Black Metal classics

[svenske kocken]

Well, if you call Mercyful Fate black metal (i think they are heavy metal) they must be mentionend. Melissa and Don´t Break The Oath is two amazing albums.

 

[~UlvedaL~]

Abyssos
Black Dawn
Cradle Of Filth
Dark Funeral
Darkthrone
*Dead Silent Slumber
*Dissection
Gorgoroth
Illnath
Khold
Mactätus
Marduk
*Misteltein
Mörk Gryning
*Old Mans Child
*Satyricon
Seth
The Abyss
Thy Primordial
*Thyrane
Tidfall
*Troll
*Zyklon

Check them out....

 

[Ziuwarian]

Originally posted by npearce
Why is it that so much early black metal is so unlistenable? Is it simply production? Is it supposed to be like that? That is what I was led to understand. It adds to the "dark" atmosphere.

As for Bathory in that case, and speaking of one of those songs many people I know that are very much into BM like, Woman of Dark desires, I would say it's cause of the production. I got the Albums from Quorthon's (Bathory) Viking period, and they still are the standard to meet when it comes to Viking metal \m/ (especially Hammerheart). Then I wondered what he was doing before, and got Under the sign of the Black mark, as it was suggested to me. Well, the production - one word: horrible. Then I heard a cover of that one song (not the one done by Marduk, but by Menhir) and I must say, what they made out of the song with only a FEW changed in arrangement (and they only changed a tad stuff in the chorus) made the song a thousand times better, it became a killer to me

Well, listened to some Burzum stuff, too, as a friend is a huge fan of it... but I can't say I enjyoed the vocals at all, nor the production there.

And I REALLY don't get what should be so great about having a bad production, when it narrows the music down to a mass of noise...

Err, what am I doing here, I'm no huge BM fan...*leaves*

 

[St. Vitus]

Originally posted by OceanMech
Strangely, nobody has mentioned the vastly overlooked (recently, due to their label legal troubles) Samael.
Their disc "Ceremony of Opposites" is very elegant, VERY disciplined, and very BM oriented.

Absolutely. "Ceremony of Opposites" has a macabre grandeur that few other albums I've heard have come close to matching. It's a fantastic album, one that ends much too quickly IMO. Their "Rebellion" EP that followed was also very good, and contained some hints of the direction in which they were set to move on subsequent albums.

Another band that I haven't seen mentioned here is Abigor. They are one of my favorite black metal bands, and have put out a damn fine album in "Verwustung: Invoke the Dark Age" which came out in 1994 IIRC. Fairly light on the keyboards that so many other bands use to the point of nausea, but extremely heavy on the hellish guitars. They achieve this awesome tone that is raw and crushingly heavy, yet with all that black metal dissonance we all love. Despite that, they manage to create a great atmosphere and some slower- to mid-paced sections that balance out the blackened frenzy quite well. The followup to this one, "Orkblut: The Retaliation" is also very well done.

 

[J.]

Please tell me about Abigor. I own all releases from Pazuzu, Summoning, DVKE, Dargaard, etc, which were all part of the ABMS and all have some tie to Abigor. But I have never heard Abigor, simply because I red that they sound like Mayhem and Darkthrone who I do not like at all. I have also heard Nachthynmen(spelling?) is an utter classic.

 

[St. Vitus]

Originally posted by Dreamlord
Please tell me about Abigor. I own all releases from Pazuzu, Summoning, DVKE, Dargaard, etc, which were all part of the ABMS and all have some tie to Abigor. But I have never heard Abigor, simply because I red that they sound like Mayhem and Darkthrone who I do not like at all. I have also heard Nachthynmen(spelling?) is an utter classic.

I don't have much to add on top of what I've already posted. Unfortunately I haven't heard Pazuzu, DVKE, or Dargaard, so I can't draw any comparisons for you. They are nothing like Summoning, though (who are excellent in their own right). The only Mayhem I have heard is "De Mysteriis..." and Abigor sound nothing at all like that. They have a better production (although not great), much more complex song structures, better black metal vocals and overall they are a more interesting listen.

I guess one of the more compelling aspects about them for me (at least in their earlier work) is their focus on creating atmosphere with incredible guitar work rather than relying on the keyboard crutch. The songs will be pummeling you with armageddon-borne grimness one minute, and then it breaks into an awesome mid-paced guitar melody the next.

If you can find any MP3s from Opus IV (Mirages for the Eyes of the Blind), or anything from Orkblut or Verwustung (Eye to Eye at Armageddon, Kingdom of Darkness), definitely give them a listen. I'd stay away from "Channeling the Quintessence of Satan", as the production is so muddy it's unlistenable.

 

[Nocturnal Emperor]

heres a good list
Emperor - all of them
Darkthrone- blaze in the northern sky
Darkthrone- transilvanian hunger
Satyricon- nemesis divina
Cradle of fith- cruelty and the beast
Cradle of filth- dusk and her embrace
Dimmu borgir- Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
Immortal- at the heart of winter

all of the above are have good production with the exception of the darkthrone albums which are a bit fuzzy.

 

[J.]

Here's a list, although I'm going to leave out the usual suspects(Burzum, Darkthrone, Mayhem):

Dissection- Storm of the Lights Bane
Dissection- The Somberlain
Aborym- Kali Yuga Bizarre
Aborym- Fire Walk with Us!
Thorns- Thorns
Immortal- Pure Holocaust
Immortal- At the Heart of Winter
Zyklon- World uv Worms
Sigh- Hail Horror Hail
Sigh- Ghastly Funeral Theater
Golden Dawn- The Art of Dreaming
Ulver- Bergtatt

 

[TheBloodFeaster]

A few of the bands you guys mentioned aren't really black metal, like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth (not saying they're bad though! I like CoF).

Try these:

Venom - Welcome To Hell
Hellhammer - Apocalyptic Raids
Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
Sodom - In the Sign of Evil / Outbreak of Evil
Sarcofago - INRI
Impaled Nazarene - Suomi Finland Perkele
Darkthrone - A Blaze In the Northern Sky
Countess - The Book of the Heretic
Mayhem - Live In Leipzig
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Burzum - Det Som Engang Var
Carpathian Forest - Black Shining Leather
Heretic - Black Metal Holocaust
Judas Iscariot - Under the Black Sun
Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
Svartsyn - The True Legend
Hemlock - Funeral Mask
Megiddo - The Final War
Root - Hell Symphony
Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times
Tearstained - Monumental In Its Sorrow
Veles - Night on the Bare Mountain
Tormentor - Anno Domini

As for the bad production, in some cases it's a result of low funds, in others its intentional to produce the right atmosphere.

 

[Doom]

Golden Dawn- The Art of Dreaming

I'm guessing you have this album. If so, where did you get it from??

I downloaded the title track from that album a long time ago and it's an awesome song, but I never got anything else by them. Now with Audiogalaxy shutting down, all the other file sharing programs don't have stuff like that, but i'd definately like to get that album.

How does the rest of it compare to the title track?

 

[Manes]

NO!
PLEASE LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY "THE SOMBERLAIN"!

IF YOU HAVE TO GET ONE DISSECTION, LET IT BE "THE SOMBERLAIN"! TRUST ME!
Most people will tell you "Storm..." But I think you should listen to "The Somberlain" first...

And what the hell was Dreamlord thinking when he said there were no guitars on Ulver's "Kveldssanger"?
If he meant no electric guitars, okay then... But Ulver do, in fact, use acoustic guitars to create the exceptional music on that disc... Essential!

 

[Nate The Great]

OK. I listened to some Burzum (what I could find), and they aren't that bad. The vocals sound like they could take some getting used to.

I'm going to start by ordering

Ulver: Bergtatt
Dissection: don't know which one yet
Burzum: Hvis . . .

Any disagreements? I'm ordering today.

 

[R.I.P.2]

I'm interested in getting into black metal aswell, so I like this thread.

I looked for any info on noctes and found nothing except on swedishmetal it said they broke up or something. Confusing...

I have one Abigor mp3, several Emperor mp3's, a few Satyricon mp3's and a Darkthrone mp3 that sounds HORRIBLE. Emperor seems the best so far, though Mother North is amazing. I also like the Abigor. Oh and two Burzum mp3's that sound so shitty I can barely describe it as music.

 

[J.]

Originally posted by Manes
And what the hell was Dreamlord thinking when he said there were no guitars on Ulver's "Kveldssanger"?
If he meant no electric guitars, okay then... But Ulver do, in fact, use acoustic guitars to create the exceptional music on that disc... Essential!

Yes, I meant electric guitars. Sorry about that.

 

[J.]

Originally posted by Doom


I'm guessing you have this album. If so, where did you get it from??

I downloaded the title track from that album a long time ago and it's an awesome song, but I never got anything else by them. Now with Audiogalaxy shutting down, all the other file sharing programs don't have stuff like that, but i'd definately like to get that album.

How does the rest of it compare to the title track?

I had been looking for this album for a long time, then it popped up on Ebay. I ended up being the only person to bid on it, and got it for $5, still sealed.

Since then I have seen it once more on Ebay.

The whole album is excellent. If you see it, get it.

 

[Ziller]

Ohhhhhh maaaan.... I get serious shivers down my spine every time I hear Mother North. Every single time. That track is like a common scandinavian national anthem. CoF's "A Dream of Wolves in the Snow" used to do that to me too.

 

[J.]

I also recommend Dawn- Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy). Another black metal classic.

 

[J.]

Golden Dawn- The Art of Dreaming

I posted a review this in the "Your Reviews" section.

 

[St. Vitus]

Originally posted by Ziller
Ohhhhhh maaaan.... I get serious shivers down my spine every time I hear Mother North. Every single time. That track is like a common scandinavian national anthem. CoF's "A Dream of Wolves in the Snow" used to do that to me too.

Absolutely. That and Summer Dying Fast. The first CoF album (The Principle of Evil Made Flesh) is a great black metal album. And I'd like to second the recommendation for Satyricon - Nemesis Divina is awesome.

 

[Nocturnal Emperor]

mother north is a fuckin amazing song. So is emperor's inno a satana