The Somberlain

This is the first full-length record by a Swedish band. The songs on it were written and arranged between 1989 and 1993, and the recording was finished in six days, from 1 to 6 March 1993. Where it stands is this: it uses the technique of black metal while aiming at something other than that genre's aesthetic. In place of the inscrutability of its Norwegian contemporaries there is melody you can remember. Lines drawn from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, kept in the minor, are laid over blast beats and tremolo picking, so the music stays dark and is still singable. The harmony the two guitars weave became the band's signature. It is the only album with guitarist John Zwetsloot, who left the following year, and the only one recorded by the founding line-up. The sleeve painting is by Kristian "Necrolord" Wåhlin. The band dedicated the record to Euronymous, who had been murdered that August. The running order here is the original's as printed.