A History Of Norwegian Black Metal

Blood Tsunami ‘Grand Feast for Vulture’ Candlelight/Nocturnal Art Prod
	What can you say about this Thrashing fury set to musical precision, Blood Tsunami are extremely good at what they do of that there is no doubt. Following on from the vein poisoning ‘Thrash Metal’ album of 2007, we find yet another thrashathon exploding in our ears from this popular Norwegian act. The music is a continuation of the bands aggressive Kreator meets Slayer Thrash chaos and add to that a splattering of Deathly morbidity and the hellfire music will make itself known. Whether the initial participation of ex-Emperor drummer Faust, would have altered the bands initial impact is neither here nor there, what is relevant is this band can skin you alive with ultra precise, extreme meandering
arrangements. The one thing you will need is patience and a penchant for long undulating tracks. We have here seven songs divided into just over fifty minutes, so Tankard this band are not!!. And here rests the problem. Thrash in its basic format is a short hammer drill to the head. Unless you’re Metallica, not many bands get away with lengthy songs of this nature. Eceladus Rising, is a thirteen minute instrumental, an epic construction in any bands book, and one that is not usually undertaken [maybe they ran out of lyrics??]. Blood Tsunami are a good Thrash act and not much else. Enjoyable and no doubt a blast live. Musically they overstep their abilities by dragging a harsh formula into what should be a more tempered area. If your are into the less subtle Thrash firestorms where the likes of Onslaught, and the aforementioned Kreator dwell, then this will kindle your embers.

Brente Engler ‘Verden med Ende’ BellvmGerite
	A Norwegian icy Black metal act with a deep worshiping ‘Transylvanian Hunger’ syndrome. The guitars are thin, the sound even thinner and that can only mean one thing, pure TRUE Black metal. Indeed, what we get here is a very minimalist form of the basic genre application. Whereas the Darkthrone treatment of such aesthetics is a short sharp trip into the jaws of Hell and back, Brente Engler stretch this format to its limits, expanding a three minute kick to the balls into eight minutes of archaic raw primitivism. There are five tracks of this meandering infernal winter storm to absorb and when you actually lay back and embrace its bleak atmosphere, the whole album becomes rather enjoyable. With some
parts sounding like the eccentric Furze, and others alluding to the cosmetic orthodoxy of Burzum. There is nothing new here, but this band does have a certain underground exclusivity to their sound, a pure strain of Black Metal that can only exist in the unlit realms of the unseen depths of the genre. http://siyobik.info/bellum_gerite/index.php?artist=brente_engler

Hat ‘The Demise Of Mankind’ AntiChristian Front Rec
	Known as Ravner back in 1993, this is the first offering of note under the new moniker, Hat. The aforementioned date will help in acknowledging the musical aura oozing from the music. Here we have a fine caustic Black Metal album that takes its wrought iron menace from the early ice cloven atmospheres of Gorgoroth and the predictable root formular of Darkthrone. The Christmas carol intro slowly deconstructed by demonic scowling sets the scene for the following, Guds Skitne Avkom, a raw flesh ripping black metal workout born from the arse of pandemonium. And so the rest of this album bleeds forth a torrent of Scandinavian ice storms shrouded in orthodoxy and that TRUE Black Metal approach.
Here we have a dirty ruthless sound tempered with slower menacing moments. This cd falls into the Tsjuder, Orcustus, Urgehal and Slavia, no nonsense format. www.myspace.com/Evighat

Haugfolk ‘demo’ 2009
	This one-man project was founded in 2008 by Farmann. Haugfolk is a folkloric metal band and plays about local history from Agdenes area. As demos go, this is a strange and seemingly pointless one. Of the four tracks here, three are nondescript, leaving one proper song to digest. The demo starts with a 48 second guitar intro that leads into the upbeat folk/ metal of ‘Agoensseomen’. Clean jolly vocals liven the bouncy mix evoking a less abrasive Falkenbach, and 1,54 seconds later the song ends. A short synth part follows and the demo ends with a two minute guitar section that offers glimpses of this bands potential and little else. I was so eager to absorb more of this bands material, and the one track that allowed me to do so was far too short. Haugfolk are a capable entity in need of a strong presentation, and not the bit ridden disc laying before me
here. I hope to hear a fuller reflection of this bands music sooner than later. Haugfolk is a Norwegian word for underworld people for those who are interested. www.myspace.com/haugfolk

Myrkraverk ‘ Nordvegen’ 7” ep Blut & Eisen Productions
	Another fine slab of vinyl from the northern fjords. With Norway experiencing a surge in Black Metal related acts, this is one that will do no harm to its ongoing popularity. Myrkraverk, is the work of Thor Erik Helgesen [also in Throne of Katarsis, Skuggeheim, Thundra, Dwelling Soul, and Evig Natt] First up is the 6 minute Nordvegen, which settles into a very ‘Dark Medieval Times’ Satyricon atmosphere after the initial fast start. The early Borknagar feel is also present due to the vocals shifting from raspy to clean chants. Fast sections melt into brooding slower parts that evoke that menacing atmosphere found on Mayhems, De Mysteriss opus par excellence.
Flip the plastic over and we get the seven minute Transataumanti, a rugged Borknagar style track of yore, clean vocals merge with harsh rasps to drag you back to the mid nineties. The Norwegian scene [like all scenes] is built on strong vinyl and demo releases that keep the underground alive. In this modern digital age it is essential that such releases never die because when they do, so will the very heart that beats the underground cease to be. Label - http://w-t-c.org/__site/pages/blut-und-eisen.php

Strah ‘Fullmånens Ve & Gru’ demo 2009
	Oslo based Norwegian Black Metal band with an epileptic guitar style that rips though the ears like a blackened threshing machine. This 8 tracker is filled with twisting ideas and extremely well composed songs, all built upon a dry icy Norwegian sound. The guitar collision reminded me of the Swedish act Sarcasm, but on closer inspection the likes of Taake and Tsjuder appear within the frantic compositions. It’s bone bitingly cold, cranium fracturing raw, icy Black Metal with a melodic vein of rich rhythmic balance pumped into the songs. Of the six tracks, the, Antikrist, is one of those moments that will stick in your head like a crossbow bolt, it has a great riff and a catchy arrangement. Slow,
brooding Black Metal at its very best. Of the rest, we get a face full of hammering, well constructed frost bound Black Metal the Nordic way. One surprise moment is the flute section on Vinternatt. Here the band dabble in the Pagan aesthetics of Windir, and to good effect. The rousing, Trollets Lyster, has an off-balance acoustic section sewn into the abrasive arrangement, and reveals the depth of some of this bands material. All in all a very strong demo with an excellent sound. This could easily pass as a solid debut album. www.myspace.com/strahbm

Susperia ‘Attitude’ Candlelight Records
	Album number five from this Melodic Thrash/ Death act. If you like Testament then you’ll like Susperia, but this band a much more than a clone of the said cult thrash act. Like Old Mans Child and Gorefest, the music here is more of a Gothenburg deathly leaning. It owes far more to the Swedish crunching guitar sound than the Norwegian icy guitar strum. It’s hard to narrow the Susperia sound to one definite influence as this heavily congested genre has absorbed so many bands. The Finnish melodic dynamics of Sentenced also solidify the music here, as well as the death riffs that harkens the full on axe attack of Arch Enemy. The one thing that cannot be ignored is the catchiness of the songs, the mid-tempo mainstream
groove simmering within the simple arrangements. Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir and Chuck Billy from Testament guest vocal on the track ‘Sick Bastard’, that runs a pretty predictable path. The distinct vocal delivery of Athera cements the Susperia sound with a clean rasp that dives into an angst snarl when called upon. Testament’s Chuck Billy again enters the descriptive heights here [I am sure the band are sick of the Testament comparisons] but Athera is no singer proper and this shows on numerous occasions when he tries to break from his comfort throaty zone. This album is about thick crunchy riffs bearing down on you like blade upon the neck, but most of the material is harmless chart comfortable metal that lacks any real menace to those preferring a more thrash rooted bite. Overall this is an album that will be familiar to Susperia fans. It alludes to the former releases by reconstructing many of what you have heard before. This album owes more to the lackluster 2007’s Cut From Stone album, than the more energetic, Unlimited from 2004, and yet the tracks are catchy and ooze a certain likeability factor. Susperia have not created the all important defining album and who knows if they ever will.

Tremor ‘The Lipsynced with Satan’ Myrholt Design
	2006’s This is Primitive Hate album was a decent enough stab at high octane melodic black metal shimmering between the raw orthodoxy of Taake and the progressive elements of Dodheimsgard. Featuring Enslavement of Beauty members, this new 5 track mcd reveals a leap of musical vision tenfold and it should propel the band to a far wider audience. There is always that rare band offering that something special in their music and for me Tremor are one such entity. The first track, Lipsynced with Satan, starts off in typical albeit most enjoyable aggressive blackened tumult, and yet it’s halfway though this nine minute epic that the music is turned on its head. From nowhere the track bends in to a mid tempo
Darkthrone style moment to freefall into an acoustic Mexican style section appears and when you have adjusted to that, the rhythmic beat starts to pump out a dance arrangement alongside the biting blackened vocal. This track alone is way above the average in terms of compositional skill. The song is addictive, catchy and when it ends you will play it again rather than continue to the next track. With such a start how does the rest of the release compare. The cover versions are crisp in your face versions of Bathory’s archaic ‘Satan My Master, and the self titled Von. Both roaring homage’s to the originals. With the short blast of Helvete, to remind us of what this band are about [this could have been lifted from the debut album, it is left to the post black metal darkly, I Vampiri Di Praga, to end the mcd on a high. If you can imagine the driving rhythms of Moonspell experimenting with the arrangement to showcase a very modern edge to the black metal theme. This is definitely one of the best Norwegian releases this year, if not for longer still. www.myspace.com/tremorband