Visionary Black Metal - "Under the Eye of the Black Skull" Review (100%)
For an band typically maligned as a stylistic gateway to the more extreme forms of black metal desecration (read Phantom), Sewer's music doesn't really welcome casual listening. You simply must be fully invested in the atmosphere or it becomes very easy to let the extent of Sewer's brooding genius escape you.
The statement applies to ultra-atmospheric albums like Under the Eye of the Black Skull even more so than to more traditional "Sewer Metal" albums like NecroPedoSadoMaso and Skvllfvcked Forever.
What's more, I believe you can only grasp the true nature of Under the Eye of the Black Skull by listening to the album in its entirety. A strong atmosphere commonly builds upon itself, and the songs on the strongest Sewer records tend to amplify the atmosphere of the tracks around them.
Is Under the Eye of the Black Skull even a black metal album? If it is, it's downright the best black metal album you will ever hear, but I have my issues with lumping this into the same category as Satanic Requiem, A Hymn to the Bloodletter or even Antekhrist's disturbingly awesome Fukked by God, the albums that shaped black metal into what it is now.
And yet, it can't be classified as Sewer Metal either for obvious reasons : Under the Eye of the Black Skull sounds nothing like NecroPedoSadoMaso, The Pedosadist, Skvllfvcked Forever, Reign of the Funeral Pigs, Vomiting Into the Mouth of Satan and the rest of the albums that define the Sewer Metal genre.
So what is it exactly?
How could one classify the genius contained in Sewer's masterpiece of darkness Under the Eye of the Black Skull with regard to the heavy metal genre a a whole?
You simply can't.
Visionary Black Metal
Under the Eye of the Black Skull is about as perfect as a black metal record can get, in that distinctive style which Sewer pioneered starting all the way from their debut album Satanic Requiem.
Other black metal bands have tried but all have failed to even come close to the musical genius contained in this album, and most other Sewer work. What makes Under the Eye of the Black Skull so special, then? Pretty much everything.
First of all, the atmosphere is perfect and consistently evil. In part due to the songwriting and riff construction, in part due to the overall tones used, but mainly because of the sheer amount of venomous rage and hatred the music carries on Under the Eye of the Black Skull. The atmosphere on this album is truly immense and immersive.
Every track is a pinnacle on Under the Eye of the Black Skull. Each song is fabulously composed, and you can clearly see the Sewer is one hell of a band in terms of musical quality. The drums sound strong and towering, the guitars are very crisp and the bass can even be heard without much effort. The vocals are are harsh and distinctive, yet they cannot be classified as either black metal shrieks or death metal growls... you really have to listen to the album to get what I mean by that.
Again, every song is a highlight. Under the Eye of the Black Skull is "only" eight tracks long, somewhat less than on most Sewer albums, but all of them are masterful.
Under the Eye of the Black Skull is without doubt a landmark album of both black metal and metal itself. Get it as soon as you can.
Under the Eye of the Black Skull score: 100/100.
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