After disastrous "Belus," Varg changes name and sells farm

[Conservationist]

If my list would actually serve some purpose, I could type it out, based on the two or three dozen new releases I have bought and enjoyed last year and the same amount I just might accept in trade or ridiculously cheap price.

Please do.

I think this forum is divided: we all want to find stuff that was better than the early 1990s bloom, yet we keep failing with a few rare exceptions (Demoncy, Profanatica, etc).

Lately, I've been feeling that metal just falls short of its potential, including the early 1990s stuff. There's so much more to do, in literature, in art, in government (!!! holy fucken shit !!!), in society, in architecture, in music, in product design... and yet we're all stranded in modernity. "Look/sound good to idiots!"

The only format that I think is totally played is film. Stop making movies.

[istaros]

^You've just highlighted the curse inherent to all forms of Romantic art. They're centered around a return to more traditional values; they can only long for a return to such things by not being based in them - i.e., by being based in modernity. At the same time, this is Romanticism's saving grace. Sometimes this feature leads to maudlin superficialiaty, other times it emerges as sincere distress.

The only format that I think is totally played is film. Stop making movies.

I would have agreed until very recently. For the most part, I still do, but Eraserhead (for example) would not work in any other format. Frankly, if we can allow for any other sort of visual art, we can allow for film.

[Conservationist]

They're centered around a return to more traditional values; they can only long for a return to such things by not being based in them - i.e., by being based in modernity.

Interesting. This parallels the idea that we lust for technology, but when we create it, it removes our need to adapt to reality and so we devolve.

But I don't agree. Romantic art is eternal, and it's always there, if you just shut your eyes and dream. It is art about meaning outside the self, not meaning in the self, and that is its sublime and primal antagonism.

[istaros]

Tribal art isn't Romantic - not unless we really broaden the definition of the term. Not that this hasn't been done before on ANUS & Co., but I find it more influential to operate within the common consensus than to create your own and thus invite alienation. Just as it would be a better course of action to infiltrate and steer an already-established political party towards sanity than to create your own new one with a couple dozen members. Romanticism is a result of modernity, albeit one that rails against it.

[Conservationist]

Romanticism is a result of modernity, albeit one that rails against it.

Romanticism (A) is a result of modernity, albeit one that rails against it.

Tribalism (B) is pre-modern.

But if (A) and (B) contain the same basic elements, then Romanticism is Tribalism and vice-versa... just given additional spin because it is from a modern time.

So rephrasing:

(Viewed from within Modernity) Romanticism is a result of modernity (in its effort to restore Tribalist tradition), albeit one that rails against it (modernity).

[Devamitra]

Weren't there more than fifty better than "World Painted Blood" the previous year?

I hate to be the one who craps on the mighty Slayer, since I have found all the albums up til "South of Heaven" as amazing and influential as the next Hessian does. But if there is something I can't stomach in metal, it's these "mortgage" riffs. It's not in the technique but in the spirit. It's the spirit of artists who succumbed to middle age. Last year's Heaven and Hell album is another incriminating example of this. The interesting thing is that at the time of "Diabolus in Musica", I didn't consider Slayer to be hopeless, because their act of imitating younger bands at least gave us the hope that if and when they return to death metal toned expression, the true voice of Slayer is to be heard again. But "Christ Illusion" showed that when they go for "Reign in Blood" part two, the faults become even more apparent, crystallized by the self-professed Christian Tom Araya half-heartedly screaming "Religion is a whore". Actually it's all these bands that are whores. And all I keep hearing is the "Death Magnetic" argument: well, at least it isn't "Load".

Hereby I give you albums out of which 10-15 are genius, the rest are uncompromised, good, sensual and fairly original listens from new and old promising bands in the process of one discovery or another, slight distractions here and there mostly explainable by the fact that in our time it's too quick and easy to record and release without giving the formulations enough time to sink in through countless rehearsals.

1. Birth A.D. - Stillbirth of a Nation (crossover thrash practically reinvented)
2. Ascended - Temple of Dark Offerings (warm melodic death metal in the spirit of Demigod)  
3. Midnight Odyssey - Firmament (ambient black metal finally with proper use of elongated drone)
4. Inade - Delineation.Metamorphosis.Permanence (cosmic-esoteric subversive ambient)
5. Beherit - Engram (black metal majesty)
6. Nazxul - Iconoclast (unlikely combination of Australian and Norwegian black metal)
7. Siena Root - New Day Dawning (psychedelic intricately constructed crooner rock)
8. Tournament - Years Old (abrasive post-punk meets New York hardcore)
9. Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest (technical mastery with tributes to Allah and doom metal)
10. Will Over Matter - Wasteland (explorations between "Electric Doom Synthesis" and pure noise)
11. Vektor - Black Future (picking up where Coroner and Voivod left technical speed metal)
12. Slugathor - Echoes from Beneath (black metal influenced death metal superior to hypes such as Teitanblood)
13. Goreaphobia - Mortal Repulsion (the most occult of the year's comebacks, bringing new focus and alignment to the ancient death metal sound)
14. Cloama - Lernaean Catacomb Complex (industrial textures)
15. Destroyer 666 - Defiance (a more heavy metalized version of this band dedicated to the glory of war and metal)
16. Denial - Catacombs of the Grotesque (tight darkness from Mexican death squad)
17. Goatmoon - Goatmoon (aerial folk and black metal from Finland's Ildjarn/Absurd)
18. Heathen - The Evolution of Chaos (a proper "Bay Area thrash" comeback)
19. High Spirits - High Spirits (honest heavy metal and AC/DC style revival)
20. Count Raven - Mammons War (lyrical and politically intelligent, if preachy, doom metal in between St. Vitus and Bathory)
21. Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ (hardly a surprise to the followers of the band, but perhaps more professional this time around)
22. Ignivomous - Death Transmutation (Immolation/Incantation pastiche from Australian veterans)
23. Into Oblivion - Into Oblivion (intelligent and inspiring ANUS cohort metal)
24. Razor of Occam - Homage to Martyrs (black thrash with vicious proficiency and cosmological themes)
25. Ride For Revenge - Wisdom of the Few (noisy and experimental, as if Winter's "Into Darkness" mingles with Beherit-ian underworld)
26. Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist (progressive "chamber" metal, with a neo-classical use of violin)
27. Empire of Tharaphita - Path of the Old Lunar Cult Empire (impressive demo level black metal romanticism)
28. Herod - The Curse of the King (heavy metal with slight metalcore tendencies, occasionally excellent harmonies and composition)
29. Satanael - Fire of Satan (raw, penultimate blasphemies for the maniacs)
30. Uncelestial - Born With Lucifer's Mark (unique riffcraft from an underrated old Finnish black warhorde)
31. Sinister Realm - Sinister Realm (borrows heavily from Death SS and Mercyful Fate, with an excellent vocalist)
32. War Master - Chapel of the Apocalypse (Texan death metal supremacy in the form of a short 3-song demo)
33. Grave Miasma - Exalted Emanation (vicious British answer to Blasphemy)
34. Armour - Armour (uproarious Finnish heavy metal/hard rock with slight nods to Destruction)
35. Absu - Absu (disappointing, but interesting "progressive" take on the Absu sound)
36. Lie in Ruins - Swallowed by the Void (a crepitant, sludging Finnish old-school death metal monster)
37. Kormorany - La Musica Teatrale (bridging neo-classical and jazz in scenes reminiscent of a movie soundtrack)
38. While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose (early Fates Warning's fantasy melancholy in epic Shelleyan/Byronian proportions)
39. Witch Tomb - Crippled Messiah (Ledney-approved mad black metal uproar)
40. Asphyx - Death... The Brutal Way (grinding and compulsive, not for wimps)
41. Katatonia - Night is the New Day (elegant pop music from former death metal musicians)
42. Slough Feg - Ape Uprising (San Francisco's "true metal" thorn in the side of hipsters)
43. Logistic Slaughter EP (Bolt Thrower-esque arrangements from a young and promising band)
44. Tervahäät - Tervahäät (freezing Finnish neo-ambient folk, very textural)
45. Arktau Eos - Ai Ma Ra (monastic and minimalistic DCD influenced rituals)
46. Graveland - Spears of Heaven (improved rhythms and a couple of massive pieces, sadly gets repetitive towards the end)
47. Havohej - Kembatinan Premaster (a musical statement superior anyway to most of the year's black metal hypes)
48. Desecration Rites - Hallowed Depravity (Argentinian death metal that sounds like mental sickness)
49. Deiphago - Filipino Antichrist (my favorite of those Hells Headbangers bands that sound like a bunch of rabid dogs in studio)
50. 1349 - Revelations of the Black Flame (Tom G. Warrior helped build this alien artifact of industrialized Norwegian black metal)

Hopefully I missed something great. And there's yet a lot left to hear.

[Bondage]

26. Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist (progressive "chamber" metal, with a neo-classical use of violin)

Surprising. I wouldn't expect post-metal.

[Umbrage]

Weren't there more than fifty better than "World Painted Blood" the previous year?

I hate to be the one who craps on the mighty Slayer, since I have found all the albums up til "South of Heaven" as amazing and influential as the next Hessian does. But if there is something I can't stomach in metal, it's these "mortgage" riffs. It's not in the technique but in the spirit. It's the spirit of artists who succumbed to middle age. Last year's Heaven and Hell album is another incriminating example of this. The interesting thing is that at the time of "Diabolus in Musica", I didn't consider Slayer to be hopeless, because their act of imitating younger bands at least gave us the hope that if and when they return to death metal toned expression, the true voice of Slayer is to be heard again. But "Christ Illusion" showed that when they go for "Reign in Blood" part two, the faults become even more apparent, crystallized by the self-professed Christian Tom Araya half-heartedly screaming "Religion is a whore". Actually it's all these bands that are whores. And all I keep hearing is the "Death Magnetic" argument: well, at least it isn't "Load".

Hereby I give you albums out of which 10-15 are genius, the rest are uncompromised, good, sensual and fairly original listens from new and old promising bands in the process of one discovery or another, slight distractions here and there mostly explainable by the fact that in our time it's too quick and easy to record and release without giving the formulations enough time to sink in through countless rehearsals.

1. Birth A.D. - Stillbirth of a Nation (crossover thrash practically reinvented)
2. Ascended - Temple of Dark Offerings (warm melodic death metal in the spirit of Demigod)  
3. Midnight Odyssey - Firmament (ambient black metal finally with proper use of elongated drone)
4. Inade - Delineation.Metamorphosis.Permanence (cosmic-esoteric subversive ambient)
5. Beherit - Engram (black metal majesty)
6. Nazxul - Iconoclast (unlikely combination of Australian and Norwegian black metal)
7. Siena Root - New Day Dawning (psychedelic intricately constructed crooner rock)
8. Tournament - Years Old (abrasive post-punk meets New York hardcore)
9. Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest (technical mastery with tributes to Allah and doom metal)
10. Will Over Matter - Wasteland (explorations between "Electric Doom Synthesis" and pure noise)
11. Vektor - Black Future (picking up where Coroner and Voivod left technical speed metal)
12. Slugathor - Echoes from Beneath (black metal influenced death metal superior to hypes such as Teitanblood)
13. Goreaphobia - Mortal Repulsion (the most occult of the year's comebacks, bringing new focus and alignment to the ancient death metal sound)
14. Cloama - Lernaean Catacomb Complex (industrial textures)
15. Destroyer 666 - Defiance (a more heavy metalized version of this band dedicated to the glory of war and metal)
16. Denial - Catacombs of the Grotesque (tight darkness from Mexican death squad)
17. Goatmoon - Goatmoon (aerial folk and black metal from Finland's Ildjarn/Absurd)
18. Heathen - The Evolution of Chaos (a proper "Bay Area thrash" comeback)
19. High Spirits - High Spirits (honest heavy metal and AC/DC style revival)
20. Count Raven - Mammons War (lyrical and politically intelligent, if preachy, doom metal in between St. Vitus and Bathory)
21. Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ (hardly a surprise to the followers of the band, but perhaps more professional this time around)
22. Ignivomous - Death Transmutation (Immolation/Incantation pastiche from Australian veterans)
23. Into Oblivion - Into Oblivion (intelligent and inspiring ANUS cohort metal)
24. Razor of Occam - Homage to Martyrs (black thrash with vicious proficiency and cosmological themes)
25. Ride For Revenge - Wisdom of the Few (noisy and experimental, as if Winter's "Into Darkness" mingles with Beherit-ian underworld)
26. Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist (progressive "chamber" metal, with a neo-classical use of violin)
27. Empire of Tharaphita - Path of the Old Lunar Cult Empire (impressive demo level black metal romanticism)
28. Herod - The Curse of the King (heavy metal with slight metalcore tendencies, occasionally excellent harmonies and composition)
29. Satanael - Fire of Satan (raw, penultimate blasphemies for the maniacs)
30. Uncelestial - Born With Lucifer's Mark (unique riffcraft from an underrated old Finnish black warhorde)
31. Sinister Realm - Sinister Realm (borrows heavily from Death SS and Mercyful Fate, with an excellent vocalist)
32. War Master - Chapel of the Apocalypse (Texan death metal supremacy in the form of a short 3-song demo)
33. Grave Miasma - Exalted Emanation (vicious British answer to Blasphemy)
34. Armour - Armour (uproarious Finnish heavy metal/hard rock with slight nods to Destruction)
35. Absu - Absu (disappointing, but interesting "progressive" take on the Absu sound)
36. Lie in Ruins - Swallowed by the Void (a crepitant, sludging Finnish old-school death metal monster)
37. Kormorany - La Musica Teatrale (bridging neo-classical and jazz in scenes reminiscent of a movie soundtrack)
38. While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose (early Fates Warning's fantasy melancholy in epic Shelleyan/Byronian proportions)
39. Witch Tomb - Crippled Messiah (Ledney-approved mad black metal uproar)
40. Asphyx - Death... The Brutal Way (grinding and compulsive, not for wimps)
41. Katatonia - Night is the New Day (elegant pop music from former death metal musicians)
42. Slough Feg - Ape Uprising (San Francisco's "true metal" thorn in the side of hipsters)
43. Logistic Slaughter EP (Bolt Thrower-esque arrangements from a young and promising band)
44. Tervahäät - Tervahäät (freezing Finnish neo-ambient folk, very textural)
45. Arktau Eos - Ai Ma Ra (monastic and minimalistic DCD influenced rituals)
46. Graveland - Spears of Heaven (improved rhythms and a couple of massive pieces, sadly gets repetitive towards the end)
47. Havohej - Kembatinan Premaster (a musical statement superior anyway to most of the year's black metal hypes)
48. Desecration Rites - Hallowed Depravity (Argentinian death metal that sounds like mental sickness)
49. Deiphago - Filipino Antichrist (my favorite of those Hells Headbangers bands that sound like a bunch of rabid dogs in studio)
50. 1349 - Revelations of the Black Flame (Tom G. Warrior helped build this alien artifact of industrialized Norwegian black metal)

Hopefully I missed something great. And there's yet a lot left to hear.

Thanks for taking the time to type all that out but most of the albums on your list are crap (some are decent but most are crap) There's no way you can claim or prove that those albums are more relevant than World Painted Blood. Only that you enjoy those albums more which doesn't prove anything except how cool and unique and in-the-know you are. Even Engram is known to not exactly be a fresh way to approach black metal, and if you think Slayer are sell-outs well at least they were never techno DJ's.

If you call any album on that list genius then what will you call Transilvanian Hunger or Pure Holocaust? Extra super genius? Fairly original is also a interesting expression you use. Would you buy a car if the salesman told you the breaks work fairly? Just by your presentation I can tell you're adding extra mayonnaise and ketchup to disguise the rotten hamburger.

Don't take it personal but as someone else suggested earlier your list might be interesting for the young enthusiast but the cynical bastard would wipe his bottom with it. "Give me old Darkthrone, Burzum and Immortal or give me death because compromise is the worst form of failure." Hopefully we can see where this discussion will lead to next: listening exclusively to classics or spending our time listening to the recent garbage and becoming delirious over a solid B album - that special feeling of "yay, I found something decent among the trash" (I don't think any music fan is a stranger to that feeling, and I don't think anybody has never been deceived by it)

Since the topic of finding new albums has several threads devoted to it and this thread is supposed to be about Varg's private endeavors I suggest we leave it at this.

Back on topic: I heard Varg got a new haircut. I haven't seen any pictures of it yet but I've been told it's different from all the haircuts he's had before. Hopefully his next album will be different again too, sadly I didn't enjoy the nazi-homo-softcore-porn music style of Belus.

[Conservationist]

Personally, I'd rather have a simple rule:

Listen to the A list and sometimes, the B+ bands.

Ignore everything else.

If the newer stuff isn't good... I'm not going to listen to it just so I can be a totally k3wl m3talhead dude.

I'm going to find something else. If it's within metal -- great. If not, OH FUCKING WELL.

What I won't do is switch to the mainstream crap I've always hated. No hip-hop; it's for retards. No AOR. No techno. No disco. No reggae, no jazz, no pop country. No Pink, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha or emo.

But Beethoven? Sure, I'll get into that. It's intense like metal. It's not about me, me, me like pop music.

[Devamitra]

Indeed, it's an eternal battle between eugenizing the worthless and letting the reasonably interesting to have a chance. It is overkill to mention all these items just to emphasize the simple statement that I found "World Painted Blood" lacking in rare qualities.

However, provoking some interest, discussion and controversy about the mentioned albums was very welcome and in my mind it's one of the main things metal forums should do - I might be old, but the original reason to participate was exactly to gather information about gems I would hardly discover any other way. I don't see coolness or uniqueness as a factor or motivation; simply utility.

With all due respect, I'm not into canonizing the '93 or the '94. The harbinger of new metal? You can call me that.

[nekromantas]

"Belus" wasn't disastrous...

[Cargést]

"Belus" wasn't disastrous...

Welcome to ANUS.