(In stock during January.)

It is remarkable that more or less each and every number develops its own character, although they are all based on similar patterns with nearly standardized playtimes. Finally, and maybe this has been the greatest challenge that the Swiss artists mastered, "Passage" features a band that has modified its style in a comprehensible, credible and abssolutely convincing manner. Samael are not interested in stagnation, but they also do not surprise with experiments that stand in sharp contrast to the works that catapulted them into the focus of the scene.

"Passage" makes clear that its predecessor "Ceremony of Opposites" was both: a glorious album which stood on its own feet, but the logical link between "Blood Rituals" and the here presented full-length as well. It can therefore be no doubt that the mid-nineties marked the golden age of Samael. I will listen again to "Passage" - and I won't wait until 2038 to do so.

Silver Galaxy Vinyl.
Gatefold-edition.