you're coming from but at the same time i like samael because they arent brutal, they are my unwind band, after a long day of work and death metal i usually use samael to unwind from work and just relaaaax.

[@raluch666]

bk 2 da rootz! nooooiseee ! uuu die blee! kozia broda zdrowia doda !

[@thrashmetalz666]

Im laughing right now at all of the new Samael fans complainging about Samaels return to their Origins I think it could not have been better

[@UnidentifiedLifeform]

@jwa1882 lol dont get used to it, according to them this was just a one time deal to pay tribute to their roots

[@GHoStiSF]

It's not the first released track :P The first was Black Hole at Myspace. After that came Polygames. Both under the "Project name" ABOVE. See the official Samael Forum for more info :)

[@Carnall1]

Imagination cannot be stopped, faster than the light we reach the top, coordination of thought and will, give us visions that we can almost feel, we can speculate on any conclusion , leading our emotions to any destination, can explorate from every sensation, a world is to be found through transformation, just like a dream...stronger...stranger, just like a dream ...the stranges and stronger dream.

[@undertakerro]

at last! ;)

[@slay3r43v3r1]

vorphs vocals are so fucking great at this album...

[@Carnall1]

Ilumination at the end of the tunnel, revealed a world behind every hell, it's sometime worth staying on your way, keeping the faith strong and straight 'till the next deay, just like a dream...stronger...stranger, just like a dream the strangest, strongest dream, dream keep dreaming...dream...

[@MrPERPS]

Sold,,,

[@kkinkead]

definately sounds like something that could have been on passage

[@SuperibyP]

@Tehstroyer i have to agree with you, the drums are overpowering, but i like it that way, to be honest... just personal preference!

[@JJTechnologies]

agreed - maybe sounds a bit bitter, but they tried to do the same thing they did in the past yet it's impossible. It would probably be not bad if released by some new band, but not someone who released Eternal. I treat it in terms of an experiment. The band themselves won't ever say it's the best they done - just a funny experiment is all

[@DemonosSilvast]

Isnt this album supposed as be somekind of Samaels sideproject??? Either way it sounds very good!!! Finland cheers!!!

[@thrashmetalz666]

it sounds a hell of a lot closer to their earlier stuff, but not exact...

[@fabiolima8591]

Sometimes the headbanger thinking like a religious, and can't try to see with good eyes new stuffs

[@DarthMohammedRules]

@lndrymtthw If they refined this and added more industrial, wouldn't that just be another Passage or Eternal album?

[@1norwood1]

Meh, Worship Him, was the first Samael album I bought personally I think Eternal / Reign of Light is their best period, such a unique and amazing sound. People expecting bands to keep producing the same sounding albums again and again are a bit misguided in my mind, bands need to keep producing new stuff and innovating to stay fresh. Hell imagine if Celtic Frost never changed their sound from Hellhammer days, we wouldn't have gotten Into the Pandemonium, one of the greatest albums of all time.

[@Xogroroth666]

@DarthMohammed Not just you, they did indeed a too low power setting on the vocs.

[@93riven]

does this sound to you like Blood Ritual???

[@Squeglee]

On the Rise maybe a bit?

[@kissesbloody]

Fucking great song...

[@brokennick]

its weird for me... i was never a huge fan of their really oldschool black stuff. I adore them circa Eternal. And then find the reign of light era stuff a little too simple poppy-industrial. Solar Soul was odd in that it had all these quite hard oldschool sections and then bits that were just pushing the simple pop hooks too far. Its the bit in the middle I want! I'd like a whole album of Promised Lands and Supra Karmas... This will need a bit of digesting before deciding if i like it.

[@thrashmetalz666]

An example I could use is Gorgoroth's new album QPAST, they've returned to their original style... and its better than the "br00tal" shit theyve put out in the past years

[@komalxatlas]

It reminds me of the first albums from Salacious Gods. I do like the raw sound.Hate the lyrics, though.

[@darksaga80]

My main problem with them is since Passage the majority of the music is completely programmed. I can't tell for sure on this album, but the drum tracks sound really programmed which is not good for me, being a former drummer. Also, it takes a LOT away from their live shows.

[@Tehstroyer]

@DarthMohammed: Just you. ;-) At least for me (but not only) everything is overshadowed by the drums. Just like in Metallica's ...And Justice For All.

[@CioranQc1]

Not bad... It's really better than Reign of Light or Solar Soul but according to me, Passage is the best Samael's album.

[@darksaga80]

@DarthMohammed I had the same reaction, the vocals are a bit too low for my tastes as well. They blend too much with the other layers of music and get drowned out.

[@1norwood1]

What about Bathory then, Twilight of the Gods is miles away from The Return, just about all the first wave / early second wave BM bands changed their sound from the start of their career, look at Mayhem, they put out an album like Grand Declaration. Emperor put out Prometheus, which is a long way from Wrath of the Tyrrant. Look at modern Enslaved albums, my point is expecting a band to stay true to their original sound is a bit unrealistic, music evolves.

[@TerrorTerje]

how can you call this primitive? listen to all the layers in this song... its way more complex than most stuff on the two previous records

[@rando310]

I couldn't get into this album because of the mix..not sure what the hell it is..

[@AAeolian]

sounds so different from their other stuff...guess its the real drums...

[@DarthMohammedRules]

I love that they got back to their Black Metal roots, but I think they mixed the vocals a notch too low. Just me. Just me?

[@Slyvr18]

Eh, I prefer their other industrial type stuff. This just sounds too crowded with too much distortion. You can barely hear the riffs underneath all the distorted noise

[@vicek669]

lucifer iluminato man !! :D

[@thanatos8618]

Back to the Samael's black metal times? Good songs, vocals and riffs from this album. But I hate this recording quality.

[@thrashmetalz666]

ANDDD that's in your opinon... and I think Celtic Frost kinda sucks... but that's just me.

[@rockodicki]

Black metal riffage once again!!!!!!!!

[@trukvltwontdie3ghz]

someone doesn't know black metal

[@thrashmetalz666]

complaining*

[@JJTechnologies]

not just you. This album has some good stuff on it but the sound is terrible. It was supposed to be some sort of a side project, that's probably why it was mixed and produced so poorly. I can't hear a fucking word from what he's singing about

[@Nizzon.]

I have to agree to some extent. Its like they added blastbeats and BM-speedchugg to simple catchy melodies. I dont relly like the production either, all washed out. Not even close to Ceremony of Opposites.

[@EIRICHRED]

Definitivamente e nuevamente Black metal, pero malisimo, maximo usaron tres acordes en la grabacion del album..... les esta haciendo dag;o el paso del tiempo

[@adamb719]

maybe im just being fickle, but this album is just as bad as its rep. i try to enjoy it, but listening to it is actually work. you have to weed through the layers of noise, the synth and lead vox are completely drowned out of the mix. the music itself is formulaic and uninspired...ill keep tryin but theres nothing that sticks. you cant say that about samael's first 4.

[@JJTechnologies]

this is simply terrible. Regression. Was supposed to be a side project and funny experiment but turned to be a full album. Nonsense

[@syedismailfaris]

ILLUMINATI! :p

[@AlfredoDepths]

I actually prefer Reign of Light and Solar Soul, this is just uninteresting black metal. But of course, that's just my opinion.

[@93riven]

it sounds like a piece of crap.