Article by Salustiano Ferdinand
Shadows in the Crypt was the promising black metal act led by Lawrence Wallace, of his own long-running dark power/speed metal act Moonlight Prophecy/Lawrence’s Creation as well as being the former lead guitarist of bandmate Schatz’s power/black metal fusion Serpent ov Old [1]. (more…)
No CommentsTags: 2012, Black Metal, Cryptic Communications, power metal, Shadows in the Crypt
You know you live in an era of shitheads when people start conversations by saying “To be honest,” implying they are normally not honest.
27 CommentsTags: Black Metal, depressive suicidal black metal, dsbm, eugenics, retards
Mortum plays a streamlined style of black metal, applying it towards an almost shy efficiency and directed in the present album at expressing a series of simple musical ideas in different pieces through conservative yet noticeable development. (more…)
3 CommentsTags: 2011, Black Metal, mortum, the rites of depopulation
Cash grab alert! After giving the classic board room “fuck you” to cornerstone musician Abbath, the corporate conglomerate of Demonaz and Horgh have secured the legal rights to the band name “Immortal” and are now positioned to promptly squeeze their fans to blindly buy music and merch advertised as that of a Norwegian black metal legend. Although the pair have only played together on one album out of 12, they’re billing this as “the comeback of Immortal!” and have already gotten the infamously money-hungry Nuclear Blast records to set up the most overused rock n’ roll ponzi scheme.
Together, the pair have released a new song “Northern Chaos Gods,” the title/intro track of their first foray into commercialized rehash. So how did the miraculous (fake?) recovery of Demonaz’s tendonitis work out? Exactly how far into the waters of retro-rehash did the band wonder? Have they evolved even the slightest as musicians or do they remain forever trapped in the 90’s? As trust fund life-dropouts living in the woods at the expense of their family might say:
“Let’s find out!”
11 CommentsTags: Black Metal, cash grab, commercial, immortal, metal, necrophilia, rehash
Article Contributed by Salustiano Ferdinand
tl;dr: Despite controversy surrounding the indie pedigree of Weakling’s musicians and their musical descendants, Dead as Dreams remains, as described by none other than Fenriz, an “odd masterpiece” on its musical merits and should be a part of any serious underground metal fan’s collection. The album, for a number of reasons, is currently something of a locus of blame for whatever particular sins people ascribe to west coast black metal. Some people point to Weakling as the origin point of indie creep into US black metal due to the supposed indie credibility of its members in particular as well as to a lesser extent the trend of questionable publicity stunts engaged in by mediocre bands from Velvet Cocoon to Ghost Bath (although in Weakling’s case this should be blamed on the label, not the band). As a result of these complaints, Dead As Dreams has over time become something of an Emmanuel Goldstein for black metal fans, and the album some people are critiquing when they say “Dead as Dreams” (such as the time DMU’s most alpha editor described it as “shoegaze black metal”) bears little resemblance to the actual album Dead As Dreams.
8 CommentsTags: 2000's, Black Metal, California black metal, Dead as Dreams, guest contribution, metal, post-rock, review, shogaze, weakling
Dissection was one of the last bands to be associated with violence and action in metal. Jon Nodveidt, a true Hessian who rejected the modern world, committed various acts that most will consider morally reprehensible yet they embodied his personal philosophy and the ideology of his music. Barring the third album, Dissection display a penchant for ambitious composition within a framework of heavy/death and black metal. The second outing reached too far and ended up sounding almost confused from the virtuosity of the musicians and the wide number of techniques at their disposal without the vision to streamline all these ideas. The Somberlain is a lot more focused in its inspirations by sticking closer to the source material and more structured arrangements.
A Land Forlorn impressively bridges multiple approaches to metal.
Tags: analysis article, Black Metal, death metal, dissection, Heavy Metal, hessians, innovation, music theory, Swedish Death Metal, traditionalism
The ability to spot flavor of the week(/weak) trends in metal is a key element of elitism and will save you a load of embarrassment further down the road. Both death metal and black metal have seen their share of torrid but temporary trends in the form of herd pleasing bastardizations that quickly spike in popularity and then evaporate from relevancy as their fans move on to something even worse (usually after a period of denial and/or clinging to a safe intermediary genre). Crowdism is for losers but it’s heavily pushed in the metal scene and thus one must stay sharp to avoid it’s pitfalls.
Therefore in the interest of providing you, the reader, with the knowledge of how to identify and properly dismantle future flavor of the week trends as they appear, this two part series SMR series will focus on a trend, a selected album from that defines it’s failings, and the worst offenders for each of these forgettable movements. This week, we will focus on black metal’s most embarrassing waves of herd-fandom and sadistically dissect their unfortunate rise and much needed fall.
17 CommentsTags: Black Metal, black witchery, cradle of filth, deafheaven, depressive suicidal black metal, dsbm, flavor of the week, gothic black metal, hipsters, I'm in a Coffin, Industrial Black Metal, mallcore, post-black metal, sadistic metal reviews, smr, The Kovenant, trends, War Metal
Of all of the bands and all of the musicians that have come out of retirement in attempt to cash in on their past, Judas Iscariot’s Akhenetan (Andrew Harris) has been one rare exception who has truly vanished into the depths of obscurity for good. (more…)
9 CommentsTags: 1990s, Andrew Harris, Bancamp, Black Metal, blake judd, hipsters, judas iscariot, krieg, metal, moribund records, nachtmystium, reissue, thrift shops, USBM
Dimmu Borgir are through and through, the most popular and most successful Norwegian metal band. They are also #2 in bands that were at one point in their career black metal (falling just behind Cradle of Filth). Since 1993, Shagrath and Silonez have clawed and breathed fire and went through dozens of musicians- some very well known- and marketed themselves as the “evil fantasy/RPG villian” better than any other band. The brand, however obscure and seemingly non-conformist, resonated with millions as it’s two core musicians have turned their Hollywood Satanism gimmick into a big moneymaker for Nuclear Blast Records.
(more…)
Tags: Black Metal, Broadway Musicals, carnival core, cash grab, cheesey music, commercial metal, dimmu borgir, Disney villains, garbage, Hollywood, metal, Opera, power metal, sellouts, soundtrack, watain
Studies have shown that listening to instrumental music while writing, studying, doing accounting, or any other productive task can increase stimulation without the distraction that the words of vocals provide. But for Hessian, Templar, Heathen and other true metalheads instrumental works can be difficult to come by as extreme metal has not dabbled much into the realms of instrumental savagery. But thanks to the necrophiliac obsession that many have had with Norwegian black metal and its culture, there are a few enjoyable demos and early rehearsals from Norway’s finest that can provide a motivational grim instrumental experience without demanding too much from the attention of the listener.
Join me if you will for a vocal-less adventure through some of Norway’s best kept foreboding hidden secrets.
2 CommentsTags: 1990s, Black Metal, Blackthorn, burzum, darkthrone, death metal, demo, Euronymous, Grymyrk, hellhammer, instrumental metal, low fidelity, mayhem, norway, Norwegian Black Metal, rehearsal tapes, Thorns, varg vikernes
