NEGATIVE PLANE "Stained Glass Revelations" 2 X LP Bathory Venom Katharsis Mayhem

$

30

NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING!!!!
Starting the sale of a private METAL COLLECTION. Over the next TEN WEEKS I will be selling 40 records per week (about) so come on back! ALL genres of metal--private pressings, rare Death, Traditional, Thrash, NWOBHM, Black, EVERYTHING. 
SHIPPING: Domestic only, no International shipping! Repeat: NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING. only US DOmestic. $5 will get you up to THREE records at no extra cost (Double lp's count as TWO). So bid on one, bid on THREE. Shipping includes a PRO MAILER with cardboard backing and a TRACKING NUMBER. I am an old collector, I know how to pack and ship!
 2nd Negative Plane double lp "Stained Glass Revelations" and this one is NUTS. Played ONCE to record and shelved--poster is still MINT. Cover is excellent! Very unique band from NYC. record is out of print and will cost you at least $50 on discogs--check it!
I remember listening to Negative Plane's first album a while back and not thinking much of it. Who knows, maybe I just wasn't in the proper mood for such a unique band. I guess I'll have to give the obligatory nod to Fenriz for discovering this band, and making them his band of the week or month or whatever, assuring that people would pay attention. 

'Stained Glass Revelations'. Holy shit, where to begin? The album starts out with echoey cathedral bells. Guitar feedback swells up and reverb laden drums come crashing down from the sky. It's really fucking grandiose. The style is hard to pin down to genres, but if a gun were put to my head, I'd have to say black metal. Don't let that fool you though, as Negative Plane deviate from almost every black metal convention you can name. 

The vocals are reminiscent of early Celtic Frost, with that more forced-air thrash sound and just a hint of black metal rasp. The bass guitar is very audible and plays a huge part in the development of the songs, which is crucial because the guitar spends much of the time picking out single note melodies in the higher register. The guitar, by the way, is the shining star of the show, playing in a wholly unique style. However, each instrument holds it's own and succeeds at being appropriate and interesting. There is a palpable psychedelic nature to the songs, with some of the clean melodies sounding almost surf-rock. The whole album is absolutely dripping with reverb, which adds to the evident atmosphere that is almost an instrument of its own.

Overall, 'Stained Glass Revelations' (and the band itself) was a grower for me. Thankfully though, it had a mid-January release so there was plenty of time to absorb the album, before putting it to the terminal claws of the year-end list. The immersive atmosphere, unique songwriting, spattering of funeral bells and pipe organs, and powerful musicianship solidifies this as one of the best albums of the year. Not to sound trite, but 'Stained Glass Revelations' proves that the conventions and formulae of black metal can be experimented upon successfully, without embarrassing the nature of the music itself.