Metal Reviews

I'll be honest here, I know very little Black Metal. And lately I thought to myself, since I have Noenum's album and it's praised by many Black metal fans (not to mention on this site) then I should give it a shot. So I turned off all the lights in my room, strapped on my headphones and pressed play.
To my big surprise I did like it. Not the best I have heard, but something that might grow on me.

So, what other Black Metal bands should I check out to get a good view of the genre?

well, here's a non-BMer selection :

Deathspell Omega (Kénôse) religious BM
Taake (Over Bjorgvin Graater Himmerik or ...Doedskvad) ask Daniel
Aura Noir (The Merciless) black thrash assault !
Secrets Of The Moon (Carved in Stigmata Wounds) symphonic BM
Negurã Bunget ('n Crugu Bradului) whatever it's called it's good !
Dødheimsgard (666 International) avant garde BM but nor the hardest to get into...
Carpathian Forest (Black Shining Leather) rocky BM !

hope it helped !

In my opinion the best place to start is with the early/mid 90's Norwegian albums:

Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon
Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger
Burzum - Burzum/Aske
Burzum - Det Som Engang Var
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Burzum - Filosofem
Ulver - Bergtatt
Ulver - Nattens Madrigal
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Satyricon - The Shadowthrone
Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
Immortal - Pure Holocaust
Gorgoroth - Antichrist
Gorgoroth - Under the Sign of Hell
Taake - Nattestid...
Carpathian Forest - Black Shining Leather

I think that's a good place to start; after that you can give more attention to more modern releases although it isn't a law, maybe it's easier for you to start with the current releases, but I find the ones I mentioned a better introduction to Black Metal.

so you're saying my list is shite ! :cry:

who needs enemies with friends like you ? :roll:

overall, I disagree with you... mid-90's BM is exactly what would keep me ou of BM (well, with blast-feast typed BM)... especially Darthrone & Burzum which I think I'll never get :?

EDIT: I was typing this as Daniel was putting his on top. Just think of mine as "expanded," plus stuff he already put

Darkthrone - Blaze in the Northern Sky, Under a Funeral Moon, or Transilvanian Hunger(Classics)
Burzum - Det Som Engang Var, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss(Melancholic)
Emperor - Emperor/Wrath of the Tyrant, In the Nightshade Eclipse, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk(Each is progressivly more symphonic, but they're all good releases)
Immortal - Pure Holocaust(Also classic)
Nargaroth - Black Metal ist Krieg(A little bit of everything)
Satanic Warmaster - Stregnth and Honour(Empowering black metal)
Isengard(Nor) - Hostmorke(One form of folk black metal)
Ulver - Bergtatt(Another form of folk black metal)
Weakling - Dead as Dreams(Powerful black metal)
Aura Noir - Black Thrash Attack(as the title states...)
Anaal Nathrakh - The Codex Necro, When Fire Rains Down From the Sky Mankind Will Reap What it has Sown(Psudo-industrial black metal. Also fucking heavy)
Mystic Forest - Romances(Beautiful)
Vlad Tepes - Celtic Poetry(Epic black metal without falling into the trappings of usual "epic" music)
Vlad Tepes/Belkertre - March to the Black Holocaust(Best thing to come from the LLN)
Graveland - Thousand Swords(Epic, beautiful, and powerful)
Destroyer 666 - Cold Steel for an Iron Age(Black/thrash)
Witchery - Restless and Dead(Black/Thrash)
Carpathian Forest - Black Shinning Leather(Black n' Roll)
Leviathan - Tenticles of Whorror(Semi-prog black metal)
Xasthur - Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors(Depressing)
Krieg - Destruction Ritual(Noise/Black)
Velvet Cacoon - Genevieve(Ambiant/Black)
Taake - Over Bjoergevin Himmerik Graater(Melodic Black Metal at it's best)
Deathspell Omega - Si Momentum Requires Circumspice, Kenose(Technical black metal, but maybe "religious" is a better term as Emokid says)
Bathory - Bathory, The Return, Under the Sign of the Black Mark, Blood Fire Death(Proto-black)
Hellhammer - Apocalyptic Raids(Proto-black)
Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales, To Mega Therion(Decidedly less "black" than Hellhammer, but keeps most of the ideas)
Mayhem - Deathcrush(The first album, I believe, to have the modern black metal sound)

I think I covered all the bases there...

I find early/mid 90's BM to be the most pure example of the genre. Maybe the problem is that you don't like pure BM.

I love all the albums you listed by the way, so no, your list ain't shit, I just find other albums for suitable for n00bs.

Knowing little of Deathspell Omega, I wonder:

What do you mean when you describe them as "religious BM"?

:oops: :?:

Burzum = Blackfeast? :?


Burzum - Hvis Lyrest Tar Oss
Ulver - Bergtatt
Nargaroth - Black Metal Ist Krieg OR Rasluka II if you can get it.
Taake - Nattestid
Mystic Forest - Romances
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora

That is something to start with. If you like Noenum, then our tastes are at least slightly connected, so this is a relatively safe list.

The ideology and aesthetics of religious BM are based on orthodox devil worship instead of satanism.

That, and they have some chanting stuff going on that scares the shit outta me every time I hear it.

Yes, and they also have a particular sound which is kind of more "monumental" (not always meaning better)...

well i only own two black metal cds:

burzum-hvis lyset tar oss
emperor-in the nightside eclipse

in my opinion the burzum has 1 amazing track and the rest is a-ok, but the emperor is absolutely astonishing-its one of my favourite albums ever and every single thing in it is perfect to my ears...

nope

I said mid-90's Norwegian BM was with all the Blasting bands what kept me out of BM for so long :roll:

Do yourself a favor and get Det Som Engang Var...

will do

And Filosofem... and the debut... and pretty much the first four albums.

fan-boy !

Daudi Baldrs is one the (involuntarily) funiest record I ever heard, get it too !

Only if you like ambient. I have both of Varg's ambient albums and they are quite good, it's far, far, away from Black Metal. If your're just looking for BM then don't let the Frenchie fool you out of your money. But if you like Ambient, then by all means get Daudi Balder and Hilsfskard(sp?), you won't be dissapointed!

This time I'll have to agree in pat with you and in part with "the frenchie".

Burzum's Daudi Baldrs is a fuckin' joke, but Hlidskjalf is quite decent. This is because for Hlidskjalf he used a good full sound synth and for Daudi he used only a stupid MIDI Casio one...

MIDI ist Krieg! Seriously, I liked that one, but most people can't stand it and I can see why, minimalism doesn't translate well to Keyboard music.