Yey! It's time to move back home for a little while. Because I have a little black metal gem up my sleeve. Or is it black metal? Lets find out. Gehenna is from Stavanger and belongs to the second wave of nowegian bm. They certainly have had their share of problems, bad luck or should we even call it incompetance? I could agree to all of the above.

Gehenna -First Spell (1994)

First Spell is a disaster from a black metal perspective. And that's why I like it. For some reasons the keyboard is way to high in the mix. Unheard of! And that is why this release is special. The rest is down tuned, muted with crystal clear keys. It works for me and I used track No 3 "Angelwings and Ravenclaws" as alarm for several years. Nice tune to wake up to.

Gehenna has tried much over the years. But this album is the one that is glued in my memory. This and the one time I went to see them live. It is the shortest gig I have ever witnessed. I might exaggerate if it lasted more than three minutes before the singer (Sanrabb) colapsed with an epileptic seizure. Not strange considering the venue was generous with their use of strobes...

So bad luck or incompetence? Maybe both. First Spell is anyway a release I keep in rotation. It has memories attached to it and it and I prefere it over all their later efforts. Efforts that tend to point in many directions. This is a package. Even if the wrapping is a bit misplaced.

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Album of the Day #13 Gehenna -First Spell

Gehenna -First Spell (1994)