A History Of Norwegian Black Metal

Darkthrone ‘F.O.A.D’ Peaceville
	‘If you don’t change, you’re a mongoloid’, was a recent quote by the band in a magazine I was perusing. For a band who owe their all to the fans, that made them rather naïve or arrogant, and yet the statement was a logical one. Of all the Norwegian acts, Darkthrone have remained true to their roots more than most, and the last album, The Cult is Alive, was more of a confused release trying to appease both worlds, with the raw primitivisms of the past straddling the modern subtleties of the modern age. A way to follow Satyricon into the mainstream bright shinny lights. With this album, Darkthrone have regressed way past their conception, slipping back into the mid eighties and carving a very enjoyable thrash meets
punk Black Metal. The track, Canadian Metal employs a high pitch vocal delivery that emphasizes the retro thrash acts of yesteryear. There Are elements of Sodom, Gravedigger, and brazen N.W.O.B.H.M kitsch woven into the riffs and vocal delivery. Guitar solo’s leap out here and there, and melody oozes from the raw sharpness of the guitar sound. This is a band playing what they want to play, creating their muse and sharing it with the rest of us. The musical vision of Fenris, and Nocturnal Culto, may not always adhere to how we fans perceive it should be, but it is as this album proves, a fantastic Metal album with a unique creative endeavour that is unmistakably Darkthrone.

Garlikde’th ‘While God Sleeps’ Lyderhorn Records
	While God Sleeps compiles the two demos of this late 80's/early 90's thrash band from Mosjøen. While the rest of scene in Norway at this time was centered around the major cities in the south, Garlik De'th were isolated in the far north and thus did not sound particularly like any of the other bands in Norway during this era. Garlik De'th played a unique form of thrash that can be described as a mix between Voivod and German acts like Kreator, with harsh vocals, punishing riffs, accomplished musicianship, and plenty of forward-thinking ideas of their own. Unfortunately, the band broke up in 1992, so they never got a chance to record anything besides these two demos. The sound quality is good,
and there is a definite thrash grove woven into the material. The general consensus is to create mid-paced songs with sudden burst of speed, and this plodding garage sound is a very appealing quality to the two demo’s here. This is a splendid release of a band that most of you will have not even heard of. Not Black Metal in any way, but a hint of those pre-Satanic Darkthrone/Burzum recordings are still evident. To delve into the Norwegian scene prior to the Black metal explosion is historically essential to understand just what was happening before everyone started painting their faces and waving spiked branches in the snow peppered forests. [not that I’m alluding to any sarcasm here]

Ghoul-Cult - Ghoul-Cult ‘Faceless, Nameless, Shapeless Records’ 2004 [Vinyl album]
	Featuring a member of Faustcovern, and a cover depicting a print from Dantes Inferno, by Guatave Dore. Now, do the contents carry such a distinctively profound sound? From the drowsy guitar intro, the choppy Thrash Metal of Ghoul Cult springs to life. Like many of the retro Thrash bands appearing [and disappearing] the music itself is generally easy to absorb, having already being built upon familiar mid-eighties thrash foundation. The first track ‘Infernal Upheaval’ hints at early Sodom, and when the song ends with a rendition of ‘Outbreak of Evil’ it makes perfect sense. The following brooding thrash dirge is a return to basics, a slow jam like number that goes off into various paths. A return to the
snappy thrash of yesteryear follows, again evoking the loose rhythmic subtleties of classic Sodom/Possessed. The tracks are wrapped in a darkly edge, and offer a dirtier thrash style than the more polished riff perfect, Metallica, Exodus or Exciter. This album was never meant for mass consumption; if it was, then there would be a CD version of it. No, here is a band doing what they do because their having a blast, and it really does sound it.

Hatepulse ‘Core of the Souless’ Misantrof Records
	Hatepulse released an EP, In Extenso Letalis, in 2003, via the now defunct Rage of Achilles label. The music was pretty standard Carpathian Forest style Black Metal. Here we have a release that you can download for free from the link below. It contains, ragged recordings of slow crunching Black Metal. The sound quality is far better than your average demo, and as raw Black Metal recordings go, this is perfectly listenable. With a main format of drum, guitar and rasping vocal snarl, we have here a very simple deployment of orthodox Black Metal. There are hints of Carpathian Forest and latter era Darkthrone, spinning out of control within the frantic arrangements. From the smoking faster sections
appear the obligatory slower moments, allowing a calmer atmosphere to alleviate the prior caustic tones. A slight keyboard swoon appears on occasions to add depth to the material, but for the most part this is decent Black Metal and nothing more. The album was never mixed or mastered, so the sound is quite empty This the way the recording sounded when the band split up in 2005. The tracks were recorded between 2003-2005 in various crappy studios. Tracks are, Pur Negative Energy, Imposters Decay, Breaking out of Hell, Deceived by Light, A Colder Kind of Death, 4 Times Death in Perspective. www.misantrof.net/downloads.htm

Limbonic Art ‘Legacy of Evil’ Candlelight Records
	One of the ‘maybe’ bands of the Norwegian Black Metal firmament. Like fellow Norsemen, Arcturus, Ulver, and Gehenna, the allure of complete territory dominance is an illusive proposition, and one that sets them apart from the likes of Emperor and Immortal. This statistic does not blight the music, it nevertheless maintains an accurate picture of where this band reside in the pecking order. This is Limbonic Arts fifth album. The first, Moon in Scorpio, appeared way back in 1996, and the bands cyber symphonic Black Metal style would soon be copied by numerous acts, but never to be overshadowed. The album starts of at warp 10, blasting from the silence of the speakers to full velocity in under
a tenth of a second. This rip roaring guitar strum, machine gun snare peppering of the atmosphere, and ravenous vocal snarling is basically the albums seething core. The clarity and crisp production allows for this massive aural speed buzz to slip into the ears like warm blood weeping from a fresh wound. From the blasting apocalyptic barrage are born ambient synth parts from where a respite can be taken, but only momentarily, as the impending chaos is unleashed once again. This is a very modern sounding album, with many of the solid clarity afforded to Dimmu Borgir, and Cradle of Filth becoming apparent here. On the few occasions the music subsides into a more calmer musical ambience, a swooning atmosphere is awakened that brings forth a more sustainable level of intensity. Compared to previous output, this album adds another chapter to the bands ongoing musical legacy. I would suggest this is no stronger or weaker than much of what has appeared before. There is no dynamic twist of drastic deviance from what we would expect to hear. Finely deployed orchestral malevolence hacked into many sonic rhythms and hurtled though the stratosphere with frightening ease. Quite wonderful.

Manes ‘How the World Came To An End’ Candlelight Records
	A cult Nordic Black Metal act who released the wonderful ‘Under ein Blodraud Maane’ album way back in 1999. Leap forward to 2007, and we are plunged into a cyber world of electronica, trance like dance rhymes verging on the surreal. Like Ulver, the progression beyond mere Metal constraints is way over the horizon. From the first track, with the light guitar strum and restrained bass lines, it is the Enigma style vocal female echoes, the clean male vocal delivery, and strobe layered synthetics of the music’s core that swoons within the mind. There are hypnotic tribal beats dissolving into the aural rhythmic stoner
atmospheres, and half way through the album it becomes apparent there is a Moby driven muse expanding within the quite alluring arrangements. The Industrial purge of ‘A Cancer in our Midst’ shudders the air, lifting the gentle ambience into a menacing chill of strident machine-like beats. Like Ved Buens Ende, imploding within an Arcturus instrumental convulsion, the experience here is both dreamy and mind bending. This is far removed from the acute Black Metal primitivism of the bands roots, and yet it is reviewed here as a continuation of the bands legacy.

Mundilfare – ‘Gjennom mine forfedres øyner’ Demo tape 2006

A very illusive, very unheard of band here. The tape is limited to 150, Now that’s as obscure as we are going get. The music here is up-beat Viking/Black metal. With the basic, guitar/drum/harsh vocal components, the music flows quite nicely into many moods and atmospheres. The clean Viking chant is here when called upon to induce that traditional atmosphere. This first impression is garnished from the first track, Sjotid. The following track is back to the raw one dimensional Black Metal drawl, a predictably fast, straight forward arrangement. Then appears the rhythmic furry of Vikingens Kamp, empowered by thick guitar strums and a melodic hook designed to chew into your senses. Here we find a rolling, hypnotic set of riffs setting this track apart from the previous harsh material. The vocals are more demented strains, setting a baneful tone to the proceedings. With the next track, it becomes apparent this band have a full range of tempos and moods woven into their songs. Here we have a Strid like drone, slothful bleakness being dragged through a snowdrift. There is a real despondency oozing from the guitar strums, the vocals pure Norwegian Black Metal in tone. The overlapping riffs are set to doom mode, and yet again this demo sweeps from one extreme to the other. The final track, Den Siste Reise, reminded me of Carpathian Full Moon, who equally emitted an up-beat Black meets Doom style, not too heavy, not too soft. If you can hunt this down it will be most rewarding as the contents are very well created and quite unique.

Northaunt / Vinterriket split 7” EP BMMB productions 2004
	Here we have a fine split underground release from two very similar sounding acts. Vinterriket, from Germany, must be one of the most prolific acts out there with no less than, 50 demo’s, splits and bests of's appearing from 2001. This isn’t that new, but it has a quite serene content. Ambient Black Metal [is there such a thing?] I suppose Mortis is the best name to have as a reference for what is on this slab of black plastic. Gentle keyboards, soft sweeping piano, and that’s about all we get. What is so fucking annoying is that no bugger mentions on the sleeve or disc at what speed to play it, so we can acquire two different tracks, one at 45rpm, the other at 33rpm, both sounding normal to my ears. The other bizarre thing to this split, is both sides could be the same band, as both tracks do the same dreamy synth thing. I have no doubt that to the ambience adherent, there is a great depth and vision here, with a passionate tranquillity to be found.

Svartahrid ‘Sadness and Wrath’ Soulseller Records
	This album was recorded in 2002/3 but was never released due to little label interest. Prior to this recording the band released their debut long player, Forthcoming Storm in 1999. This was a Dimmu Borgir ‘Stormblast’ style of Black Metal dynamics with not so much of the orchestral overkill. The following As the Sunrise Flickers album, in 2000, was a more thrash influenced affair, with the symphonic elements all but dismissed. Now we have the third Svartahrid album, and this pretty much follows the previous thrashing furnace opus in its more orthodox implementation of fluent modern Black Metal. You can hear many influences creeping though the fast/slow compositional style, with both
modern Darkthrone minimalism and Enslaved style technical bravado. There is much to absorb here, and yet the dynamics of the music cannot detract the very basic Black Metal framework, albeit a more refined, adaptation. The album grows stronger with each track, the coarseness becoming more refined, with slower arrangements and keyboards adding a deeper atmosphere. The Track, Intensjon: Krig, embarks on the bands finest moment on this release, a meandering emotive arrangement that harkens back to the magnificent debut. Here is a band who sit alongside, Ragnarok, Tulus, Manes, and Forlorn, as bands who remain relatively untainted by the more mainstream marketabilityof fellow countrymen, Mayhem and Darkthrone. Nocturnal Culto of Darkthrone does the vocals on the track, Intensjon: Krig. http://myspace.com/svartahrid

The Deviant ‘Ravenous Death Worship’ Tabu 2005
	Not a recent release, but one I have come upon of late. Featuring Dolgar, from Gehenna, and on one track, the vocal vehemence of fellow Gehenna man, Sanrabb. This is more of a Black Metal album leaning in a Death Metal cesspit. The affiliation with Gehenna becomes obvious when you realize that this very band committed virtual suicide with their shift from awe inspiring Black Metal to deadpan European Death. Here we find a similar all guns blazing, solid guitar assault that re-creates every cliché in the book. Just think, At The Gates, Demigod, Dismember Merciless, and I could go on all night…..the list of archetypes is endless. The tracks are well crafted, smooth to the ears and fired by a blustering vocal
snarl. The riffs fall like acid rain, hammering upon your head, whilst the snares pummel the brain to mush. For sure, this has none of the utter fury of full on Death acts like Deicide or Suffocation. Here we have the more melodic elements of the Entombed school of thick, chugging Deathly remains. Here rests a very capable album, of Norwegians trying to be Swedish, and it just never fully works to my mind.

Tomb - s/t demo tape (Band exists no more) 2004
	Another demo I came upon by chance, another band as obscure as the the abominable snowman. This demo has been released also on cd, minus the track, Arabian Slaughter, [probably one of the better tracks Tomb have written]. This demo is an astounding 40 minutes plus long and features some very well constructed Blackened Death Thrash. The band that instantly reared its head was Crypt of Kerberos, a Swedish Blackened Death act from 1993. I also felt hints of the underrated Belarus band, Gods Tower. Both of these aforementioned acts built their melodic songs around memorable guitar arrangements and a very warm atmosphere. The comparisons are uncanny, both bands employing a deathly
snarl and a very versatile guitar arrangement. The music flows and meanders in a similar style to Dissection, sweeping across technical Emperor style guitar pics, to blasting raw Gorgoroth aggression. From this sizzling extreme metal melee will appear thrash like riffs and doom fuelled slower sections. There really is a lot of ground covered over the course of the recordings. Add to this guitar solo’s and clean chanting vocals, and what we get is a wonderfully diverse demo, and one I highly recommend you seek out. The sound is also clear and far superior from most demo recordings. http://tomb.norwegianstyle.com/frameset.htm