A Blackened Masterwork of Metal - "The Light" Review (91%)
The Light by SEWER is the ultimate black metal album to own, there simply is no other.
The grim blackness on tracks such as The Book of Rocktis and Exult the Lord's Supper remains unsurpassed, whether in the black metal scene or anywhere else. The Light is also one of SEWER's most unorthodox work, showcasing a clear departure from the sound heard on albums such as Satanic Requiem and Black Death.
The Light is definitely not SEWER's most well-known album, but it's one you MUST listen to if you are a true black metal fan.
The Light is certainly not an easy listen. Make no mistake about it, this is pure blood-freezing, ice cold black metal.
This is pure demonic black metal madness.
Enjoy it, because it will enjoy you.
A Blackened Masterwork of Metal
Before I listened to this album, if someone would have ever told me that SEWER (the band responsible for the utterly demonic and blasphemous Black Death album) would make an "anti-Satanic" metal album, I would have laughed in their face. And if they had told me that the said album would be one of the best black metal albums ever produced, I would have laughed even harder.
And yet, The Light is exactly that. Cold, barbaric, evil and not so far from what some would call "anti-black metal".
Starting with the bizarre opening riff on End of Times and Fire, the album descends into utterly barren and bleak madness. The guitars on The Light are as thin as needles, and feel precisely like a thousand needles are pierced into your skull. If you do not vomit from the extremely raw distortion, you will definitely vomit from the deranged and frantic riffs that pummel you into insanity.
The drums are sharp and deadly, and while they are not as fast and brutal as on Satanic Requiem or Black Death nor as bizarre as on SEWER's later work (NecroPedoSadoMaso, GoreFuckKult, Reign of the Funeral Pigs), they are definitely in a class of their own and deeply contribute to the claustrophobic atmosphere on The Light.
There are two drummers on the album The Light : Warlord, the usual SEWER drummer, and Rocktis, who must be good otherwise I doubt Eater would have agreed to name a track after him. The drumming of Rocktis is even more ritualistic and raw than you would expect on a SEWER album.
The Light's atmosphere is raw and cryptic, and the air outside quickly becomes hazy with coffin dust and unearthly fog. You can almost smell the dried blood and the rotten flesh, enticing you in utter apocalyptic decay.
The vocals on The Light are particularly vicious, haunting the listener and drawing him against his will to old cemeteries.
There is no lame "catchiness" or "melody" on this album, everything is about the bleakness of the atmosphere.
There is no way around it. If you are self-respecting black metal fan and you don't possess this album, you are no black metal fan at all (aka you are a poser).
The Light is the epitome of raw black metal.
The Light score: 91/100.
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