Between Ildjarn and Engram....

[AVFN]

did anyone hold up the flag of Black Metal with any kind of integrity other than Graveland?

For me, Hate Forest.

[Cargést]

Despite how tedious it must be to write his music, he doesn't relent. 

As someone who writes music constantly, this sentence doesn't make sense.  Anyone who composes regularly for a sufficient amount of time will end up writing music habitually (perhaps even daily).  Do you think people ought to find washing, eating, sleeping, getting the mail etc. tedious simply through repetition?

[scourge]

The 1999 albums from Demoncy are up there with Engram, the Graveland war metal trilogy era, Forest Poetry and two or three from Summoning. I need to give Vukolak a relisten as has been the case for some other ultimately superb albums. Otherwise, it is pretty bleak.

Someone said Darken was relentless. That has got to be one of the keys or perhaps virtues required to fully unlock this particular kind of art. When that or other virtues are present in the artist, they show up in the composition, or substance of the work itself.

[Parasite]

Scourge, i encourage you further to re listen to Vukolak.  It is a personal favorite of mine and is tied with Az-I-Dahak for myself(also another great album, thanks DLA!).  I had a hard time digesting it at first but after re listening to it the second time under better circumstances, it dug it's hooks in me.