Passage

While Ceremony of Opposites used keyboards only to accentuate the guitar lines, 1996's Passage finds Samael fearlessly integrating the two instruments in equal amounts. Drummer/keyboard player Xy programmed all his drum parts and uses various synthesizer effects (especially simulated chorus vocals) to create a highly original, post-industrial, black-metal sound. Opener "Rain" is simply stunning, with all of the aforementioned ingredients underpinned by a relentless double kick-drum. Despite their sweeping keyboard melodies, less frenetic highlights such as "Angel's Decay" and "A Man in Your Head" sound even darker than other tracks -- like hellish symphonies. Lyrically, the album finds Samael in an esoteric, outer-space mode, especially on "Born Under Saturn," "Jupiterian Vibe," and the excellent "Moonskin." While sonic comparisons to Sweden's Tiamat are inevitable (due in part to long-time Tiamat producer Waldemar Sorychta's involvement), they hardly detract from Passage's originality, nor from its rightful consideration as one of the most important extreme metal albums of the '90s.