Feature: Crimson Moonlight Releases Ranked From Worst to First
Black metal overlords Crimson Moonlight occupy a similar spot in the Swedish scene as Antestor does in the Norwegian one. One of the earliest unblack metal bands to come along, they initially began as a symphonic black metal act in the vein of Dimmu Borgir and Emperor, before injecting the aggression of bands like Dark Funeral, Marduk and 1349 into their sound. Since then, they’ve proven themselves to be a Swedish black metal institution, with bands like Skald in Veum and Shadows of Paragon following in their sonic footsteps in their own ways.
Today, we’ll be doing a deep dive into their releases and ranking them from worst to first. Like many Christian bands, full albums are few, so we’ll be including EP’s and a demo as well.
Glorification of the Master of Light
Maybe some of you who used to listen to the black metal giants from Norway remember a little release called Wrath of the Tyrant from Emperor. For those who do, remember how raw that compilation was? Well, it’s pristine-sounding in terms of production compared to this one. Even Pantokrator’s earliest demos don’t quite hit the demo quality levels that this one does. Crimson Moonlight’s first foray into the world of black metal bears little resemblance to anything that came after – it’s raw to the point of ludicrous like Emperador or early Duister Maanlicht, and the sound keeps shifting from murky and quiet to tinny and abrasive. It’s simply an unpolished, very early attempt that sounds like a jam session in a basement and little else. There’s promise, but this is for completionists or the curious only.
Divine Darkness
From this point on, let me be clear – there are no bad releases, just ones that are better than others. That said, the latest full-length Divine Darkness is one that I’ve found difficult to get into. It’s not that it’s not well-played – I think by this point, the band’s talent is obvious on every level – it’s just that it doesn’t really grab me in terms of its riffing. The echoes of Mayhem’s “Freezing Moon” on “Dusk” and the grim tones on closer “In Silence, In Chains” are solid, but opener “The Dogma of Chalcedon” sounds almost too clean cut and by the numbers. Much of the album following the opening track simply fails to grab me, and sounds simply like brutal Swedish black metal by the numbers. Perhaps it’s the production here too, as it feels like it lacks the coldness of earlier material. I’m not sure – but like many things with black metal, it’s a “feeling” and I’m simply not feeling it. Good enough, but the band have much better and more inspired material in their catalogue.
Abaddon
While we, the metal faithful, desperately await the return of the anonymous Swedish black metal horde known as Skald in Veum (please come back!!!!), Crimson Moonlight (I have a sneaking suspicion they share band members with the aforementioned, but who knows) have unleashed this ridiculously aggressive EP. Unlike Divine Darkness, the production is given a new muscular, icy quality and though the style being played here is nothing new, it’s absolutely savage in the same way that Skald in Veum’s Stridslysten was. As impenetrable as a blizzard, and hopefully a promise of ferocious things to come.
In Depths of Dreams Unconscious
I have a real soft spot for this EP, simply due to the perfection that is the opening title track. Used in the trailer for the unblack metal documentary Nemesis Divina, it’s simply an epic black metal intro piece done right. What follows is decidedly dialled back from the tightly-controlled chaos of Veil of Remembrance but more driving and heavy. We’re even treated to a revamped version of one of their earliest songs, “Alone in Silence.” Sadly, it would be their last release before going on an extended hiatus.
Veil of Remembrance
In some ways, Veil of Remembrance remains the most unique album in the band’s discography. It is a transitional one, to be sure. Though The Covenant Progress saw the band amp up the aggression and blastbeats far beyond anything they’d done before, Veil of Remembrance took it to the furthest extremes of speed the band would reach. It’s like a Marduk record if they lost the muscular tone and opted for a skeletal, cold and thin one. And let’s just talk about the drum work for a second here – Gustav Elowson is absolutely insane, hitting levels of almost inhuman speed and precision. The riffs walk a fine line between death and black metal, and so do Pilgrim’s vocals, with him switching on occasion to a deep death metal roar. Fans of 1349’s Liberation album will find a ton in common here, and that’s a good thing. One of the band’s strongest efforts, and possibly their most nasty, though you’ve got to be in the mood for it.
Eternal Emperor
Before I really got into the band, I was under the impression that Crimson Moonlight were the Christian metal scene’s answer to Dimmu Borgir. Little did I know the ferocious heights to which they would later climb! But on this, their first EP, they definitely bear the hallmark of Norway’s most popular black metal export. Imagine a more raw version of Dimmu Borgir’s Enthrone Darkness Triumphantalbum and you’ll get a general idea of what’s up on this one. Though they essentially ditched the restrained and more stately approach heard on this one, I’ve always loved it, and to a certain degree, wish they had of stuck with this style.
The Covenant Progress
While the similarities to early Dimmu Borgir are readily apparent on Eternal Emperor, they are much less so on Crimson Moonlight’s debut album, The Covenant Progress. As their albums go, it somewhat stands alone – it is neither brittle and caustic like Veil of Remembrance, nor is it taking a cue from latter-era Marduk like Divine Darkness. Instead, Crimson Moonlight’s debut deftly walks a tightrope between the symphonic styles of Dimmu Borgir and Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk-era Emperor and the more furious Swedish stylings of Dark Funeral (post-The Secrets of the Black Arts). Dark Funeral, at least to my mind, always possessed a certain sense of melody to their aggressive style that fellow Swedish black metal giants Marduk (probably deliberately) lacked, yet still managed to maintain a hyper sense of speed and brutality. Crimson Moonlight follow suit with this, matching the flowing riffing and steady blastbeats with a sense of orchestral majesty, along with some folkier elements thrown in for good measure. It is, to my mind, the most balanced and classically black metal of all the band’s recordings, blending their older symphonic leanings with their newfound sense of lightning-fast sonic assaults.
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