Review Summary: Classic 90’s black metal.
Aside from the notorious Norwegian scene, the black metal scene in Sweden was arguably the second largest exporter of black metal music in the 90’s. On one hand this scene brought us the likes of Marduk and Dark Funeral, who carried the traditional black metal torch while placing their own spin on the genre, but on the other hand, bands such as Dissection and Dawn emerged from the scene, pioneering what is now known as Melodic Black Metal. Nestled in between these two different styles of music is Lord Belial, a band that has managed to gain a fairly large amount of attention from black metal fans over the years. While the band’s debut,
Kiss the Goat, was certainly a good album, the album's follow up,
Enter the Moonlight Gate, is generally considered by fans to be Lord Belial’s masterpiece.
One of the first things that the listener will notice listening to
Enter the Moonlight Gate is the unique production that the album has. While the production has similarities to the likes of Sacramentum and Dissection, there is a much larger emphasis on a wall of sound. This is readily apparent in the opening track where the guitars emit a massive amount of reverb that envelops the rest of the music, giving the album a dreamlike atmosphere. After a barrage of tremolo picked guitar riffs and blast beats, the opening track flies into an extremely atmospheric guitar solo about a minute in that lets the listener know immediately that this is no run-of-the-mill black metal album. As the song continues on, female vocals enter, something that returns throughout the album, at several points, adding heavily to the dark and sorrowful atmosphere that the song has. Later on in the album, the listener will also notice that Lord Belial utilizes a lot of acoustic guitar, cello, and flute at various points in the album which can be heard on songs such as “Lamia” and the excellent instrumental, “Forlorn in Silence” which also give
Enter the Moonlight Gate a unique sound that has allowed it to stand the test of time.
As one could guess based on this description, the performances on
Enter the Moonlight Gate are excellent. The vocals on the album, handled by Thomas Backelin, are fantastic and sound absolutely throat-tearing. Due to their savage nature, the vocals contribute heavily to the dark atmosphere overall. Aside from the vocals, Backelin also handles the guitars on the album alongside Niclas Andersson. The riffs on the album bounce between being melodic and standard black metal and, while none of them are particularly complex, they are varied and memorable. The bass work on the album is handled by Anders Backelin and is surprisingly audible for a black metal album. The bass on the album plays an important role in filling out the bottom end of the band’s sound. The drums on the album are handled by Micke Backelin and they are the sole complaint I have about
Enter the Moonlight Gate. The drumming on the album is pretty unvaried and repetitive. The fast parts of the album are backed by endless blast beats that sometimes go on for upwards of two minutes without any fills which can be kind of annoying. Despite this, the playing is still pretty tight overall which prevents it from being too much of a distraction.
Despite all of these positives, there are people who write off this album and band as B grade Dissection worship, but personally I do not think that this is a fair assessment. Other than some superficial similarities (like melodic riffs), I don’t think that the bands are very similar at all. Even if they are, there are far worse bands that you could copy. In the end, Lord Belial has crafted an excellent black metal album with
Enter the Moonlight Gate that is considered a classic for a reason. I would highly recommend
Enter the Moonlight Gate to any black metal fan who is looking for a unique album. Aside from this, the album is also accessible to people who are new to the black metal genre since the production isn’t even remotely harsh or lo-fi and all of the instruments can be clearly heard throughout the album's duration.
