Black Metal

nyarlothothep

I've been listening to some of this genre recently to which I had originally been indifferent. I very much like the approach the earliest bands took to recording, in the sense that music has become so standardised, so professional and perfect in terms of production and sound quality that it often sounds sterile. The fact that they set out to invert everything aspect of conventional society with respect to their lyrical themes, ie satanism etc. plays into the music imo in contributing to a dark and ominous atmosphere which is reinforced by the oftentimes hypnotic repetition of musical sections. I think nowadays you can easily write it off but back then I assume it had much more effect, not necessarily in the sense of being provocative for its own sake although it could have been back then, I don't know, but also with regards to conveying the idea of rebellion against the ideal of the group on a philosophical level. I also enjoy the eschewing of standard musical structures. I don't like most of the songs but I do enjoy the approach of these bands to making music, although some Burzum and Mayhem songs are really good. Darkthrone are harder to get into but I like the atmosphere on Transilvannian Hunger, it's like the band are playing right beside you in some dark cave.

Lawrence1895

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I've been listening to some of this genre recently to which I had originally been indifferent. I very much like the approach the earliest bands took to recording, in the sense that music has become so standardised, so professional and perfect in terms of production and sound quality that it often sounds sterile. The fact that they set out to invert everything aspect of conventional society with respect to their lyrical themes, ie satanism etc. plays into the music imo in contributing to a dark and ominous atmosphere which is reinforced by the oftentimes hypnotic repetition of musical sections. I think nowadays you can easily write it off but back then I assume it had much more effect, not necessarily in the sense of being provocative for its own sake although it could have been back then, I don't know, but also with regards to conveying the idea of rebellion against the ideal of the group on a philosophical level. I also enjoy the eschewing of standard musical structures. I don't like most of the songs but I do enjoy the approach of these bands to making music, although some Burzum and Mayhem songs are really good. Darkthrone are harder to get into but I like the atmosphere on Transilvannian Hunger, it's like the band are playing right beside you in some dark cave.

That's some great comparison now :cool:

My favorites would be Dark Funeral (esp. 'Attera Totus Sanctus'), they always have that clear production which amazes me, Endstille and Nagelfar.

Best album ever made? 'Virus West' (Nagelfar).

Chikablam

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I've been listening to some of this genre recently to which I had originally been indifferent. I very much like the approach the earliest bands took to recording, in the sense that music has become so standardised, so professional and perfect in terms of production and sound quality that it often sounds sterile. The fact that they set out to invert everything aspect of conventional society with respect to their lyrical themes, ie satanism etc. plays into the music imo in contributing to a dark and ominous atmosphere which is reinforced by the oftentimes hypnotic repetition of musical sections. I think nowadays you can easily write it off but back then I assume it had much more effect, not necessarily in the sense of being provocative for its own sake although it could have been back then, I don't know, but also with regards to conveying the idea of rebellion against the ideal of the group on a philosophical level. I also enjoy the eschewing of standard musical structures. I don't like most of the songs but I do enjoy the approach of these bands to making music, although some Burzum and Mayhem songs are really good. Darkthrone are harder to get into but I like the atmosphere on Transilvannian Hunger, it's like the band are playing right beside you in some dark cave.

I've only really listened to a bit of Satyricon and Behemoth (almost certain this inclusion of Behemoth will be argued, but it's black enough for me), not much to judge a whole genre, and it seems alright, but things like this are why I simply cannot take the genre seriously

Passenger

What do you think of Enslaved? Atmospheric and vast in sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6EqzkYtPr8

Morf

Post-black metal > most black metal.

Get some Arcturus into you, The Sham Mirrors is a great place to start.

Steve O

I love the 2nd wave of BM purely for what it was, the repetitive nature of it, the cold atmospheric sound and raw production.

For me, Transylvanian hunger, encapsulated the perfect BM sound along with the most powerful riffs ever made. Even though the band seems to have disowned it to a certain extent.

I like very little modern black metal apart from 1349 and Some Gorgoroth.

My top 5:

Darkthrone- Transylvanian hunger

Mayhem- De mysteriis dom sathanas

Gorgoroth- Pentagram

Immortal- Pure holocaust

Emperor- In the Nightside eclipse

Angron

My favourite Black Metal band is, easily, Anaal Nathrakh from England. Mayhem are also well up there, I love the De mysteriis dom Sathanas album (wearing that t-shirt now :P) Another aspect of it that I love is SDBM like Shining and Lifelover, the bleak feeling it has appeals to me quite a bit. There's another band I'm fond of called "F*ck Off and Die!" who are quite good, modern enough but the production is quite rough compared to some more over-produced bands which fits in quite well.

smackbunnybaby

Burzum had a lot shock factor about him.
But the thing is, he has the music to back it up.
Try Hvis Lyset Tar Oss or Filosofem for amazing BM.
Or try his debut for the really raw atmospheric stuff.

nyarlothothep

The thing with Burzum is that he'll have a great riff like in War but he'll completely ruin it with comedy vocals. That said I really like Filosofem and Fallen, actually Fallen is almost like pop music, I can hear similar chord progressions that are used by indie bands. To return to War, it starts off so well, brilliant spoken word intro, the song breathes attitude and then the gwar waarrhh gwarrghh vocals kick in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNQe_Kw4xH8

SilverScreen

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

Burzum had a lot shock factor about him.
But the thing is, he has the music to back it up.
Try Hvis Lyset Tar Oss or Filosofem for amazing BM.
Or try his debut for the really raw atmospheric stuff.

Hvis Lyset Tar Oss is the greatest black metal album ever in my opinion. It completely pushed the boundaries of what black metal could be and inspired a lot of great music.

I tend to prefer progressive or atmospheric black metal, stuff like Sigh, early Ulver and Drudkh. But Darkthrone, Mayhem and Bathory are good when I'm in the mood.

smackbunnybaby

Zero1986 wrote: »

I tend to prefer progressive or atmospheric black metal, stuff like Sigh, early Ulver and Drudkh.

Drudkh - Blood in our wells....unreal album!
Sigh - Scorn and Infidel Art unreal albums!

Angron

Sigh are a great band, about the only Japanese band I listen to. Gallhammer are crap (imo)

SilverScreen

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

Drudkh - Blood in our wells....unreal album!
Sigh - Scorn and Infidel Art unreal albums!

The first two Drudkh albums Forgotten Legends and Autumn Aurora are amazing. You get a real sense of human harmony with nature from those albums, and not in a hippy sort of way. Their last album wasn't anything special though.

Denny M wrote: »

Sigh are a great band, about the only Japanese band I listen to. Gallhammer are crap (imo)

I remember listening to a Gallhammer track on a compilation a few years back and it sounded like a ****ty band in a garage having their first rehearsal. Nice looking girls though.

While they're not black metal, Boris are definitely one Japanese band worth checking out, especially if you want variety. Their output ranges from sludge metal to ambient drone and more. A really ground-breaking band.

Useful.Idiot

I really like Burzum, wouldn't be a favourite though. Enslaved and Sigh are deadly. Drudkh, Blut Aus Nord and Krallice (if you count them) are definitely my favourite black metal bands. For anyone who hasn't heard BAN's Memoria Vetusta II, I thoroughly recommend you check it out, probably the most beautiful and brilliant crafted black metal album I've ever heard.

Altar of Plagues and Primordial may not be strictly black metal nowadays but they are a testament to the influence of black metal on brilliant Irish bands.

Would also like to mention the excellently evil Haud Mundus, a two man Irish black metal project who have only released one split with Icelandic artist Wormlust (another great project, very dark and desolate)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyhI9_dD_rk

nyarlothothep

Gah, would really like to get a Burzum/Darkthrone/Mayhem album but cant because I feel that by buying their CDs I'm lining the pockets of racists. Hmm...

Angron

I have a few Mayhem cds, and a darkthrone cd or two. While I don't agree with some of the members stances on stuff, I appreciate their music (plus it's not all about killing people of other races, so that helps). Once it doesn't stray into the area of National Socialist black metal, I can deal with it.

Zero1986 wrote: »

I remember listening to a Gallhammer track on a compilation a few years back and it sounded like a ****ty band in a garage having their first rehearsal. Nice looking girls though.

That's one reason I don't like Gallhammer too, I know people who listen to them not cause they think they sound good, but because they are one of the few all female metal bands. Something of a niche I guess.

Lawrence1895

Burzum and Count Grishnackh, that's astory for itself. He turned into that weird Heathen+NeoNazi belief, when he was in prison, afaik. Shortly after that, the likes of Absurd (esp. Henrik Moebus) had the perfect martyr to promote NSBM in Germany...well...Mr. Moebus ended up in prison as well, even his pal Gary Lauck couldn't help him

SilverScreen

Lars1916 wrote: »

Burzum and Count Grishnackh, that's astory for itself. He turned into that weird Heathen+NeoNazi belief, when he was in prison, afaik. Shortly after that, the likes of Absurd (esp. Henrik Moebus) had the perfect martyr to promote NSBM in Germany...well...Mr. Moebus ended up in prison as well, even his pal Gary Lauck couldn't help him

Varg doesn't identify as a neo-Nazi, he identifies as an Odinist. He only dabbled with neo-Nazi imagery in his teens just for the shock value but was always anti-capitalist. Watch the documentary Until The Light Takes Us.

It's funny how black metal threads usually always descend into discussion about Varg and church burnings rather than the music.

Angron

To keep this on the topic of the music then, some BM songs I love:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqRil7ewqFM

Anaal Nathrakh, with guest vocals done by Attila Csihar of Mayhem fame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gdKmXYDF18

Another AN song, this time a cover of one of the best known Mayhem songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po8Po5HAKh8

Impaled Nazarene, Finnish black metal, apparently my third most listened to BM band according to last.fm, behind Mayhem and Anaal Nathrakh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U48VHQQDP8o

Shining, one of the more prominant SDBM bands, I love this album in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6jtufWBAHI

More Finnish BM, I can't remember where I came across these guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOUsj8cuKQ

Finally, the band F*ck off and Die! that I mentioned earlier.

nyarlothothep

Lars1916 wrote: »

Burzum and Count Grishnackh, that's astory for itself. He turned into that weird Heathen+NeoNazi belief, when he was in prison, afaik. Shortly after that, the likes of Absurd (esp. Henrik Moebus) had the perfect martyr to promote NSBM in Germany...well...Mr. Moebus ended up in prison as well, even his pal Gary Lauck couldn't help him

Yeah, Varg has some very disreputable beliefs, I wonder why early bm musicians have a tendency to be racists? Another example would be Hellhammer from Mayhem who praised Faust for killing a gay dude, which was worse than what Varg did in the respect that Faust killed out of curiosity as opposed to 'self defence.' I think Varg was more paranoid than anything else and really messed up, possibly acting on an ideal of himself as a viking warrior or something. The pre-emptive strike bit he mentions is where he basically fcked up big time. He basically lost what could probably have been the best years of his musical career to stagnating in a prison cell (because with each album he was getting better and better in terms of developing his style). If you add Darkthrone's dodgy defence of Transilvanian Hunger, Ghaal generally and a few others, it seems that the early bm scene attracted a lot of dubious individuals.

Lawrence1895

Zero1986 wrote: »

Varg doesn't identify as a neo-Nazi, he identifies as an Odinist. He only dabbled with neo-Nazi imagery in his teens just for the shock value but was always anti-capitalist. Watch the documentary Until The Light Takes Us.

It's funny how black metal threads usually always descend into discussion about Varg and church burnings rather than the music.

Sorry, if my post was not clear enough. I didn't want to say, that Varg is a Neo Nazi. He was just used by the German NSBM scene, as they needed a hero and a martyr, after Henrik Moebus did not really fit into that role.

Haelium

Personally I find I can't listen to "pure" Black Metal anymore. It seems that most "real" Black Metal bands just try to sound like mid 90s Darkthrone/Mayhem and don't really add anything of worth.

Symphonic Black Metal is more my cup of tea. Far more interesting bands in that particular sub-genre in my humble opinion.

BlaasForRafa

Haelium wrote: »

Personally I find I can't listen to "pure" Black Metal anymore. It seems that most "real" Black Metal bands just try to sound like mid 90s Darkthrone/Mayhem and don't really add anything of worth.

The only good black metal made since about 1996 has been Deathspell Omega

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhHLbwYVjbE

nacho libre

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

The only good black metal made since about 1996 has been Deathspell Omega

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhHLbwYVjbE

that's a bit dramatic. I can think of several good balck metal releases since 1996.

roast

Started paying a little bit more attention to the more modern side of BM when I first heard WITTR. Amazing stuff, captivating live show too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDrJ5qOyXyg

Naraka

My favourite black metal bands are Emperor, Drudkh, Rotting Christ, Marduk, Taake, Walknut and Bathory. Bathory's 'Under The Sign Of The Black Mark' is the definitive black metal album imo.

devildriver

Haelium wrote: »

Personally I find I can't listen to "pure" Black Metal anymore. It seems that most "real" Black Metal bands just try to sound like mid 90s Darkthrone/Mayhem and don't really add anything of worth.

Symphonic Black Metal is more my cup of tea. Far more interesting bands in that particular sub-genre in my humble opinion.

That's how I feel about it too. I never really took to BM because of the narrow confines of the musical style and the fact that many of the bands looked silly prancing about the forests in their corpse paint producing a sound like a cat trapped in a biscuit tin.

HOWEVER. I was blown away by the new Rotting Christ album, which to my ears sounds nothing like "pure" black metal but if the category that it falls under then so be it, I'm all for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTGUm_LEVB8