Band's List Black Dark Bethlehem (GER) A Sacrificial Offering to the Kingdom of Heaven in a Cracked Dog's Ear

Bethlehem are one of the greatest depressive black metal bands since the start of the genre, together with the norwegian bands Strid, Forgotten Woods and the newer bands, Hypothermia, Shining, Trist, Austere and Selvhat. When it comes to the discography to Bethlehem, the old classics like Dark Metal, Dictius te Necare and Suizid are a necessary part of your collection if you are a fan of the genre.

In my opinion, Suizid is the best of those three first albums by Bethlehem. Why? Let me tell you why.

Marco Kehren's hysterical screeching vocals gives you a impression of a man in pain and suffering. He gives you the same impression I got when I was into the psychiatric ward and heard people screaming and crying because of the pain they had inflicted on themselves. To say it straight, Marco Kehren sings like a sick and confused person in a isolation cell. The other vocal in the original version of Suizid, Cathrin Campen, is mostly talking in the album, and gives it a great atmosphere many black metal-bands only could dream of. Klaus Matton's torturing guitar-howling, Jürgen Bartsch's bass-riffs, for example in ''Gestern Starb Ich Schon Heute'' are just hypnotizing, and of course, Marcus Losen's technical drumming, gives the whole album a perfect sound and perfection.

But think if Marco Kehren's magnificent vocals are taken away, and exchanged with the mediocre guy, Niklas Kvarforth from Shining (nothing against him, except for that he shows up in almost every project and leaves the things in ruins, almost), and the whole perfection from the production from the original version is exchanged with something that sounds like a poor produced demo-tape, where the drums sounds like trashcans and the bass and guitar sounds like the amps have been lying down into water while recording. Well, here you got it. The re-recorded version with Kvarforth, called ''A Sacrificial Offering to the Kingdom of Heaven in a Cracked Dog's Ear''.

And when even the metaphoric lyrics are translated into English... It's too terrible to be true... The worst part is, it is true.