Customer Reviews

Ceremony of Opposites + Rebellion [EP]

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4 star:		(1)
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"Ceremony of Opposites" is Samael's crowning achievement. Mid-paced, loaded with killer - and discrete - keyboard arrangements, it blows off 99% of the competition, which are too enthralled on the "I-am-faster" stupidity. "Ceremony" also features the best lyrics of 2nd generation Black Metal. They steer away from the 3 main themes in this particular scene:

1) the "I-kiss-the-goat's-a**" theme;
2) the "I-am-a-clueless-modern-viking" theme;
3) or the "Coldbitten-Frost-of-Icy-Nebular-Winterstorm" theme.

The song "Crown", in particular, has one of the best lyrics I've seen in Rock music. I've rarely seen such anger, such emotional emptyness, such hatred towards life put on paper. If you want to appreciate the very essence of a thing called "evil", "Crown" is the best treatise I've read to this date.

Not many dare to the look into abysses of the human soul. There, you'll find the higher - and real - human nature.

Cold.
Lonely.
Indifferent.

Whether you're a Cabbalist - a Buddhist - a Sufi - a Hindu - or, in this case, a Satanist, your path is towards freedom... eventually, you'll have to dip your feet into this empty abyss... and find your true soul...

Samael's "Ceremony Of Opposites" cd, set forth a new standard in black metal (and make no bones about it, this is serious black metal judging from the intense lyrical content). Deliberately mid-paced and incredibly produced, this is almost an anti-black metal disc, so clean and crystal is the production, and so well paced. Opening with a massive push is "Black Trip", furious double bass drumming and intense riffing give way to a mid-paced, almost melodic piece that sets the tone for the entire disc. The vocals are decidedly death metal like, completely going away from the primal Darkthrone shrieks of anguish, which for my tastes, are near unlistenable. The rest of the cd goes on with near symphonic pieces, a dimension they go to with the addition of a keyboardist, and the riff dominant music contained. A fine cd, crafted with care and pace and most of all, with passion. Now, Samael are experimenting with techno beats and sampled instruments, which is going a little too far in my book, but if you want a finely crafted, aggressive, and heavy GUITAR driven cd, "Ceremony Of Opposites" is their crowning glory; a work of a band hitting all their creative cylinders. The best release of '94, bar none.

This is one every Black/Death/Doom/ fan must hear to know just what an amazing job has been done on this cd. Here are 10 tracks of extraordinary, dark and meaningful yet not for one second sounding pretentious. It is almost excruciating to listen to Vorph's cries of anger. This is not a band that is trying to just sound good, these guys puth forth a believable hate for christianity, and not by writing music that concentrates on demons, but rather being realistic in every way possible. When I get goosebumps while listening to music, I know I've stumbled unto something amazing. Just buy this cd, you won't regret it for a second, actually you'll be glad you did. And this release also has the mandatory follow up EP Rebellion. What a package.
The thing I really like about Vorph's vocal use is it has appeal and real emotions behind it, not like Deicide(I used to really enjoy listening to Deicide when I was younger, but it does nothing for me now, especially since I refuse to waste my time with such repetitive emotionless crap lacking everything a hard album should offer, except speed, but making the songs fast is not all there is to making an album hard).

There are no real stand out tracks here, which is good because it retains its wholeness to stand much higher than many other albums, even by Samael. I woke up this morning with the lyrics of Son Of Earth, that is how powerful this album and band are. In my review of the Samael album 'Eternal', I said "Ceremony Of Opposites was always my favourite but this album(Eternal) has grown on me much more". I'm not really sure I can stand by those words, as there will never be another album as soul piercing as Ceremony Of Opposites. This may not have the epic sound like Eternal does, but it has something that eternal lacks entirely, and that it a pure hard, rough like a thousand sandstones under your bare feet. The way Vorph spews forth the lyrics on this album, and the words he has chosen are so bold and effective. The last track on Ceremony Of Opposites(which is the title track)makes my skin crawl. But don't listen to that song before hearing the others, as it only has that effect after listening to the entire album. This album must be listened to in its entirety to be fully appreciated. Adding Rebellion onto the same disc is rather a catch 22 in my opinion. Being a really nice addition to Ceremony Of Opposites on hand, but after listening to the Ceremony Of Opposites album in its entirety I like a little bit of silence to get my breath back. It really is a breath taking experience.

Excellent artwork for an album well deserving of it. The cover is so matching to the music, its almost part of it. I couldn't imagine any other artwork being used on Ceremony. This is art at its finest, both musically and graphically.



"We're a part of everything as everything is a part of us" is the cryptic response issued by Vorph, Samael's guitarist and vocalist, when questioned about whether or not he associates Samael with the notorious trappings of black metal.

God(Satan) where do I start? Samael's "Ceremony of Opposites" is by far the most misanthropic album I've ever experienced. Im a new Samael fan that first listened to this band earlier this year, but I was never prepared for music this dark, and evil. This album covers topics on satanism, suicide, the occult and other dark subjects. The best songs on here(in my opinion) the descentful "Blacktrip", the horror-inspired "Celebration of The Forth", the suicidal "'Til We Meet Again", the self-destructive "Crown", and the unholy "Baphomets Throne". This album as the new leader for future Black Metal music. It definied its own genere of music, and it still is the undisputed albums in BM history. This album ranks up there with Mayhem, Emperor, and Bathory.

If you are a black-metal fan and you don't know Samael- you should start with this one. Heavy guitar riffs, sinister vocals combined with outstanding keyboards make this cd a masterpiece. I loved it 6 years ago, and although I don't listen to black metal any more, I still love this one today.Definetely a must.

If you know black metal, you know that it is not just a 'sound' but more like a concept. Samael's Ceremony of Opposites does not fit the traditional 2nd wave sound, even though they reached their peak during this time. Instead Samael has taken black metal to a whole new level, somehow making the music clear and frightfully aggressive while retaining critical elements of melody and musicianship.

The album's best song is definitely 'Black Trip' and lets you know what Samael is all about. The first half-second swells into a blistering attack of intense double kick and a crushing guitar riff, which eventually moves into a highly fluid and syncopated verse riff. After a short three minutes of pure aggression, the song ends with the ominous 'I await the coming of my death'. This is easily one of my favorite songs, and could be perhaps the most intense album opener in extreme metal. The only album-openers that compare are 'In Shadows And Dust' and 'The Ambassador Of Pain', both by Kataklysm.

I hope I have convinced you of the magnitude of this album. Unlike other black metal albums that one would be inclined to listen to privately and contemplatively, you will want to crank up this album and release all your energy to it.

"You see the face deformed by horror with the fear of life's duties and the anguish of the unknown." Those lyrics basically sum up the tone of this album's decent into the pit of pain. This may be the best metal album ever made. It has everything: throat-ripping vocals, chugging, but precise guitar work and some very inventive drumming, sampling and keyboards. There is not one single lyric, or note on this album that I can criticize. It is simply the most perfect piece of metal I have ever heard. Sadly, since this album, Samael have developed a much happier outlook about life and their music has suffered, now being laced with techno beats and too much sampling. I saw them live on the "Ceremony of Opposites" tour and they were the most intense and vicious band one could imagine. I saw them live again for their "Exodus" tour and they were pathetic (Vorph now has a Dutch-boy haircut and dances in what looks like a fire ritual one would see in Fiji). But, I give eternal praise to them for producing the hate machine "Ceremony of Opposites."

Nothing in any musical genre captures the spirit of pure, envenomed agression like Samael's earlier releases. Burzum and Beherit are the only bands that even come close. Needless to say, this release isn't for the casual melodic black CoF, Dimmu fan. Yet those who aren't afraid of a bit of noise and blasphemy will find Ceremony Of Opposites to be a masterpiece of the highest degree.

The Ceremony of Opposites part of the album is very good. Where it shines though is on Rebellion. Oh, I love Rebellion. I think the best songs Samael ever made are Static Journey and Rebellion. Ceremony of Opposites is the first merging of keyboards to death metal by Samael. Rebellion continues that trend. I very highly recommend this album for any fans of death metal.

nothing like the usual black metal out there. if you're a dark throne fan, then don't bother. This is not "pure" black metal (as some people put it), but none the less its different, and deffinetly worth a listen to. very catchy riffs, kinda have a digital thing about them, but not too electronic...just very precice i spose.
If 'anthems to the welkin at dusk' - emperor, appealed to you then its for you, also if your into dimmu borgir, this is just what you want.
Also...listen to opeth people!!!!!!! for those of you who haven't yet listened to them...please do! your missing out...STILL LIFE!!!!!!!!!!