Ildjarn: Last Man Standing

[Eleison]

As far as I can tell Ildjarn is now the last of the Norwegian black-metallers who hasn't forsaken quality music.  This is a victory for the uncompromising, the only way to preserve quality is to utterly reject everything which fails to meet a high standard.  This is the only way not to be absorbed into the current which sweeps through modern civilisation dragging it to its doom.  Listen to Ildjarn and remember that nature will destroy everything which fails to obey its laws.

[Sepulchral Voice]

Ildjarn is so devoted to his craft, that I can't imagine him coming back and shitting on the band's dignity. He's the only prolific Norwegian black metal musician that never softened up with age.

[AnHero]

Exactly which of his works are you guys referring to?

Honestly, most of his metal stuff is terrible. He takes a couple of two-chord chugging riffs and calls it a song. I think we're deluding ourselves here.

Hardangervidda, on the other hand, is pretty good. "Actual music" by my standards.

[nothingnowhere]

He's not making music anymore...

[K. Sear]

He takes a couple of two-chord chugging riffs and calls it a song. I think we're deluding ourselves here.

The technicality isn't the point.  The metal albums are a near perfect microcosm of black metal aesthetic/ideology.

[Antihuman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVa9H763T60

I've always found this song to be a great example of black metal.

[Dedrater]

Honestly, most of his metal stuff is terrible.

I actually somewhat agree, though it depends. Songs like "Whispering Breeze," "Nattens Skyggesider," and several of the Strength and Anger pieces are really good, but it's because of the simple, tribal-like melodic shifts taking place. When he loses these shifts in favor of the noise, the effect becomes considerably more generic.

It does seem that Hardangervidda and Ildjarn/Nidhogg are his best releases. Perhaps this Nidhogg guy is responsible for that? If so, it's a shame that we haven't heard more from him.

[AnHero]

He takes a couple of two-chord chugging riffs and calls it a song. I think we're deluding ourselves here.

The technicality isn't the point.  The metal albums are a near perfect microcosm of black metal aesthetic/ideology.

Could you explain why?

My point about simplicity is that once we are using so few words (musical elements) to describe an idea, it's hard to tell what we're even describing.

[AnHero]

Honestly, most of his metal stuff is terrible.

I actually somewhat agree, though it depends. Songs like "Whispering Breeze," "Nattens Skyggesider," and several of the Strength and Anger pieces are really good, but it's because of the simple, tribal-like melodic shifts taking place. When he loses these shifts in favor of the noise, the effect becomes considerably more generic.

It does seem that Hardangervidda and Ildjarn/Nidhogg are his best releases. Perhaps this Nidhogg guy is responsible for that? If so, it's a shame that we haven't heard more from him.

I listen to Forest Poetry and hear the first song (Whispering Breeze) and like it. I anticipate, because I've been told by so many how great Ildjarn is, that the following songs will be related to it in a meaningful way. As I continue listening, I realize they're not.

And I turn it off.

Even Belus is better than that shit.

[AnHero]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVa9H763T60

I've always found this song to be a great example of black metal.

It was OK.

To me, he's always dancing on the line between being able to paint a vague picture and having the music be so simple that nothing is going on at all anymore. If you actually transcribe this song to paper, you'll see that there is nothing to it. I don't see much musical ability here.

More than ever, it seems our appreciation for this music (minimalistic black metal) is based on foreknowledge of it's concept and then we paint the picture ourselves with some harsh noise in the background.

[Antihuman]

More than ever, it seems our appreciation for this music (minimalistic black metal) is based on foreknowledge of it's concept and then we paint the picture ourselves with some harsh noise in the background.

Could be.  I can't deny that when a song is titled "The Nothingness" it makes me appreciate it on a conceptual level before even hearing the music.  So I fill in some gaps.

I can't speak to the work musically, as I have no experience in music.  Seeing it transcribed on paper would not alter my appreciation of it whatsoever because I would not understand it.

[istaros]

HURR BLACK IS STUPID BECAUSE IT IS MONOCHROMATIC DURR

[nothingnowhere]

The Ildjarn works I mostly come back to are Ildjarn-Niddhog, Hardangervidda, Sort Vokter, Strength & Anger, Det Frysende Nordariket, Forest Poetry, Landscapes... Wait a minute...

If you're complaining that Ildjarn isn't musical enough than I think you're missing the point. Except for the ambient works, I don't think it "expresses" anything that one can put into words. It exudes the primitive, primordial, basic, simple; and it does it in a way that is convincing and hypnotic. If you sit there and over analyze his music, or try to find something meaningful in individual songs or riffs, you probably won't. Let yourself experience it.

[Dinaric Leather]

HURR BLACK IS STUPID BECAUSE IT IS MONOCHROMATIC DURR

I know and agree with what you're trying to say but few people are going to be convinced with that attitude.

[AnHero]

The Ildjarn works I mostly come back to are Ildjarn-Niddhog, Hardangervidda, Sort Vokter, Strength & Anger, Det Frysende Nordariket, Forest Poetry, Landscapes... Wait a minute...

If you're complaining that Ildjarn isn't musical enough than I think you're missing the point. Except for the ambient works, I don't think it "expresses" anything that one can put into words. It exudes the primitive, primordial, basic, simple; and it does it in a way that is convincing and hypnotic. If you sit there and over analyze his music, or try to find something meaningful in individual songs or riffs, you probably won't. Let yourself experience it.

I let myself experience it I didn't get much out of it. Then I tried again. And again.

Then I looked for an explanation as to why it doesn't work for me.

The things I've said are the best I can do to explain it.