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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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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Naevaer

This very evocative release comes from Naervaer, Norway's greatest neo-folk outfit. The band was formed by In The Woods members, and you can definitely hear similarities between the two entities. This self-titled EP was released in 1997, the same year In The Woods released their colossal second album Omnio. This almost works as a companion piece to that recording. Naervaer's debut is absolutely gorgeous, maudlin, impassioned, and wholly perfect. This should not be passed over.

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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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Drowning, Learning

When's wonderous debut Drowning but Learning from 1987

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Oslo We Rot

Here is a solid compilation containing four groups of backwards thinking Norwegianocidal maniacs. The title and cover are a rather obvious and adorable tribute to one of the greatest Death Metal records of all time. Execration kick things off with their knuckle drag number "Entheogen." Obliteration are probably the best known of the four due to their stellar album Nekropsalms. Their track, "Envenomed" also happens to be the best on here. Lobotomized are fucking cool trashy, punky primitive Death Metal with two songs about pee pee (one being a Mentor's cover) and one about poo poo. Diskord play angular, mathy Death Metal that kind of reminds me of Black Flag's Process of Weeding Out meets later-era Death, and I am way okay with that (also look out for their fantastic Doomscapes album). Oslo We Rot is about as great as compilations get, I only wish it was longer.

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Servants of Sorcery

Fimbulwinter was an early Norwegian Black Metal band that featured a young Skoll (Ulver, Arcturus) and a young Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir.) In 1995 they released Servants of Sorcery which sounds like a practice room tape, but Fimbulwinter had enough killer Celtic Frosty riffs and seemingly punk influences to keep this pretty interesting.

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Beyond The Wandering Moon

While Aeternus is often associated with that fertile Norwegian Black Metal scene of the '90s, the music here is more akin to Death Metal. Perhaps their use of corpse paint, evil pseudonyms, and images of moonlit woodlands have blurred the lines a little, and I think Aeternus are just fine with that. Whatever you wish to call it, Beyond the Wandering Moon is a classic of misanthropic Norwegian ingenuity.

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Stormblast

Say what you will about Dimmu Borgir. Use your derision of them as a testimony to your deep underground kvltitude. Slag them for being a successful, corny, pompous, overproduced Andrew Lloyd Weber musical of a Black Metal band. Hate them for bringing the Norwegian Satanic arts to Hot Topic and middle America. You can do all these things, puff your chest, and pretend that there was never a time in your life where you actually liked at least one of their albums. You definitely didn't like Stormblast, their second album. You hated it's mid-tempo hooks and Hammer Horror film synths, you hated that guy's top hat, and you hated its teen-goth meets teen-Black Metal vibe that was so perfectly constructed you found the songs swimming in your head though you tried to resist.

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Isvind

Isvind were another early Norwegian Black Metal band. They formed in 1992 and quickly started releasing very limited tapes. The second of these was called Nivelheimen. This is a classic example of Norwegian Blackness circa early '90s. The guitar sounds, the coldness, the Norwegain lyrics, all conspire to create an atmosphere of Scandi-teen communion with nature and Tascam Portastudios. Another grainy aural snapshot of a specific time and place. Spend a half an hour in the frozen woodlands of Isvind's imagination.

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Strength and Anger

How about this to fuck up your Valentine's Day? Ildjarn is perhaps the most influential figure in the world of harsh, raw Black Metal, and Strength and Anger is his most caustic and memorable work. This unrelenting piece of filth was Ildjarn's third album and was released in 1996. Not for the casual listeners, dilett,antes, hobbyists, gawkers, or day people, this is pure undistilled venom from the blackest recesses of the forests of Black Metal.

Hate

Ancestor of the Darkly Sky

Gehenna's brilliant 1993 EP was clumsily called Ancestor of the Darkly Sky and was released in limited numbers by Necromantic Gallery Productions. The riffing and atmosphere are exemplary of my favorite period of Norwegian black metal, when gaunt suburban norgie teens painted up and flocked to the woods to pose in the snow, a time when the woods echoed with reverb and fell screams....darkly.

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Black Angels

Oh fuck yeah!!! Can you wrap your head around the rickety youthful Satanic steel of Norway's Black Angels? This roughshod demo is about to steal your heart with its naive approach to just good old fashion Heavy Metal. Also, interestingly enough, the lyrics mention church burning about eight years before Varg arrived at the door of Fantoft with a can of bensen and a book of fyrstikken. And that isn't the only nefarious deed of these teen terrors, over the five minute running time of their signature anthem and mission statement, "Black Angels", the guys also drink blood, kill priests, rape nuns and still make it home in time to have lutefisk with Moder and Far. You'd think that would be enough, but the enthusiastic rosy-cheeked pups slog through another five spirited but clumsy steel sonatas. Kind of a long demo, but I am not complaining. I will never tire of this. We are all Black Angels.

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Lost In Shadows

So many great albums featured here on the Hearse with pictures of castles on the sleeve. What is it about an image of a medieval fortified structure that is so appealing? Anyhoo, this obscure gem comes courtesy of Morgul and their castle, located deep in Østfold, Norway and 1997. For me, this is the time when Norwegian Black Metal was at it's creative peak, before Covenant became Kovenant and the scene lost it's direction, and before every ugly teenager had Garageband. Lost In The Shadows Grey may pale in comparison to albums released by Satyricon, Enslaved and Gorgoroth at the same time, but it is still an impressive time stamp of Black Metal with enough atmosphere and great melodic riffing to satisfy.

Lost

Only Ildjarn Is Real

Where are my manners? Many times on this blog I have professed my love for the raw and minimal side of Black Metal, but yet I never posted anything by the originator of such harsh, ear-scraping necrohell, the influential Ildjarn. Well that changes now. Ildjarn is not a band, but rather the alter-ego of Vidar Vaaer, former Thou Shalt Suffer/Emperor member. Ildjarn's discography is massive and somewhat confusing, so let's just start with this, the first full length simply titled Ildjarn.

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A Tribute To Euronymous

By now you all know the tragic story of Euronymous, the fallen godfather of Norwegian Black Metal, and eventually a big Hollywood movie will have throngs of muggles in the know as well. But before that happens, allow me to present this excellent primer in early Scandi-Dark, The Necropolis Records Tribute To Euronymous compilation. The idea was to gather the forerunners of the budding Norwegian and Swedish Black Metal scenes in order to showcase this exciting new happening in the north of Europe, however before the comp was finished Varg Vikernes struck that fateful blow (23 times) that forever changed the course of Black Metal and the focus of this record. The end result is a tribute to Euronymous that doesn't include Burzum or Darkthrone. This was my first experience with Thorns, Abruptum, and Mysticum, it came at a time when there were few chances to hear real Black Metal records in America, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to find this used at Record Finder in San Francisco. I'm sure some of you have these songs on the band's releases or various bootlegs but this is one of those seminal, genre-defining comps, like Jellybeans was to Punk, and that makes it an interesting document. R.I.P. Euronymous.

Scandinavian Hunger

Grimm

Here's some early (1993) Norwegian Black Metal from Grimm. Grimm didn't exactly receive the attention of your Emperors, Mayhems, and Burzums back in the early days, perhaps because Grimm weren't actually very competent musicians and weren't engaged in any noteworthy criminal extracurricular activities. However, that doesn't mean this demo isn't worth your time. Nordisk Vinter was Grimm's only release. After a very typical intro of gurgling voices and howling winds, Grimm commence with some primal, mid-paced Black Metal not unlike early Carpathian Forest. I absolutely love Black Metal from this weird era when isolated Scandinavian teenagers fumbled and somnambulated towards the aesthetic that comprises the genre today. The last vestiges of Death Metal's influence seep through, grainy forest photos are xeroxed over and over again, and the cult is alive.

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Wrath of the Emperor

This bit of Norwegain cult art is widely known and you probably already have it, but I am posting it anyways. It has Emperor's first EP from '93 and their extremely raw demo, titled Wrath of the Tyrant, from '92. Despite the polished,over-produced crap that Emperor churned out towards their end at one time they were the best and most important Norwegian Black Metal band, and it is important to remember that. Emperor before the wrap around shades and badly photoshopped album covers, just pure, unhinged, ice-cold teenage Satanism.

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Immersed In Darkness

Jammerskrik, another brilliant Norwegian band associated with the Fossbrenna label. While their first tape was good, the second Innlemmet i Mørke, is absolutely beautiful. Comprised of two sprawling songs over 36 minutes, this tape is repetitive without being dull. The songs slowly twist and writhe into vague forms with soft edges. Innlemmet i Mørke is audial morphine. Like floating in a black pool of of forlorn emptiness, or being wrapped in a blanket of dreamy death.

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