90's Death Metal That Doesn't Suck: Belial - Wisdom of Darkness [1992]

Long story short, I heard Swedish Death Metal band Authorize today for the first time, and holy shit are they bad. Like, some of the worst shit I have heard in a long time.

Now listen, in the name of full disclosure, I will point out that as a rule, I don't like Swedish Death Metal. It's too melodic... too Iron Maiden-y for my taste. I like my Death Metal either: A. Strange B. Dense and atmospheric or C. Complex. Swedish Death Metal is none of those. They all sound the same, all have the same production... the all even look the same.

That said, I am willing to meet everyone half way in most situations. True, I can't listen to Like An Everflowing Stream all the way through without giving up and playing Onward to Golgotha instead, but I would not say it is a bad album. For what it is, Like An Everflowing Stream is a competent, tight slice of Death Metal I just happen to find boring. But Authorize? Holy fuck are they bad. I thought Grave and Unleashed were horrible before, but I would listen to those two for the rest of my life than ever be subjugated to fucking Authorize again. Of course, a quick Interwebz search has me finding all kinds of "under-rated and over-looked classic" and "shits all over modern Death Metal" nonsense. Ugh.

To wash my ears clean of this filth, and to please the readers, I give you Finland's Belial. Like many Death Metal acts from the 90's, Belial ended up changing genre's later on before breaking up, and only ended with a modest discography. But when they were playing Death Metal, they were playing fucking Death Metal. Blackened, Doom-infused Death Metal that brings to mind a twisted mix of Incantation and Demigod, with Mayhem providing a few guest appearances. Also, they are from Finland. Which means they rule. Fact. Wisdom of Darkness was in my opinion the bands best release, so go ahead and enjoy it. And for fucks sake, listen to some Cephalic Carnage or some shit too. ANYTHING but Authorize.

224 kbps

Mediafire