Usurper: Threshold of the Usurper (1997)

Those with a short attention span may have forgotten that I talked about Usurper just yesterday.  And this won't be the last time either.  No, I did not pick up a box set.  It just so happened that the seller that I bought yesterday's Usurper album from had a couple of others, so I checked them all out. 

Yesterday I talked a lot about just how much Usurper sounded like Celtic Frost.  Well, this release came out just two years before, and yet, it sounds very different.  The Celtic Frost influence is still very much present, but there is a lot more going on too.  And that makes this EP that much more entertaining than the subsequent full-length.

Opening track "Necrocult, Part 1 (The Metal War)" is a full-on aural assault and sets the tone for the rest of the album.  The band later on attempts a Mercyful Fate cover.  I have written before about how I feel about bands attempting Mercyful Fate covers: I'm usually against them.  The major issue is that virtually no one can pull off the King Diamond vocals.  This one does not do it either, so Usurper vocalist General Diabolical Slaughter (likely not his real name) does not even try.  Otherwise the cover is fine. 

The best track on the EP is "The Dead of Winter".  This is a lengthy, slow-burning track of atmospheric horror.  The keys in particular are eerie and dark, and continue throughout the song, even during the crunching riffs. 

I actually like this EP quite a bit more than the album I reviewed yesterday, and I definitely liked that album.  Usurper is not as much of a Celtic Frost clone on this EP.  They have their own sound and style, and that is always preferred.