UMUR "An Ending in Fire" is the third full-length studio album by US death/black metal act Order From Chaos. The album was released through Osmose Productions in 1998. It´s the successor to "Dawn Bringer" from 1995, although the two full-length studio albums are bridged by the 1996 "And I Saw Eternity" EP. "An Ending in Fire" was recorded during April and May of 1995 and it was originally meant to be released through Shivadarshana Records, but as the band split-up shortly after recording the album it remaining unreleased for a couple of years until Osmose Productions picked it up and released it.

While the album features 9 individual tracks, the tracks are subtracks which are part of three longer tracks. Tracks 1-5 form the "Conqueror of Fear" track, the 11:50 minutes long "There Lies Your Lord, Father of Victories" is an individual track, while tracks 7-9 form the "Somnium Helios" track.

Stylistically Order From Chaos have only become more chaotic sounding and extreme with each release, and "An Ending in Fire" is no different. It´s raw, angry, and brutal blackened death metal with the vicious snarling blackened vocals of Pete Helmkamp in front. Order From Chaos play a death/black metal hybrid style and it´s not easy to call them either.

Although "An Ending in Fire" is a pretty raw and unpolished release, it´s still the most clear sounding and detailed production on an Order From Chaos release up until then. I personally miss the heavy distorted bass which was a big part of the band´s sound on the early 90s releases, but this is decent quality death/black metal too. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "And I Saw Eternity" is an EP release by US death/black metal act Order From Chaos. The EP was released through Ground Zero Entertainment in 1996. It bridges the gap between the band´s second- and third full-length studio albums "Dawn Bringer" (1996) and "An Ending in Fire" (1998).

The EP features four tracks and a total playing time of 20:28 minutes. "The Edge of Forever" and "Imperium" were recorded during the spring of 1995, while "Webs of Perdition" was recorded in December 1993 and originally appeared on the 1994 "Jericho Trumpet" single, and "De Stella Nova" was recorded in June 1993.

So there´s very little new here as "The Edge of Forever" already appeared (although in a different version) as the opening track on "Stillbirth Machine" (1992), "Webs of Perdition" makes its fifth appearance on an Order From Chaos release (and this time not even in a re-recorded version). "Imperium" and "De stella Nova" are as I far as I can tell (the recording history of Order From Chaos is pretty complex, so I may be wrong) exclusive to this EP.

Both "The Edge of Forever" and "Webs of Perdition" are well worth the price of admission, as they both represent the best that Order From Chaos have to offer in blackened death metal, but the uneventful instrumental "Imperium" and the ambient noise outro "De stella Nova" aren´t that interesting and considering that the best parts of this EP are already available on more worthwhile releases, I can´t really recommend this. The only reason for purchasing this is to get the 1995 re-recorded version of "The Edge of Forever", and that´s not really reason enough in my world. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Dawn Bringer" is the second full-length studio album US, Missouri based black/death metal act Order From Chaos. The album was released through Shivadarshana Records in 1995. It´s the succcessor to "Stillbirth Machine" from 1992 and still features the trio lineup of Mike Miller (drums), Chuck Keller (guitars), and Pete Helmkamp (vocals, bass). The two full-length studio albums are bridged by several minor releases (demos, singles, EPs), so Order From Chaos weren´t inactive in the three years between the two full-length album releases.

"Dawn Bringer" is a bit of an oddity considering that it´s labelled a full-length studio album, as there are actually only four new original compositions featured on the eight track, 40:36 minutes long album. The remaing tracks are yet another re-recording of "Webs of Perdition" (a track which had already appeared on three releases before this one), a cover of "War and Pain" by Voivod (which had already appeared as the B-side on the 1994 "Jericho Trumpet" single), and two live tracks ("As the Body Falls Away" and "Forsake Me This Mortal Coil" from "Stillbirth Machine"). The album even opens with 3 minutes of intro noise making the total time of new material 16:56 minutes (if you discount the three minutes of opening noise), which is arguably in the low end for a studio album. The label probably needed some extra material to be able to put out a full-length studio album and dug through the archives and found some.

But while the tracklist is a bit questionable in terms of calling this a full-length studio album, the material is still of a decent quality. Not fully on par with the material on "Stillbirth Machine", but still quality blackened death metal done the chaotic Order From Chaos way. Pete Helmkamp sounds as gnarly pissed as ever, and the charming organic rawness of past releases is also present here. The whole thing does come off like it was put together with material from different sessions/recordings, so they couldn´t hide that fact, and therefore it doesn´t function well as an album, but much better as a compilation release. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Plateau of Invincibility" is an EP release by US death/black metal act Order From Chaos. The EP was released through Shivadarshana Records in August 1994. It bridges the gap between the band´s debut- and sophomore full-length studio albums "Stillbirth Machine" (1992) and "Dawn Bringer" (1995), although it´s not the only minor release, which Order From Chaos put out during the same intermediate album release period.

The EP features three tracks and a total playing time of 18:35 minutes. The title track is a new original composition, which is exclusive to this release (at least at the time of release in 1994). It´s unmistakably the sound of Order From Chaos featuring distorted bass, chaotic sounding guitars and drums, and Pete Helmkamp´s aggressive blackened snarl on top.

The two remaining tracks are a cover of "Nuctemeron" by Sodom and a cover of "Dead of the Night"/"Senile Decay" by Venom. None of the choices are surprising since both artists are clearly among the acts who Order From Chaos are influenced by. Both are great covers and fit perfectly with the "Plateau of Invincibility" track.

The EP features a raw, unpolished, and lo-fi sounding production job. This could well have been released as a demo, that´s how raw the sound is. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Jericho Trumpet" is a single/EP release by US death/black metal act Order From Chaos. The single was released through Gestapo Records in 1994. It was released along with a couple of other minor releases between the release of the band´s debut- and sophomore full-length studio albums "Stillbirth Machine" (1992) and "Dawn Bringer" (1995).

The single features two tracks. The A-side is a re-recorded version of "Webs of Perdition", which is a track which the band had already included on their July 1989 "Crushed Infamy" demo and on their July 1990 "Will to Power" EP. The original recorded versions of the track were great, and this version is also a great version, which a marginally better sounding production. It´s still a very raw recording though.

The B-side to the single is a cover of "War and Pain" by Voivod and Order From Chaos manage to make the song their own, which is what any artist recording a cover should do. It´s a respectful cover and it´s sounds great. Upon conclusion "Jericho Trumpet" is a good quality release from Order From Chaos. Their brand of old school death/black metal is fiercely aggressive and raw, and while album length releases of music like this have a tendency to become a one-dimensional listen, it works well on single and EP formats. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.