The early years of the second half of the 90s unleashed a massive invasion of Black Metal acts, because the polemics that happened on Norway called attention of the press and of the fans (and of the labels, of course). But as all trends that come and pass, many acts with excellent works are left unheard or never had the praise they deserve. One of them is the Norwegian sextet MACTÄTUS, that even being born on 1989 and with four albums, never had the commercial praise the band deserved. And this reissue of their second album, "Provenance of Cruelty" (originally released on 1998) shows their musical potential. The band's music can be said as a melodic Black Metal format that has one foot rooted on the way heard on the early works of acts as EMPEROR, SATYRICON and DIMMU BORGIR, but their music can't be said symphonic, but atmospheric, deep and darkened, with excellent keyboards orchestral moments (as heard on the martial intro of "Draped in Shadows of Satan's Pride") and is plenty of blackened and hooking sad melodies.

But the instrumental sheath used by the sextet isn't conventional, even relaying on traditional Black Metal foundations, and some clean and female vocals can be heard as well (again: this album was released on the 90s, so it wasn't something as usual as today). It's really something used by acts on those days, before the grandiose productions appeared, and what mattered was the music itself. And the sextet had a lot of to offer, it's just a matter of hearing the album to check such thing. Samoth (the guitarist of EMPEROR) produced the album, having with him Thorbjørn Akkerhaugen (producing, making the sound engineering and the mixing, known for his works with EMPEROR and ZYKLON), and Tom Kvålsvoll (another known technician with many works, here doing the mastering). Their vision: to create something that could be in a 'Norwegian Black Metal' traditional sonority: rough, crude and aggressive, but allowing the things to be understood. It's a very good result, especially having in mind that this is the model used on those days.

The songs are focused on morbid and sinister ambiences than speed, so to deal with the songs of "Provenance of Cruelty" can cause chills running through the readers' spines. But the gleam of "Draped in Shadows of Satan's Pride" (excellent keyboards parts creating a devastating and melancholic appeal to the song, enabling the vocals to be understood on its shrieks and snarls, and the lyrics of this one were written by Nocturno Culto), "King of the Dark Side" (that follows the same tendency and used the same elements on the previous one, but with a better work on bass guitar and drums), "Sleepless Souls" (the contrasts between female and clean vocals with the natural shrieks of the genre are excellent, and what lovely set of guitar riffs and arrangements), "The Emperor's Trail" (this one presents some faster tempos contrasting with the darkened ambiences of the keyboards, a special feature of Norwegian Black Metal of those days), "En Trone Vevd av Tid" and "Sønn av Torden" (songs on Norwegian were usual for the bands on those days, and both are sharing the same elements, with huge presence of keyboards contrasting with crude guitar riffs), and "Dark Journey" and "Provenance of Cruelty" (excellent ambiences with sad and funereal appeal, creating the right sensation for massive rhythmic shifts of bass guitar and drums be heard) wasn't eroded by time and did not fade.

After 25 of its original release, "Provenance of Cruelty" still bears a magic and darkened appeal to Black Metal fans. So if you're a fan of the genre, pay some respect to MACTÄTUS' name and hear it as loud as you can.