Samael "Above"

Above is the eighth studio album from the heavy metal band Samael, released on 6 March 2009 by Nuclear Blast.

Earlier in 2009 the band began promoting a virtual death metal band from their Myspace profile. The band was called "Above" and featured computer-designed band members in a virtual world, whose lyrics and songs were written by Samael. Later through Myspace, the band announced that they would be taking their side-project Above and turning it into their newest Samael album.

Commenting on the album, Vorph said:

"After 20 years, we've tried to do an album that would represent what SAMAEL is all about and we did 'Solar Soul'. We feel now it is the right time to [remind] the people where we come from and that's exactly what 'Above' will do. It is like an enhanced version of our three or four first albums, maybe the missing link between 'Ceremony of Opposites' and 'Passage'. With the 'Era One' project we've tried to work on different influences; with 'Above' we stripped everything down."

Track listing
All lyrics are written by Vorph; all music is composed by Xy, except "Dark Side", music by Vorph.

1. "Under One Flag" 3:41
2. "Virtual War" 4:04
3. "Polygames" 3:56
4. "Earth Country" 3:55
5. "Illumination" 3:31
6. "Black Hole" 3:36
7. "In There" 4:01
8. "Dark Side" 2:57
9. "God's Snake" 4:07
10. "On the Top of it All" 4:42

CD Digipak and LP bonus track

1. "Black Hole (Verso Mix)" 3:34

 The track "Dark Side" is a reworked version of "The Black Face" from the album Worship Him.

Initially intended to be a side-project of the band's called Above. However, it was eventually decided that the material written and recorded for Above's debut would instead be released as Samael's 8th album.

All music by Xy except "Dark Side", written by Vorph.

Recording information:

Recorded and engineered at Little Rock Studio, Switzerland.

Mixed at Fredman Studio, Sweden.

Mastered at Masters of Audio, Stockholm.