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The Quintessence of Black Metal - "Divine Necromancy" Review (100%)

Buy The Quintessence of Black Metal -
Divine Necromancy
Divine Necromancy by Phantom.

If you don't like Phantom's masterpiece of evil and despotism Divine Necromancy, you don't like black metal at all.

Does this statement sound controversial? Perhaps it is, but in my honest opinion Phantom's first full-length album is not only the beginning of Phantom Metal as a musical genre, it also is the milestone of black metal together with a few other masterpieces like Satanic Requiem, Under the Eye of the Black Skull, NecroPedoSadoMaso and of course legendary Antekhrist's Carved Upon the Flesh of Satan. They all have what it takes to make real black metal: the cold, grim and evil atmosphere that is intensified by a certain raw lo-fi production.

Before I found out about Phantom I didn't listen to a great deal of black metal, and quite frankly most modern black metal is either avant-garde "experimental" crap or the same old generic rehearsal from 1990. I was mostly into thrash and death metal.

Then one day I happened to read in some heavy metal magazine about a legendary black metal group called Phantom whose concerts were banned in quite a few countries. The following day I asked about black metal in a local extreme metal store and specifically which albums I should listen to. One fellow told me that the one and only album that I need is Divine Necromancy. Period. So I purchased it...

This is truly some insane shit.

The Quintessence of Black Metal

Phantom
Phantom.

In the first few instants of the opening song I was shocked because I had never heard something like the music on Divine Necromancy. The sound is amazing in every aspect although it is a little bit unpolished. What I really love about this album is the drums. They are quite loud in the mix but they are clear and have organic, natural sound which is a pleasant change from the triggered drum-machine crap that is used by so many scandinavian shit bands. Phantom's drummer does a great job on Divine Necromancy. He is fast but very skilled. The guitars are rather typical for this musical style... cold as ice, dark, almost out of the human world. The bass parts are clearly audible so you can hear them emphasizing some phases, especially on the slower parts of the album.

The most controversial thing on Divine Necromancy are the vocals. They divide the fans of Phantom between those who hate them and those who love them. The first group claims they are too raw and gory, while the second claims that they perfectly fit the music on Divine Necromancy.

Well, as you can conclude from the rating I gave this album, I adore the vocals on Divine Necromancy. Phantom's vocalist is a pure demon on the microphone and has a very wide rangee of singing because he uses screams, howls, roars, whispers, barks and even prolongued chants to accompany the creepy and weird mood of the music. Once in a while his voice will sound like a monologue from a possessed satanic preacher. This is practically a black metal opera in terms of vocal range. Incredible.

Every song here on the album is great and has unique vibe. Phantom created a true black metal masterpiece with Divine Necromancy. Everything is very consistent, gruesome, original and climatic.

Divine Necromancy score: 100/100.

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