Absu - The Sun of Tiphareth (1995)

This is the album where Absu went full bore "blick" metal and guess what? I actually liked it! Perhaps it was the Celtic mysticism abound within the lyrics or maybe it was the fact that they were actually playing fucking SONGS here instead of a couple of chumps mindlessly beating on a snare and chilling on an open 'E' ala Transylvanian Hunger era Darkthrone.

This was one of the first (and to this day, few) black metal albums that I couldn't help but get into.Though I (and many others, for that matter) refer to Absu as being a black metal band, they've always had more of a thrashier aesthetic than your typical black metal band not to mention a healthy grasp on atmosphere. Normally I'm not too heavy on the black metal style of singing as I find it to be ultra weak compared to the triumphant command of a good death metal vocalist (such as David Vincent's performance on Morbid Angel's 'Covenant'). Proscriptor's rasp, however, is bizarre enough that it works. Nothing sounds out of place here and I honestly couldn't imagine anyone else singing over this album (or Absu in general).

Lyrically, Absu is unrivaled. Proscriptor clearly knows his shit and everything is exceptionally written beyond that.

Everytime some dumbass Norwegian talks shit about 'U.S. black metal' I am delighted within to know that Absu thoroughly smashes all that country has to offer in terms of opposition. Don't get me me wrong, 90% of U.S. black metal is as gay as the majority of their global counterparts but Absu is an exceptional band, period, regardless of their chosen musical genre.