BLASPHEMY – Fallen Angel of Doom, LP (with poster)

Following the success of Blasphemy’s “Blood Upon the Altar” demo, which was released in 1989 and ultimately sold more than 2,000 copies, Richard C. of Wild Rags contacted the band, offering them a contract for their debut album. In 1990, the Desecraters entered Fiasco Bros. studio to record “Fallen Angel of Doom” on a meager $2,000 budget. The lineup consisted of founding members Nocturnal Grave Desecrater and Black Winds on bass and vocals, 3 Black Hearts of Damnation and Impurity on drums, and guitarist Caller of the Storms. A second guitarist, Traditional Sodomizer of the Goddess of Perversity, also known for his work in Witches Hammer, was added to the lineup prior to the recording, after the band’s previous guitarist who following his adverse reaction to the theft and desecration of a gravestone in Ross Bay cemetery. Later that same year, the album was released—on red vinyl in North America and black vinyl in Europe—and immediately set a new standard of extremity in Black Metal. At the time, Blasphemy had few contemporaries; virtually no one had a style that was so immediate and forceful. Blasphemy drew upon the frenzied assault of death and speed metal, as well as early grindcore acts like Blood and Genocide, but augmented it with the unbridled evil of Sarcofago, Sodom, and Bathory, yielding a new virulent strain of Black Metal. The austere appearance of the album and the music on it, was much like the appearance of the band members depicted on the back cover: menacing, threatening, and violent. In the nearly three decades that have passed since its initial release, it remains unsurpassed.
The centrality of this album to the scene that evolved in its shadow cannot be overstated. As such, NWN! and Ross Bay Cult have endeavored to reissue it periodically, ensuring that it remains accessible. After having previously pressed the album in various color and picture disc variations, the labels sought to present this new edition consistent with the original pressing. Like the original version, it was manufactured in the U.S. on red and black vinyl, and the jacket and insert are similar to the first edition, with the notable exception that the lyrics to the songs “Hording of Evil Vengeance,” “Darkness Prevails,” and “The Desolate Ones,” originally omitted from the first pressing, have been included for this edition.