cry of the banshee wrote:
EisenFaust wrote:
@ cry of the banshee
Quite a nice list. Judging by the average quality of the bands I better check out the ones I don't already know (Vargsang, Funeral Dusk, Valefar and Graven). You seem to know your way around the darker sides of the music industry. I'll be watching your posts.
@ husker2
Besides from this I would like add some old Gorgoroth. Some might dismiss this as norsecore or whatever, but Pentagram has tonnes of that Black Metal feeling without being whiny or pompous for a second and some of the most malicious BM vocals ever. Production is realtively solid in that the signatures are reasonable and the balance is good, but the harshness is still there and it maintains a nice low-fi aesthetic. A masterpiece really... Depending on your experience with BM you might already have this, but I would just mention it in case you don't.
And check out Angmar (Fra) and their 2005 release Metamorphosis. Also pretty old-school and with excellent atmosphere.
If you feel like going more raw I'll recommend Paysage d'Hiver. Their self-titled is very icy and fuzzy and well.. Basically awesome.. One release that really makes the thin and low-fi production work for the overall emotive impact.
The dense, organic and 'warm' sound on Drudkh's Forgotten Legends are also very fitting for the music and it really adds to the atmospheric nature and general awesomness of the record.
Pentagram is a killer album.
I don't think I'd call Gorgoroth norsecore; blast-beats don't neccesarilly equal norsecore....I think it becomes NC when it is mechanical, sterile and emotionless, *cough* Marduk *cough* Immortal *cough, cough*... not to mention devoid of that all important ambience, atmosphere, whatever you want to call it...
Sweden's Svartsyn is replete with blasts, but some of their stuff owns, as does Dark Funeral's Secrets of the Black Arts.
I wouldn't call Gorgoroth norsecore either but I have heard people doing it before.
On a different but related topic (that might even deserve a thread of it's own):
Norsecore is used very much as a derogatory term. Many Black Metal bands can rightfully be said to have faded into their own little niche of the hardcore scene. I basically agree with your view (about emotionlessness etc.), but I think there is actually good norsecore bands out there. I don't listen to norsecore when I want to listen to Black Metal, but sometimes I feel like listening to norsecore for it's own sake... Perhaps because of my dormant appetite for crust-punk.. If I want that BM-atmosphere
Nattefrost will surely be a disappointment, but I enjoy
Blood & Vomit anyway, just based on other criteria than what I would typically judge a BM record from... Different discussion, I know. But I think norsecore should be judged more like a genre of it's own instead of just being considered 'retarded Black Metal'.
) but his music is at times astonishing.