Reign of Light

I've followed the career of Samael since the very beginning (back in the early 90s). If you played their debut album "Worship Him" back to back with "Reign of Light", you'd be pretty hard-pressed to believe it is in fact the same band. What began as a very basic, raw black metal band has progressed into an industrial entity with slashes of electronics, gothic rock, nu-metal and only the slightest remnants of black metal remaining. Throughout this gradual transformation, I have always remained a fan. Each album progresses further away from their roots, but always opens up new doors of experimentation and opportunity.

It's been 5 years since Samael's last release "Eternal". They've had some serious label issues that have resulted in a necessary hiatus. This has meant that my expectations for this new album were extremely high. I figured 5 years break should allow the band to come back with increased enthusiasm and inspiration. Perhaps even write a complex album to match the heights of 1996's "Passage". Unfortunately, this isn't the case. If anything, I feel this is quite a lacklustre release. It certainly has the sort of variation of sounds that have illuminated their work and it most definitely has made a progression even further away from the last release, but I can't help feeling that there is something missing from "Reign of Light". Or maybe it's just that Samael have finally moved too far from where I feel comfortable. It's just not metal any more!

It all starts promisingly enough, with "Moongate" being a really good track. I can even cope with the rap-like vocals as they work quite well in this instance. It's around track 4 (the title track) that the disappointment starts setting in for me. It becomes apparent that Samael are attempting to reach a commercial audience, which is made all the more strange by the fact that there are still no clean vocals. Basically, Samael have ended up somewhere in the vicinity of Rammstein, without any sort of dance-floor presence. Tracks like "As the Sun" are unlikely to sit well with metal fans and they are not really going to impress fans of Rammstein either. So whom exactly is this album directed at? I really couldn't say.

Now don't get me wrong, this is not a terrible release. There are many sections that I enjoy quite a bit. But I can't help longing for an earlier incarnation of Samael to raise its head. Maybe they can come back from this, but if we have to wait another 5 years till the next release sees the light of day, you can scrub Samael off my "anticipated future release" list.

The new release by Samael quickly brings to mind the music of Rammstein and it was truly an interesting change of pace after
so many listens to Power and Progressive Metal as I have been doing of late. Described as Black Metal, I tended to disagree
and felt it was more along the lines of Industrial or even Darkwave in some fashions. Leader Vorph has definitely
constructed a unique piece of music and there are even some instances across the piece where his vocals come across like
Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir in tunes like "Puritania". There are even moments when you find this can be some sort of dance
piece and this is due to Vorphs replacing the ripping guitar solos and drums with syncopated patterns and well-placed synth
arrangements. Opening track "Moongate" quickly caught my attention as did "Reign Of Light" but a lot of the rest of the CD sounded too similar for me to really fairly judge one track from the next. "On Earth" and "Telepath" seem to be tracks the
group is pushing and have some enjoyable moments in this. The CD includes another version of "Telepath" as well as a video
for it.

The CD has a solid production and on second and third listens I felt that it also falls into the Gothic genre a little bit.
It is unique enough to be able to be played in a club that caters to that kind of clientele and I truly think that they would enjoy it. There are times when the CD has a dark and brooding nature to it and that is often suitable to those types of Gothic environs. The packaging is also something that stands out as the jewel case has a foil embossed cover as a slipcase for over the plastic. It is nice looking. The interior booklet has lyrics for all of the tracks. I can safely recommend this to people who find music along the lines of Rammstein and perhaps even Theatre Of Tragedy enjoyable.

After five years of abscense, Samael appears back in stage again with their new album "Reign of Light" (to think that in their beginnings everything was soooo black!). I was suspicious about what Xy and Vorph had in hands, what kind of album they would bring to us. If they'd go for something more electronic, following the trend established since "Rebellion" that grew, as the albums passed by, or if they'd decide for something heavier and faster. Well it's in between the two.

"Reign of Light" is more straight-headed. The songs are somehow short, the album is short in general (barely passses 40 minutes of length) and simple, but the songs are catchy, and I don't mean cheesy. The album is easy to listen to, since their approach is not as dark, black or extreme as it used to be. Xy and Vorph keep on experimenting, but in it's due way, without abusing of the techno and electronic sounds and rhythms, creating a hybrid between the jewel "Passage" and "Eternal". The female choruses in "high above",or some arabian (or eastern, if you proper) atmospheres are perfect examples of good experimentation. Of course, "RoL" doesn't get to the level of (my personal favorite) "Passage", but it does have some fine moments of good songwriting. Samael might not be as extreme, or dark, or heavy as thay used to be, but they certainly didn't lose their touch.

I'm sorry to disagree with the reviewer that said that the opening song, "Moongate" is Rammstein-Like. How long are the paths of experimentation? How many times has Samael experimented in the past, creating something new and innovative?
"Moongate" is a nice mid tempo opening son. Then comes "Inch-allah". With mid fast rhythm and keyboards following the main rhtythm, similar to "Heliopolis".

The third song "High above", is probably one of the best songs samael has written in a long time. With a heavy mid tempo, remembering the "Passage" times in it's own way. The kind of song that sounds very heavy without being precisely fast. Very catchy, with accurate female choruses. "Reign of light" is another fast song, in the vein of "Eternal"'s "I", but with punishing guitars, and heavier in general. The sixth song "Telepath", is another "Passage"-like song. With different changes of rhythms.

Vorph's vocals are a little synthetized, like in "Eternal", but still keeping the malevolence of old, and much clearer. I miss his dark fresh "Passage" vocals.

From the sixth song to the last, the album gets a little monotonous, except for "Heliopolis" and some good touches. But the last songs are somehow obvious. I mean, the album stays in general with the same recipe from beginning to end, and I think, they should've created more layers. When I finished listening to the album, I thought that Samael didn't give their best in order to create a modern masterpiece; they simply did their job. "Reign of Light" is polished, refined, it has a great production and sound and catchy songs, like said before, but lacks of surprise, like a faster song, or something unexpected to close the album, for example (talent is not something these guys lack of).

Anyway, "Reign of Light" is a proper comeback album and, what is more important...Samael is back!!!!!

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