25 years since Storm of the Lights Bane

[introclaus]

In celebration of its 25th birthday (11/17/1995) I gave the disc a spin, and wow ... absolutely incredible !!

So interesting (and sad) to think that it’s such an underrated album outside of the death/black metal circles, but within that scene it’s looked upon as one of the absolute masterpieces! To me this album is progressive power metal (think Blind Guardian meets King Diamond) but with added harsh vocals, some blast beats and one heck of an aggressive guitar tone ... man, those melodies though, they are haunting! I swear that a band like Witherfall has got to be inspired by this album.

I remember the first time I heard the album - I was working at a record store back then and I kept playing it so much there that it ended up being one of our top selling albums that year ...

I know that the “history” behind the band (well, Jon in particular) is a messed up story, but it doesn’t take away from how incredibly talented this band was.

Full album stream:
https://youtu.be/ACNSANDfGXc

[BumZen]

Masterpiece! Nödtveidt obviously had a lot of issues, but writing excellent music wasn't one of them.
The riffs, the atmosphere, and oh yes... the melodies. It's still the album "to beat" in the admittedly narrow genre. But even if you expand to put it up against melo-death and black metal respectively, it's still a masterpiece.
What's most amazing, is how well it has aged. I feel like it could come out today, and still blow me away.

[introclaus]

Masterpiece! Nödtveidt obviously had a lot of issues, but writing excellent music wasn't one of them.
The riffs, the atmosphere, and oh yes... the melodies. It's still the album "to beat" in the admittedly narrow genre. But even if you expand to put it up against melo-death and black metal respectively, it's still a masterpiece.
What's most amazing, is how well it has aged. I feel like it could come out today, and still blow me away.

110% agreed!

It’s like you said, not only the best within the genre (the crossover between melo-death and black metal), but also easily measures up against the best in either of those individual genres. And I would add that if you ranked it against other genres that it honestly has quite a lot to do with (power, prog, symphonic) it would stand up equally great. It’s truly a genre-defying masterpiece in my opinion.

[Mark]

One of my go-to albums when the weather turns cold and frosty. Will be pulling this off the shelf for some commemorative spins soon.

[Digital Man]

I haven't listened to this is a long time. Thanks for the reminder, I need to queue it up soon.