While {^Ceremony of Opposites} used keyboards only to accentuate the guitar lines, 1996's {^Passage} finds {$Samael} fearlessly integrating the two instruments in equal amounts. Drummer/keyboard player {$Xy} programmed all his drum parts and uses various synthesizer effects (especially simulated chorus vocals) to create a highly original, post-industrial, black-metal sound. Opener {&"Rain"} is simply stunning, with all of the aforementioned ingredients underpinned by a relentless double kick-drum. Despite their sweeping keyboard melodies, less frenetic highlights such as {&"Angel's Decay"} and {&"A Man in Your Head"} sound even darker than other tracks -- like hellish symphonies. Lyrically, the album finds {$Samael} in an esoteric, outer-space mode, especially on {&"Born Under Saturn,"} {&"Jupiterian Vibe,"} and the excellent {&"Moonskin."} While sonic comparisons to Sweden's {$Tiamat} are inevitable (due in part to long-time {$Tiamat} producer {$Waldemar Sorychta}'s involvement), they hardly detract from {^Passage}'s originality, nor from its rightful consideration as one of the most important extreme metal albums of the '90s. ~ Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide