Customer Reviews

Drawing Down the Moon

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This black metal landmark sounds disturbed and unstable in a deliberate attempt to reach the primal subconscious of the human mind. Its dark narratives push the listener through spaces of massively resonant objectives and violent imitation of nature through conflict. While the whispery bass-enhanced vocals create an unforgettable external image, the use of arrangement and simple melodies to create mood here is unparalleled in the genre. The alternatingly brightly violent and melancholic darker moods which propel each song reveal in conflict an embrace of the natural side of the primitive distinction between safe/society and nature/predation. This album confronts the listener with first conflicted acceptance as of this as music and next, an endeavor to understand its perceptive staging of existential contemplation in almost visual music. This is not for mainstream black metal listeners but for those who enjoy filthy symphonies like those of Sarcofago, Burzum, Darkthrone and Blasphemy. Here this album is played on average twice weekly. If you appreciate this album, the ambient keyboard work "Electric Doom Synthesis" from the same band is also excellen

1993 was a big year for black metal, seeing such releases as Det Som en Gang Var by Burzum, Pure Holocaust by Immortal, and Dark Midievil Times by Satryicon. However, among these more popular releases there is a very odd and amazingly original album, that album is Drawing Down the Moon by Beherit. This album was so far ahead of its time, little did these three men from Finland know it would later attain legendary status.par

At a time when black metal bands were only meddling lightly with ambience and electronics, Beherit pushed the envelope. The atmospheric ambience on this album contradicts the intense and simplistic guitar and drum work, making this album incredibly unique and quite the experience to listen to. This isn't really black metal like many people would imagine it to be, it is thick and bone crushing, surely inspired by the likes of Sarcofago, Von, and of course, Bathory. The line between death metal and black metal is a fine one on this release.

One thing which sets this album apart from other black metal releases of the time is the vocal effects. At a time where it was taboo to tamper with vocals, Beherit did just that. Adding distortion, reverb and god knows what other effects to the vocals. Beherit broke the mold. Another thing which stands out is the variation of the music. It can go from being very death metallish and chunky, to speedy chainsaw black metal guitars, all the way to tracks which are just pure ritualistic ambience. The beauty of this album is in the simplicity of it. Like their influences, Beherit create a very dark and ritualistic feel to the music with the monotony and repetition. The guitar riffs drone right into your head, while the relentless drumming transforms your brain into pudding. The more than subtle ambience only add to the incredible dark atmosphere. Its not easy to make such a minimalist album which can be listened to repeatedly and not become boring.

Overall, front to back, this album is flawless. Beherit have always been about experimenting (no two official releases are the same) and they do just that. I rate it 5/5. If you are a fan of black metal, this album is essential.

An album that describes a world of violence and war, then doing the unthinkable to the modern mind: Asserting that world as Paradise for those driven by greatness and glory affirming both life and death.
Black metal
Simple rhythms provide the foundation for the laws of nature - phusis - as controlled by unseen entities. Melodies shape the horror phosis entails for the modern human. With a morality that's other worldly driven, modern man attempts, but fails to defeat those forces that are manifested in the superiority and nature driven spirituality of ancient aristocracies. Humans can't conquer nature. They may, however, base the law of man - nomos - on nature and conquer their fears and work towards a world of Heroism without giving in to their fear of death in this world and the seduction of another world's illusionary morality that conquers those whom hate life. So says this album.
Transformation

Beherit, as a band, was an anomaly during black metal's second wave. They were a Finnish group, and though they definitely were black metal, they sounded different in comparison to Norwegian, Swedish, and Greek bands of that era. This album combines a minimalistic, fuzzed-out guitar with equally simplistic bass and drums. The echo effects on the vocals and the synth pieces really add to this album's darker qualities. The synth also shows where Beherit was headed in the future - this would be their last true black metal album. Definitely recommended for black metal enthusiasts and completists!

Drawing Down The Moon from 1993 is THE album to get from these Finnish black metal maniacs...it was their full-length debut after a bunch of demos and eps. (Later Beherit albums are cool too, but quite different, more like industrial/ambient solo albums from band leader Nuclear Holocausto.)

So simple and Satanic. Raw and underground. Plodding and droning. The spirit of Venom, Bathory and Hellhammer rendered even more f-cked up and primitive and minimalistic by this bunch of sick Finns. It's not so much music, as it is the distorted, deviant belchings of Satan himself. If you don't 'get' Drawing Down The Moon, if songs like "Nocturnal Evil" and "Werewolf, Semen And Blood" don't speak to you... then, well, you're mom is probably happy about that. But if you really want to understand the appeal of real deal black metal, all you need is this, some beer, and no friends. Except Satan.

Actually, listening to this now, I'm not surprised at all by the 'ambient' direction taken by the later Beherit incarnation. This is ambient too... ambient evil invocation. Even moreso than Abruptum.