Imperium "s/t" LP
[Lyderhorn]
Hell yeah, this is a limited edition one-sided LP dedicated to the rare 1996 demo from this all-star Norwegian black metal band that featured members of Gehenna, Dismal Euphony, Theater of Tragedy, and Emperor.  The style is fairly typical black metal with plenty of speed and melodic undercurrents, and it's raw, but not too raw, so they're going for the classic style of sound without taking it too far or forcing anything.  Expect snarling vocal screams, shitloads of blasting percussion and tight tremolo picking riffs, you know... the staples of the genre.  "Trollmannens Vrede" has a little more breathing room to its riffing as well as using some light synths (tastefully) at the start and again during a break later on in the piece, and "The Ravens" has an exceptionally awesome acoustic passage that leads into a heavier distorted chord progression with some piano in the distance, but the first two tracks - "Endless Pain" and "Awaiting the Decay" are a little more fast 'n' furious without as much obvious atmosphere.  In no way are they weaker tracks at all, this is all quality work, but the latter two selections definitely offer more variety and a sense of character that I thoroughly enjoy.  As mentioned, the recording is aptly rough, but not to the point where it doesn't make sense.  Considering it dates back to 1996 it sounds very much on par with most of what was around at that time.  It's a little thin, a little distant, slightly cold, but fairly balanced.  There's a definite air of noisiness to the mix, but it's not sloppy.  The performances are pretty damn tight (as the caliber of the band's membership would suggest) and I don't really have any complaints at all.  The packaging looks great, too.  The record is pressed on clear vinyl that has a design with some trees and birds screenprinted onto the back in maroon ink, while the clear sleeve has a similar design with the track titles and such printed on the cover in black ink, so you get some nice layering effects going on.  And since the design was handled by Stephen O'Malley of course it looks great and has lots of little intricacies.  Some of the text is hard as hell (if not impossible) to read due to some bleeding in the screenprinting process, but fuck it... this is a great looking affair for a handmade run of only 500 copies!  Therefore, act fast, as this is never going to be repressed in this form, so once they're gone, that's it.  I imagine they're going to go quickly, as well. (7/10)
Running time - 17:00 (approximately), Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Trollmannens Vrede, The Ravens]
Lyderhorn Records - lyderhornrecords@yahoo.com

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