CoC : Soulgrind - LaDiT A.D. 1999: BIHttPotB : Review

Soulgrind - _LaDiT A.D. 1999: BIHttPotB_
(M.M.I. Records, 1995)
by: Gino Filicetti (8 out of 10)

First off let me take a minute to expand this album's title. The full, complete, un-acronymed name of this release is _Lust and Death in Tuonela A.D. 1999: Black Industrial Holocaust through the Pandemonium of the Bizarre_. Strange? You don't know the half of it. Hailing from the frozen expanses of black metal's premiere homeland, Finland, comes Soulgrind, "the avantgarde hymn of reborn chaos and depression" (according to their adjective-excessive bio). The CD starts off with a number called "Introitus, Nostradamus 1999" which begins as a classical/gospel sounding, happy happy, joy joy type song with birds tweeting in the background alongside children playing, and all of a sudden, when you didn't think life could get any better than this, comes The Armaggeddon. The second track, my favorite, establishes the mood and style of the rest of the CD. With a constant switch from light to heavy doom, "Black Orchid" proves to be original in the face of the current trend in stagnation that is plaguing black metal today. The vocals are some of the best I've heard in a long while. Utilizing both the higher and lower range of aural agony, the vocalist gets his point across exceptionally well. The entire album is as unpredictable as chaos theory with its plethora of random sounds, samples and noises, to its surprising tempo changes, and the good dose of haunting female vox thrown in for good measure. Other notable tracks include "Elaman Keirre (Spin of Life)" which is sung completely in Finnish, and "The Pandemonium of the Bizarre" which is an unconceivable ambient/classical mix of epic proportions. If you are a fan of black metal that leans towards death and doom, this CD is DEFINITELY for you.

Contact: M.M.I. RECORDS, c/o Markus Woeste

(article published 8/11/1995)