IMMORTAL- AT THE HEART OF WINTER

Black Metal, like pretty much every other sub-genre of extreme music, constantly sparks debates about sincerity within the genre. These kinds of debates almost always touch on some set of arbitrary rules about something as significant as songwriting or something as trivial as how the band members are dressed. One common debate I've seen on message boards and in reviews is how much "rawness" (the extent to which the recordings are made to sound intentionally lo-fi) is important to the music being "true" or sincere.

While a lot of classic black metal is very raw in its production, so what? Keeping both feet constantly in the philosophies and practices of the people who inspired you can lead to not only your own artistic stagnation but also increases the likelihood of your music sounding like a poor imitation of those bands. Which is why I'm glad this album exists.

Immortal were one of the first-wave Norwegian Black Metal bands and their early recordings were very raw but album to album the production, not to mention the musicianship and songwriting, took incredible leaps and bounds. This is my favourite of their albums and while this is undeniably a black metal LP in terms of the music, the production makes it sound as crisp and clear as Ride the Lightning! Sadly, Immortal will always be more remembered by hipsters as the band that made ridiculous music videos and wore a ton of makeup and medieval armour... at least people who actually like music for music's sake can enjoy this!


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OLD POSTS

I've been lazy and since I don't upload any of these albums myself, most of them seem to have been taken down from mediafire. I was just going to discreetly re-up all of them... but the number kept getting bigger and I don't want to sit at my computer all day. So I'm just going to leave this here and let people comment if they want something re-upped that has been taken down.

p.s. google it first! someone else probably uploaded it!

Tempest - Passages

Cruuuuushing local (Vancouver) blackened crusty doomy sludgey metal... I'm not well versed in metal sub-genres or culture or whatever but I'm sure Cam or probably anyone else on the blog would be able to give you a better (or more concise) classification of their sound. I've posted this with permission from their singer Roger, a great dude. There are only 13 more copies of their LP left (according to their bandcamp) which you can order through that site. I think. Snatch them up before they tour Europe (!!!)

My favorite jam is Hierarchy of Greed.

Download!

VON- SATANIC BLOOD

About two years ago I was single and feeling especially desperate so I made a habit of looking for ads that piqued my interest in the singles section of my local craigslist. One night when browsing through the ads I found a twenty-something who's ad essentially read like this:

" Looking for someone who wants to come over, get stoned, turn of the lights and listen to VON really loud "

Obviously I was interested, only because it wasn't like the hundreds of other ads I'd read in self-defeating disappointment. I paused and considered the possibilities but ultimately thought " This is a pothead satanist who wants to fuck someone while slitting the throat of a hog-tied goat"

I never replied to the ad, but I still listen to Satanic Blood and imagine what could have been.

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BURZUM- FILOSOFEM

Nothing I will say about Burzum or his music hasn't already been said. He used to be a nazi and still espouses racist ideologies through his music and writings. As a result of tensions between he and a bandmate, he stabbed said bandmate 23 times and left him to die in the stairwell of his apartment. He very likely burned down several churches in Norway in the early 90's. He is a genuinely fucked up human being and luckily for us relatively normal folk, he is one of those fucked up people that happens to enjoy creating music we can listen to from a safe distance.

This album is one of his most bleak efforts, yet it still retains some semblance of black metal (after this he went to jail and solely made music using keyboards for racist reasons... I'll let you figure that one out). I do enjoy listening to Burzum's music for it's extremity and atmosphere however, I do not condone his actions or see any logic in his beliefs. I know it's cool to listen to music made by morally depraved people (Death in June, Anal Cunt, GG Allin, etc) and Burzum definitely falls into that category but don't be just another hipster turd who pretends to be a moral nihilist that thinks racism is "soooo funny" or whatever shit will make you seem mysterious at art school this week... be someone open minded enough to listen to music made by extreme individuals for music's sake... not for fetishizing that extremity as some personal badge of intellectual superiority. this has been a poo

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ULVER- BERGTATT

Do you like Black Metal? There are two kinds of hipsters I often notice. Those who are unconsciously apolitical, buy everything aside from food at urban outfitters, exclusively listen to whatever currently occupies pitchfork's 'best new music' and go to more fashion blogs than music blogs. On the other side of the coin are hipsters who are very political (whether or not they know what they're talking about is irrelevant now,) try very hard to be weird in ominous ways (ironically dress like 90's goths, listen to Death in June or other bands that are of dubious morals,) post weird pictures on tumblr of suburban kids in knockoff Nike shirts that were taken with digital cameras made in 2001 and oh yeah... LISTEN TO BLACK METAL!

Sorry to all you kvlt bros out there but black metal has, for a long time now, been co-opted by hipsters and has officially become part of the how-to-be-instantly-cool cannon. Who is to blame? Vice and the internet obviously, but lets look at black metal itself...

Political? sure! it largely became prominent when it was the music genre of choice for young Norwegians eager to destroy the philosophical and moral tyranny that christianity had imposed on their country centuries before. Let's see... try very hard to be weird in an ominous way? wearing melted Kiss makeup and never smiling? sounds about right, and never mind listening to music of dubious morals, lots of black metal bands are just openly racist... to make the comparison easier, of course. Lastly, wanna know a good place to find weird, grainy photos? tumblr? No, try black metal album covers. Sorry to anyone still clinging to the idea that listening to black metal made you any kind of an individual that was immune to trend and culture...

But hey, it's fuckin' good music! Like this record from Ulver. Black metal meets pastoral goth-rock in the early 90's... yes please!

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