Enter the Moonlight Gate

The most enticing aspect of the mid 90s black metal era was its unique blend of dark yet ethereal imagery and multifaceted musical expressions. Simultaneously, what was beginning to anger all of the purists at the onset of the 3rd wave was an innovative exploration of somewhat different territory, which found the style incorporating a number of consonant and even angelic elements to complement the malevolent nature of its early 90s roots via the 2nd wave. Some might point to the transitional character of Emperor's "In The Nightside Eclipse" and Enslaved's "Vkingligr Veldi", both of which played quite extensively with the technical side of things and brought a denser atmosphere into the equation by incorporating keyboard ambiences and even some acoustic elements that tended toward the Viking era of Bathory.

A much overlooked adherent to the early 3rd wave in Sweden that was taking a good number of cues from the atmospheric and melodic side of the Norwegian sound was that of Lord Belial. While often pegged as being a throwback to the early 90s Swedish death metal scene that simply took on a black metal exterior for purposes of hopping on a growing trend (an accusation also thrown at Darkthrone), they presented an interesting take on the black metal aesthetic that kept a lingering technical and ambitious element from the death metal scene in question. "Enter The Moonlight Gate" stands as their magnum opus, an album that maintains the same remnant of death/thrash heard on "Kiss The Goat", but perfecting the otherworldly atmospheric sound more indicative of a full out black metal band, and likewise abandoning the plain album art more suited to early Bathory with something much closer to the 1994 Norwegian sound it seeks to capture.

This isn't a full out symphonic effort after the mold of Limbonic Art, as the mystical image of a moonlit palace might suggest, but rather a fast and furious assault with a good side order of melody and intrigue. Things take on a familiar mixture of violent death metal riffing with an equal mixture of shimmering tremolo lines and mournful melodic interludes, culminating in a very engaging and versatile listening experience. There is an occasional echo of the folk-like flute and keyboard melodies heard on the debut, as well as a newly adopted angelic female foil to Dark's now more orc-like and sepulchral mutterings. The female vocalist in question was an unknown named Marielle Andersson, whom would provide further vocal work on a couple of subsequent releases, and graces a largely vile and vindictive sound with an air of innocence, almost akin to a graceful swan gliding amid a pitch black swamp.

While this album definitely does a good job of channeling the most pristine and beautiful elements of the proto-melodic black metal character of a number of founding fathers in the Norwegian 2nd wave, the element that gives this album its uniqueness is ultimately the remaining strain of death metal conservatism that was largely abandoned by most black metal bands by 1996. Particularly in the cases of the frenetic deluge of riffs and blast beats that is "Unholy Spell Of Lilith" and the epic closer "Realm Of A Thousand Burning Souls", the technical soloing and wild guitar noise that tended to typify the lead material of the late 80s Florida death metal sound, and equivalent influences reflected in the parallel Swedish scene in the early 90s, makes a number of auspicious appearances, taking the listener aback given that this sort of Kerry King inspired mayhem was not widely displayed even on Enslaved's works.

In the grand scheme of things, this album shares some very impressive company, as the albums that tend to come to mind when hearing this are Satyricon's "Nemesis Divina" and Emperor's "In The Nightside Eclipse", along with a number of later Immortal albums that would lean in a bit more of a death metal meets Viking sounding direction. It doesn't get quite the same level of attention that said albums tend to given the band's later entry into the game, not to mention some lingering divisions amongst 2nd wave purists who don't go for this much consonance and present day commercial fans who prefer hearing Dimmu Borgir's highly polished take on the style, underscoring the pitfall of being in between 2 radically different extremes. But for those who came to love black metal for its ability to cross boundaries and avoid clichés, this is something that rivals much of what are regarded as the essential classics.