Nuclear War Now
XANTOTOL - Black Doom Metal LP
$39.95
Insert with liner notes.
Though relatively small in terms of population and geographic size, Poland made a significant contribution to the development of Black Metal. As the genre matured throughout the 1990s, Poland delivered to the world some of the most earnest and stylistically varied Black Metal the scene has ever known. Among the earliest and most legendary of these Polish bands was Xantotol. Many other bands (particularly those in the Norwegian scene) that would later be considered Black Metal pioneers were, at that time, still playing Death Metal, but Xantotol were unquestionably blackened in their approach, both musically and conceptually. With respect to Xantotol’s sound, the most obvious comparison is to the mid-paced Black Metal dirges of Switzerland’s Samael. Like other Polish bands from that era such as Pandemonium and Taranis, Samael’s early performances in Poland had a profound influence upon the development of Xantotol’s sound, but it would be disingenuous to simply write Xantotol off as an imitation. Xantotol released its first demo, “Glory for Centuries” (which contained a cover of Samael’s “Into the Pentagram”) in 1991, the same year that Samael released their debut LP, “Worship Him.” Although Samael had been around a few more years and released several demos by that time, the bands were essentially operating contemporaneously.
Though relatively small in terms of population and geographic size, Poland made a significant contribution to the development of Black Metal. As the genre matured throughout the 1990s, Poland delivered to the world some of the most earnest and stylistically varied Black Metal the scene has ever known. Among the earliest and most legendary of these Polish bands was Xantotol. Many other bands (particularly those in the Norwegian scene) that would later be considered Black Metal pioneers were, at that time, still playing Death Metal, but Xantotol were unquestionably blackened in their approach, both musically and conceptually. With respect to Xantotol’s sound, the most obvious comparison is to the mid-paced Black Metal dirges of Switzerland’s Samael. Like other Polish bands from that era such as Pandemonium and Taranis, Samael’s early performances in Poland had a profound influence upon the development of Xantotol’s sound, but it would be disingenuous to simply write Xantotol off as an imitation. Xantotol released its first demo, “Glory for Centuries” (which contained a cover of Samael’s “Into the Pentagram”) in 1991, the same year that Samael released their debut LP, “Worship Him.” Although Samael had been around a few more years and released several demos by that time, the bands were essentially operating contemporaneously.
