Beginning life as a traditional-sounding Norwegian black metal outfit that featured Darkthrone’s Fenriz on bass , Oslo’s Dodheimsgard have evolved drastically with every release, to the point that if you were to play each of their five full-length recordings to someone who was completely unfamiliar, they’d likely assume they were listening to five different bands. This near-constant state of wild reinvention has made DHG into one of the most fascinating groups to emerge out of Norwegian black metal scene.
After eight long years of silence, the DHG re-emerged with A Umbra Omega, which saw them largely eschewing the industrial trappings of 1999’s groundbreaking 666 International and 2007’s more straightforward but still weird as fuck Supervillian Outcast in favor of a more organic sound that bridged the gap between black metal and dark psychedelia, resulting in five labyrinthine tracks (and a brief intro) that see-saw between light and dark, beauty and ugliness, simplicity and chaos.
Granted, DHG weren’t the first band to attempt psychedelic black metal, but they were the first to pull it off in such a convincing, seamless manner, as there is nothing about A Umbra Omega that feels disjointed or slapped together. There was a tension to Pink Floyd’s best work that often felt like the band was right on the edge of spiraling into madness; DHG answered the question, “what if Gilmour, Waters and Co. had cut loose, piled on the distortion, put on some corpse paint and let the goddamn lunatics run amok?”
A Umbra Omega‘s production scheme is dry and spacious, yet still manages to feel plenty claustrophobic whenever those icy tremolo riffs kick in and Aldrahn starts ranting and raving, at times exhibiting a rickety, clattering quality that makes the full-on black metal sections feel hideously decrepit. The psychedelic sections are impressively layered and mesmerizing; A Umbra Omega reveals new sounds with each and every listen and it’s evident that the album was crafted with the same frighteningly meticulous level of attention to detail that has become DHG’s trademark ever since 666 International.
DHG handily solidified their reputation as the ultimate avant-garde black metal chameleons with A Umbra Omega, delivering one of the genre’s finest albums of the decade in the process. There simply isn’t another band in the Norwegian scene (and arguably beyond) that can top their unwavering dedication to pushing the sonic envelope, and it is this dedication that continues to make A Umbra Omega such a joy to experience.
I’ll probably catch a ton of flack for this, but I have to admit, Gaahl / King ov Hell era Gorgoroth is my favorite Gorgoroth. Don’t get me wrong, early albums such as Pentagram and Under the Sign of Hell are classics in their own right, but the band became meaner and more brutal when Gaahl and King entered the picture on Incipit Satan and subsequently began their hostile takeover attempt, beginning with Twilight of the Idols (In Conspiracy with Satan) and culminating in Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam.
On November 16th, 2016, the online metal tabloid known as Metalsucks published their “manifesto” in which they very publicly announced “We will not tolerate racism, misogyny or any form of bigotry or hate speech” (because apparently it took them ten years of running a website, not to mention a good chunk of their adult lives to figure out these things are shitty).
With the dawn of the THKD YouTube channel, I decided to do something a little different this year. I’ve split my year end top 20 metal albums list in two; half of them can be found below, the other half on YouTube. So, once you’re done reading this list, head on over to THKD TV and check out the rest of the list… if you don’t mind watching a semi-drunken nerd rant and rave about heavy metal for thirty minutes. But enough of my rambling; as I’ve been saying for almost a decade now, long-winded intros are bullshit. Let’s get on with it.
Not to be confused with the long-running Bay Area thrash/speed metal band of the same name, Norway’s Heathen is an obscure black metal entity that recently released its debut full length via the mighty Caligari Records. The first thing that struck me about Heathen is that there is literally no information on them to be found; nothing is known about the band’s lineup, their online presence is meager to say the very least, and they’ve already developed a penchant for self-titling multiple releases. Indeed, there is an air of mystery that surrounds Heathen, but if this excellent tape is anything to go by, rest assured that they have much more than an esoteric image going for them.
Beginning life as a traditional-sounding Norwegian black metal outfit, Oslo’s Dodheimsgard have evolved drastically with every release, to the point that if you were to play each of their full-length recordings to someone who was completely unfamiliar, they’d likely attribute them to several different bands. This near-constant state of progression and reinvention has made DHG into one of the most exciting groups to emerge from the Scandinavian second wave, the lengthy periods of inactivity between albums doing nothing whatsoever to dull my anticipation of their next move.
Since releasing debut album Masterpiss of Pain back in 2001, Norway’s Khold have been constantly refining their patented brand of groove-laden, willfully primitive black metal. While some have criticized the band for their simplicity, I’ve long been a fan of their stripped down approach; their sound is not only instantly recognizable but also infectious as all get out, the riffs slowly boring their way into your brain and taking up residence therein for days or weeks on end. Til Endes is Khold’s sixth full-length release and it’s quite possibly the purest distillation of the band’s aesthetic to date.
Most human beings mellow with age. I’m only thirty-four and it’s already happening to me. I’m no longer the guy who wants to close down the bars three or four out of seven nights a week, stay up all night writing with a pack of smokes and a sixer resting next to my keyboard, or go rage at every single metal show that comes to town no matter how big or small. I’m turning into the guy that changes into his pajamas and becomes one with the couch the minute he gets home from his soul-sucking corporate job. The guy who skips shows because it means having to leave the house and deal with people. The guy who gets sleepy after a few beers. Continue reading “Satyricon – s/t (Nuclear Blast, 2013)”
What can I say that hasn’t already been said about the goddamn mighty Darkthrone? It’s been three years since I last interviewed drummer/co-vocalistFenriz, so naturally I jumped at the chance for a second round of interrogation upon the release of Darkthrone’s sixteenth(!) album, the ridiculously awesome The Underground Resistance. I mean shit, it isn’t every day you get the chance to interview your favorite fucking band. Continue reading “Interview: DARKTHRONE [FENRIZ]”
I don’t know that I have a favorite band anymore; in my old age I’ve become more of a favorite album guy. But, if I was forced at gunpoint to pick a favorite band, chances are the first one that would spring to mind is Darkthrone. They’re one of the few that can do no wrong in my eyes, whether we’re talking about the twisted death metal of Soulside Journey, the genre-defining pure Norse black metal of the A Blaze in the Northern Sky/Under a Funeral Moon/Transilvanian Hunger trilogy, or their current incarnation as a black/punk/traditional heavy metal hybrid. Even Goatlord, by far the worst album in their entire catalog, has its charms. No matter what direction Darkthrone take their sound in, they do it more than competently and with plenty of attitude, and I in turn always seem to find something to enjoy in whatever they do.
Although the prominence of Norwegian black metal isn’t what it once was, it could still be argued that they invented it and no one does it better. As often and as hard as I’ve been singing the praises of all things USBM of late, even I find it hard to refute that argument when presented with an album as front-to-back badass as Koldbrann’s Vertigo. I had heard the band’s name prior to receiving the promo from Season of Mist, but as yet hadn’t had the opportunity to give ’em a fair shake; turns out the the quintet’s hard rocking take on traditional Norse BM is right up my dark alley.
To say that God Seed’s debut was one of my most anticipated albums in a long time would probably be a massive understatement. The relentlessly abrasive, highly Satanic assault of Gaahl/King ov Hell era Gorgoroth is in my humble opinion some of the best black metal ever put to tape, so needless to say I was frothing at the mouth awaiting the duo’s next move. Finally, Gaahl and King have emerged from the Norwegian wilderness with I Begin after a long, strange trip that included a protracted legal battle over the rights to the Gorgoroth name, Gaahl temporarily “quitting” the metal scene and King releasing a solid and unfairly maligned collaboration with Dimmu Borgir’s Shagrath (Ov Hell’s The Underworld Regime). But is God Seed’s first outing worth the six-year wait? In a word: absolutely. Continue reading “God Seed – I Begin (Indie Recordings, 2012)”
For nearly twenty years Norway’s Aura Noir have reigned as overlords of blackened thrash metal. The band have just released their fifth full length, the filthy and lacerating Out to Die via Indie Recordings, proving that their patented black thrash attack is as ugly and vicious as ever. I spoke with multi-instrumentalist Apollyon, whom you might also be familiar with from bands such as Cadaver, DHG and more recently Immortal, regarding Aura Noir’s latest assault and subsequent plans for world domination.
THKD: Let’s talk a bit about the new album, Out to Die. What can you tell us about the album’s conception? Were you looking to accomplish anything new or perhaps something you hadn’t accomplished on previous albums?
Apollyon: Pretty early we realized that it was going to be a more intense album than it’s successor. We didn’t have any plans apart from that. Our plan is always just to write killer riffs and just see where they lead us. This time was no exception. The only difference was that we were all present from the get-go.
THKD: Are you and Aggressor still responsible for the bulk Aura Noir’s songwriting on Out to Die? Do the two of you collaborate on songs, or do you write separately? How would you compare your writing style to his?
Apollyon: Up until now it’s been like that. We’ve worked separately making riffs and putting them together, and made minor adjustments after we’ve introduced the song to the other guy. However this time around Blasphemer wanted to be part of the whole process. We decided to find whole weeks where we could all meet up at my house where I had a rehearsal room/studio. We live far away from each other and even in different countries so it’s not as easy as it sounds, as we are not blessed with excess neither when it comes to time nor money. Anyway, we had maybe 6-7 of those sessions spread out over a couple of years, where we met up created songs together, recorded them and went back and listened to them until next time we met. I’d say Blasphemer made most of the sketches and then we worked with them until everyone was content.
My writing style differs from Aggressor’s because we have different guitar styles and we also have slightly different approaches on how to make the music sound “Aura Noir”. I prefer his way of course and that’s why I love to be in this band as well, because I get to play extremely intelligent music.
THKD: Can you give us some background on the recording process for Out to Die? How did it differ from that of previous Aura Noir albums, if at all?
Apollyon: I guess I already answered that. I might just add that Hades Rise was made the same way, meeting up for weeks every now and then at my house in the mountains, just without Blasphemer’s help. Besides we had much more material already finished when we started working on Hades Rise.
THKD: You handled guitar, bass, drums and vocals on Out to Die. Do you enjoy handling all of this instrumentation in the studio? Do you prefer any one specific instrument over the rest?
Apollyon: I actually didn’t play any guitars this time, which kind of saddened me as I realized it. My favourite instrument is drums. Maybe because I’ve never had a drum kit. I like to play guitar as well but bass is horrible. I hate playing it. Vocals are always inspiring to do with Aura Noir though.
THKD: Has Blasphemer’s relocation to Portugal presented any obstacles for Aura Noir? Did you record your parts separately for Out to Die, or are you able to get together for the recording?
Apollyon: He moved there maybe ten years ago, so we don’t think much about it nowadays. It’s a hinder alright, but not a big thing. Especially since he quit Mayhem. He recorded his parts in Portugal but he had been rehearsing with us the week before in the studio I recorded the drums. I just needed peace and quiet while recording them and preferred only to have Aggressor with me.
THKD: What can you tell us about the lyrical themes on Out to Die? It looks like you’re still dealing for the most part with the old standbys of death and blasphemy…
Apollyon: Yeah, that’s how we like our metal. Not so much to tell. They are even quite personal but you know. Lyrics can be interpreted in many ways. The most important to us is that they don’t suck or deal with the “wrong” topics, meaning non metal topics such as politics or love.
THKD: Who were some of your primary influences for Out to Die? It seems like quite a few of the tracks have a bit of an old Celtic Frost vibe…
Apollyon: Sure, we love our Celtic Frost. However it’s safe to say that we more or less found our own style now, and we don’t really think of influences before making a new album. But we always use references within the band while the songs are in the making. Typically if we think a riff or a part of a song remind us of something else, we just refer to that song as the “Celtic Frost song” as a working title. There were no “Celtic Frost songs” this time though, come to think of it the only part that would qualify is the middle section of the song “Abbadon”. However there were incidents of name dropping while we were making the songs for out to die as well. The following bands were mentioned. Venom, Dark Angel, Metallica and Death.
THKD: Aggressor, Blasphemer and yourself are all involved in multiple projects, and I know that you took up the bass playing duties for Immortal some years back. Does this make it difficult to find time for Aura Noir?
Apollyon: Not really. Immortal is not a heavy touring band and they don’t need me to make music for them either. It was worse when Blasphemer was in Mayhem but still it’s very seldom, if ever, that we have to turn an offer down because of duties with one of our other bands.
THKD: Aura Noir have been combing elements of thrash and black metal for almost 20 years now. What is it about these two subgenres that continues to appeal to you after all this time?
Apollyon: I think it’s the essence of extreme metal. The “black” part is merely to underline that we are not a party thrash band or a political one. But I mean, if we had existed in 85 we would just be “thrash metal”. It’s just that so much shit happened to that genre later in the 80’s and it even died out, so when we revived thrash metal we wanted to make it clear what kind of thrash metal we played.
THKD: How have your inspirations and motivations changed over the years? Do you still perceive Aura Noir in the same way you did when the band was formed in 1993?
Apollyon: I think the main idea is still the same, the desire to make ugly and non polished metal based on killer riffs. We never want to fit in perfectly though, and don’t like to be too predictable either, so if we change slightly it’s only to confuse idiots.
THKD: Thrash metal has seen a resurgence in popularity over the past few years. Are you surprised by this development? Does it annoy you that all these new jack thrash bands are coming out of the woodwork when you’ve been playing thrash for almost two decades?
Apollyon: One thing is all the modern metal sounding thrash bands, that are the same as the modern metal sounding black/death metal bands, totally polished and without charm, destroyers of the genre. On the other hand you also have a wave of cool new bands who, like ourselves, hate the typical 90’s sound (that is equivalent of the 80’s pop sound when it comes to street cred)and try to make something interesting and inspired. I think the future is looking a bit brighter. I have no problems with new metal bands as long as they don’t suck..haha.
THKD: To what do you attribute Aura Noir’s longevity? How have you managed to keep the band lineup more or less intact?
Apollyon: Maybe because we never forced the band upon anybody. Not even on each other. Nobody had the chance to get tired of it. We always waited for each other as well instead of hiring new members or whatever. Never rushed anything.
THKD: Will you be touring or playing any shows in support of Out to Die? Do you enjoy playing live? Any chance you’ll make back to the USA?
Apollyon: We think our music often comes out better live than anywhere else, so we enjoy it much. The plan is to do full tours in both Europe and North/South America later this year.
THKD: What else is in store for Aura Noir in 2012? Are you already working on more material or will you be focusing strictly on promoting Out to Die?
Apollyon: Right now it’s enough work as the album just hit the streets, but we plan to start working on the next album after summer.
THKD: Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to add?
The scene: A small auditorium, somewhere on the East Coast. A “black metal symposium” event has brought the self-styled indie intelligentsia out in droves, packing the auditorium nearly to capacity. A scrawny, effeminate man with long hair approaches the podium. The man clears his throat and begins reading from his “manifesto,” proclaiming black metal as dead and stating that his own band is the savior of the genre. Suddenly, the double doors at the back of the auditorium fly open. A corpse-painted figure strides into the room from out of the shadows, cold winter air swirling about him. The figure is Hoest, multi-instrumentalist/mastermind of Norwegian black metallers Taake. Before anyone in the room can react, Hoest is on stage, stalking the scrawny man. Hoest grabs the man by the hair, pulls a large knife out of his belt and slits the man’s throat without so much as a pause. Blood spurts and pours everywhere, covering the podium, forming a massive plasma-slick on the stage. Another man, this one a so-called journalist that’s made a career out of dabbling in heavy metal for the amusement of the indie crowd, rushes on stage to the aid of his friend. As he kneels over the convulsing body, Hoest unsheathes a spiked club that was strapped to his back, bringing it down on the journalist’s head in one fluid motion, splitting his skull nearly in half. The crowd is in shock, unsure whether this is actually happening or merely part of the show. Without a word, Hoest jumps off stage and walks out the back of the auditorium from whence he came, taking care to shut the double doors behind him. He takes a padlock and chains from his belt, effectively shackling the doors together, trapping the audience inside. He then kicks over a large drum of gasoline, allowing it to seep through the cracks underneath the auditorium doors. Hoest lights a match, watching it flicker for a second before tossing it into the pool of petrol. The screams of those trapped inside lick at the frigid night sky along with the rising flames. Continue reading “Taake – Noregs Vaapen (Candlelight, 2011)”
In spite of being the birthplace of the genre as we know it today (so-called “1st wave” bands notwithstanding), Norway’s icy grip on black metal has loosened considerably over the course of the last several decades. Many of the scene’s godfathers either called it a day (Emperor) or shifted their musical stylings away from black metal to varying degrees (see: Ulver’s fruit-bot trip hop, Darkthrone’s journey down the ol’ Manilla Road, Enslaved’s psychedelic Viking-prog, etc), leaving Norwegian black metal fragmented. With the next generation of Norse BM practitioners either not yet ready or perhaps not willing to step up and take their places at the dark lord’s left hand, the focus of black metal has centered on other countries such as France and the US in recent years. Continue reading “Throne of Katarsis – Ved Graven (Candlelight, 2011)”
When it’s cold and when it’s dark, the freezing moon can obsess you!” – Dead
By and large, live albums are unessential affairs. They typically consist of sonically inferior versions of a band’s “greatest hits,” with lame between song banter, distracting crowd noises, and more often than not, so many overdubs that the album is no longer “live” at all by the time it hits the record store shelves (or these days, the world wide thieves network, aka the internet). Continue reading “THKD’s Top 100 Metal Albums #4: Mayhem – Live in Leipzig (Century Media, 1994)”
I find it odd that several prominent (I use the term loosely) metal websites decided to ban coverage of Burzum in response to a recent online rant by Varg Vikernes regarding the shootings and bombing carried out by Norwegian extremist Anders Breivik. Isn’t this ban coming about seventeen years too late? A self-righteous denouncement of Vikernes this point in the game is basically the same as saying “Murder and arson are okay, but hey, we draw the line at hateful remarks!” Of course, I realize that these sites weren’t around back when Vikernes was actually committing crimes, but if they truly found him to be so deplorable, shouldn’t they have banned coverage from the outset based on his actions and not some ineffectual hate-mongering that no one would have paid attention to in the first place had they not drawn attention to it with their sanctimonious grandstanding?
But I digress. I do not wallow in the cesspool of imagined ethical superiority, and therefore have no problem discussing Varg Vikernes’ music. Contrary to what the metal morality police attempt to shove down our throats, it is entirely possible to separate Burzum from its creator’s dodgy politics/beliefs. With that out of the way, it pleases me to say that Varg Vikernes the musician has solidified his “comeback” and proven once and for all that his trailblazing brand of black metal is indeed timeless with Fallen, his second album since being released from prison in 2009.
But what is it that makes Burzum timeless? For me, it’s Vikernes’ guitar playing. His note choices and sense of composition have a hypnotic effect, the very definition of the infamous black metal “trance-out”, a web of spindly, treble-soaked riffage that’s all too easy to get hopelessly lost in. Whenever I listen to Fallen I think of enormous trees, with gnarled, twisted, tangled roots burrowing deep into the soil; it probably has something to do with the earthy, slightly raw guitar tone Vikernes employs here. It gives the album a naturalistic quality that makes the compositions feel as much like folk music as black metal, but without ever degenerating into the silliness that “folk metal” typically implies (perhaps more akin to neofolk?). Of course, black metal at its core has always been a form of folk music, and there are few better suited to uphold that tradition than an outlaw/pariah such as Vikernes, who also happens to be one of the genre’s architects (okay, so maybe you can’t separate the man from the music 100%, oh well).
Speaking of tradition, Fallen was recorded at Grieghallen with production and mixing assistance from Pytten. This studio/producer combination has been responsible for nearly every landmark album in the Norwegian black metal canon (De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, In the Nightside Eclipse, etc) and although only time will tell if Fallen will ever reach the same level of acclaim as those classic recordings, the album does manage to capture a similar vibe without sounding forced or self-consciously retro. This is how black metal is supposed to sound; uninhibited, mesmerizing and totally free from the trappings of modernity.
In addition to showcasing Vikernes’s six-string mastery and benefitting from a strong production scheme, Fallen also represents Burzum at its most compelling from a compositional perspective. If anything, the album comes off as a refinement of the ideas that Vikernes began to explore on Filosofem; the spellbinding repetition, hazy, quasi-psychedelic atmospheres and unique vocal approach have been honed to a fine point. Whereas Filosofem sounded like a collection of experiments (albeit very successful and interesting ones), Fallen sounds like a collection of songs. In this respect, Fallen brings the more experimental qualities of Filosofem together with the sharp yet expansive songwriting style Vikernes brought to the fore on Hvis Lyset Tar Oss. Indeed, the more I listen to Fallen, the more I tend to view 2010’s Belus as a “warm-up” album.
Regardless of what you think of Varg Vikernes the person, it is difficult to deny the significance of Varg Vikernes the musician, especially when he continues to craft such intriguing, vital and relevant work. Fallen just might be the most fully realized Burzum album to date, an elegy for what once was, and a glimmer of hope for the future of the black metal tradition.
Before Satyricon was playing at fashion shows and striving to create the perfect arena rock album for androids, main man Satyr Wongraven ran a label called Moonfog Productions. Between 1999 and 2001, this label unleashed three black metal albums that did a great deal towards paving the road for the trajectory of the genre over the course of the next ten years (and beyond). I refer to these albums as “The Moonfog Trilogy”. For those unfamiliar, these three albums are:
I’m not sure if it was by coincidence or by design that Moonfog featured the trifecta of Norway’s (then)cutting-edge black metal bands. Satyricon being on the label was obviously a given, but the fact that Satyr wisely aligned his own project with Thorns and Dodheimsgard (DHG) made the label appear as a united front of sleek, futuristic black metal bands. Of course, we mustn’t forget that Darkthrone was also on Moonfog at the time, sticking out like a sore thumb. I’ve always theorized that the inexplicably panned Plaguewielder was Darkthrone’s twisted attempt at the “Moonfog sound”, but that’s a whole other post unto itself.
Back on topic. United under the banner of Moonfog, these three albums shared a sonic and visual aesthetic that completely fucked up and in some aspects outright rejected the established tenets of black metal as it was known at the time. There were no crude black and white corpsepaint-in-the-forest photos or Old English fonts to be found on these releases. The artwork was colorful, modern and clearly crafted by someone who knew a thing or two about graphic design. Black metal’s pagan terrorism tactics were eschewed by Moonfog in favor of visuals that evoked urban blight and the grim underbelly of our not-too-distant future. Satyr and Frost’s makeup on the cover of Rebel Extravaganza makes them look less like grave-robbing ghouls and more like some sort of STD-infested heroin-zombies lurking in the darkest gutters of major urban centers. 666 International‘s cover appears to be the aftermath of an attack by the aforementioned heroin-zombies, with its shadows and stainless steel and what appears to be a whole lot of blood being washed down the drain. To this day, I’m still not sure what exactly is going on with Thorns‘ album cover. To me it alternately looks like a giant alien entity raping the sun and an insect giving birth.
Thorns, 666 International and Rebel Extravaganza were just as forward-thinking musically as they were visually. Each album is unique, but they also share certain sonic characteristics. The production schemes are cold and clinical. The guitars are all treble, cutting through the mixes like surgical saws. On the surface, they’re nearly devoid of anything resembling emotion, but as the listener peels away the layers cyber-grime, the humanity trapped within begins to reveal itself, screaming to be freed from the twisted mass of mechanized torture.
666 International was the first of the three albums to be released (June 11th, 1999 according to Metal Archives) and marked a major stylistic shift for DHG. The traditional black metal of previous albums such as Monumental Possession completely disappeared in favor of a heavily industrialized take on the genre that hasn’t been equalled before or since. I often claim to not be a fan of industrial/black metal hybrids, and that is because 99.9% of the bands that have attempted to cross-pollinate the two styles have failed miserably. DHG on the other hand, mastered industrial black metal the first time out. 666 International is cold and mechanical yet grimy and frightening at the same time. The guitars are white noise and static, harnessed into form by bloody mechanical hands. Programmed-sounding beats dominate the musical landscape, sickeningly precise and repetitive. It is the soundtrack to mankind being rounded up and enslaved by an army of rogue machines. And yet there are distinctly human elements clawing their way up from the depths of the stainless steel sonic hell the album creates. Aldrahn’s extremely versatile vocals, and the occasional piano melodies that creep up remind you that 666 International is the work of people and not replicants. This is the sound of black metal’s willful primitivism being engulfed and subjugated by the technological age.
Satyricon’s Rebel Extravaganza might be an even more terrifying listen. In some spots the album is unbelievably caustic, in others it almost fully embraces the conventions of rock ‘n’ roll at its most pure. Amidst the the filth-grinding yet sterile atmosphere, the band trots out riffs and grooves that are unmistakably headbang-able, but they are surrounded on all sides by hard angles and cold, unforgiving atmospheres. This album is probably the most traditionally black metal-sounding of the three, but this is BM at it’s most gritty, urban and ultramodern, like if Satyr and Frost had scored the soundtrack to Blade Runner instead of Vangelis.
Rebel Extravaganza is also the most emotional of the three albums, but the only emotions on display are anger and hatred. This is an album forged of pure nihilism, of taking pleasure in the loss of humanity and giving oneself over to the technological/urban nightmare foretold by 666 International.
“This would be the way of the misanthrope
in order to create you must destroy
We would greet the nuclear morning mist
We would smile at all life dying”
-from “Prime Evil Renaissance”
The end of the world will not be some hellfire ‘n’ brimstone biblical apocalypse, it will be collapsing skyscrapers wrapped in a tangle of wires and circuitry, humanity choked by a cloud of radioactive vapor, our bodies converted into fossil fuels. Rebel Extravaganza is a celebration of that moment.
If Rebel Extravaganza and 666 International represent black metal’s (and by extension humanity’s) struggle against the onset of technology and urban sprawl, then Thorns represents the machine army’s victory march over the charred, broken bones of the human resistance as black smoke pours out giant factories, blotting out the sun for all eternity. This is an album of precision and discipline, as engineered by Thorns mastermind Snorre Ruch, who himself might be a visitor from the horrific future, so advanced and bizarre is his approach to guitar playing and composition. Although I’m not aware of any interviews that focus extensively on his six-string technique, I’d imagine it would be a fascinating interrogation. His use of dissonance and choice of notes that fit together in a manner that can best be described as uncomfortable, or maybe unsettling, has never been fully replicated, at least not to these ears. Even the most traditional of metallic moments sound utterly extraterrestrial in Ruch’s hands.
Thorns is Thorns the band’s first and so far only album. Ruch released several highly influential demos in the early ’90s before being sentenced to 8 years in prison as an accomplice to Varg Vikernes in the murder of Oystein Aarseth, but nothing (not even the Thorns vs Emperor split) could have prepared the scene for the highly advanced take on black metal that is Thorns. The recording delivered (and still does deliver) on everything Satyricon, DHG and ultimately black metal as a genre had promised up to that point (albeit via very non-traditional means), total inhumanity, total domination, total damnation, total death. The sound is so unnatural/synthetic/alien that it’s hard to fathom any flesh and blood whatsoever being involved in its creation.
Amidst Thorns‘ mechanized onslaught there is a peculiar eeriness to the proceedings, due in large part to the dark electronic influences that inform portions of the recording. There is something undeniably unnerving about the clanking industrial noises of “Shifting Channels”, the squealing synths that bubble under the surface of “Existence” and the moments of pitch black ambience that continually creep up. By adding these elements into the mix, Thorns amplifies and transforms black metal’s reliance on conjuring an atmosphere of sickening malevolence.
The most telling evidence that Thorns is indeed the culmination of this trio of Moonfog releases is the presence of both DHG’s Aldrahn and Satyricon’s Satyr Wongraven handling the vocals. As the narrators of the first two chapters, it is only fitting that they be present for the climax, and Thorns finds both men’s voices positively dripping with acidic venom. Their contributions give the three albums another level of continuity, creating a sinister narrative that spans across them. It is the most immediately recognizable tie that binds them all together.
Thorns, Satyricon and DHG weren’t the only Norwegian black metal bands experimenting with electronic/industrial atmospheres or trying to push the genre forward (see also: Mayhem’s largely misunderstood Grand Declaration of War), but these three albums are inextricably linked on so many levels that it is hard to ignore their collective impact. For me personally, listening to Thorns and Rebel Extravaganza (I didn’t discover DHG until much later) made me realize that black metal didn’t have to be recorded in the middle of the forest on a malfunctioning 4-track machine. These albums threw the true kvlt rulebook out the fucking window and then shot it to pieces with an AK-47 and lit the remains on fire. Although Thorns would fall off the radar and both Satyricon and DHG would never again reach the levels of sheer brilliance they’d attained, all three bands can rest assured that their place amongst the pantheon of black metal’s greatest innovators will forever remain secure thanks to these albums.
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Postscript:
Don’t bother going to the Moonfog records website, as it hasn’t been updated since May of 2007. However, if you do venture over there, you can see pictures of a sold out Thorns t-shirt that I would kill for under the mailorder section.
Last I heard, Snorre Ruch was creating ambient soundscapes for art installations as Thorns LTD. However, the band’s page on Shirts & Destroy claims that he is working on a new Thorns album w/ a re-tooled lineup. Here’s to hoping.
I’ve made much ado lately about what is and isn’t black metal. Going back and listening to Thorns, Rebel Extravaganza and 666 International in nearly constant rotation has reminded me of what black metal is really all about. Black metal is ultimately all about freedom. The only rule is that there are no rules.
A few months back, just before Belus was released, I dreamt of helping Varg Vikernes escape from prison.
Of course the really odd thing about this is that Vikernes was already out at the time I had this dream. I suppose it was brought on by all the research and re-reading of old articles I was doing in preparation for my review of Belus. Anyway, the dream went a little something like this…
It was nighttime, middle of winter (of course). The Norwegian prison didn’t even look like a prison, more like a huge, gothic mansion. I was dressed in black commando gear, like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. I walked right in past the armed guards, and there was Vikernes standing there as if he had been expecting me. If anything, it appeared as though he lived a pretty normal life in the mansion and was just under house arrest, rather than being in a real prison. Even though I had blown right past the guards to get in, we still had to sneak out the back way.
We got into an old, beat up Volkswagen Beetle (presumably I had driven this to the prison) and sped away.
Of course it wasn’t long before the police were on our trail. This is where things get really weird. The police wore uniforms and drove in cars that were clearly US Highway Patrol. I’m guessing this is because my subconscious has absolutely no frame of reference for what a Norwegian policeman looks like. Anyway, we somehow managed to evade them in spite of the poorly chosen escape vehicle and pulled into the safety of a large tunnel.
We got out of the car and made a campfire in the tunnel. This is also strange because I don’t know the first thing about camping, making fires, or the outdoors in general. We sat around it in silence, watching it slowly burn down to nothing more than embers. Varg abruptly got up and told me that he had to go the rest of the way alone. I went over to the car, pulled out a black duffle bag and handed it to him. I bid him good luck and he began to walk into the darkness of the tunnel.
And that’s when I woke up. The dream was obviously quite vivid, although I don’t remember much, if any conversation between the two of us. In retrospect it seems like most of the dream played out like a silent film.
I’ve been listening to Burzum for a long time, not to mention reading about Varg’s exploits. Is he really so deeply ingrained in my psyche that he’s showing up in my dreams? What does the fact that I had no problem assisting a convicted murderer and arsonist escape from prison say about me as a person?
I’ve always thought of dreams as just your subconsciousness’ way of randomly re-playing skewed versions of whatever happens to be floating around up there at the time. I don’t really put much stock in the idea that they mean anything, but I would love to read some interpretations of this one. Does anyone else out there ever have “metal dreams” and care to share them?
Dear readers, please excuse me for a moment while I gush like a complete fanboy. DARKTHRONE is my favorite metal band. Ever. When the PR firm representing Peaceville Records in the USA offered me an e-mail interview with drummer/vocalist/black metal godfather/walking metal & hard rock encyclopedia FENRIZ, I could barely contain my excitement. The following interrogation is what transpired when I was given the opportunity to pique Fenriz’s brain about the excellent new Darkthrone album CIRCLE THE WAGONS , the resurgence of “real” heavy metal in the underground and the importance of making your own breakfast.
THKD: Tell us about the new album, Circle the Wagons. What do you consider to be the main themes/concepts behind the album? How would you describe the album to those who have not yet heard it?
Fenriz: it’s our own kind of heavy metal, it’s Ted’s 4 songs and i never know what influences him. then there’s my 5 songs which mostly sounds like fast heavy metal (speed metal) from 1979-1985. then there’s clear and various ugly vocals and i just realized this didn’t come out very good as an advertisement for our sound – but no one really sounds like us at the moment, i think we are extremely old school and still fresh.
there are no themes, lyrics are about a plethora of subjects, ranging from street lyrics to the soulful stuff (like Black Mountain Totem song).
THKD: You recorded Circle the Wagons at your own Necrohell Studios. What are the advantages of having your own recording space? What is the equipment setup at Necrohell?
Fenriz: i am not a musician, i’m a music personality, so i don’t know anything about equipment, that’s Ted’s department. it’s a portable mini studio and we rig it ourselves and Ted records and mixes it as well – so it’s VERY DIY.DIY HARD!!! haha!! Advantages is that we don’t have the presence of a “studio guy”, we are just by ourselves with the help of our friends Kjella and Mats. It’s Kjellas house, so Ted has to drive 3 hours from the north to get there and i take the bus for 3 hours from the south. Having this studio makes us get our own sound, it’s a guarantee that we don’t end up in a studio where there are modern equipment or some guy that tries to talk us into some new tricks. we keep it old. WITH US, THE OLD WAYS ARE NEAR. Continue reading “Interview: DARKTHRONE”
With the dawn of the THKD YouTube channel, I decided to do something a little different this year. I’ve split my year end top 20 metal albums list in two; half of them can be found below, the other half on YouTube. So, once you’re done reading this list, 
For nearly twenty years Norway’s Aura Noir have reigned as overlords of blackened thrash metal. The band have just released their fifth full length, the filthy and lacerating Out to Die via Indie Recordings, proving that their patented black thrash attack is as ugly and vicious as ever. I spoke with multi-instrumentalist Apollyon, whom you might also be familiar with from bands such as Cadaver, DHG and more recently Immortal, regarding Aura Noir’s latest assault and subsequent plans for world domination.
Dear readers, please excuse me for a moment while I gush like a complete fanboy. DARKTHRONE is my favorite metal band. Ever. When the PR firm representing Peaceville Records in the USA offered me an e-mail interview with drummer/vocalist/black metal godfather/walking metal & hard rock encyclopedia FENRIZ, I could barely contain my excitement. The following interrogation is what transpired when I was given the opportunity to pique Fenriz’s brain about the excellent new Darkthrone album CIRCLE THE WAGONS , the resurgence of “real” heavy metal in the underground and the importance of making your own breakfast.
THKD 