THORNIUM: "Dominions of the Eclipse"

The nineties of Scandinavian black metal are often hailed in the names of just a handful of influential records, and deservedly so, but a more profound look into the supply of those times reveals a goldmine of other worthwhile albums. Thornium, who? Exactly. I remember hearing, and disliking, their 2010 album Fides Luciferius, a real turd of modernized soulless black metal, but I wouldn't have guessed what a gem the same band had crafted fifteen years earlier. Dominions of the Eclipse, the debut, is everything that the band's reincarnation is not: tasteful, and authentically evoking auras of hate as well as of magical northern woodlands.

I'm sure there are reasons why this album never made it as high as their country mates. Primarily, the reason might reside in the album's very static production: the sharp guitar lines have no dynamics whatsoever, and the whole soundscape is stripped off of any ornamentations. It is about tremolo guitars, stable (almost crazily stable) blast beats, hate-filled traditional vocals and the occasional keyboard atmospheres. Initially, there was next to nothing that impressed me, but repeated listens have thankfully showed the album's greatness. Many of the riffs, seemingly stale at first, reveal signs of ingenuity that challenge some of Veles' and early Satyricon's ideas. Listen to the acoustic breakdowns of ”Emperor of the Carpathians” or the otherwordly intro to ”De Som Pesten Drapte”. Or the hypnotizing touch of the folkier ”Slottet I Skuggornas Morker”.

What comes to the recent reissue of the album, I would have preferred to have the great concise album as it originally was. The ambient outro ”Förmörkelsens Herravälde” is a 2011 remake, and next up are two other newly recorded bonus songs, and quite a leap backwards they are form the album: pushed, compressed modern sound hits the listener's ears, and at least yours truly starts losing interest after a few seconds. As a compensation, the band's early demo North Storms of the Bestial Goatsign is added to the end, bringing back the 'good old spirit' with natural, rehearsal atmosphere that revels in so much more feeling and atmosphere than the interruptive, contrived new recordings.

Dominions of the Eclipse is definitely a recommendable album for anyone interested in looking a bit further through the facade of the most predictable essentials. It is an enjoyable glimpse to another time when the whole notion of black metal wasn't yet so refined, and didn't include any unnecessary gimmicks. As for what Thornium did musically after this album, I wouldn't step on those grounds at all. What you've got here is a good though largely forgotten album from the pages of black metal's history.

4 / 5