Samael - Above (Nuclear Blast/Riot)

Samael have been around for a long time, and this, their ninth effort, is a measure of how time has not wearied them. Evolving from their early days of black metal, Samael are now considered to play an electro/industrial crossover style, and innovators of post-black metal. Listening to Above you'd be forgiven for thinking that they never departed from their black metal roots. For, as many people have noted - and I agree - Above could easily be hailed as being Samael's tribute to their roots. 

As vocalist/guitarist Vorph has claimed, 'It is like an enhanced version of our three or four first albums, maybe the missing link between Cermony Of Opposites and Passage. With the Era One project we’ve tried to work on different influences; with Above we stripped everything down.'

The album was originally not even an album - it was originally a 'virtual band' side-project: computer-generated band members playing to the music and lyrics of Samael. 

While Vorph might claim that Above has been stripped down, musically the release is still incredibly complex. There is a lot going on here, in a style that is pretty rare to get on a release these days. The level of complexity is high, and yet you don't get a sense of a million layers. In true black metal style, a lot of this album sounds like it needs a good sanding to get rid of the rough edges. Ironically, you don't want to get rid of the rough edges because that's what gives this release its character.

The complexity of this album - from the harmonics and keys, to the percussion, to the furious riffing - lends it to being rather an intellectual exercise of the kind that one rarely finds, and which is good for the soul.

But that's not to say that these guys leave their electro/industrial sound aside on this album. Absolutely they do not: in fact, Black Hole goes right back to that, especially in the opener. The contrast between that track and something like Black Hole, given the track's harmonics, is striking. And, for those of you who are just itching for that hit of industrial electronica, there is a 'verso mix' of Black Hole as the last track. It doesn't appeal to me at all, but no doubt there will be fans out there who will dig it.

In fact, while I haven't been up with Samael in the past few years, what I have heard of their later recordings has been pale in comparison to Above. This release seems to have a greater maturity and a greater sense of self about it. Could this come from the band's desire to go back to their roots, to provide that missing link? I think so. What appeals to me the most about this release is its occasional drone of the minor scale that fills in all the gaps and creates the fog of atmosphere out of which everything else emerges.

Above is also not a selfconscious release by any stretch, which is probably what makes it so good. And better yet, it improves (if possible) on every subsequent listen. If you're a Samael fan, you can't miss this release; everyone else just needs to get their hands on it for the experience.

Samael's Above is out now on Nuclear Blast/Riot.