SWORDMASTER - WRATHS OF TIME EP (1995)

Funny story.
Swordmaster (formed by members of Opthalamia and Dissection and including amongst their ranks Jon Nödtveidt's brother Emil) started off as a pretty vicious little semi-lo-fi black metal band. Good riffs, phlegmy vocals, punishing drums, etc... But in their later years, like so many other bands, Swordmaster washed off their corpsepaint and jumped the shark, settling on a mid-tempo thrash/rock sound far less intense than their original vision. Now stick with me here...
Swordmaster only lasted about 5 years, and when they split up 60% of the band went on to form Deathstars, a completely fucking terrible "industrial rock" Marilyn Manson clone band that has opened for Korn on more than one occasion. So the Swordmaster guys managed two MAJOR shark-jumpings in UNDER 6 years. Respect.
Anyhow, I digress. Wraths of Time was their first real release, a four song EP that actually boils down to more like two. One track is an "outro" while the song "Conspiracy (Preview)" cuts off about a minute and a half in, as some sort of teaser for an upcoming album. The irony is, "Conspiracy" is the best song on the album, and it never appeared on a later release. So what the fuck?
The two REAL tracks are pretty fucking solid metal as well, but if nothing else, Wraths of Time stands as a documentation of black metal's most shark-jumping band's shining moment of legitimacy, from a time before programmed beats, matching SS uniforms, and remixed songs by Mortiis.

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