Tormentor (Hun) - 1988 - Anno Domini

This is the single greatest black metal album of all time. I really mean that. I wholeheartedly feel Anno Domini is the very pinnacle of the entire genre, and I was very pleased to see a request to post a high quality rip of it, because now I finally have an excuse to do so.

Most of the rips I've heard elsewhere didn't sound quite up to par, probably because they were most likely from the first non-demo reissue that came out in '95, which was just a master of a dubbed copy of the tape. This is a rip from the later reissue, the one with a better master and an overall richer sound.

But I digress... now back to how awesome this album is. Each song is its own entity, and the variety found on here is pretty astonishing. With some bands, this can lead to inconsistency and failed experiments that have the potential to really bring an album down. Tormentor never had that problem. Whether they are playing relentless, thrashing black fury as seen on "Heaven" and "Trance", eerie, atmospheric mid-tempo songs such as the epic "Elisabeth Bathory", or brilliant arrangements that are schizophrenically on the verge of technicality as seen on the two "Tormentor" songs - it always works, and it works well. Everything they did was done with 100% conviction and executed with blackened, evil precision.

The fact that they were all actually pretty damn good at their respective instruments didn't hurt either, and it goes without saying that Attila's vocals are just out of this world. And I mean that literally. They don't sound like they come from a living human being. More like a demonic alien-banshee with a thick Hungarian accent. Some say De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas was his finest achievement. Others claim his work with Sunn O))) contains his most captivating performances, but I strongly, strongly, disagree. Anno Domini most definitely contains his best performance in all of his career, and as eerie and chilling as they are on De Mysteriis, or how much they add to Sunn O)))'s already-hypnotic tendencies, neither compare to the maniacal brilliance seen on this here masterpiece.

Every element that makes up Anno Domini all point to one thing: the highest level of black metal preeminence possible. Yes, the ultimate black metal album.

Enjoy.