I was reading a post on another forum about the first Graveland EP (The Celtic Winter), and it got me to reminiscing about the glory days of black metal and all of the amazing releases from the early and mid 90s that blew my mind when I was first discovering metal and continue to do so to this day, still having lost none of their initial impact. That was when black metal really meant something, and it meant something serious. That earnestness of intent and ideology really shined through in the compositions present on the landmark releases of the period.
It's refreshing to see that there are still people that seem to be interested in early-mid 90s BM. Most of the fucks I talk to these days are beginning to forget, or have already completely forgotten, the good ol' days. Granted, there are a lot of great newer bands that I go nuts for (Drudkh, Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Glorior Belli, Negura Bunget), but none of them, with the exception of Drudkh, hold a candle to the old classics.
The second-wave bands, and not only the Scandinavian ones but also Polish bands like Graveland, Veles, and a few of the ultra-hyped and oft-scalped French Black Legions releases, captured a feeling in their recordings that is becoming increasingly elusive, perhaps even never again attainable. The classic albums are other-worldly, as if they had been beamed in from another, older dimension. They were ancient-sounding. They were frightening in their austerity. They were genuinely atmospheric, and they were genuinely genuine. Nothing else can compare. As I said, Drudkh, sometimes Xasthur, are the only newer groups that have properly evoked the same emotions in me since the early-mid 90s bands, and I have an aching feeling in the pit of my stomach that they may be the last to do so.
I may be beating a long-dead horse here, but it's an elusive godhead that those bands touched. It bothers me a great deal when I see the memory, the understanding of these bands or, in the case of groups like Mayhem, these bands' older material, fading. Hopefully it's merely a case of wrong-place, wrong-time on my part. Somebody prove me wrong. Please.
While we're at it:
Not one of us can deny our love of making lists of our favorite albums. It's a shameful addiction that few of us can shake. So, let's. This list isn't necessarily meant to be a rundown of the best black metal albums, or the most "kvlt," but rather the records, preferably second-wave but potentially otherwise, that truly capture and are most representative of that elusive atmosphere of which I spoke, the ones that are the most capable of really transporting the listener. You know the one. I'm doing one album per band, except for Mayhem and Darkthrone because I can't make up my mind. There may be a lot of debuts in this one, which is understandable.
Mayhem - Live In Leipzig
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon
Emperor/Enslaved - Emperor/Hordane's Land (!)
Burzum - Burzum
Borknagar - The Olden Domain
Immortal - Battles in the North
Vlad Tepes - War Funeral March
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
Gehenna - Seen through the Veils of Darkness
Carpathian Forest - Through Chasm, Caves, and Titan Woods
Veles - Night on the Bare Mountain
Graveland - Carpathian Wolves
Beherit - The Oath of Black Blood
Moonblood - Blut und Krieg
Marduk - Those of the Unlight
Mutiilation - Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul
Belketre - their half of March to the Black Holocaust
Varathron - His Majesty at the Swamp
Ulver - Bergtatt
Morbid - December Moon
Aeternus - Beyond the Wandering Moon
Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times
Gorgoroth - Pentagram
Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
Xasthur - Nocturnal Poisoning
So, lots of Scandinavian debuts. But honestly, can you blame me? I'm interested to see what the rest of you feel are theatmospheric albums.
It's refreshing to see that there are still people that seem to be interested in early-mid 90s BM. Most of the fucks I talk to these days are beginning to forget, or have already completely forgotten, the good ol' days. Granted, there are a lot of great newer bands that I go nuts for (Drudkh, Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Glorior Belli, Negura Bunget), but none of them, with the exception of Drudkh, hold a candle to the old classics.
The second-wave bands, and not only the Scandinavian ones but also Polish bands like Graveland, Veles, and a few of the ultra-hyped and oft-scalped French Black Legions releases, captured a feeling in their recordings that is becoming increasingly elusive, perhaps even never again attainable. The classic albums are other-worldly, as if they had been beamed in from another, older dimension. They were ancient-sounding. They were frightening in their austerity. They were genuinely atmospheric, and they were genuinely genuine. Nothing else can compare. As I said, Drudkh, sometimes Xasthur, are the only newer groups that have properly evoked the same emotions in me since the early-mid 90s bands, and I have an aching feeling in the pit of my stomach that they may be the last to do so.
I may be beating a long-dead horse here, but it's an elusive godhead that those bands touched. It bothers me a great deal when I see the memory, the understanding of these bands or, in the case of groups like Mayhem, these bands' older material, fading. Hopefully it's merely a case of wrong-place, wrong-time on my part. Somebody prove me wrong. Please.
While we're at it:
Not one of us can deny our love of making lists of our favorite albums. It's a shameful addiction that few of us can shake. So, let's. This list isn't necessarily meant to be a rundown of the best black metal albums, or the most "kvlt," but rather the records, preferably second-wave but potentially otherwise, that truly capture and are most representative of that elusive atmosphere of which I spoke, the ones that are the most capable of really transporting the listener. You know the one. I'm doing one album per band, except for Mayhem and Darkthrone because I can't make up my mind. There may be a lot of debuts in this one, which is understandable.
Mayhem - Live In Leipzig
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon
Emperor/Enslaved - Emperor/Hordane's Land (!)
Burzum - Burzum
Borknagar - The Olden Domain
Immortal - Battles in the North
Vlad Tepes - War Funeral March
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
Gehenna - Seen through the Veils of Darkness
Carpathian Forest - Through Chasm, Caves, and Titan Woods
Veles - Night on the Bare Mountain
Graveland - Carpathian Wolves
Beherit - The Oath of Black Blood
Moonblood - Blut und Krieg
Marduk - Those of the Unlight
Mutiilation - Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul
Belketre - their half of March to the Black Holocaust
Varathron - His Majesty at the Swamp
Ulver - Bergtatt
Morbid - December Moon
Aeternus - Beyond the Wandering Moon
Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times
Gorgoroth - Pentagram
Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
Xasthur - Nocturnal Poisoning
So, lots of Scandinavian debuts. But honestly, can you blame me? I'm interested to see what the rest of you feel are theatmospheric albums.
