The Defeat of Satan

Is it just me or is Antestor's early stuff just as good as their later black metal stylings? To be sure, Antestor have always been considered a black metal band overall (unblack, in this case), but their early stuff has far more in common with early My Dying Bride (circa "As the Flower Withers") mixed with a bit of Obituary-like grinding.

As far as death/doom metal goes, Antestor is up their with the best of them. Parts of this album are absolutely crushing - the title track alone is pure early 90s death slowed down to a brutal rhythmic crawl. Guitars are played so painfully slow for most of the disc that after listening to the whole thing, you begin to crave some blastbeats like Mcdonald's after a hangover.

Funny enough, hints of their later black metal leanings come through on the disc. The intro is borne along by the sound of churning winds and flute playing; tracks like "Jesus, Jesus ver du hja meg" drudge along like a gothic dirge; clean vocals are laced throughout the record that end up sounding like Viking war chants.

But at bottom, this record is doom metal par excellence. The vocals roar through the heavy and chugging guitar riffs that seem to seek only to absolutely bury the devil in the dust.

Overall, a fantastic little bit of history for those interested in the early beginnings of a Christian black metal act in the heart of Norway. Doom fans rejoice, black metallers take a listen.

What we have here is Antestor’s first two demos. This is basically doom/death metal that sticks to either a slow or mid tempo. The first six tracks are from Despair and the last four tracks are from The Defeat of Satan back when they were known as Crush Evil. Anyways, back to the revew.
Preludium starts this disc off. Its basically just some synth that goes for about a minute. This sets the atmosphere for the album quite well. Other then that it doesn’t go anywhere, but it’s a nice intro.
Track two is called Demonic Seduction. It starts off really well with some cool synth and guitar. After a short period of this there is some really sick growls and some creepy laughing, then the songs starts going. This song is pure doom the whole way through, very slow except for about half way through the song where the double-bass kicks in and the song speeds up a bit. There is some clean vocals at the beginning but after that its just deep growls. This song maintains a very dark atmosphere throughout and is probably my favourite song on this disc
Next is Message from Hell. This song is pretty mid paced throughout with some more doomy dispersed throughout. The riffing is also pretty good and helps keep the atmosphere from Demonic Seduction. The solo is pretty cool as well. The one part about that I don’t like is the passage before the first chorus with the clean vocals. At parts he goes a bit out of his range and goes out of key. This always bugged me. However, it’s a decent song overall.
Track four is Lost Generation. This is another doom song that’s a bit faster then Demonic Seduction. This song uses an organ for the first part of the verse as well as clean vocals, which, thankfully, are better then on Message from Hell. Then the growls come in with the organ, and then the guitars come in with growls. It does this whole thing about twice and then comes in with a dark sounding bridge. Then it does the original formula again.
Next is Human. This probably my second favourite song on the album. This song is another very doomy song and uses clean vocals as well as growls. The riffs in this song are very slow and dark. However, at one point in the song, it speeds up and breaks into a guitar solo that is very cool. After this it goes back to the painstakingly slow doom. However, they pick up the speed right at the end. Awesome song.
Jesus, Jesus Ver Du Hja Meg is the last song from the Despair demo. It is a Norwegian funeral hymn. Antestor does this song very well. They use only clean vocals and mix the organ and guitar very well. Bjorn Leren also makes a guest appearance on this song with an awesome solo. I haven’t ever heard of him either.
The Defeat of Satan demo is basically three 8 minute songs of mid paced death metal. The quality of these songs is slightly lower then the songs off of Despair, but are still good. Nothing real special about these except for some reason I really like the end of Jesus Saves, it kind of wraps it all up really nicely.
The last song, Knus Ondskapen, is basically just a segment of Jesus Saves played backwards, or at least that what it sounds like. Nothing special.
Overall, this CD is a must for any diehard Antestor fan. Anyone into doom or death should check this out too. The production is lacking, but theyr demo recordings so I don’t blame them. The one thing that detracts from this other then the clean vocals on Message From Hell is that the Defeat of Satan songs are dragged out very long and get boring to me. Other then that, a great release!