November 2023 "The North" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Sw9mEcyXo1pGyFHR3znLT?si=f962bde326904a7b

1. Wolves in the Throne Room - Beholden to Clan (from Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge, 2023)

2. Furia - Zamawianie trzecie (from Huta Luna, 2023)

3. Moonlight Sorcery - Hammerheart (from Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle, 2023)

4. Bathory - Valhalla (from Hammerheart, 1990) [Submitted by Vinny]

5. Mgla - III (from Age of Excuse, 2019) [Submitted by Daniel]

6. Wayfarer - Black Plumes Over God's Country (from American Gothic, 2023)

7. Sühnopfer - Céron (from Nous sommes d'hier, 2023)

8. Trna - Burning Bridges, Shattered Dreams (from Istok, 2021)

9. Archgoat - Goat & the Moon (from The Light-Devouring Darkness, 2009) [Submitted by Daniel]

10. Darkwoods My Betrothed - Unus mundus patet (from Angel of Carnage Unleashed, 2021)

11. Jute Gyte - Killing a Sword (from Unus mundus patet, 2023)

12. Alda - A Distant Fire (from A Distant Fire, 2021) [Submitted by Sonny]

13. Mānbryne - Pierwszy kamień (from Interregnum: O próbie wiary i jarzmie zwątpienia, 2023)

14. Branikald - На волнах вдохновенья (from Хладавзор, 2006)

15. Draugur - Behold the Third Eye Vision (from By the Rays of His Golden Light, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

I like the new WitTR track, in fact I was going to suggest it for next month's playlist. Wayfarer are a new one on me and were great. Checked out the album and enjoyed it a lot - I like a bit of gothic country, so their splicing of it with atmospheric black metal appealed to me immensely. Trna's style of atmo-black is right up my street, if their track here is anything to go by, and was one of my favourites on the list. Archgoat were great as always and the Darkwoods My Betrothed also got my blood pumping. Other big winners for me were Draugur and Mānbryne and a bit of Bathory never goes astray does it?

Jute Gyte just wasn't for me and feels more like a musical theory lesson than a piece of entertainment with the listeners stroking their chins and nodding seriously as they listen along. The Branikald ambient piece didn't do anything for me either, me being one of those who fails to see the link between ambient electronica and black metal, other than the odd short track acting as a breather between intense black metal blasting. In fact, I've always wondered how people can cite Filosofem as one of the best black metal albums ever when twenty five minutes of it is boring as fuck.

Anyway, another sterling list Ben, well done and thanks.

I've always wondered how people can cite Filosofem as one of the best black metal albums ever when twenty five minutes of it is boring as fuck.

I'm almost as big a fan of ambient & electronic music as I am of black metal so I really connected with "Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität". In fact, it played as a strong role in me awarding "Filosofem" a perfect score as any of the other material.

I love it too. Genuinely look forward to it.

I've always wondered how people can cite Filosofem as one of the best black metal albums ever when twenty five minutes of it is boring as fuck.

I'm almost as big a fan of ambient & electronic music as I am of black metal so I really connected with "Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität". In fact, it played as a strong role in me awarding "Filosofem" a perfect score as any of the other material.

Why is it do you think that ambient and electronic music has become so intrinsically linked to black metal? I just can't see the connection myself as the two are often diametrically opposed. I don't dislike ambient music, but it does little for me outside of when I want to listen to some soothing sounds to unwind, but that is definitely not why I listen to black metal! Even the biggest fan of Filosofem must admit that the ambient track is at odds with the rest of the album. That said, a lot of the ambient stuff seems to come from one-man outfits rather than full BM bands, so maybe it's an easy way to pad out an album's worth of material when using a home studio. 

Sure, sometimes a brief ambient break can be quite effective for a bit of textural variation, but this has become such an overused trope within BM that it's effectiveness has been diluted immensely. Is the use of ambient tracks as a vehicle of variation really any different to those bands that use folk or indiginous music in a similar way?

I get it that I am perhaps in a minority of one in this, but when I listen to a black metal album I want to hear black metal, not electronic music.

Of course you have every right to feel that way Sonny. I absolutely hate it when bands have a cover track in a different style to the rest of the album, or a track that was clearly recorded in different studio conditions. You'd think that having a 20 + minute ambient track in a black metal album would also rile me up. Perhaps it would on an Immortal or Marduk release. But I feel like Burzum's ambient pieces maintain a similar despondent tone to the black metal they accompany and don't, to me, conflict with the atmosphere. It's another case of each to their own.

When I first heard that ambient track on Filosofem I was as repulsed as Sonny given at the time I had no enjoyment of ambient music at all.  As I have found myself a lot more interested in dark ambient in recent years I actually do not mind it all, I think I listen to more of Burzum's ambient and dungeon synth stuff nowadays than I do his conventional bm.  Horses for courses.

I am playing the album by Mānbryne following their inclusion on the playlist.  I plan to check out Sühnopfer and Branikald also based on this list.

Let's stick with what unites us and not what divides us, so saying I agree Vinny, the Mānbryne track was a standout and their album is near the top of my list of things to check out soon.  As you've already listened to it, is it any good?

Let's stick with what unites us and not what divides us, so saying I agree Vinny, the Mānbryne track was a standout and their album is near the top of my list of things to check out soon.  As you've already listened to it, is it any good?

I thought it was solid enough but not outstanding.  My fears of them being Mgla clones were not realised thankfully but I see little here to be attracting the top end of the rating spectrum, however I have only listened through a couple of times.