Woodlum666 recommends: The One ‎- I, Master

The One - I, Master 2008 (Necroterror Records, 2011)

The One is a two-man band originally from Greece and I have to tell you that their first album didn't convince me enough, it's not that it was bad, just I felt like something was missing. Six years passed between the 2 LP's so here's the I, Master from 2008, the second full length.

Without the lyrics one can only guess what is all about, the music will create different visions in every listener's head so my vision is this:

The first song “ I” is the entrance to the underworld, a huge stone door sculpted by the pioneers of the Black Metal style and ideology, the main sculptor being Euronymous in this case. As the song starts, you can already feel the dynamism and power, which will be present on the whole album. The feeling is unmistakably “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, the Black Metal in Euronymous`s vision, the real essence of evil and darkness.

“II” opens the door, we are going deeper now into the darkness and stench, disgust and hate everywhere, nice fast and mid tempos are flowing like a dark river as the guitars take us deeper into this infernal trance.

“III” starts with a scene from a horror movie, the human body gets infested by a demon, screams and pain are pulsating while the demon goes deeper and deeper into the soul. Then you hear the demon itself, summoning the armies of Hades, awakening the depths of Tartarus. This is my favorite song, some really strong themes here, crystal clear Black Metal, anti-commercial and hateful just as it should be.

As we continue our journey we reach the deeper levels of the abyss, human souls scream in agonizing pain, dancing in mid tempo accompanied by superb percussion. The place gets more and more chaotic, dark. Time seems to stop and with the song “IV” now over, we are on solid ground.

Dark armies are preparing to be unleashed in the name of Ares, the god of war. “V” is the longest song on the album, over one third from the total playing time, a real war-hymn, a call to battle. Desperate souls are looking for bodies to possess, the devastation will be total.

“VI” can be considered as an outro, ambient music, still dark but this is another reality, the soul and the body are now destroyed. This reminds me of Deathspell Omega a bit but this in the good way. Prepare for nothingness!!!

I have the vinyl version, released by Necroterror Records from Cyprus. Really good quality printing and paper, you get an extra vinyl (cut into two pieces!) and a poster. As I already mentioned no lyrics or any other information about the band are mentioned. This is what we call underground, honest and uncompromising Black Metal, no posing and business attitude, this is why we started to listen to this kind of music in the first place. The label sold all the 125 copies so if you are lucky you will find on Discogs, highly recommended for everyone who remembers what Black Metal really stands for!

by Woodlum666, 2014 March