Hades: ...Again Shall Be (1994)

Hades is kind of a forgotten band among the Norwegian black metal scene of the early 1990's.  I know I forgot about them.  I have a split of theirs that they did recently with Drudkh and did not realize it was the same band as this one.  I blame the fact that they are now called Hades Almighty after some legal issues with another band called Hades.  It was only after thinking this logo was vaguely familiar-looking that I realized the mistake. 

This album is much more similar to groups like Enslaved and the recently-reviewed Borknagar than to some of the more raw and aggressive black metal bands from the scene.  As such, Hades is an early band whose music could have been lumped into the "Viking metal" sub-subgenre.  The songs tend to plod along and have melodic keyboards and almost chanted vocals at times.  The riffs however are massive and the sound is monolithic.  It is an absolutely huge and impressive sound that can be beautiful and harsh at the same time.

This is a terrific album that should be considered among the classic albums of the Norwegian black metal scene.  Unfortunately, Hades never reached the heights of their brethren in Darkthrone, Emperor, Mayhem, Immortal, Enslaved, Satyricon and others.  They were just kind of forgotten, even though the band is actually still active.  It is a shame, because Hades was easily the equal of those bands back then and, if that split with Drudkh is any indication, still putting out great music today.