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At the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, the underground metal scene began to shift.
Many bands were starting to wimp out, steering their music and lyrics in new, often softer directions. Suddenly, socially-conscious messages were replacing blasphemies, and band members were dressing like beach bums in colorful shorts—none of which spoke to me. I was into black metal and death metal with satanic lyrics. I liked flipping over album covers and seeing photos of musicians with bullets, spikes, and blood dripping from their mouths. That was the real deal.
I got into this genre because the hatred and evil pouring out of the music mirrored the way I lived my life. So when some of my favorite bands began abandoning their roots—choosing instead to please their labels or curry favor with glossy magazine critics—I knew I had to look elsewhere.
That turning point came with just a couple of dollars sent to Wild Rags! Records in California. In return, I received the latest edition of their mail-order catalog/magazine, and it opened my eyes to a global black metal underground. Bands from around the world were channeling different regional inspirations into black metal.
SAMAEL from Switzerland played in the HELLHAMMER tradition. ROTTING CHRIST from Greece conjured a mystical atmosphere. MAYHEM from Norway, of course, was forging a new path in extremity.
And then, there it was—right in those pages, well-advertised—the one release that promised to reignite my search for the most brutal and satanic music imaginable:
BLASPHEMY – "Fallen Angel of Doom...."
Just from the cover artwork and band photos, I knew I had to hear it. And when I saw they were Canadian? Even better. I ordered the album immediately—no hesitation. The wait began.
In the meantime, during one of my weekly visits to the local import record shop, I spotted a copy of Fallen Angel of Doom.... sitting right there on the shelf. I picked it up, flipped through the layout, and couldn’t wait a second longer. I bought it on the spot. The copy I had ordered from Wild Rags! ended up going to a friend.
The moment I played the album, I was blown away. The ferocity! The desolate atmosphere! The riffs, the vocals, the cavernous production—everything was exactly what I had hoped for, and more. I had it on constant rotation then, and honestly, I still listen to it regularly today.
BLASPHEMY delivered the pure embodiment of what black metal should be: pure Evil committed to tape by absolute maniacs. They looked like satanic barbarians—dangerous and unhinged. Convincing, to say the least.
"Fallen Angel of Doom...." is a monument of black metal.
When it dropped, it inspired an entire genre. Richard C., the infamous owner of Wild Rags! Records, personally phoned Black Winds after the album's release to say it was selling so fast he couldn’t keep it in stock. Its impact on the underground scene was immediate and enduring. Bands from Brazil to Singapore, Finland to Germany, began taking cues from BLASPHEMY and crafting their own merciless forms of black metal. Waves of bands owe their existence to this release—including my own past projects, CONQUEROR and DOMINI INFERI.
With Fallen Angel of Doom..., black metal reached its most extreme and malevolent form—musically and visually. No other album has surpassed it. It took everything the genre had become and dragged it into deeper, darker territory. The way it should be.
As Nocturnal Grave Desecrater and Black Winds prophesied on the album:
"The Cursed Soul Bred by the Fallen Angel of Doom will return!"
And as foretold, that curse lives on. Through Nuclear War Now! Productions and my own label, Ross Bay Cult, we proudly present this masterpiece of desecration once again—on LP, CD, and MC formats.
Darkness Prevails. ALWAYS.
– R. Förster
Deathlord of Abomination and War Apocalypse
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