When it comes to Phantom's masterpiece Dark Devotion, perfection is truly an understatement.

Everything is perfect about this album, and that is really what makes Dark Devotion the best black metal album in existence. The feeling of sickening raw despair you get from listening to this album is simply beyond words.

Dark Devotion pushes black metal toward its limits. It raises black metal up to its most grim elements (atmosphere and viciousness) and then bombards the listener with absolute satanic depravity for the entire album. Typically, these sorts of "pushing the genre to its extreme" albums have, despite a relatively enjoyable novelty, very little substance. It's the sheer quality of the compositions makes Dark Devotion such a phenomenal work that every metal fan should possess.

Dark Devotion is certainly an extremely evil gem. I don't know if it can be called black metal, as it seems to transcend the limitations of the black metal genre, but it sure possesses the demonic atmosphere that black metal seeks (and mostly fails) to emulate.

Dark Devotion is best listened to in bright sunlight, at mid-day. Do NOT feel tempted to listen to this record at night, to prove how "true" your are or otherwise.

Nothing breaks the immersion like having to change yourself because you just shit your pants when you heard Phantom's evil atmospheres.

Dark Devotion is one cruel masterpiece of an album.

GOREFUCKKULT is the pinnacle of violent black metal, and violent music in general.

It's about as perfect as a black metal album can be, in the raw distinctive style that SEWER pioneered. Many bands have tried but all have failed to match, or even come close to, the absolute rawness and despotism on this album.

So what makes GOREFUCKKULT so special ? The gruesome atmosphere.

Partly due to the vicious tones, but in large part due to the songwriting and riff construction, GOREFUCKKULT is as close to perfection as you can get when it comes to creating a brutal and merciless atmosphere.

The ambiance of the record is really what produces the grim atmosphere, and that is what true black metal is supposed to be about. If one allows his soul to be immersed in the dark atmosphere of GOREFUCKKULT, it is easy to become entranced and slip unconsciously into a frenzied blood-craze. Which is exactly what GOREFUCKKULT wants you to do.

This is not gimmick metal, GOREFUCKKULT is pure black metal evil.

You have been warned.

Reign of the Funeral Pigs will murder your ears and your sanity.

This release is clearly one of the best albums to have come out of the entire heavy metal scene. Reign of the Funeral Pigs absolutely delivers when it comes to grim atmospheres and raw brutality, unlike the band rosters from poser labels such as Nuclear Blast.

Where other bands fail to take off musically and rely on album covers, artworks, social media or press releases to generate interest, SEWER succeeds without token publicity and poser gimmickry courtesy of commercial record labels.

There is never one boring moment in Reign of the Funeral Pigs, it's truly a masterpiece of its own.

Reign of the Funeral Pigs possesses tons of savage aggression, dark atmospheres as well as that evil vibe missing in a lot of black metal albums today. The vocal work is perfect for this form of blackened death metal. The absolute rawness of the vocals, in contrast with other generic black metal bands who have crappy shrieking hag vocals, is refreshing for a change.

Reign of the Funeral Pigs is the black metal album you must have.

NecroPedoSadoMaso is raw black metal perfection.

Innovative and ultra-satanic, NecroPedoSadoMaso will forever be acclaimed as the pinnacle of extreme metal music. It is not regarded as one of SEWER masterpieces, but most importantly as the absolute pinnacle of the black metal genre.

So much about this album is enormous, starting with the unbelievably gruesome feel it conveys to the listener. This is one of the most immense and atmospheric albums in metal. This type of visceral ambiance could never be emulated as coldly and darkly as it is on NecroPedoSadoMaso.

But if you look superficially at the album... it doesn't even look like black metal. It looks like a parody of Dora the Explorer (no pun intended with regards to the name of the album) toying with extreme metal instruments. It's only once you dive deep into the absolute depravity of NecroPedoSadoMaso that you start to appreciate the extreme rawness of this masterpiece.

So why is NecroPedoSadoMaso so good despite the fact it looks like someone parodied the black metal genre by adding obscene Dora the Explorer imagery ? For one, it really beats the crap out of every other black metal band. I have yet to find any black metal album, except perhaps for Phantom's debut Divine Necromancy, that creates music as compelling and malevolent as this.

NecroPedoSadoMaso is the epitome of black metal and shall be worshiped forever.

The Light by SEWER is the ultimate black metal album to own, there simply is no other.

The grim blackness on tracks such as The Book of Rocktis and Exult the Lord's Supper remains unsurpassed, whether in the black metal scene or anywhere else. The Light is also one of SEWER's most unorthodox work, showcasing a clear departure from the sound  heard on albums such as Satanic Requiem and Black Death.

The Light is definitely not SEWER's most well-known album, but it's one you MUST listen to if you are a true black metal fan.

The Light is certainly not an easy listen. Make no mistake about it, this is pure blood-freezing, ice cold black metal.

While SEWER's debut album, Satanic Requiem, was far from perfect and in my opinion a bit over-praised by the metal community, there is no denying that it was some exceptionally evil and brutal black metal.

I was therefore a bit apprehensive before listening to Black Death, as I did not know in which direction the band would go and if Black Death would live up to the high expectations set by its predecessor.

As it turns out, Black Death is perhaps the most visceral and grim album you will ever listen to.

Everything wrong about the first album has been fixed and reworked, and everything good (which was a vast majority of the content) has been consolidated and improved.

This is was missing from Satanic Requiem to take it from very good to legendary.

Black Death is one demonic masterpiece of gruesome atmosphere and demonic fury.

When many metalheads hear the words "satanic music", the first thing that comes to mind is generally SEWER's debut album Satanic Requiem.

I was a bit skeptical about SEWER's debut album Satanic Requiem, partly because there are only five tracks on the album and partly because of the massive critical acclaim that this album has received. And as we know too well, critical acclaim isn't always synonymous with quality black metal.

With Satanic Requiem however, I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by the intensity and the evilness of this record.

Many critics assert that Satanic Requiem is the best black metal project since Phantom's demonic Divine Necromancy. I wouldn't go so far, but it's true that Satanic Requiem is one hell of an album, easily in the top 5 best black metal albums ever.

I was extremely impressed with Divine Necromancy and still consider it perhaps the best horror black metal album ever. Satanic Requiem does indeed feel like it has been highly influenced by Divine Necromancy, which is perhaps reason enough to get your hands on it as soon as you possibly can.

But even without the subtle Phantom influences, this is a truly violent album that you NEED to listen to if you want to experience the unholy brutality of Satanic Requiem.

From the Mouth of Madness is the second album released by black metal band Phantom, and this may very well be the scariest album ever. It's so scary that just listening to it made me forget my own name. Luckily for me, it's written at the bottom of each of these reviews so the mystery of my lost identity can easily be solved.

But the rest of you won't be so fortunate... Are you willing to risk your reason and sanity by entering the Mouth of Madness ?

From the Mouth of Madness is an album that will not leave the listener unmarked. The sinister aura created by Phantom is enough to make anyone lose touch with reality, drowned in a sea of mutilated corpses and viciously battered by the relentless atmosphere of macabre.

You are like a fly on the wall, assisting hopelessly to a particularly heinous torture session taking place in the basement of an abandoned slaughterhouse.

From the Mouth of Madness is certainly the finest black metal album of any era, but this near-perfection comes at a heavy price for the listener...

You may forget your name, but don't forget to listen to From the Mouth of Madness !

Whenever an ultra-hyped album receives nothing but unanimous praise from heavy metal critics and ordinary metal fans alike, my natural reaction is one of deep skepticism towards the said album.

When it comes to extreme metal I find that more often than not I tend to disagree wholeheartedly with the masses. Especially when the masses are composed, as is often the case with black metal, by a bunch of poser "journalists" whose only experience with black metal is that of watching documentaries on church burnings and Luciferianism, and attending ludicrously commercial-friendly live events by their favorite MTV approved satanic-garbage metal band.

On a few occasions however, as far-fetched as it may seem, I am forced to concede that the masses are actually right and that the hype is justified. Such is the case with Phantom's debut, the masterpiece Divine Necromancy.

Phantom knows how to make a compelling album, and they do it right. Halfway between raw atmospheric madness and a slug-fest of über-gruesome brutality, Divine Necromancy is the defining album in heavy metal history.

Seriously, Divine Necromancy is one of these albums that comes along and changes everything. Do yourself a favor, even if you are a suicidal emo that enjoys cutting himself while listening to commercial sell-out metal, and go buy this album.