{"id":2725,"date":"2019-12-10T17:31:54","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T17:31:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-11-21T23:48:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T23:48:10","slug":"antestor-omen-limited-run-vinyl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/index.php\/2019\/12\/10\/antestor-omen-limited-run-vinyl\/","title":{"rendered":"ANTESTOR: Omen (Limited Run Vinyl)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Antestor (\u201ctestify\u201d) is one of those bands which has stood the test of time and has remained committed to their form of musical art and metal expression while simultaneously refusing to bow to the pressure to compromise their core faith in God. One of the privileges of reviewing reissued music \u2013 in addition to re-experiencing the greatness of the music \u2013 is the opportunity to \u201crevisit\u201d a band\u2019s history and musical heritage. Formed in 1990 under the name Crush Evil, Antestor was really the first band to push the message of hope in Christ into the Norwegian extreme (mostly Satanic black metal at the time) scene. Miraculously, despite heavy persecution, threats of death and pressure to quit, God carried them through the past few decades of live performances (sometimes under violent protest) and \u2013 despite numerous line-up changes and production delays \u2013 the release of 4 full-length albums. And while Lars \u201cVemod\u201d Stokstad (guitars) is the only original member, there has been a consistently high quality of musicianship and innovative extreme metal with every release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subject of this review, of course, is album #4 which has now been released on vinyl for the first time as part of the Limited Run Vinyl<\/a> series. For those not acquainted with the basic features of the series please refer to the reviews of Bride<\/a>, Sacred Warrior<\/a> and Deliverance<\/a> which have already been posted. Omen<\/span> was originally released in 2012 as a 10-song collection of songs that have best been described as extreme metal \u2013 a powerful blend of black, death, doom and progressive metal with some folk elements. Here are some thoughts from my original review circa 2012:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNorway\u2019s innovators of Christian black (\u201cunblack\u201d) metal are back with 10 new songs for fans that have long been waiting since the 2005 release of The Forsaken. Dark and heavy, these tunes are rife with passion and sincere confessions amidst a cacophony of blistering guitars and speedy drums. As a whole there is quite a lot to digest, but unlike many black metal releases, there is a mix of tempos and rhythms here and each song is captivating in its own right \u2013 evidence that great care was taken to craft good music and not just to rehash old styles or produce an album that would fit within the narrow confines this sub-genre of metal sometimes demands. While not as technical as Extol, Antestor does nevertheless pummel the listener with layers of guitars (3 of them to be exact) and the blasting of new drummer Jo Henning B\u00f8rven. Vocalist Ronny Hansen (Grave Forsaken) handles most of the lyrical content which focuses on themes of redemption\/salvation\/deliverance from anger and hatred\/in-justice.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surreal cover artwork has been re-colored for the vinyl reissues (pictured above) in a manner which enhances the eerie multi-limbed \u201cpiper\u201d apparition which I\u2019ve read the band considers a reflection of the darker elements of the human spirit. Fortuitously, even though the vinyl disc colors in this series are random, the purplish\/brownish swirl (pictured) ties in well with the current and the original cover colors. This reissue also includes an 8.5\u201d x 11\u201d two-sided insert with artwork on the front and lyrics on the back. Unfortunately, due to space\/duration restraints only 8 songs could be included with the vinyl, \u201cThe Kindling\u201d and \u201cTilflukt\u201d dropped. This is a shame because \u201cThe Kindling\u201d is a wonderfully dynamic song, one of the more progressive Extol-like tracks on the album, and \u201cTilflukt\u201d is an instrumental featuring fiddle and acoustic guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In order to best describe the enhancements the vinyl format brings to the music I actually did an A\/B comparison of the songs from the 2012 CD (ripped to \u201clossless\u201d FLAC files) with the vinyl songs, both \u201cplayed through\u201d with no EQ or enhancements added by the same amplifier\/receiver in my system. As would be expected with most digital translations, the FLAC songs from the 2012 master are quite a few decibels louder than the analog vinyl. One of the aspects of the original that I didn\u2019t like was how much treble presence there was to these songs. Now I am aware that particularly in the black metal genre this is desirable, but I could never help think that if these songs were decompressed some \u2013 with less narrow-band loudness \u2013 that it would really unlock the beauty and the power of Antestor\u2019s extreme metal music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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