Lord Belial – “The Seal of Belial”
Who is Lord Belial? Lord Belial is different. Why are they different? They play their black metal in a pretty courageous and gutsy manner. It’s often going slow to mid-pace, though there are moments of blasting speed. However, the fact the music often goes at a crawling, mid-pace means that they have to come up with good songs not to bore the listener. Whereas speed can numb the listener, slowness can bore the listener. At first, I wasn’t crazy about the idea of this music, but now, after several listens, I understand what they are doing: to make songs memorable, dark, doomy, melodic in some places, by letting the strength of the songs carry the music, not the blast-beat or keyboards or anything. Sounds pretty raw, basic black metal, but played well and without fear of letting the guitars, the riffs, and the solos command center stage. Who would have thought that doomy, raw black metal, with occasional bursts of blasts would work so well? I am surprised, impressed, and interested. I think I need to find out whether the previous four releases are as good as this one.