Lord of Evil

Garage-level bands are usually condemned to the usage of the same rudimentary forms which causes their music to be dominated by the distorted guitar which constitutes the common ground for metal, hardcore, grind and oi. But at the same time there is often a struggle to somehow project desired message into those almost universal, objective structures with only small variations, just as Hellhammer was struggling with confinements of the form, despite being wholly avant-garde in its visions. And it seems that if there is truly a will, it will successfully color those rudimentary structures with desired character.

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Lord Wind – The Forest Is My Kingdom

The case of Rob Darken is a symptomatic one. He is undeniably the most important (and enduring!) metal musician from Poland and Eastern Europe in history. And yet, when black metal or folk is concerned, even on his own soil he is overlooked in favor of others, like Behemoth or Percival Schuttenbach respectively, solely on basis of some external attributes of their music. It seems that for some time now Darken is trying to gain at least a bit of the recognition he deserves: the exposure in Nergal’s biography, playing live with both Graveland and Lord Wind, and now the changes in the very formula of Lord Wind on The Forest Is My Kingdom.

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Treblinka’s “Evilized” – Song Analysis

There was this short period of time, when death metal sounded really gloomy. This type of death metal was sometimes considered as black metal, which was judged back then not as much by used techniques, but rather by imagery, themes and atmosphere. When black metal proper was defined, for lack of a better name, the term dark metal, which over the years garnered various applications, was sometimes used to describe this style of death metal.

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Xibalba – Ah Tza Xibalba Itzaes (2018)

Both late comebacks of metal bands and revivals of metal sub-genres are offering familiar yet much more streamlined, simplified and somewhat more populist version of themselves. In various ways it stands true for albums like Beherit’s Engram or Asphyx’s Death…The Brutal Way and now also Xibalba’s Ah Tza Xibalba Itzaes. While such sensation remains a continuous distraction when listening to those albums, it isn’t impossible to find even in their shallower and derivative structures signs of renewed passion and intent.

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Marduk Accused Of Being Nazis…….Again!

Once again blackened death metal band Marduk is accused by devotees and moralists of flirting with right wing ideas. This time band members supposedly bought some stuff from the Nordic Resistance Movement. And once again Marduk responded with an obligatory statement which technically isn’t a lie but also evades addressing the underlying question about their views.

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Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult Interview Part I

Black metal is a highly spiritual music. At its peaks it is able to create a sort of mysterium and Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, despite its rawness and overwhelming intensity, possesses that potential. DNS picked up the essential traits of black metal, many of which were universally misunderstood and dropped or compromised even by their originators, and with a great sense of application and purpose restored them to their function and dignity.

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