Ceremony of Opposites

Yer Metal is Olde: Samael – Passage

Yer Metal is Olde: Samael – Passage

“1996 was a weird time for metal. That year many bands decided to abruptly switch logos on us, and whenever that happens, usually the music gets a lot more “creative” (i.e. tame) and a whole lot less metal. I remember seeing an ad for Samael’s Passage in an issue of Metal Maniacs and immediately got worried. Gone was the pentagram-infused logo and the Eric Vuille painting of Jesus with his crown of nails coming out of his head, and in their place was a logo that was fresh off of Microsoft Word and a picture of what appears to be the moon.” A bad moon was arising.

Yer Metal is Olde:  Samael – Ceremony of Opposites

Yer Metal is Olde: Samael – Ceremony of Opposites

We at AMG have a sense of history and like to think we’re in touch with metal’s ancient lore (kindly refrain from jokes about Steel Druhm’s age). With that in mind, we thought it might be fun to highlight notable albums released between twenty and thirty years ago in a new feature we call…YER METAL IS OLDE! First on the geriatric block is Samael’s evil classic Ceremony of Opposites, released way back in the halcyon days of 1994.

Samael – Lux Mundi Review

Samael – Lux Mundi Review

OK, I have a secret to tell you right up front. I haven’t listened to Samael with any regularity since the late 1990s when I first started getting into black metal. I had a love affair with Ceremony of Opposites and was actually a bit disappointed when someone played me Passage. However, over the years Passage is the one that I have come back more frequently to, despite (or because of) its industrial bent. I wasn’t a huge fan of Above when it was released, though I must have just been cranky because it’s a fucking killer record, but I’ve always been waiting for the follow-up to Passage that never came. And I gather that I am not alone in feeling that way.