Gatefold jacket + 12 page booklet.

It's a common misunderstanding that BLACK HOLE play Doom Metal. They don't, they play DOOOOOOOOOHMMM! In case you don't know the difference between Doom Metal and DOOOOOOOOOHMMM!, let me explain: Doom Metal is basically a rather tastefull slow version of classic Heavy and/or Epic Metal with more or less 70's SABBATHical vibes. DOOOOOOOOOHMM! is the cobweb on your mommy's tombstone, the disturbed little boy dissecting kittens in the basement, the creepy crawly thing that ate the monster under your bed... Needless to say, DOOOOOOOOOHMMM! kick Doom Metal's ass. BLACK HOLE could not have come from any other country than Italy. Although highly unique, many musical parallells can be drawn. The DEATH SS/Paul Chain comparison is obvious, but BH beats them silly simply because they write better songs. You can tell they have worked alot on the construction of the pieces to create that perfect mysterious glow, and they've managed to do so without making the music more complicated than necessary. Strange, psychedelic guitar effects and keyboards are used in plenty without them loosing any of their heaviness. The primitive, surrealistic graphix and the weird bandphoto, set in a mourge with the band standing over a child coffin adds the final touches to make "Land Of Mystery" one of the most eerie and original records in Metal history. The only other bands I know that occationally came close to this sound where LESTER MADDOX, PAGAN ALTAR and ICE CROSS (the coolest and most evil early 70's band ever)! Are we in the mood now? Right then, let's talk songs. "Demoniac City" is kind of an oddball. A mid-paced NWOBHMish song which isn't really doomy in a traditional sense. On first listening it is a minor letdown and definitely the weakest song on the album. However with it's eerie production and original vocals it sets you in the right mood. The song grows with every listening and makes the journey into the fiery pits of DOOOOOOOOOHMMM!-music a little easier on the senses. Trust me, you'll be thankful for that easy start when the mighty "Land of Mystery" hits you like 10 tons of rotting body parts on your sorry arse. Pure Power Sludge! Epic D...-riffing and a mighty chorus that will make Stoner fans weep in despair. After this hit song we go into the deepest heart of BLACK HOLE dementia: "All My Evil" is an orgy in skeewed and crooked harmonies & riffs, very offbeat, very ghoulish and very, very good. "Bells Of Death" is not a DEATH SS-cover, but it could be. "More fun than an open casket funeral..." as The Accüsed so elegantly put it. Another unusual twist is that the B-side surpasses the A-side in greatness. "Blind Men and Occult Forces" - what a genious title for a D...-track. It's like a long, slow and slithering walk down into hell, and suddenly when the chorus comes you are pushed over the edge into the fiery pit by unseen hands. Burn, baby, burn.... "Spectral World" is perhaps my favourite track. It's the slowest piece on the album and with it's psychedelic vibes, maybe the least metallic, but the harmonies are midblowing and totally wins you over to the dark side. The last song is an istrumental. It starts off in the same psyche mood as the song before, but gets heavier at the end and it kinda makes you think those classic METALLICA-instrumentals like "Call of Chtulu" or "Orion" ...if they had been recorded back in '69 in a Transylvanian opium den, that is. Almost 10 minutes long and never a boring second. Main man Robert Measles recorded a second BH album in the early 90's, "Living Mask", which was released a few years ago on CD. Unfortunately it's a disappointment. Here he uses a drum machine which he really doesn't master. At its worst moments it sounds alot like the first album by the infamous DAMIEN STORM(!). The CD is still worth checking out because of the '86 "Angel of Lucifer" demo that is included. The title song is one of the band's greatest moments and well worth the full CD price.