Prepare to Meet Thy Doom

Long before Legion of the Damned ever became a thing, a similar line-up were whiling away their time as Occult and producing material more black metal in style than anything the current Dutch project ever has. Prepare to Meet Thy Doom, the debut album, dates right back to 1994 and has the kind of cover art that will leave you in no doubt that Occult were keen to meet the dark lord and provide service to his cult. However, as a black metal album, the 10 tracks here are really quite accessible, if rather muddled.

I actually find it slightly difficult to decide what Occult had in their sights here, since names such as Deströyer 666 that usually hold down the black thrash fort have both more riffs and less atmospheric sections compared to Prepare to Meet Thy Doom. In the first place, some of the riff ideas during the title track plus ‘And Darkness Shall Begin’ test my patience a great deal, the former hammering on a pointless kind of chuggy tremolo that just seems like the wrong technique for either style. I think that, apart from lacking momentum, those riffs that don’t work often use too much palm-muting, blocking the heaviness and pace, not to mention the drums frequently lacking power and appropriate choice of beats.

It’s also true that a fair bit of this 52 minute release is taken up by atmospheric movements, whether that be the piano introduction of ‘Leader in War’ or the slinky bass-led opening to ‘After Triumph’. In fact, several moments become quite gothic, ‘After Triumph’ allowing mysterious keyboards to hint at Morgoth or Septicflesh during the bridge, while ‘Whispering Tear’ strips down to moody whispered verses that have something of Cemetary to them. Melodic guitar solos play a part too, though some flash out with more venom, using most of the fretboard. As a result, some songs feel utterly alien to a record described as black thrash, especially ‘Whispering Tear’ and ‘After Triumph’, though more straightforward cuts such as ‘Almighty Horde’ and ‘The Nazarene Whore’ are easier to categorize.

In a way, the muddle of genres on Prepare to Meet Thy Doom aids Occult in standing out on their debut, since they were never going to make a decent black thrash album with the riffing style they used. Including the gothic and atmospheric parts may have briefly made them an attraction for Rotting Christ and Crematory fans, though they would change that on future albums. Quite an unusual mixture here.