Not going to give my opinion yet: I'll wait til the thread's winding down and then say my piece.

Your opinions and why. This is not going to turn into a list thread.

can i pick Blutsabbath ?

i would vote Storm of the lights bane if i cant

Storm, because The Somberlain has a much weaker production, some songwriting fat, and the songwriting that does work doesn't reach the heights that Storm does. Somber is good, and an essential first step for the band, but Bane is the culmination of their career.

Storm of the Lights Bane by a mile. Honestly, I think Somberlain is just OK. While there are a few real good songs, a lot of the album doesn't leave an impression on me. In contrast, every song on Storm is great. Furthermore, each song has its own unique identity and brings something new to the table. Storm is an absolute classic.

Storm of the Light's Bane, definitely. The atmosphere on Storm is electric and incredible, a gigantic expansive feeling. The Somberlain has great atmosphere too, but it falls short of the enormous feel Storm has.

Storm as an entire album is also more fluid. The songs are cohesive, one after the other. The Somberlain features great songs, but that's just it - it is a collection of songs.

Not saying The Somberlain is bad, in fact, it is a great album and I own both. But Storm was a giant step forward from The Somberlain, and deserves the title of "classic".

In my opinion all of Dissections albums rank among my top favorite metal albums. Yes, even Reinkaos. However I must say that Storm of the Light's Bane is easilly Nödtveidts best album. It just has an epic feel that The Somberlain and especially Reinkaos is lacking.

SotLB for sure. I like both, but the songs on SotLB are much better written, more memorable riffs ect. Somberlain is a very solid release, but SotLB is one of the best black/thrash releases in history.

That's a very liberal use of the "black/thrash" tag.

I love it how Dissection fans seem to hate Reinkaos so much. As if it was such a huge betrayal for them to put out an above-average melodic death metal album. As for a favourite, I'd probably go with The Somberlain even though it's been ages since I've heard it. The Storm of Light's Bane has a bit too much of a "13-year-old teen satanist's favourite metal anthems" vibe about it. Not a bad album, but rather saccharine.

Both are EQUALLY good... Dissection classics that I can't seem to make any comparison. Reinkaos was a far different album, but well, shouldn't bring in my views about that album since it's just the first 2.

You're right. I should have typed melodic black/thrash.



Reinkaos is awesome! The live version of Maha Kali is one of my favorite tunes in recent memory.

Even I love'em both equally, I'd go with Storm cause it has better staying power for me.

The Somberlain for me... I like the atmosphere, hate, and hunger in the Somberlain. I love all the classical guitar interludes. I find Storm to be a little bit weaker and lighter-sounding. I like the production on Somberlain better. I just don't get moved by Storm, it's never had much of an effect on me. I've listened to it through maybe three times, Somberlain easily 50. Surprised to see I'm the odd man out in this topic! I expected it to be 50/50ish. Ah well, to each his own.

Storm of the Light's Bane has longer, more epic songs, but The Somberlain has the title track and "Heaven's Damnation". Both have a staying power for me, and I certainly miss the classical guitar interludes in Storm...

Overall, I guess I'll pick Storm because it has the longer songs and the classical interludes did seem a bit misplaced.

the classic interludes were everything but misplaced. They fit in the entire classic guitar playing inspired style dissection have. This influence was greatest on the somberlain and these interludes complemented those tracks perfectly.

Too bad Cardinal sin never took off...

The Somberlain, without any question. One of the best swedish death / black Metal albums ever. It has this great atmosphere, this sinister feeling and cold brutality combined with true Metal... A perfection between atmosphere and catching music(metal...).
I couldn´t find anything of that power in the second album, it was the reason that i started to loose interest in Dissection back in those days. Very disappointing i remember...

No, Belphegor sucks.

Not taking sides yet, but I'm just surprised to see the advantage SoLB has over the Somberlain at this point. Like someone else already said, I expected it to be more of a 50/50 thing.

I'm hearing some very interesting, true things in support of both sides. Keep 'em coming!

At first I thought Strom of the Light's Bane was the better album. But the more I listened to both, the more I thought The Somberlain was better for the reasons that others have said - the influence, classical interludes and overall atmosphere makes it the better of the two in MY opinion.

But really, both albums kick ass!

OP is waiting for everyone to say Storm so he can say he likes the Somberlain better and tell us why we aren't as kvlt as him.

Yeah, I'd sure be kvlt as hell for enjoying one of the most famous/influential metal releases. The Somberlain is reaaallllyyy underground after all.

I'd say Storm but my opinion probably isn't worth a whole lot. I own both albums but I'm not even sure I ever took The Somberlain out of the packaging. I'd had both albums downloaded before I bought them and obviously liked them, but I almost never have any desire to listen to them. The theory I've heard that I can agree with is that Storm has better songs but Somberlain has a better overall feel. It just depends on what you're looking for.

how about they both suck? they're equal that way!

Gotta go for Storm. The Somberlain has some better atmospheric tunes, and it's a hard choice but I don't find myself listening to Somberlain that often. Storm of the Light's Bane is one of the best headbanging albums, yet it retains a fair amount of the atmosphere of the debut.

Yeah; I do miss those 3 pretty little acoustic interludes on The Somberlain that Storm didn't have, but it's not a deal-breaker at all.

The Somberlain. Less blasting and more memorable riffs.

Fuck! I have been listening to Storm of the Light's Bane this afternoon!
Storm for me cause I have not given much spins to Somberlain (which I should).

Can't do it, it's like picking between children.

I'm surprised nobody has started banging on about how Sacramentum or Dawn are way better than Dissection, that's good.

Anyways I like both albums but am having a hard time choosing one over the other at this early hour.

Sacramentum were one off with Far way from the sun and while they are a decent band, they will never be as influential as Dissection or hell even Necrophobic. Anyways, I would have to say its a no brainer and say Storm of the lights bane, regardless of how many people try to diminish the album in order to sound unique. It has great melodies, dark atmosphere, and the perfect balance of black metal influence mixed with some of the blasting parts for further atmospheric measure. I haven't heard many bands utilize melody to the degree Dissection were capable of, and The somberlain just seems boring compared to that masterpiece of an album.

People say that, but there is nothing wrong with the other two albums they had. I really enjoy them.

True, I also like all their material but the black metal (read: resemblance to Dissection) was mainly on the first album and then they shed it more and more with each album. Thy Black Destiny is plain death metal.

To choose between The Somberlain and Storm Of The Light's Bane is really hard because they're both amazing albums and timeless classics. I do prefer SOTLB slightly because it seems to work better as a whole, but if I had to score both album the difference would be minimal.

I can't believe people think that "being influential" is an argument for sounding good.

I agree, but still don't like Sacramntum as much.

It's way more likely that everyone who said The Somberlain just said because they like it more. That's what's the normal thing do is.

Two of my favourite albums from the 90's and a very difficult choice (although I still have slight niggles with both albums). But I'd have to go with Storm. More use of blast beats that were only hinted at on The Somberlain (and which almost seem out of place, seeing as they only appear briefly in 'A Land Forlorn', if I recall correctly).

The thing with Storm is that some of the tremelo lead work (whatever you call it) is quite far back in the mix. Look at 'Night's Blood'. At 20 seconds in the lead riff is just about audible. When it returns at 6.20 it's much clearer. Not sure why this is? Also, the end of 'Unhallowed' goes on for about 4 bars (?) too long and the blasting part in 'Thorns...' is also slightly too long. And I still think there's a slight dip in quality during the middle of the album ('Dead Angels' and 'Retribution'). Shit, it sounds like I'm slagging it off but I fucking love the thing. They kind of took 'Black Horizons' as a template for this album in making more lengthy epic sounding tracks (apart from the shorter 'Retribution' that is).

But you can't argue with tracks like the crushing 'Soulreaper', my fave track of theirs or anybody else's in that genre.

I dont get how Retribution has "13-year-old teen satanist's favourite metal anthems" many of the lyrics on there are very deep in a philosophical sense imo

But im going to go with the Somberlain, definitely a definitive black metal album of the time. Not in the sense of making a masterpiece of black metal but it built upon but a dark yet beautiful sound that was beginning to create a name for itself.(2ed wave?)It wasnt the first scandiavian metal album to take the listener upon a journey but it may have been the most personal and most true to the feelings and thoughts of the writer(s) then many have witnessed. satanism, death and hatred was made beautiful. these songs were as raw as mayhem and bathory yet clean in the recordings and when played live I cant help but imagine that it created a scene for many to aspire too for years to come.

Maybe so, but Far Away From The Sun is easily better then Storm...or The Somberlain. More savage, more melodic, more black, and with a primitive feeling that Dissection never really got.

In truth, I think Dissection were really pretty average. The only track I really like is Maha Kali from Reinkaos. As mentioned above by someone above, Dissection seemed to flirt dangerously with childishness, in terms of lyrics and visual aethsetic; I would lump them in a similar category to Dark Funeral type 'satanism'. Dissection seem really inconsistent; most songs have a least one decent riff which is often drowned by an abundance of average, meaningless riffs. I feel like the love for Dissection is very much in retrospect; I got into black/extreme metal in about 1996 when Dissection would have been at their peal, and yet I really don't recall any particular love for them at that time.

Its probably going to become a cliche, but I think Reinkaos is better then any of their earlier work. Mainly, Maha Kali has some brilliant riffs, and the whole album just seems a bit more serious or thoughtful. Whatever the reason, its the only Dissection ablbum that I bother to play these days.

Storm of the Light's Bane is a much better made album. The amount of work put into creating it is obvious, and the result is magnificent. It's the best melodic black metal album I've heard, and for his lead guitar work on the album, I rate Jon Nödtveidt as one of the strongest extreme metal guitarists of his time.

The Somberlain is not without charm, though. It's simpler and more primitive, and thus fills a niche that the follow-up doesn't. Some of the musical ideas may even be better there. It's a very hard choice, but I would say Storm of the Light's Bane is a better album.

Storm of the Light's Bane is way better in my opinion. I like the Somberlain but not as much, doesn't give you the same effect.

I've heard Necrophobic mentioned a few times, but have never listened to them. Where do I start on their disco?

I'd start at the beginning with 'The Nocturnal Silence' and go in order, to be honest. I rate all of their albums highly. A great band indeed!