By the mid 1990s the second wave of Black Metal bands were really coming into their own. There was an expansion of the then rigid definition of Black Metal, a scene that by this time had become zealot like in adherence to established tradition. Well, sometimes you have to toss tradition right out the window; bathwater, baby and all.
Samael's Ceremony of Opposites was an instant classic. Even the most bitter of Black Metal misanthropes had to come around for this ingenious and sick as all shit album. The industrial influence is prevalent throughout, as the drums pulse slowly and the keyboard lays down just the right amount of horror film ambiance. Vorphalack's vocals are intense and commanding, slicing through the doom laced riffs with a fury not unlike a storm making landfall. The album plays out slow and steady with overwhelming sacrilege and damnation. For Samael, this album was but a momentary stop on a long and continuing journey, but it stands as a monument of profound creative vision. Many bands have tried to duplicate the sound created here (cough, cough, Alastis...) but all such efforts have been fleeting. Some beasts are meant to be unique.
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