Through Chasm, Caves and Titan Woods

Everyone who listens to Black Metal will have come across Carpathian Forest at some point (and if you're aware of their infamous live shows, they may well have cum across you too, knowing Nattefrost's temperament). "Through Chasm, Caves and Titan Woods" saw the band still very much in their formation stages, with only a few small touches of the sound that they would later be known for.

The overall sound they subscribe to here is very much in the early-to-mid nineties Norwegian Black Metal vein, with swathes of synthesizer, evil hissed vocals and occasional acoustic parts ("The Eclipse / The Raven' is entirely acoustic in fact) mixed amongst barbed Celtic Frost-influenced guitar lines and simplistic percussive battery. Some kult kiddies would swear to you that this is the band's best release, probably because the band were still perceived to be 'true' when this album was released, but I don't agree personally. Also, as a pointless piece of trivia, the cover art is exactly the same as the cover art used on Satyricon mainman Satyr's ambient side project Wongraven.... So I guess they both really like the artwork, huh?

This EP is a pretty good, if not somewhat humble beginning for a band which went on to bigger and better things later in their career. Not at all bad, but a musical and philosophical world apart from the band that released the vomit and piss drenched "Fuck You All!!!."