A Celebration of Death is, indeed, an homage to the extinguishing of life’s flame, though in not such an overt manner as initially thought. It seems that Fester, living up to their namesake, take a unique and uneasy approach to layering, building, and ultimately burrowing under the skin of their listeners. Unsettling elements of distortion, feedback, gritty vocals and industrial sections grate and squeal over melancholy and oft dissonant guitar work, creating a dark, hazy atmosphere likened to a macabre stroll through a glossy mausoleum.

To fully appreciate (or abhor) the poison that Fester dishes out, it must be taken in its full dose. Listen to A Celebration of Death in its entirety and allow yourself to become absorbed by its ambiance…anything less would be futile. Tracks like the intoxicating and bleak “The Black Tower” and the crunchy and battle-torn “Jeg spytter på deg (I spit on you)” help to construct the palpable sense of dread which permeates the album. Continue on with “Last Day of Battle,” parts I and II, a solemn and somber two-part affair that marches through thrashy blackness with the subtlety of a tank. Of note is closer “Rites of Mortiis,” an industrial remix of opening track “Rites of Ceres” by fellow Norwegian Mortiis. It’s an appropriate come-down from an album’s worth of weird, atmospheric filth.

A Celebration of Death is not for the queasy or closed-minded. Its liberal fusion of elements from various genres, metal and non, make it a mixed bag that many metal purists may turn their noses up at, but Fester have certainly created a unique atmospheric beast in it that leaves an undeniably new and odd-shaped dent on the landscape of extreme metal.

Original member Bjørn “Tiger” Mathisen has recruited Thomas Andresen (Algol) on vocals, Jon Bakker (Kampfar) on bass, and Grammy nominated jazz drummer Audun Kleive for session drums. Mortiis has made a hellish and dark remix of one of the songs and there are contributions from Mr. Kyrck and Guido of Ysengrin. The art is done by the infamous Alex Brown of Bad News Brown.

On the selection of Kleive for session drumming, Mathisen had this to say: “He is famous for his ability to become one with the music he plays, and does so in such an unorthodox and dark way. He has never done metal. He listened to the tunes once before he agreed to session them and ended up doing most of the parts in one take. Using only a single bass drum he has helped us create the sinister and lonely mood that we wanted.”

As for what to expect musically on A Celebration of Death, Mathisen is unequivocal about staying the course. “FESTER has kept their old school feel, and maybe even taking it back to the Stone Age. No effect boxes are used on the guitars; just the basic and sick sounds of old guitars, amps and racks from the late 60s and early 70s, produced in the most dark and wicked way you can imagine. The influence of old school metal acts like Celtic Frost, Bathory, etc can be heard on this release too. FESTER has kept its identity from the past. “This is surely an atypical metal sound,but cold as ice and mean as hell!”

Pioneers in the seamless blending of  Black and Death Metal, in the early 90s and well known for their obscure, melancholic and dark way of making music, FESTER are now back with their darkest, harshest and most mournful album to date. Having laid the groundwork with Abyss reissues of 1992’s Winter of Sin and 1993’s Silence, FESTER is now poised to commence this new era of darkness. The end is near.

www.myspace.com/festernorway

www.officialabyssrecords.com

I can’t say what the response to the album was back in 1992 or if it’s some sort of unheralded forgotten classic, buried under all the great albums being released in that era — especially when you consider Norway was more known for its black metal than death metal around those times. But suffice to say, I wasn’t that impressed with the album the first time around and I’m still not overly impressed. Even more so when you compare it to the follow-up in 1996’s more experimental (but excellent) Silence.

Granted, Fester were maybe doing something a bit different for 1992, but when you compare Winter of Sin to other albums released in 1992, it just isn’t really up to par. The…ahem…festering hues and rough, gravelly guitar tone is suitably gnarly and primal–if relatively thin–and the whole affair has a very DIY, garage, demo feel with a scrawly, loose tone and some primitive solo work and to be frank, some rather I’ll fitting vocals, as like I said, they’d be more in line with Norway’s black metal scene.

The songs are all pretty long and drawn out, which is why some may have thrown the doom/death reference out back in the day — especially with the likes of “Liberation” and “As Swords Clinch the Air”. To me, it sounds like demo-quality Swedish death metal or a Celtic Frost cover band that’s been hit with a tranquilizer gun or overdosed on Nyquil, rather than some sort of forward thinking, genre defining sound that I’ve seen it touted as. And I’ll say it once again, the vocals that might have been considered ‘different’ for death metal in 1994, are actually pretty grating, notably when joined with the hokey synths of “A Dog Fight Leaves a Trace”. I’ll just let that song title sink in…and the bonus live track.

With so many reissues of some truly legendary and unheralded classics coming out as of late, I’m not sure this needed to come out with any of them. The Silence reissue that Abyss recently did is much more worthwhile and deserving. But in the end, just cause its from the ’90s and comes from Scandinavia, it doesn’t mean that it NEEDS to be reissued. Some albums simply deserve to stay buried.