Kampfar

A great release from the time where most Norwegian Black Metal albums looked more like postcards than epic monuments to blasphemous evil. Released in 1997, Mellom Skogkledde Aaser was this young Norwegian band's second (and best) release. Despite the rather arctic looking clime portrayed on the cover, the title translates to "Between Wooded Hills." I imagine the band could have easily called this album "Valley." Kampfar's sound is more viking than Satan, reminding one of a less frenetic Enslaved. This isn't that childish flute fail of these new-fangled boring Napalm Records bands, this is well-executed 2nd wave Norwegian Black Metal.

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War Cry

Shataan are a part of the extremely interesting Black Twilight Circle, but they may be the least Black Metal of the lot, the sound here is more akin to Hearse favorites Mighty Sphincter (R.I.P. Joe.) Shataan take the BTC's fascination with indigenous culture a bit further starting this oddball artifact with a flute laden instrumental called "Trail of Tears." This tape is a truly strange and engaging piece of work that didn't leave my deck for weeks. 

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Wallachia

All apologies for taking so long to return to bloggery. Europe was grand, MDF was brutal, but we have important business to take care of. If you have followed the Hearse since it's inception, or sycophantically poured over past entries in my absence, you may be aware of my theory regarding albums with castles on the cover. Wallachia's debut EP cements this notion with it's hooky mid-tempo Black Metal with some engaging oddball vocals. Despite the band's name and castle, Wallachia hail from Norway, and the bullshit town of Steinkjer. I have a lot of catching up to do, writing, uploading... So I will say no more. Good to be back.

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In The Nightside Eclipse

What can I possibly say about this one that hasn't already been stated before? It is one of the single most important releases in the expansive world of Black Metal. It certainly had a profound impact on me. If by some glitch in the universe or some vast cosmic injustice you haven't experienced this monument, then I urge you to drop what you are doing, and spend the next fifty minutes flying through the snow flurries and untamed wilderness of Norway with some beautifully strange Scandinavian teenagers in the midst of the most creative point in their lives, their own celebrated summer of diabolical holocaust. Absolutely mandatory.

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Stormheit

Branikald are part of the notoriously sketchy Blazebirth Hall scene. Mainman Kaldrad operates in Forest. Although Kaldrad's political views are clear, Branikald deals in non-political subjects such as depression, nature, and the esoteric. The music is hypnotic and evocative, not unlike Forest. Stormheit was Branikald's first release, maybe their best. You decide.

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The Wizard of Nerath

Nergal is one of the earlier purveyors of Hellenic Black Metal that doesn't get the recognition of your Rotting Christs and Varathrons, perhaps because those bands were better. But I like Nergal, and their first album The Wizard of Nerath. It is so Greek Black Metal By Numbers it's hard not to.

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Goat Father

Finis Gloria Dei is another excellent band from the same camp as Seigneur Voland, Blessed In Sin, Desolation Triumphalis and the like. I believe this unit's mission statement is to be more Satanic than the member's other bands. Goat: Father of the New Flesh, Finis Gloria Dei's sole full length, musically reminds me of Grand's Belial's Key, and the more Celtic Frosted moments of Darkthrone. These guys lack some of the melodic sensibilities you may have come to associate with the French Black Metal, but they make up for it with simple, effective, headbanging riffs. Goat: Father of the New Flesh is a triumph of good old fashioned Satanic Black Metal.

Goat!

Frozen Souls of a Mystical Winter

Here's some right fucked up Black Metal strangeness from Kalibos. Kalibos was the concern of two German youth calling themselves Schagrath Charondeimos and Phobos. During their five year run as Kalibos (before changing the name to Lugburz) these entities of unflinching Teutonic evil released six demos, but the only one I have been able to track down is Frozen Souls of Mystical Winter. The program is raw, poorly performed, poorly recorded Black Metal that makes Graveland sound like YES at times. Unlike many of their corpse-painted peers, Kalibos keep the songs short and unsweet, giving you eleven songs in just over fourteen minutes. This is truly bizarre outsider occult art that will melt the frozen soul of any of you who only come here for the fucked up Black Metal.

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Blood Alliance

This 2007 spilt pairs two Quebecois bands: Csejthe and Ziel Bevrijd. Csejthe starts it off with some hokum LOTR intro and then the raw scrape of French Canadian Black Metal endures for five more tracks. Csejthe is decent enough but their contribution here suffers from a lack of consistency in production. Ziel Bevrijd's Black Metal is a bit more Norse sounding, dynamic, and melodic. Ziel Bevrijd are more interesting, but both bands compliment each other well and share a similar aesthetic. Their alliance of blood resulted in an engaging piece of winter-forged Quebecois dark art.

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Bagatur

Bagatur, from Bulgaria, play some strange Black Metal comprised mostly of keyboards, drums, and whispered vocals. Occasionally there are guitars, horses and battles, and female vocals amidst the bizarre proceedings. Bagatur may have some dodgy politics and nefarious connections, but there is nothing in the packaging or program to really confirm this. Decide for yourself if you are comfortable with this, but be reminded, that doesn't mean you get to decide what is posted.

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Elected Evil

Easily one of the greatest monuments to French Black Metal supremacy is Bekhira's stunning debut L'Elu du Mal. Every track bristles with shimmering melodic tremolo picking, blasting washes of drums, and distant anguished vocals. The Paris-based band is an elusive entity, only releasing one demo, a split with Desolation Triumphalis, and this colossal album over the seventeen years since their formation. Member Arkdae has kept consistently busy with his Neo-folk band Dark Sanctuary, while Raktivira has worked with other French kults Osculum Infame and Arkhon Infaustus. The members of Bekhira consider the band to be active, but not a word about new material has surfaced. Hopefully there is more Bekhira to come, in the mean time get with this bit of evil.

Mal

Alda

Alda are an excellent young Black Metal band from Washington state. They use a variety of devices, tempos, feels, within these five songs, but don't stray away from the conventions. The result is quite compelling and reminds me of what drew me to Black Metal in the first place. Alda are doing it right, focusing on songs and atmosphere without being overly concerned with being weird, arty, satanic, post-whatever, or any of the other sub sub sub genres that cloud the waters. I really appreciate this, hopefully there is more to come.

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Eosforos

Here's a hunk o' Hellenic Heathenism in the form of Thous Art Lord's 1994 classic Eosforos. Over Thou Art Lords illustrious eighteen year career of evil they have shared members with such luminaries as Rotting Christ, Necromantia, and Septic Flesh, so you should know what to expect. Despite the band's lengthy run, they only released a handful of albums (of varying quality.) Eosforos is a masterpiece of relentless, yet somewhat elegant Black Metal. If you love the Greek occult metal of old than you probably already know this one, but anyone who is uninitiated in this arcane world would do wise to start here.

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Intercourse & Lust

Here's the first album from the self proclaimed "Most evil band in Japan." Intercourse and Lust was released by the sketchy Modern Invasion label in 1997. Abigail's Black Metal is rooted in thrash and punk, the lyrics are brilliant Engrish soliloquies paying homage to things like nymphomaniacal witches, nefarious wizards, and the Yakuza, among other things. "Thrash til Die/To Glory of Attack/Attack with Spell/In my Attack," howls main man Yasuyuki on the track "Attack With Spell." Intercourse and Lust, I almost hate to say it, is a fun album, a record to spin with beer, lots and lots of beer and your bestest bros, and beer.

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The Dark Misanthropic Woods

Aeshma was the infernal collaboration between two Brazilian fiends, Impuro and Nocturnus Tepesh. Both have operated in several other devout Black Metal bands around their area. The Dark Misanthropic Woods is Aeshma's sole release, it was released in 2003. As you might have guessed, the production is terrible, the playing is sloppy, but the vibe is there. Some guitar overdubs and spooky keyboards seemingly added to a boombox practice room tape, not sure if there is bass, not sure it matters in these woods.

Darkness

Black Omen

I recently had the pleasure of seeing Proclamation play live in front of a small, but dedicated, audience in San Francisco. If you are not familiar with this kvlt Spanish horde then let's just say that they worship at the profane altar of Blasphemy (with a smattering of Beherit.) You may not want to reward this kind of blatant appropriation, but these guys are hardly the only Blasphemy clone out there, but they very well may the best. Advent of the Black Omen was Proclamation's first putrid ritual of Satanic darkness (ie:album) and it was released in 2006 on the stunning Nuclear War Now label. After a brief intro, the unrelenting chaos begins. Lyrically there is quite a bit to chew on, but you won't be able to make that out (lyric sheet, another reason to buy this masterpiece.) Let's just say that over the course of Advent of the Black Omen, bitches copulate, bodies get covered in semen, anuses are kissed, goats ejaculate, crucifixes are burned, Baphomet rises, a fetus is crucified, a heirophant cuts his veins, altars are stained with the blood of the weak, all fears and nightmares come true, damned ones agonize at the shores of Styx, fallen angels march triumphant, corpses are incinerated, and towards the end, a scarlet monstrosity with ten horns rises with low tide. This sort of rumination on the visuals of hell would probably delight Bosch and Benjamin Christensen to no end, but alas Proclamation is barely known in their own time. Let's change that. Let us all march with with fallen angels, let us all stain the altar. Let us all kiss the anus of the master. Hail Proclamation, hail the Black Omen.

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Walkying

Hades were somewhat early to the whole Norwegian Black Metal party, mainman Jorn even did some time for being an accomplice to a young Varg Vikernes in some church burning, but people just don't really talk much about Hades anymore. Shame really, Alone Walkying, their demo from 1993, is a solid piece of Bathory-inspired epic Black Metal. The production is typical Grieghallen. Hades evokes the feeling of overlooking misty fjords, longboats cutting through icy waters, heroic battles, and a pantheon of bearded, bellicose gods who weave fate for Norsemen as rugged as their coastline.

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Right?

Releases like this, with their blurry photos of corpse painted youth, illegible logos in red, and what I presumed was a typo ("right" instead of "rite" but as Dan Fried pointed out, is actually "night") hold so much promise and so often fail to deliver. Well, while Azazel weren't the greatest Black Metal band in '96, The Night of Satanachia isn't terrible, even if it is terribly generic. This most Satanic night would be the band's only full length release, although the members of Azazel remained active in the scene.

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Vesicus

Hearse friend Z. Allen was gracious enough to send over a sonic oddity from his own band, Vesicus. With this astonishing release Vesicus have created some distant and evocative Black Metal that reminds me a lot of the work of The Black Twilight Circle. The band hails from the darkest recesses of occult Tennessee. This cassette is their only work so far. Hopefully there will be more.

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Torture Chain

Quality Black Metal from America. Torture Chain have released two unrelentingly cold tapes, the second being titled Across Great Landscapes to a Legacy of Blood. No idea where these guys are from, but I do know that this kills. Nothing here is very risky, but the riffs and atmosphere bring to mind some of the better Norse bands. Just well executed Black Metal, nothing more, nothing less.

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