What Are You Listening To Now - The North Edition

Deathspell Omega - "Kénôse" E.P. (2005)

An utterly astounding avant-garde black metal experience that I regard as one of the elite metal releases I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Imagine Mayhem's "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas", Ved Buens Ende...'s "Written In Waters" & Gorguts' "Obscura" all combined into one incredible unit & you'll go close to understanding the scope of this undertaking. The performances, composition & production are all superb & it's hard to think of a band that's achieved such a complete realization of extreme metal as a piece of art.

5/5

Gris - "Il était une forêt…" (2007)

Canadian depressive/atmospheric black metal.

3.5/5

Dissection - "The Somberlain" ( 1993)

When I first heard "The Somberlain" through tape trading at around the time of release it made a really big impact on me. I'd never heard anything like it at the time & it sounded so fresh & exciting. Unfortunately time has had a negative effect on my relationship with it though with the follow-up album "Storm Of The Light's Bane" proving that it wasn't quite the finished product, so I actually found myself returning to it less & less. These days I can see the reasons for that more obviously. Frankly, despite my love affair with Dissection's follow-up record, I'll never enjoy subgenres with the word "melodic" in front of them as much as their traditional versions, & I definitely think that Ole Öhman's fairly light-weight drumming sucks some of the potential out of "The Somberlain" too. Every track includes some truly great parts but most also have some pretty upbeat sounding & loosely performed Swedish death metal beats that don't appeal to me all that much. I think it was a ground-breaking release for its blending of the Norwegian black metal sound of Mayhem & Darkthrone with the melodic death metal of Gothenburg acts like At The Gates & Dark Tranquillity & the more traditional death metal of Stockholm bands like Entombed & Dismember but (unlike it's younger sibling) I can't say that I consider it to be a classic one any more. Fans of more modern bands like Belgium's Thurisaz, Germany's Thulcandra & Sweden's Hyperion should be all over this though as it's the true origin of the melodic black metal sound.

3.5/5

Nagelfar - "Hünengrab im Herbst" (1997)

Pagan black metal from Germany. I absolutely love the production & the intense traditional black metal delivery. Unfortunately the folk sections, cheesy keyboards & fairly ordinary clean vocals see me dropping my score lower than I'd hoped.

3.5/5

Emperor - "LIve Inferno" (2009)

A classic double live album from the Norwegian Gods of symphonic black metal featuring the reunion shows from Inferno & Wacken. Fantastic production & performances. I absolutely love this shit!

4.5/5

Deathspell Omega - "Paracletus" (2010)

Fucking supreme avant-garde/dissonant French black metal. This album pretty much went over my head when I first encountered it back in 2010 but once it clicked it's absolutely nailed me. It's pure genius in many ways.

4.5/5

I finally got around to listening to this and I have to agree. I'm going to have to make an effort to keep coming back to this one just because there's so much to unpack. I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did, it's definitely on another level compared to The Furnaces of Palingenesia and I even really enjoyed that one. I try to come into these "classics" with a more negative mindset so I don't give into the hype too much but this one delivers on the pure chaos aspect of Progressive Black metal. 

Damaar - "Triumph Through Spears of Sacrilege" demo (2007)

The only release from this Lebanese war metal outfit & you'll do well to find something that's more extreme than this. The vocal performance is utterly soul-destroying while the production job is as disgusting as you'd hope for from such a release. And that intro track is one of the scariest things yet put to tape. This is great stuff & fans of Bestial Warlust, Revenge & Conqueror should get on it urgently.

4/5

Parabellum - "Sacriegio" E.P. (1987)

The first of two seminal demos released by this legendary Colombian first wave black metal outfit & despite the fact that it's an extremely primitive recording it's not hard to see why it was so influential on the likes of Euronymous & the second wave.  You'll find more than the occasional nod to the modern black metal sound here but it's presented in a highly unusual & at times quite disjointed & disturbing fashion. The brutal opening track "Madre muerte" is very interesting & engaging but the more punk-driven "Engendro 666" misses the mark by a fair margin in my opinion. Fans of Sarcófago, Vulcano & early Mayhem should probably give it a go but for me it's always been more of a passing interest rather than an underground gem.

3/5

Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, my first black metal album I remember really listening to. After listening to the Cradle of Filth's Dusk.. And Her Embrace, really reminded me of this album and that I haven't heard it in years and wondered if it held up as well. It still holds up in 2020. This is Symphonic Black Metal, but it is still very different from Cof. I get a feeling of being in a temple/castle or some old building with a ritual compared to CoF's blizzard in a forest. Both amazingly well done in my opinion but this is what I'm listening to now. Oh nostalgia.

4/5

Mayhem - "Deathcrush" E.P. (1987)

3/5

Exterminator - "Total Extermination" (1987)

Look... I'm a huge fan of extreme metal & I have been since I was a very early teenager in 1988/89. And because of that fact I got to experience the height of tape trading & the joys of cheap self-recorded demos & rehearsal tapes along with the questionable production values & musicianship that often came along with them. So if an album is going to push me further outside of my comfort zone further than I can take in regards to its raw & primitive qualities it's gotta be pretty out there. Well the sole release from Brazil's Exterminator is one such release. In fact, it's undoubtedly the worst example of extreme metal I've heard in many years to be precise. These guys can't play to save themselves & you couldn't produce something that sounds worse than this if you tried. Exterminator certainly create a dark atmosphere but its just too hard to tolerate the complete mess that's going on within it. If I had to give some point of reference I'd describe it as a combination of the first couple of Hellhammer demos & the insanity of Sadistik Exekution with a mad South American nut-bag ranting over the top in a similar fashion to Brujeria. But don't get too excited... that description sounds a lot better than the reality. I have to question if this record is actually a joke because it'd certainly be easier to understand if it was. And don't even mention the Nazi sign on the cover. Let's just pretend we didn't notice it.

1.5/5

Darkthrone - "Under A Funeral Moon (1993)

I absolutely loved this album on release but I have to admit that (despite being a very enjoyable listen) it's lost a little of its shine over the last 27 years & I put that down to a few things. Firstly, it's stuck between two of the greatest black metal releases of all time which means that it'll always be compared with them & I'm sure that most people would agree that it's the weaker of the unholy trilogy. Secondly, the bass guitar sound is fairly tame & is very prominent in the mix which removes a little of the cold & sinister atmosphere. And thirdly, Fenriz includes a bouncy, up-beat & punky old-school death metal beat in almost every track which manages to bring me down a touch from the lofty heights that the riffs deserve. I still really dig "Under A Funeral Moon. 1993 was an incredible time to be an extreme metal fan & I was a massive fanboy of "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" so I was always going to be open to extending my worship to the follow-up. But these days I'm a little more realistic with my ratings & this is not a black metal classic for me personally.

4/5

I was looking forward to checking out this album. It's primary genres on RYM are black metal and thrash metal, and it's ratings there aren't terrible. The first time I listened to it I started laughing uncontrollably. The musicianship is poor to say the least, but the vocals...oh the vocals!!!!...are so hilariously bad that the album is close to unlistenable for me. He sounds like a mix of Flemming Rønsdorf from Artillery and Tim Baker from Cirith Ungol, but much much worse than that comparison suggests. I've given it two solid listens and some of the music is admittedly somewhat enjoyable, but the album's flaws are just too huge to get over. And if I have to listen to the guitarist play one more decreasing scale lead (Daniel, what's the technical term for what this guy's doing in every track?), I may create some flames of my own.

I've put this comment in The North, but honestly, I'd love to know what you guys think of this album's genre(s). I don't hear much black or thrash metal at all. This just seems like poorly played and produced heavy metal, with a smattering of speed and doom, yet those genres don't even get a look-in on RYM. I could be wrong. The vocals are so off-putting. Thoughts?

1.5 stars

I've got it sitting in my plsylist for the next couple of weeks so I'll get back to you.

Deathspell Omega - "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" (2007)

4/5

Nagelfar - Hünengrab im Herbst

Absolutely nasty new Dark Fortress that made me wonder why I've never heard of these guys before. They've been around for a pretty long time apparently, guess I have to go back and check out their old stuff to see if Spectres From The Old World  holds up or if it's just more of the same. Even if it is, I really enjoyed this one. 

4.5/5

I was looking forward to checking out this album. It's primary genres on RYM are black metal and thrash metal, and it's ratings there aren't terrible. The first time I listened to it I started laughing uncontrollably. The musicianship is poor to say the least, but the vocals...oh the vocals!!!!...are so hilariously bad that the album is close to unlistenable for me. He sounds like a mix of Flemming Rønsdorf from Artillery and Tim Baker from Cirith Ungol, but much much worse than that comparison suggests. I've given it two solid listens and some of the music is admittedly somewhat enjoyable, but the album's flaws are just too huge to get over. And if I have to listen to the guitarist play one more decreasing scale lead (Daniel, what's the technical term for what this guy's doing in every track?), I may create some flames of my own.

I've put this comment in The North, but honestly, I'd love to know what you guys think of this album's genre(s). I don't hear much black or thrash metal at all. This just seems like poorly played and produced heavy metal, with a smattering of speed and doom, yet those genres don't even get a look-in on RYM. I could be wrong. The vocals are so off-putting. Thoughts?

1.5 stars

So I finally got around to giving this a few listens & I agree with you that there's no black metal or thrash metal here. It's a combination of traditional doom metal & speed metal with a little traditional heavy metal tossed in here & there. If I had to pick a single subgenre I'd likely go with traditional doom metal because over half of the duration of the album is taken up by the three doom tracks & that tag has always allowed for a fair bit of variance on the doom theme (see the first Trouble record or the first couple of Saint Vitus records for examples). That said, I don't hate "Fire & Steel" as much as you do though. The vocals are certainly unusual & the Cirith Ungol comparison is definitely valid but they're not a deal breaker for me. The lead guitar work is much harder to overcome in my opinion. The tone is terrible & his reliance on those descending chromatic runs is dictated by his complete lack of theoretical understanding. But I don't find that this means that I genuinely hate any of this material. In fact, I actually like a couple of tracks in the eleven minute doom epic "Heroes in Black" & the Motorhead inspired "From the Grave". It's not enough to command revisits though & I still consider this to be an overrated release.

3/5

For fans of: Venom, Hellhammer, Saint Vitus

I've given Sarcofago's debut album I.N.R.I. several goes over the years and have always felt that it's overrated. The production isn't great, the musicianship is lacking, and for all the apparent darkness and evil, it's just never fully connected with me. It's follow-up is a totally different story, and I don't really understand why it rates lower than the debut on RYM. Everything is improved here! Each of the five tracks are enjoyable, and all of them offer something a little bit different. There really is something for every extreme metal fan here, with black metal, thrash metal and even death metal aspects found throughout. I've finished working my way through all 80s black metal releases on the site, and Rotting is now comfortably positioned behind only Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark and Blood Fire Death.

I challenge any black metal fans in the Academy to listen to Sarcofago's first two albums and then tell me why the first one is better, not because I think my opinion is the correct one, but because I think it makes for a very interesting discussion. Do I have too much appreciation for production and musicianship when critiquing these albums?

4/5

Aoratos - Gods Without Name (2019)

Drudkh - Songs of Grief and Solitude (2006)

No black metal on here but some great acoustic tracks.  Not exactly full of depth but still entertaining enough for background/fireside music.

Olhava - Ladoga

I remember seeing blackgaze discussed in the forums not that long ago, but I thought I might introduce you all to something new in the genre. This is very pretty sounding black metal that reminds me a lot of Panopticon. It even comes mixed with ambient, field recording bridges, to break up the intensity of the really long black metal tunes.

7/10

https://olhava.bandcamp.com/album/ladoga

Dzö-nga - Thunder In The Mountains

This one's from a little bit further back in the vault, but deserves way more attention. This is epic symphonic/folk inspired black metal that is an early AOTY contender for me.

9/10

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/thunder-in-the-mountains

Both sound intriguing to me, although I must admit that Olhava sound more up my alley. You've reminded me that I really need to devote some time to Panopticon. I think I'll need to give it a few distraction free listens to give it every opportunity to click.