The Black Metal Thread
I have CD copies of both those splits and they are both amazing. I really love this very early Enslaved sound and Vikinglr Veldi is my favourite album of theirs. As you rightly say, Daniel, despite their young ages it was evident from the very off that Enslaved were a cut above most other black metal acts, especially technically and songwriting-wise. They were also savvy enough never to get caught up in the criminality associated with that very early norwegian scene and didn't seem to court much by way of controversy. A truly class act from the very beginning.
Von - "Satanic Blood" demo (1992)
Continuing on with my exploration of some of the old black metal demos I used to listen to back in my tape trading days, Von's third demo tape "Satanic Blood" would go on to become comfortably the most significant American black metal release to the time. I don't think I ever heard Von's two earlier demos but I did think this one was pretty decent back in the day. It's an incredible simplistic & intentionally primitive collection of short songs with each of its eight tracks being built on just a single riff that's repeated for the entirety of the piece with the drumming containing no fills or rolls whatsoever. That might sound unappealing to some but this technique creates that old-school extreme metal atmosphere that I miss so much & would no doubt have an influence on bands like Darkthrone who would utilize a similar technique on their upcoming releases.
The lo-fi production sees the intros suddenly giving way to the proper songs in a ridiculously jerky fashion with the intention apparently being to leave the impression that the tape was produced by a bunch of incompetent goblins & if that was the case then Von have no doubt succeeded. The vocals of guitarist Goat (also of Von Goat) sit more in the death metal space than they do a black metal one but the dodgy use of echo effects is certainly in line with the black metal model & this sees Von drawing comparisons with bands like Beherit, Blasphemy & Profanatica more than to your more pure black metal acts.
In truth, "Satanic Blood" does contain its fair share of flatter moments but the better material carries the release well enough to see it just managing to drag a respectable rating out of me. Opener "Devil Pig" is a pretty engaging way to kick things off but it's the doomy "Veadtuck" & the blasphemous "Christ Fire" that have always been my picks of the bunch. Regardless of what your personal song preference is though, there can be no doubt that "Satanic Blood" was an important release for the American underground & it's certainly worth a few listens for black metal completists, even if it's far from essential from a creative point of view.
3.5/5
Currently going through the Hoplites albums. Might check out the other Liu Zhenyang projects later.
After hearing the new cabinet and the Hoplites catalog, I've edited my top 100 black metal albums again, but I'm going through Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia since I already kicked Enthrone Darkness Triumphant out.
When I get back into metal, I've got to find one or two more symphonic black acts that will absolutely blow me away. Why? Here's my top 10
1. Emperor - Prometheus
2. Emperor - Emperial Live Ceremony
3. Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
4. Summoning - Stronghold
5. Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
6. Limbonic Art - Moon in the Scorpio
7. Antestor - The Forsaken
8. Cradle of Filth - Dusk and Her Embrace
9. Emperor - IX Equilibrium
10. Abigail Williams - In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns
So five of my top 10 are Emperor, and four of those are in my top 5. Now you know why I need a couple others.
Above Aurora - Myriad Woes (2024)
Above Aurora are a duo hailing from Poznan in Poland, comprising drummer "O" (Oktawiusz Marusiak) and vocalist, guitarist and bassist, "V" whose only other known alias is "KW". Forming in 2015, "Myriad Woes" is the duo's third full-length, although my own experience with the pair only encompasses their 2016 debut, Onwards Desolation, with it's blend of black and doom metal very much appealing to me.
Myriad Woes kicks off with it's longest track, the haunting "Inner Whispers" which is, essentially, an instrumental, although it utilises several voice samples of people discussing serious mental health-related issues. It takes a number of twists and turns throughout it's eleven minutes from an introspectively ominous opening post-rock build-up, laced through with mounting doom-laden tension which ultimately resolves into a blasting black metal explosion of violence. It is an incredibly thoughtfully constructed track which makes for one hell of an impactful opener and leaves the listener with decidedly disturbed emotions (well it did for me anyway). Second track, Spark, is a much shorter, more straightforward affair, with a mid-tempo doomy riff dominating and V's hoarse bark providing vocal accompaniment, before kicking into high gear for the run in. It's a decent track, and after the emotional wringer of Inner Whispers it allows the listener to get back on an even keel emotionally, although following such a titanic track it feels a little slight and almost a bit disappointing, to my ears.
Elsewhere, Above Aurora like to draw on a couple of different influences with the "bounce" of sections of "Horns of Dread" giving it a vaguely post-punk feel at times and the occasionally jangling guitar work sounding somewhat goth-influenced. I think it is also fair to point out that the doom metal component is not as overt as previously, meaning Myriad Woes isn't a genuine black doom hybrid, but rather the doominess manifests as an ominousness of atmosphere and adds heft to the black metal riffs which beefs up the overall sound. So, if pushed, I would summarise it as a mid-tempo black metal album with a particularly dark and oppressive atmosphere, laced with the occasional haunting melody that also gives vent to aggressive outbursts of blastbeat-driven violence. It is actually quite a brief album, it's five tracks amass a mere thirty-three minutes runtime, but it is so proficiently put together that no moments are wasted or superfluous and come album's end the sensation, certainly that I experienced, is one of having listened to a very substantial release that has delved into the darker recesses of the human psyche and laid them bare. Above Aurora have illustrated here that it is possible to put together a thoughtful and affecting black metal album that can still utilise melodic passages and doesn't have to rely on dissonance and avant-garde stylings to create unease in the listener, but rather achieve it through skillful songwriting and atmosphere creation. I am very much impressed at Above Aurora's development since the 2016 debut and will endeavour to keep an eye on them going forward.
4.5/5
If any of our The North members haven't seen this amazing documentary on Norwegian black metal then I'd strongly urge you to rectify that situation as it's essential viewing.
The Ruins of Beverast - The Furious Waves of Damnation (2003)
Genres: Black
OK, so way late into my exploration of The Ruins of Beverast, I found out about this demo release that I totally glossed over on the RYM page. It was only a half-hour, so why not blow through it? Who knows what's gonna happen? it could be a wild ride like many other RoB albums, right?
TOTALLY wrong. When they said "demo," they meant "demo." This really isn't anything more than a standard practice album that says absolutely nothing about this guy's future potential. I've heard early Solstafir demos that did the exact same thing, but were still better. This is largely because the fuzzy production only allows for so much to really be heard. Throughout the half hour there were really no surprises of any kind. Sure, we got some decent and some OK riffs, but I really don't see any reason for this album to exist otherwise.
The Ruins of Bevarast - Takitum Tootem! (EP)
Genres: Tribal Ambient, Atmo-Black
The Ruins of Beverast marathon #7 - Takitum Tootem!
OK, so I'm reading about this album on RYM, and it tags the EP as "tribal ambient" and "black metal." So here I am thinking, "OK, this is gonna be one of the coolest fucking things ever, or a mess." The ratings don't look so good on RYM, but that didn't stop me from checking out their demo. I had a few theories as to what this album would sound like, but I didn't care which one was right. I just wanted to jump right into it after I had gotten that chronologically far in RoB's discography.
Track one of two: Takitum Tootem! (Wardance). It starts out with a dark ambient intro with mild tribalism that evolves into a long black metal riff. The riff itself has a very metal energy about it that isn't so much "evil" as it is "cool" and "dark." Tribal drumming rides the whole rest of the track. Unfortunately, it stays that way for 75% of the song with very few meaningful shifts. I'm surprised at RoB for doing that.
Track two: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun: This one gets right into the weird tribal atmospheres and instrumentation. It's practically invoking images of fighting zombies in an ancient temple. The atmosphere and instrumentation are PERFECT. Around three minutes in, we start to see occasional ghostly vocals like something out of a Metroid game. Black metal guitars are also used sparingly at first for build-up. It speeds up at the four minute mark, turning into pure tribal black metal as guitars overlap each other level upon level like the ending act of Nine Inch Nails' Closer. It stays that way for a moment before drowning down to a dungeon ambient tune that carries over the Metroid mysticism, going through various Lovecraftian sound effects before returning to the main riff of the beginning, but with more "technological" aspects. Genius moves on their part. Now it sounds EXACTLY like something out of a Metroid game. It ends with two more segments: one final blast of black tribalism, and a weirdass outro with what sounds like some awkward animal noises for a surreal effect.
I certainly wasn't disappointed with this one. This otherworldly EP carries the surreal vibes of Metroid, Cthulhu and even some Juno Reactor songs. The first track was decent on its own, but the second track is one of the coolest ambient tracks I've heard. This is easily a keeper.
83/100.
Satyricon - "The Forest is my Throne" demo (1993)
I revisited this early Norwegian black metal demo that I picked up during my tape trading days this week & found that it's maintained a fair amount of its appeal too. Satyricon were still in their formative stages at this point with their sound being very much the sum of what was going on around them however they clearly already understood the key ingredients that make up good black metal. The band was only a three-piece at the time with 17 year-old front man Satyr being pretty much the creative force behind this demo. He's ably supported by 17 year-old guitarist Håvard Jørgensen (Ulver/Dold Vorde Ens Navn) & legendary drummer Frost (1349/Gorgoroth/Keep of Kalessin/Zyklon-B) who puts in a pretty tame performance by his modern-day standards here at just 19 years of age.
"The Forest is My Throne" is a three-track affair that includes two raw & lo-fi black numbers in "Black Winds" & the title track as well as an early version of the dark folk piece "Min hyllest til vinterland (Skogsvandring i mørket)" that appeared on Satyricon's debut album "Dark Medieval Times" later on 63.the same year. Although I wouldn't suggest that any of this material is essential listening, it's all more than acceptable, particularly for such a young bunch of kids. You should be able to pick up the clear influence of Bathory, "A Blaze in the Northern Sky"-period Darkthrone & "Wrath of the Tyrants"-era Emperor in the riff structures & atmospherics.
For fans of Taake, Emperor, Darkthrone.
3.5/5
Satyricon/Enslaved - "The Forest Is My Throne/Yggdrasill" compilation (1995)
For those of you who thought my brief overviews of the early Norwegian demo tapes were interesting enough to explore further, I'd highly recommend going for this bootleg over the original versions of Satyricon & Enslaved's tapes because it includes a couple of bonus tracks that are amongst the best material on the CD which gives it a little more value.
3.5/5
Impaled Nazarene - "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." (1993)
The early Finnish black metal scene was a particularly dark place to be back in the early 1990's. For one reason or another they had a habit of producing some of the most raw & evil examples of the black metal type known to man at the time with artists like Beherit, Archgoat, Belial, The Lord Diabolus & Black Crucifixion all pushing a darker & more blasphemous sound than that of their neighbours. Impaled Nazarene fit into that environment very comfortably & arguably could only have come about because of the activity around them. I first picked up a copy of their debut album "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." in a tiny record store called Rock 'n' Roll Warehouse which was located in the famous George Street Cinema complex in the Sydney CBD very shortly after it was released. I had a close relationship with the guy that worked behind the counter & he generally kept me abreast of releases that would fit my taste profile. On this occasion he implored me to purchase Impaled Nazarene's debut album, saying that it was one of the most savage example of the black metal sound he'd yet had the pleasure of hearing. I eagerly complied with his request & ran home to find that he wasn't wrong. It was hard to take the Fins seriously though as it seemed on the surface that much of their image was tongue-in-cheek & that element always saw me struggling to fully commit, despite seeing a lot of positives in the Impaled Nazarene sound. It wouldn't stop me from purchasing their next two full-lengths on release though & I've continued to keep abreast of each subsequent record over the years, if only to see my curiosity being kept in check.
The week saw me giving "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." a few spins for the first time in years & finding that I could still recall almost the entire run time which is a strong sign that I gave it thrashing back in the day. Looking back now, I find it hard to understand why Impaled Nazarene weren't dragged in under the war metal banner that so many of their countrymen were because there's as much war metal on offer as their is genuine black metal in my opinion. You've got the gratuitous Satanic references, the grindcore influence, the death metal production... Hell, you've even got a three minute orgy of demonic bestiality & if that's not a war metal trait then I don't know what is. If you put aside the blatant attempts to stir up attention through obviously antagonistic lyrical content & imagery though, there's actually a lot to like about the band's sound. While it may be very basic, it's also super-tight with the performances all being spot on. I particularly enjoy the solid drumming of Kimmo Luttinen as they offer an impressive amount of power & control while the vocals of his brother Mika are viciously confronting.
"Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." kicks off in very strong form but unfortunately the B side sees the quality levels dropping a touch.That flaw wasn't enough to see me dropping my rating below an impressive four star rating though & I feel that the Impaled Nazarene sound is probably a little better suited to my current taste profile than it was the one I was still building as a seventeen year old when I first encountered it. This has left me wondering whether I might see some of their other early releases like "Ugra-Karma" achieving similar scores so a revisit is certainly on the cards there. If you're able to accept a black metal release that doesn't take itself overly seriously yet still manages to conjure up a bestial blasphemy of blasting blackened war metal then you may want to give "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." a few spins. Just don't expect to find anything terribly deep as the Impaled Nazarene model is similar to the classic punk rock aesthetic they're influenced by i.e. it's simple, in-your-face & a little immature & snotty.
For fans of Sadistik Exekution, Impiety & Belial.
4/5
Havohej - "Dethrone the Son of God" (1993)
When I recently took a detailed look at the 1993 releases I needed to fill historical rating gaps for, the debut album from New York black metallers Havohej was definitely one of the less appealing records to appear in the list. It was the release that first made me aware of the US solo act shortly after it was released but I could vaguely recall finding it to be a pretty flat experience at the time & I honestly haven't felt the need to revisit it since, despite having investigated a few of Havohej's subsequent releases over the years. "Dethrone the Son of God" seems to have developed somewhat of a cult following over the years though so I thought it was worth taking another look at it, if only to satisfy my obsessive urge for completism.
Havohej (or "Jehovah" backwards) is the solo project of Profanatica front man & drummer Paul Ledney (also formerly of US death metal legends Incantation) who handles all of the instruments on this release with the help of Profanatica guitarist John Gelso. The cover artwork is the first obstacle that you'll need to overcome as it challenges for the worst in black metal history. The music contained within is certainly better than the artwork would have you believe but is still nothing to write home about. It's a very short album with its fifteen tracks racing past in just 28 minutes. There's a strong death metal influence evident with some songs containing what are essentially death metal riffs but Ledney's blackened snarl invariably sees me wanting to tie the record to black metal nonetheless. The level of musicianship isn't fantastic but then I don't think that's the point of a release like this one which seems to be targeted more at your kvlt black metal elitist demographic than anyone else. In fact, the beginning & end of some of the tracks leave the impression of a tape recorder having been triggered to start recording a track in mid performance, not unlike some of Darkthrone's recording techniques at the time.
"Dethrone the Son of God" kicks off in reasonable fashion with the first few tracks all being more than acceptable but the quality levels start to become pretty inconsistent from that point on. I wouldn't say that any of the metal numbers are terrible but there are four or five that sound pretty flat & do very little for me. I enjoy the sections of the album that see Havohej slowing things down a bit to create an eerie atmosphere that's similar to Mayhem's more down-tempo passages like the legendary climax of "Freezing Moon". The big elephant in the room is the closing title track though which sees Ledney screaming a succession of immature blasphemic obscenities in acapella, a task that leaves him sounding incredibly naive & silly, even for a still very young US black metal scene. It kinda sums up Havohej's debut really as there's not an ounce of sophistication about it. It's all very obvious & purely surface level which leaves the listener with the option to simply take it or leave it. Personally, I think I'm gonna have to go with the latter but can appreciate the dark atmosphere of the stronger material (see "Raping of Angels Part II" & album highlight "Fucking of Sacred Assholes" which literally only uses a single note but manages to draw me in through some well placed rhythmic variations).
For fans of Profanatica, Demoncy & Bestial Summoning.
3/5
Beherit - "Drawing Down the Moon" (1993)
I've had a very long & stormy relationship with seminal Finnish black metal exponents Beherit's 1993's "Drawing Down The Moon" debut album over the years. It first came to my attention through the tape trading scene of the time (along with Beherit's three demo tapes & "Dawn of Satan's Millennium" E.P.) & I have to admit that I struggled with it initially. In fact, I can vividly recall conversations with Ben where we questioned the value of Beherit in general but recent months have seen me giving a second chance to many releases that I'd previously cast aside, often finding that their value became apparent with a little dedicated attention, & that's certainly been the case with this release which I now see as somewhat of an artistic triumph. Sure, Beherit may have some obvious failings that would have seen me tossing them in the "none of my business" bin with great vigor in my youth but closer attention has shown that the youngsters embraced those failings & have somehow managed to present them as positive characteristics of what is one of the more unique releases of its time.
Beherit's early demos & E.P.'s have gone on to be claimed as having been highly influential on the young war metal scene that had begun to boil away following the release of the Blasphemy records but its inaccurate to say that "Drawing Down The Moon" has much to do with war metal. This is more of an ultra-primitive take on black metal in my opinion with the lo-fi, demo-quality production job & loose performances seemingly having been intentionally embraced in order to contribute to a very deliberate result. There are certainly moments where the band take things too far & end up making a mess of things (see "Down There..." & "Werewolf, Semen & Blood") but when they manage to nail the sound they're going for it can honestly make for some of purest black metal you're likely to find. Many of these moments involve repetition & a more restrained tempo that lures the listener into almost a trance-like state with simple First Wave-inspired riffs working to give the music an authenticity that I find hard to resist as an old-school extreme metal fan.
The production job is obviously an obstacle for many metalheads but I find it to be kinda endearing these days to be honest. Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance's guitars are clearly too low in the mix but this failing is made up for by Black Jesus' huge bass sound that might as well be a heavily down-tuned guitar & when the two combine for a doomy Celtic Frost-influenced riff I find myself struggling not to jump on the train. I can easily see the influence that Beherit have had on countryment Archgoat in that respect actually. Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance's whispery vocal delivery is also a major talking point for some punters & there's no doubt that they're too high in the mix but I don't agree that they sound childish or immature. To my ears, they sound positively evil most of the time & are one of the highlights of the album. There's an unbridled insanity to them that really gets to me & it suits the primitive instrumentation really well. Are the performances loose? Sure, but it's not as extreme as it's made out to be. I mean, these guys were almost virtuosos compared to early Sodom & no one seems to mind with records like "In the Sign of Evil", do they?
At the end of the day, a record like "Drawing Down The Moon" will always be divisive but I get the impression that it was always intended to be. It was made for a limited demographic of hardcore extreme metal fans that are obsessed with the more underground side of the scene & I'm pleased to see that I can still play in that space after all these years. The ritualistic aspect of the album offers me genuine appeal too with the ambient interludes (like the wonderful "Nuclear Girl" which I utterly adore) playing a major role in the overall package & the artistic component being more important than any level of precision or structure. The brilliant closer "Lord of Shadows & Goldenwood" is a clear example of this & sits amongst my very favourite metal tracks of the period with its trio of different atmospheres combining to create a transcendent ending to a record that can be described as much more of an "experience" than your average black metal release. Love it or hate it, every fan of underground black metal owes it to themselves to at least have an awareness of "Drawing Down The Moon".
For fans of Archgoat, Von & Mystifier.
4/5
Rotting Christ - "Thy Mighty Contract" (1993)
Greek black metal stalwarts Rotting Christ first came to my attention in the early 1990's via their 1991 "Passage to Arcturo" E.P. &, shortly afterwards, their 1993 debut album "Thy Mighty Contract" & 1989 demo tape "Satanas Tedeum". I have to admit that my initial experiences with Rotting Christ didn't quite live up to the hype though if I'm being honest & I'd have to wait until I bought their excellent 1994 sophomore album "Non serviam" on CD the following year to be fully convinced. But all of the recent discussion in the Metal Academy forums about the most "important" black metal releases in history has seen my interest being revived which has resulted in me finally giving "Thy Mighty Contract" another chance to impress me all these years later.
To start the conversation, I'm gonna make a couple of big, bold statements. The first one is that, despite what you may read elsewhere, Rotting Christ's debut album isn't a melodic black metal record. It may often be touted as the very FIRST melodic black metal release but there is very really little to link it to what that niche subgenre would shortly become. You won't find any complex tapestries of guitar harmonies here with the melodic component being reserved for some fairly restrained single-guitar themes that have a lot more to do with Paradise Lost than they do with Dissection. In fact, there's not actually all that much material that I'd describe as being stereotypical black metal included at all really. There's just as much death metal, thrash metal, doom metal & heavy metal here in my opinion & that sees the album being much more closely aligned with the First Wave of Black Metal than it is with the notorious Norwegian Second Wave. The riffs remind me very much of Swiss black metallers Samael in that they're simply constructed with the tempo kept predominantly in the mid-range & a heavy emphasis being placed on palm-muted, down-picked chugging. The vocals aren't the most stereotypical you'll find in the black metal space either, sitting just as comfortably in the death metal space as they do the black metal one. Ultimately, I'd suggest that it's the band's clear allegiances to the occult that are the primary factors in early Rotting Christ's affiliation with metal's most evil genre, along with the atmospheres they're able to create through the occasional use of keyboards.
The tracklisting is a touch inconsistent with a couple of flat numbers included amongst the eight songs on offer. Neither of "Fgmenth, Thy Gift" or "His Sleeping Majesty" do much for me at all but these blemishes are made a little more impactful by the lack of genuine highlight tracks with only closer "The Fourth Knight of Revelation" delivering a standout performance. The rest of the material is all reasonably enjoyable but it rarely achieves anything like the peaks you'd generally expect from a seminal extreme metal recording & I feel that Rotting Christ were still very much a work in progress. "Thy Mighty Contract" certainly isn't a bad record & I feel that I've been overly critical of it in the past but I simply can't see it being all that important in the annals of black metal history, particularly given that it's borderline in its alignment to the genre to begin with.
For fans of Varathron, Thou Art Lord & Samael.
3.5/5
Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger (1994)
If I was asked to name the one album that epitomises black metal for me, then Transilvanian Hunger would be my reply. For this, Darkthrone's fourth full-length and the third instalment in their "unholy trilogy", Fenriz wrote all the music for the album and performed and recorded all the instruments himself on four-track in his home studio setup, suitably named Necrohell Studio by the band. He also wrote the lyrics for the first four tracks, with Varg Vikernes contributing lyrics for tracks five to eight. At this point Darkthrone were a bit up in the air as guitarist Zephyrous had left after the release of Under A Funeral Moon and Fenriz and Nocturno Culto weren't even living in the same town. So Fenriz wrote and recorded the album on his own and then sent it to NC and asked him if he wanted to perform the vocals which, obviously, he did.
The first thing that strikes the listener is the sound of the album. The production is the absolute dictionary definition of the necro sound that so many black metal bands have striven towards. The raw, stripped-back sound has a savage iciness that, for my money, has often been copied, but has never been equalled. The decaying frostiness of the production isn't all there is to Transilvanian Hunger however, because this is not only the finest collection of black metal riffs ever committed to disc, it may well be the greatest album of metal riffs of any colour, full-stop. Fenriz' genius here is in writing riffs that are simple, memorably melodic and, yes, even catchy, but he delivers them in such a way, mainly thanks to the production, that they take on an inherent "evilness" that epitomises early second wave black metal better than anything else I have heard. Another small, but very clever, touch is how there is a degree of tension built by the pauses between tracks which are just a bit too long and discomforting. When it comes down to it, Transilvanian Hunger is quite simple. There is very little by way of tempo variation and the drums and bass don't do anything fancy, no complicated bass runs or drum fills are required because the riffs and to a certain extent the production, are the real focus here. Of course, Nocturno Culto puts in a great turn on vocals and his performance perfectly complements the tone of the instrumentation, exuding evil contempt with every cracked, sneering shriek.
The album was not without controversy upon it's release however. The original version's back cover sporting the legend "True Norwegian Black Metal" also had the expression "Norsk Arisk Black Metal" ("Norwegian Aryan black metal"). The band also issued a very unfortunate press release concerning the album, containing a phrase I have no intention of repeating here. Thankfully, Fenriz quickly repudiated any connection to nazi philosophy and has since distanced himself even further by calling these comments disgusting and pointing out that many of us are assholes when young and say and do things we are later not proud of. The penultimate track, As Flittermice as Satans Spys also ends with the backwards-masked message proclaiming "In the name of God, let the churches burn", which I am sure wouldn't have gone down well in Norway at the time.
All this adds up to an album that can rightfully claim a place as a truly important release in the history of metal and is, for me, the most succinct expression of black metal's second wave, standing like a towering giant over the eviscerated corpses of any and all pretenders.
5/5
Does anyone have any other examples to recommend of the raw second wave sound I may not have heard, because revisiting this and the other early Darkthrone albums has reminded me just how much I really love this shit?!
Does anyone have any other examples to recommend of the raw second wave sound I may not have heard, because revisiting this and the other early Darkthrone albums has reminded me just how much I really love this shit?!
Have you tried Judas Iscariot on for size Sonny? He had a similar sound to classic Darkthrone.
Does anyone have any other examples to recommend of the raw second wave sound I may not have heard, because revisiting this and the other early Darkthrone albums has reminded me just how much I really love this shit?!
Have you tried Judas Iscariot on for size Sonny? He had a similar sound to classic Darkthrone.
I don't think I have ever heard him, so will definitely check him out later. Thanks for the rec, Daniel.
...checked out his Heaven in Flames album and I really enjoyed it in it's own right even though the synths made it more polished-sounding than I was looking for. The penultimate track, "Spill the Blood of the Lamb" was more in line with my expectations and is my favourite here. I'll try his earlier stuff out and see if it is more in the vein of "Spill the Blood of the Lamb". He does have exactly the kind of cracked, evil-sounding voice I love in my black metal, though and his vocals really hit the spot.
Does anyone have any other examples to recommend of the raw second wave sound I may not have heard, because revisiting this and the other early Darkthrone albums has reminded me just how much I really love this shit?!
Have you tried Judas Iscariot on for size Sonny? He had a similar sound to classic Darkthrone.
I don't think I have ever heard him, so will definitely check him out later. Thanks for the rec, Daniel.
...checked out his Heaven in Flames album and I really enjoyed it in it's own right even though the synths made it more polished-sounding than I was looking for. The penultimate track, "Spill the Blood of the Lamb" was more in line with my expectations and is my favourite here. I'll try his earlier stuff out and see if it is more in the vein of "Spill the Blood of the Lamb". He does have exactly the kind of cracked, evil-sounding voice I love in my black metal, though and his vocals really hit the spot.
Checked out Judas Iscariot's first album, The Cold Earth Slept Below... and even though it is a wildly inconsistent release, it does have exactly the vibe I was looking for. For what it's worth, I think Heaven in Flames is the better album, but the debut does hit that raw black metal spot more effectively.
Satyricon - "Dark Medieval Times" (1993)
Norwegian black metal legends Satyricon & I go way back. Way back to this, their 1993 debut album in fact. From the very first time I heard opening track "Walk the Path of Sorrow" on underground metal radio programming I was hooked on this band that would go on to become somewhat of an icon in a soon to be saturated Scandinavian black metal market. That experience would see me seeking out whatever material I could find from Satyricon in the tape trading scene & would subsequently lead to me purchasing Satyricon's next two CDs upon release. But... despite always finding Satyricon's music to be greatly enjoyable, I must admit that I've never regarded them as a tier one black metal player alongside the Burzum's & Darkthrone's. Instead, they've always seemed like one of the leading players in a very solid second tier & that's something that I intended to challenge when going into my first revisit of their first full-length "Dark Medieval Times" in a while, particularly after reading Ben's five-star review recently.
It's easy to forget that the early Second Wave of Black Metal days still saw a band like Satyricon being a deeply underground act & the original cover art that was utilized for "Dark Medieval Times" provides further proof of that fact with the image looking not too unlike a schoolboy's dodgy hand-drawn art project. This is a shame really because that image is not a good representation of the musical maturity the album contains within in my opinion. The record was self-produced by seventeen year old band leader Satyr too which is not only fairly surprising but provides even greater perspective on where the Norwegian scene was positioned at the time & just how quickly it would explode onto the world stage over the next twelve months. While no doubt sounding suitably primitive, Satyr's production job gives "Dark Medieval Times" the aura & atmosphere it required in order to create a dark fantasy world full of frostbitten landscapes & unholy gatherings.
Satyricon's lineup had changed a fair bit over the first couple of years of their existence with Satyr (Wongraven/Storm) now being the only full-time member remaining from the four-piece configuration that recorded their 1992 self-titled demo tape. Guitarist Lemarchand (Dold Vorde Ens Navn/Ulver) is still there although he's listed as a guest contributor rather than a full-time member. The addition of infamous drummer Frost (1349/Gorgoroth/Keep of Kalessin/Zyklon-B) at the expense of original skinsman Exhurtum (Aura Noir/Infernö/Ved Buens Ende/Cadaver/Dødheimsgard/Ulver/Virus) for the band's second demo tape "The Forest is My Throne" was a masterstroke & may well have been the turning point that saw that particular release taking a noticeable step up along with the tragectory of Satyricon's careers while original bassist Wargod didn't last too long & was long gone by that stage as well. It's this partnership of Satyr & Frost that would become the basis for Satyricon's sound for the remainder of their careers & also provides the clear highlights of "Dark Medieval Times" along with the contribution of session keyboardist Torden.
The band's first demo didn't exactly set the world on fire & it would be the "The Forest is My Throne" tape that would first see the underground scene's ears perking up. I recently revisited that early cassette (a release that I owned in a bootleg CD version during the middle of the 1990's) & found that it already offered enough of what made those early Satyricon albums so great to keep me interested. "Dark Medieval Times" would see Satyr & Frost taking the next logical step though & would represent a commanding show of strength for a group of musicians that were still so young with Frost being just twenty years of age at the time of release. Satyricon's debut full-length is a highly atmospheric release that beautifully captures the icy Norwegian Winter & it's spectacular landscapes in musical form, particularly during the more keyboard-heavy sections of the album. In fact, I think there's a reasonable case for a dual tagging with the more targetted atmospheric black metal subgenre here with the more effective song-writing largely pushing out into more atmospheric territory & a strong folk component being incorporated in some of the pieces. The four-&-a-half minute folk piece "Min hyllest til vinterland" is the only demo track included & I think it's benefited from the additional time in the studio as I tend to prefer the album version. The remaining six pieces see the band hitting on a more consistently impressive level of blackened creativity.
The tracklisting opens with comfortably the best piece on the album in the wonderful "Walk the Path of Sorrow", a song that still sits up there with my favourite Satyricon songs to this day. Satyr's evil vocals are a real highlight of not only this track but the album as a whole. It's been interesting to confirm my long-standing suspicion that the remainder of the record struggles to match its opening track though as I can't say that I find any of the other six pieces to be particularly classic. There are no doubt classic sections (such as the transcendental slow parts of closer "Taakeslottet") but I don't think Satyricon have managed to pull together another whole song that ticks all of my boxes here & that's largely why I've never rated "Dark Medieval Times" as highly as Ben has. The second & third tracks (i.e. the title track & "Skyggedans") see the quality level being brought right down to merely being acceptable after the brilliant start to the album & leave the remaining four tracks with the task of pushing my affection back up to four-star level. There's no doubt that the potential was there with the best parts of the album being nothing short of breathtaking but I can't deny that there are a few less mature periods where the band can't quite pull it all together in as professional a fashion.
Don't get me wrong, "Dark Medieval Times" is still an essential release for anyone wanting to indulge in the Second Wave of Black Metal. It's doesn't, however, compete with the finest work to come out of Norway at the time & I feel that Satyricon's best work was yet to come on their next couple of albums. I intend on revisiting those over the course of the next few months so it'll be interesting to see if my pre-existing opinions on those two records have remained intact. As it stands though, "Dark Medieval Times" is an excellent example of the inspired creativity of a relatively small group of young individuals from a faraway land that managed to captivate the global extreme metal scene like few others before them.
For fans of Taake & early Emperor/Burzum.
4/5
Enslaved - "Hordanes Land" E.P. (1993)
The Norwegian Second Wave of Black Metal hit my teenage life like a tonne of bricks back in 1992. I'd already been a fan of First Wave black metal bands like Bathory, Hellhammer & Sarcofago for some time by that stage but the likes of Darkthrone & Burzum took my fascination with the dark majesty of this sound to an all-new level that compared favourably with my metal genre of choice at time i.e. death metal. I'd soon find myself seeking out the more underground material the black metal scene had to offer & in large quantities too, locking myself away in a completely blackened bedroom with my headphones on while fantasizing about life in an icy forest of trolls. This would be the time that I'd discover the now legendary Enslaved after I picked up their split CD with fellow Norwegian superstars Emperor in late 1993, a release that only increased my appetite for this style of music. Before long I would find myself seeking out Enslaved's early demo recordings in order to further quench my thirst but it would be the "Hordanes Land" E.P. that represented the band's coming of age as artists & would signal the start of their rise to the top of the black metal ranks. I've revisited it many times over the years but this will be the first time I've attempted to rate or review this release which I know so well after all this time.
The "Hordanes Land" E.P. is a three-song affair that spans just over half an hour with each track being of significant length. It was recorded during September & October of 1992 at Lydloftet, Ølen with the assistance of a trio of producers in Reinhardt Toresen, K. B. Bjørkhaug & K. Ulland, none of which had made a name for themselves prior to this release. The result of those sessions is instantly recognizable as the classic Norwegian black metal sound though & it puts Enslaved in the discussion as far as the earlier protagonists of the Norwegian movement. Enslaved's lineup was only a trio at the time but the three pieces they'd produce were all very ambitious & expansive for a group of young musicians, none of them having reached their nineteenth birthday at the time with guitarist Ivar Bjørnson (Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik/Borknagar/Mysticum/Trinacria) amazingly being just fourteen when "Hordanes Land" was recorded. The title of the E.P., which is taken from the old Norwegian language, can be translated as "Land of the Hordes" & is a very good depiction of the adventure & majesty that can be found within.
The early Enslaved sound in much less progressive than the one they'd go on to create in later years but was still highly sophisticated for the early black metal movement with the song structures all taking a number of turns in a variety of different directions. There are a few drastic changes that can feel a little jerky at times but it's not a major issue. The epic thirteen-minute opening track "Slaget i skogen bortenfor" is by far the most significant of the three inclusions & was comfortably my favourite song on the split CD with Emperor that received such regular play time with me as a late teenager. In fact, it's the reason that I've always held the Enslaved side of that split CD in slightly higher regard than the Emperor one, despite it being of a similar quality in many respects. I adore the blasting drums of Trym (Emperor/Zyklon) & their combination with bassist Grutle Kjellson's tortured shrieks & Bjørnson's wonderful use of keyboards was highly influential at the time. It's also a feature of the split release with Emperor employing a similar approach on their self-titled. The use of acoustic guitars gives this track an organic feel that simply oozes of the cold Norwegian landscape of snow-covered forests & leaves an accurate depiction of just how influential Enslaved were on how the Second Wave sound developed over the coming years. It's not a huge stretch to be able to predict the more progressive leanings that Enslaved would take with their sound in the future given just how ambitious this early material was for such an immature trio of kids. The other two pieces are a touch less expansive but are still as overt in their creativity. The second track "Allfǫðr Oðinn" appeared on Enslaved's 1992 "Yggdrasill" demo tape where I quite liked it but here we see it being taken to another level. The early part of the song sounds noticeably less sophisticated & epic than "Slaget i skogen bortenfor" but at the two-minute mark the band hit on a classic Norwegian tremolo-picked melodic guitar theme that takes things into the stratosphere &, in doing so, predicts so many of the great black metal that was to come over the remainder of the decade. The song-writing is a little patchy but this theme alone plays such a significant role in the way the song plays out that it single-handedly manages to drag "Allfǫðr Oðinn" into very solid territory. The ten-minute closer "Balfǫr" is comfortably the weaker of the three inclusions in my opinion although I do still enjoy it. The use of keyboards is a little cheesier on this one & it's a little more melodic & a touch less dark than the other two pieces too although the use of acoustic guitar is very effective & things ramp up significantly when Trym gets his blast beats on.
Perhaps "Hordanes Land" doesn't represent the peak of Enslaved's creative journey but it was still very much their coming of age as artists & is especially impressive when you consider the relative immaturity of the three musicians involved. I'm particularly amazed at the scope of musicality that's been drawn out of Bjørnson here as his contribution often sounds incredibly mature for a child of just fourteen years old. It's really no wonder that we'd see him pushing Enslaved into my progressive territories in the future as he still had a whole world of musical exploration ahead of him. It's interesting to ponder on how he came to have such a strong understanding of the black metal ethos at such a young age too. I'd imagine that he must have had some older & fairly well-informed influences around him during the previous few years. Enslaved would return with their debut album "Vikingligr veldi" the following year, a release that I still regard as their finest black metal work to this day, but "Hordanes Land" really wasn't all that far behind when you look at it in the modern day. I'm not sure that I've ever regarded Enslaved as a tier one black metal producer but this is a damn fine first-up effort nonetheless & should be an essential inclusion in any black metal fans collection.
For fans of Helheim, Emperor & early Borknagar.
4/5
Emperor - "Emperor" E.P. (1993)
As with Enslaved's "Hordanes Land" E.P. that I reviewed only yesterday, the first proper release from Norwegian symphonic black metal gods Emperor would represent my earliest encounter with them & would come off the back of my having purchased the split CD that included both releases some time towards the end of 1993. You may recall me mentioning that I owned an original copy of Emperor's "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo tape from 1992 but that purchase wouldn't come about until 1994 & was off the back of my having gained a great deal of enjoyment out of the "Emperor" E.P. first. I can still recall my first impressions of Emperor whose sound differed from the rest of the Norwegian scene in several ways, at least it did by the time this E.P. was recorded as you can already hear elements of the symphonic black metal sound they'd pioneer creeping into their sonic arsenal here as well as hints at their later progressive tendencies. I remember being struck by just how classically-inspired their compositional work seemed & how they managed to use melody so well i.e. without losing the inherent darkness that was required for good black metal to work. There was no doubt a romantic element to it that borrowed from the great gothic art of the ages too. It's time to reassess the E.P. with fresh ears now though. Let's see if it's stood up to the test of time.
The "Emperor" E.P. contains just the four tracks & spans just over twenty minutes in duration. I've always loved the cover artwork which went a long way to seeing me purchase the Emperor/Enslaved split CD to begin with to be honest. It's so simple yet so effective as the blood red logo stands out boldly against the black & white imagery which is nothing short of spooky & represents the majesty of the music contains very well. The band entered Studio S to record the E.P. in December 1992 & I believe this may have been their first time in a studio as the "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo was a home 4-track recording as far as I'm aware. It's interesting that Emperor elected to produce the record themselves then actually but perhaps they couldn't afford to engage a proper producer at the time. The result of those sessions sounds stereotypically Norwegian though which may or may not have been intentional. They achieved that classic higher register guitar tone with all of the bass & mid-range frequencies having been removed, although I do have to admit that I would have liked the guitars to have been higher in the mix. The vocals are also quite low in the mix which would become something of a trademark for Emperor & for a lot of black metal in general as it allows them to appear more otherworldly, almost like they're the cries some sort of demonic entity from the very bowels of Hell itself. The bass & drums are more up-front while the keyboards play a prominent role which would become the key to Emperor's identity over the next few years. In fact, while it may be easy to criticize the fact that the guitars sit a little behind the keyboards & allow them to play the role of the protagonist, it's also worth noting the influence that this had on black metal in general with a huge array of bands appearing who used the guitars in more of a textural way while the symphonics played the starring role.
Emperor's lineup had changed a little from the "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo tape. Samoth (Scum/The Wretched End/Arcturus/Gorgoroth/Satyricon/Thou Shalt Suffer/Zyklon/Zyklon-B) had swapped instruments from drums to guitar which was a positive move as he was hardly a superstar behind the kit & it allowed the band to recruit a more talented performer in the infamous Faust (Blood Tsunami/Djevel/Aborym/Thorns) who would stay with Emperor until his arrest for murder a few months after the release of the EP. By that stage he'd already had the chance to record the stunning "In The Nightside Eclipse" album which would ensure his place in extreme metal folklore. While indulging in the sophistication & creativity of this release it's fairly easy to forget that Emperor were just a bunch of 17 & 18 year olds at the time it was recorded. Just let that sink in for a minute because it's pretty amazing when you take into account the groundbreaking sound they'd created. Love it or hate it, Emperor's sound, even at this early stage, sounds like no one else that came before them & set the tone for an entire strand of the black metal movement that would never manage to equal them in all the years since. Less surprising perhaps is the wide-reaching impact that the various members have had on the international metal scene, particularly front man Ihsahn (Thou Shalt Suffer/Hardingrock/Peccatum/Zyklon-B) who was the clear band leader & mastermind behind Emperor from an extraordinarily young age (note: he was just 17 years old here). Even bassist Mortiis (Cîntecele Diavolui/Fata Morgana/Vond) has gone on to become somewhat of a genre leader for his electronic work under several different guises.
The tracklisting on "Emperor" is generally very solid. "Night of the Graveless Souls" & "Wrath of the Tyrant", that originally appeared on the demo tape, have been revisited here, the former offering a similar level of appeal to the original but the latter sounding significantly improved & possibly representing my favourite cut on the release. The two new songs would both be re-recorded for the classic "In The Nightside Eclipse" debut album only months after this recording & are noticeably more symphonic & expansive with the creativity having been taken to another level. "I Am The Black Wizards" has gone on to become arguably the band's calling card & is probably my favourite track from the album. Here it's a little more restrained & suffers from the wishy washy production job in comparison to the album version with its huge wall of sound. Ihsahn's vocals drift in & out of focus a bit here & I think his delivery would be improved for the album too but this is still a fantastic black metal tune. "Cosmic Keys to My Creations & Times" is an incredibly ambitious piece of work for 1993 too with a number of more progressive passages presented throughout its run time, a concept that Emperor would expand on much more thoroughly in the years to come. The use of keyboards is clearly becoming more prominent with each new song. Personally, I prefer the more straight-forward "Wrath of the Tyrant" (the song, not the release) in this format but things would change once Emperor had received the immense, overblown production job they deserved on "In The Nightside Eclipse". "Night of the Graveless Souls" is the weaker of the four songs quite clearly as it suffers from a bit of cheese in the violin flourishes it attempts but I still quite like it.
Looking back now, I can't say that I regard "Emperor" as an elite black metal release & I didn't do at the time either but there can be no denying its importance to what was to come, not just to the black metal scene but also to me personally as a young fella. Despite it being entirely appropriate for the record itself, I do feel like the production job lets Emperor down a bit here as the material isn't as in-your-face as it should probably have been but it's easy to say that in retrospect now that we're so accustomed to the greater potential some of the songs were afforded on "In The Nightside Eclipse". Unlike Enslaved's "Hordanes Land" with its utterly spectacular opening track, I don't think that any of the four pieces included here have managed to reach classic status for me though which has surprised me a little. For that reason, I do tend to place "Emperor" slightly behind "Hordanes Land" which is in direct contrast to most people I've spoken to about it over the years. Emperor would very quickly surpass their fellow Norwegians with their next release though & it would subsequently see me holding them aloft as the absolute pinnacle of the subgenre they'd created, even a full three decades later. Hell, I was only forced to throw away my "In The Nightside Eclipse" long-sleeve recently after it had developed so many holes that I was embarrassed to wear it any more & I experienced physical pain while separating with it. It's needless to say that "Emperor" should be in every black metal fan's collection because it's simply assumed knowledge at this point.
For fans of Enslaved, Abigor & Satyricon.
4/5
Note: This also leaves me with a solid 4-star rating for the Emperor/Enslaved split CD release which received so much play-time from me as a kid.
Mayhem - "Live in Leipzig" (1993)
There’s probably not too many battle-hardened extreme metallers out there that would admit to this but I’ve never rated Norwegian black metal superstars Mayhem’s 1980’s releases. I genuinely can’t stand the 1986 “Pure Fucking Armageddon” demo while 1987’s Deathcrush” E.P. does very little for me either. It wasn’t until a 19 year-old Swedish kid by the name of Per Yngvie Ohlin (aka Dead) left his home country & his own band Morbid to join Mayhem in 1988 that I feel things started to go in the right direction. The arrival of drumming phenomenon Hellhammer would also make for a greatly improved offering & this is noticeably evident on Mayhem’s first & only proper release with their classic lineup in the 1993 live album “Live in Leipzig”, a recording that I picked up on CD shortly after it was released. All of a sudden Mayhem seemed quite a bit more exciting, having finally pulled together a more cohesive sound that would get under my skin in a creepy & noticeably more musically accomplished way. It wouldn’t be long before I would pick up “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas” on CD too & then the black metal landscape would change significantly almost overnight. Looking back, I’ve always regarded the “Live in Leipzig” release as being more important than it is classic. Let’s revisit it now to see if that opinion has any factual basis or not.
“Live in Leipzig” was recorded at a legendary show in Germany on 26th November 1990 at the Eiskeller Club & was originally intended as a live demo which the band would distribute themselves. The show has become synonymous with the birth of the black metal scene in Germany with most of the key personnel having been in attendance. The tracklisting includes material drawn from both the “Pure Fucking Armageddon” demo tape & the “Deathcrush” E.P. as well as four songs that would eventually end up on Mayhem’s genre-defining debut album “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas” in 1994. The show also represents the coming of age for Dead & for black metal in general as it’s really pretty amazing to think that this material was recorded a full eight months before Darkthrone would start recording their classic “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” sophomore album which is widely regarded as the release that kicked off the Second Wave of Black Metal in Norway. On the evidence of “Live in Leipzig”, one would have to suggest that Mayhem were a seriously major influence on that release as well as all of the other early Norwegian records that would follow too.
The sound production on “Live in Leipzig” isn’t exactly crystal clear. In fact, it’s rough as guts & one gets the feeling that this was intentional as there’s been no attempt made to smoothen out any of the rough edges. Guitarist Euronymous & bassist Necrobutcher’s tones are absolutely filthy & remind me a lot of my tape trading days given that they have that raw, uncontrolled rehearsal tape feel to them while losing nothing in the way of power. Necrobutcher’s bass tone is particularly immense, smothered in a thick layer of distortion. The technical skills of the various band members aren’t exactly virtuosic though. While Euronymous appears to have already mastered to art of tremolo-picking, his guitar solos are an absolute mess & showcase very little in the way of theoretical understanding or technique. Hellhammer’s drumming is still relatively immature by his lofty standards too & he would improve remarkably by the time he recorded “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas” a couple of years later. It’s Dead that’s the main attraction here though with his vocals giving each track a vastly different identity to their studio counterparts. His delivery is utterly savage & cold as fuck, the very essence of what it means to front a black metal act in one of the defining performances for the genre as a whole.
Despite, not being a fan of Mayhem’s early studio recordings, “Live in Leipzig” sees Mayhem breathing new life into the majority of the older material with only opener “Deathcrush” failing to interest me. While they may never threaten to achieve classic status, "Carnage", “Chainsaw Gutsfuck” & “Pure Fucking Armageddon” are massively improved from their studio versions, particularly the latter which has benefitted greatly from the involvement of Hellhammer. It’s clearly the newer material that’s where the highest quality meat can be found on these bones though with “Funeral Fog”, Mayhem’s notorious signature track “Freezing Moon” & the wonderful “Pagan Fears” (my personal favourite) reaching stratospheric levels of appeal for an impressionable teenage version of myself. The 80's material is noticeably more thrash-inspired than the newer stuff which already contained all of the signature calling cards of the modern black metal sound, a fact that's quite significant when remembering that the show was recorded more than a year before the Second Wave would eventually kick off.
While some of the early material included might not necessarily be all that ambitious by the lofty standards the Second Wave would set about reaching over the coming years, “Live in Leipzig” was still an incredibly important record for the Norwegian scene. It may not sound as polished as we’ve come to expect from a modern black metal live performance over the many decades since but boy does it have some fire & brimstone going on. Just listen to Euronymous’ guitar sound & tell me this bloke doesn’t know what it means to be a black metal musician. I’ve returned to “Live in Leipzig” many times over the years & can now categorically refute any claims that it has built its following more on hype than on genuine merit. That’s simply not the case & there can be no denying the impact that Mayhem had on virtually every young band that would explode out of their homeland over the next few years.
For fans of Gorgoroth, Darkthrone & 1349.
4/5
Nazxul - "Nazxul" demo (1994)
I picked this demo tape up at the time of release & absolutely loved it. Nazxul were a mysterious Sydney outfit that no one knew much about at the time but their dark & intense blackened death metal sound was right up my alley with the consistent bludgeoning of drummer Steve Hughes' (Mortal Sin/Sadistik Exekution/Slaughter Lord) blast beats & the evil extremity of bassist Dalibor Backović's (Ichor) vocal delivery providing clear highlights over the fuzzy down-tuned guitar hum of Adrian Henderson (Ichor/Pestilential Shadows) & Lachlan Mitchell. The use of keyboards is more subtle than it would be on some of Nazxul's later releases & I find it to be very well timed, adding to the atmosphere in just the right measure. This is a vicious example of the blackened death metal sound that deserves far more attention than it's ever received in my opinion. It's also a fine example of what the early-to-mid 1990's tape trading scene had to offer.
For fans of Pestilential Shadows, Anatomy & Kommodus.
4.5/5
Spectral Wound - Songs of Blood and Mire (2024)
For the past decade or so, black metal releases have come at the rate of three to four thousand a year and a significant number of these are, to be frank, sub-standard efforts. Atmospheric, dissonant and avant-garde sub-genres are in the ascendancy and a vociferous portion of fans seem to want metal bands to be forever pushing the envelope. Within this landscape I, for one, am glad there are still bands, like Spectral Wound, that hark back to the genre's early nineties beginnings and understand that it is still possible to produce black metal that has actual tunes, whilst not compromising on the visceral savagery that is at the heart of it's ethos.
I was a big fan of the Quebecois five-piece's previous album, 2021's A Diabolic Thirst, so I was already well predisposed to their latest. Since A Diabolic Thirst there has been one personnel change, with Sean Zumbusch being replaced by Cauchemar bassist, Andres Arango, on second guitar. Even so, Spectral Wound haven't missed a step and time will tell, but I believe Songs of Blood and Mire is the band's best work to date, sounding like the product of a band who are supremely confident in their ability to deliver their vision faultlessly. Their songwriting is pretty much flawless, with well-written riffs that have an inherent memorability, yet which still project an icy savagery that belies their melodicism. Vocalist Jonah Campbell possesses a vitriolic shriek that doubles-down on the instrumental viciousness and ensures that there is no misconception about just how blasphemic these guys are. There are some nice tempo changes, from Celtic Frost-inspired chuggy slower sections to full-on, blistering, blastbeat-led, sharp-edged charges and brief black 'n' roll outbursts, rendering any possible accusations of saminess invalid. The lyrical content is almost gothic, but very black metal, concerning as it does, the occult predilections of the protagonist, who comes across like a fallen knight of old whose pursuit of forbidden knowledge has damned his soul. Technically, all five seem, to my untrained ears at least, to be exceedingly proficient with never a missed beat or note to be found anywhere.
The whole album feels very heavy for black metal, more akin to death metal in the heaviness stakes, whilst still unashamedly residing in the black metal realm. The production may have something to do with this heaviness as it is quite robust and deep, like a full-bodied red wine and it veers away from the thin, lo-fi sound you may normally expect with similar material, which works exceedingly well here. The production also plays no favourites, a crystal clarity and with all the band members being well-represented in the mix each has ample opportunity to shine.
I have to say, I am especially impressed by Songs of Blood and Mire. I was honestly starting to believe that black metal's best releases were all firmly in the past, but these guys have thankfully showed me the errors of such defeatist thinking and proved that the heart of black metal is still capable of pumping icy blood into the veins of the world's metal hordes even in these anodyne, corporation-dominated times. Come, enter the crypt and be saved.
4.5/5