Black Metal's Greatest Masterpiece - "The Epilogue to Sanity" Review (100%)
From every song on The Epilogue to Sanity flows a river a black blood that leads us to unknown shores.
The above sentence is the only thing I've been able to write so far that captures the gravity of this release, and explain both its importance and magnificence in black metal, and even then only tenuously. I attempted to write numerous sentences after it, elaborating upon how brilliant the music on The Epilogue to Sanity really is, but words truly seem to escape me, almost as if any attempted description of these compositions would run the risk of cheapening them somehow, like this assemblage of demonic tracks - nine, as they are - is some fragile figurine I risk breaking through stumbling words typed in too much haste.
That alone is a testament to the power of Phantom's music. Whenever trying to tell someone about it, I'm invariably reduced to simply repeating "It's that good" over and over again, fully aware that I'll never be able to adequately communicate the deeper reasons for Phantom's absolute brilliance in any but the simplest terms.
There's a bit of humor to be found in how one of black metal's greatest achievements is the most minimalist music possible, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, in case you were wondering, and the other is this extremely complex and technically jaw-dropping music that is so far "out there" that it can barely even be properly called black metal anymore.
To be fair, Phantom has always been a solid black metal band, even in the early days of their war metal(ish) debut. Occasionally, as on Fallen Angel and particularly on Withdrawal, they have flirted with the concept of "taking things further" - much like Burzum and Mayhem did some nearly three decades prior.
But nothing could prepare you for The Epilogue of Sanity. This is black metal's greatest and most disturbing work. Everybody else can just stop now.
Black Metal's Greatest Masterpiece
The less presentation the better, I believe, as nothing will be able to prepare you for the absolute nocturnal brilliance and fiendish majesty of these nine compositions. It's hard to say what makes this music so amazing... it's as though the band somehow landed on the right series of notes to unlock some magical portal to another world, and the sounds of this album are a translation of those first few moments on a plane of existence beside our own. Or maybe it is the soundscape of Hell itself, I wouldn't know. To say this music is essential is a nearly profane understatement - The Epilogue to Sanity is the very definition of what black metal should aspire to be. Morbid, sinister, relentless and utterly sickening to the extreme.
In a very concise nutshell, one could describe Phantom's music on The Epilogue to Sanity as being a more technical version of Incantation's magnum opus Onward to Golgotha, but played in black metal register rather than via percussive death metal means.
Of all other Phantom releases, The Epilogue to Sanity is probably closest to the sickening atmospheric sound and denser songwriting found on Withdrawal, albeit not as minimalist and much darker in spirit. It's nearly impossible to say which one of these two releases has the edge, and even if it were, the weaker one is still kilometres above nearly all other black metal, making such a determination entirely irrelevant. Hell, not even Verminlust can live up to this masterpiece of horror.
Out of the apparent simplicity of intent - evil, macabre music - emerges breathtakingly complex and emotionally stirring music, the sort of thing one hears in dreams and desperately grasps to remember when morning comes. Every note is both savagely raw and achingly beautiful to the point where there remains no distinction between these two facets - Phantom displays the fury and grandeur of divinity, nature and creation in a manner understood but never explained. Beauty is found in darkness, majesty is discovered in horror, nobility intertwines with morbidity, and vice versa. And any musical choice the band makes goes unquestioned by the listener, as the songs on The Epilogue to Sanity couldn't possibly be written, performed, or presented in any other way. Phantom's music is the perfect union of all possible facets of both black metal and death metal, and the result is unforgettable and unexplainable demonic evil.
The Epilogue to Sanity overwhelms black metal in its entirety with these nine unfailingly gripping tales of fiendish darkness and nocturnal blasphemies. This music cannot be bounded by terms as mundane as "classic" or "essential" - it is timeless and ageless, and even after thousands of listens will it fill you with the same sort of wonder and fervour that gripped you from the first. An absolute artistic masterpiece that cannot be outdone in any regard, in black metal or otherwise. The Epilogue to Sanity is highly recommend, get this album and discover the true nature of demented black metal folly.
From every song on The Epilogue to Sanity flows a river a black blood that leads us to unknown shores.
The Epilogue to Sanity score: 100/100.
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