Theatre Of Ice – A Cool Dark Place To Die (1985)
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We played this on a night shift last year, after reading online about how its one of the evilist things ever recorded, or some such overblown statement. A Cool Dark Place To Die is, frankly, comical in its concept and delivery. Coming across like a mix of shit dungeon synth and even shitter “death-rock” like Christian Death and the like, Theatre Of Ice ham it up in every way possible, and then obscure everything with a really bad recording. Its an age old trick from black metal’s book; it doesn’t work for most of those bands, and it certainly doesn’t work here.
There is some merit in the genuinely bizarre approach this project has, and I respect anybody who decides to put something together like this. However, the finished product is awful.