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Samael โ€” Passage

๐…๐‘๐Ž๐Œ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‚๐‘๐˜๐๐“๐’ - ๐‚๐„๐‹๐„๐๐‘๐€๐“๐ˆ๐๐† ๐๐€๐’๐“ ๐€๐‹๐๐”๐Œ๐‘๐„๐‹๐„๐€๐’๐„๐’ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐ˆ๐’๐“๐Ž๐‘๐˜ ๐จ๐Ÿย  ๐‡๐€๐‘๐ƒ ๐‘๐Ž๐‚๐Š & ๐‡๐„๐€๐•๐˜๐Œ๐„๐“๐€๐‹โ€ฆ



August 19, 1996 โ€” Samael released their fourth studio album, Passage via Century Media Records. (Listen)



The album was recorded at Woodhouse Studios and was produced by Waldemar Sorychta. All lyrics are written by Vorph; all music is composed by Xy.


(๐š…๐š˜๐š›๐š™๐š‘, ๐™บ๐šŠ๐š˜๐šœ, ๐š‡๐šข, ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐™ผ๐šŠ๐šœ๐š–๐š’๐šœ๐šŽรฎ๐š– ๐šŠ๐š ๐š†๐š˜๐š˜๐š๐š‘๐š˜๐šž๐šœ๐šŽ ๐š‚๐š๐šž๐š๐š’๐š˜๐šœ ๐š๐šž๐š›๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š›๐šŽ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š›๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐™ฟ๐šŠ๐šœ๐šœ๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ, ๐Ÿท๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿผ)


Background:

The band decided to work with a drum machine following the departure of Rodolph. Xy moved from the drums to the keyboards and programmed all the drums parts. Kaos joined the band as second guitarist and the band went back to Woodhouse Studios for a 3 week session.

"๐š†๐šŽ ๐š ๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ ๐š•๐š’๐šœ๐š๐šŽ๐š—๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š๐š˜ ๐šŠ ๐š•๐š˜๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐š’๐š—๐š๐šž๐šœ๐š๐š›๐š’๐šŠ๐š• ๐š–๐šž๐šœ๐š’๐šŒ ๐š‹๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š” ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ๐š—, ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐šœ๐š˜๐š–๐šŽ๐š๐š‘๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š ๐šŽ ๐š ๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ ๐š๐š›๐šŠ๐š ๐š— ๐š๐š˜, ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š ๐šŽ ๐š ๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ๐š ๐š๐š˜ ๐š’๐š—๐šŒ๐š˜๐š›๐š™๐š˜๐š›๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ ๐šœ๐š˜๐š–๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š ๐š๐š‘๐š˜๐šœ๐šŽ ๐šŽ๐š•๐šŽ๐š–๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐šœ ๐š๐š˜ ๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐šœ๐š˜๐šž๐š—๐š. ๐š†๐šŽ ๐š ๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ ๐š•๐š˜๐š˜๐š”๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐šŠ ๐š๐šŽ๐š๐š’๐š—๐šŽ๐š ๐š๐šž๐š’๐š๐šŠ๐š› ๐šœ๐š˜๐šž๐š—๐š ๐š‹๐šž๐š ๐š ๐š’๐š๐š‘ ๐šŽ๐š—๐š˜๐šž๐š๐š‘ ๐šŒ๐š›๐šž๐š—๐šŒ๐š‘ ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐šŠ๐š๐š๐š›๐šŽ๐šœ๐šœ๐š’๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š—๐šŽ๐šœ๐šœ ๐š๐š˜ ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š—๐š๐š›๐šŠ๐šœ๐š ๐š ๐š’๐š๐š‘ ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šœ๐š˜๐š–๐šŽ๐š‘๐š˜๐š  ๐š™๐š˜๐š•๐š’๐šœ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š ๐šœ๐š˜๐šž๐š—๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐š”๐šŽ๐šข๐š‹๐š˜๐šŠ๐š›๐š๐šœ ๐š ๐šŽ ๐š ๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ ๐šž๐šœ๐š’๐š—๐š." โ€” Vorph

The first show with the drum machine and new line up was on June 26, 1996 at Z7 in Pratteln (Switzerland) as opener for Kreator, the following day Samael played in With Full Force Festival alongside Ministry, Motรถrhead, and Front Line Assembly.



The band then released their fourth full-length album, Passage in August of 1996.

"๐šƒ๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šž๐šœ๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š ๐šŠ ๐š๐š›๐šž๐š– ๐š–๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š‘๐š’๐š—๐šŽ ๐š’๐šœ ๐š™๐š›๐š˜๐š‹๐šŠ๐š‹๐š•๐šข ๐š ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š‹๐š’๐š๐š๐šŽ๐šœ๐š ๐š™๐š˜๐š•๐šŠ๐š›๐š’๐šฃ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šŽ๐š•๐šŽ๐š–๐šŽ๐š—๐š ๐š ๐š’๐š๐š‘๐š’๐š— ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š–๐šŽ๐š๐šŠ๐š• ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š–๐š–๐šž๐š—๐š’๐š๐šข. ๐š†๐šŽ ๐š”๐š—๐šŽ๐š  ๐š’๐š ๐š ๐š˜๐šž๐š•๐š ๐š‹๐šŽ ๐šŠ ๐š™๐š’๐š•๐š• ๐š๐š’๐š๐š๐š’๐šŒ๐šž๐š•๐š ๐š๐š˜ ๐šœ๐š ๐šŠ๐š•๐š•๐š˜๐š  ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š–๐š˜๐šœ๐š ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š—๐šœ๐šŽ๐š›๐šŸ๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š›๐šœ ๐š‹๐šž๐š ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐š ๐šŠ๐šข ๐š๐š˜ ๐š–๐š˜๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐š๐š˜๐š›๐š ๐šŠ๐š›๐š ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š˜๐š™๐šŽ๐š— ๐šœ๐š˜๐š–๐šŽ ๐š๐š˜๐š˜๐š›๐šœ ๐š๐š˜ ๐š—๐šŽ๐š  ๐šŽ๐šก๐š™๐šŽ๐š›๐š’๐š–๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š—. ๐™ฐ๐š•๐š• ๐š’๐š— ๐šŠ๐š•๐š•, ๐š™๐šŽ๐š˜๐š™๐š•๐šŽ ๐šŠ๐šŒ๐šŒ๐šŽ๐š™๐š๐šŽ๐š ๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐šŒ๐š‘๐š˜๐š’๐šŒ๐šŽ ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š๐š˜๐šŒ๐šž๐šœ๐šŽ๐š ๐š–๐š˜๐š›๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š— ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š–๐šž๐šœ๐š’๐šŒ ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š— ๐š˜๐š— ๐š–๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š—๐šœ ๐š ๐šŽ ๐š‘๐šŠ๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐šž๐šœ๐šŽ๐š ๐š๐š˜ ๐š๐š˜ ๐š’๐š." โ€” Vorph

On this album, the band opted for more intensive use of keyboards and industrial sounds, drifting from their Black Metal roots and progressing in a different direction. Lyrically the band abandoned satanic themes and veered more towards the occult and the cosmic.



While it differs from its predecessors, Passage can be credited for thrusting Samael from the underground scene and giving the band a much larger international audience.



The album was originally recorded with a 17-song track list but was later cut down to 11. The remaining songs can be found on the album Exodus. A second edition was later offered containing 10 classical piano compositions from the album on a second disc.



A video was shot in Berlin for the song Jupiterian Vibe directed by Andreas Marshall. The video received regular airplay on MTV's HeadBangers Ball. (Watch video)



A full European tour followed the release of Passage with support from label mates Moonspell and Rotting Christ.



Samael later co-headlined the 1997 Full of Hate Festival tour with Obituary, Entombed, Crowbar and Strapping Young Lad, who completed the line up.



Later on that year they took part Summer Metal Meeting tour festival across Germany alongside Kreator, Sodom, Exodus, Grip Inc. and In Flames.



That summer the band played for the first and only time at Dynamo Open Air in Eindhoven as well as Wacken Open Air, and Graspop.





Re-issue:

In 2007, a remastered, re-packaged, special edition was released containing the album's original 17 song track list.



Over a decade after its original release is still considered by many to be a pillar in the Black/Industrial Metal genre.



Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. โ€” E.N. Wells



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