Metal Reviews

I'm not sure if this thread has been done before in the last few months or so, but with the bulk of the world's focus on the Norwegian black metal scene and the Nordic scene in general a lot of bands get lost in translation. In the case of a mere analysis what band or bands have had some weight with their region of the world, and have their albums stood the test of time long enough to be more than just mere cult band. What bands have taken influence from them, and in what way do you see their pivotal albums resound in newer bands influenced by them?

Weakling - Dead as Dreams (US) Pretty much single handedly created the us bm scene we listen to today.

DsO - Si Monvmentvm... (France) Set the bar so high for everyone and continuing to push the limits of the genre with every album.

Bathory (SWE) I'm not even going to say anything. Half of what we hear today was already done by Quorthon back at the time.

Nokturnal Mortum - Lunar Poetry (Ukraine) Turned everyone's head towards the east. Showed people that good bm can come from this part of the world too.

My thoughts exactly.

Agreed on weakling, dso, and nokturnal mortum.

Would like to add Drudkh- Autumn Aurora to that list to. Classic Ukrainian black metal.

Diotima - Krallice
Ashes Against The Grain - Agalloch
Phoenix Rising - Destroyer 666
Celestial Lineage - Wolves in the Throne Room
Beyond the Permafrost - Skeletonwitch
this is what comes to mind for me. I need to listen to more black metal.

I don't want to sound like an ass, but you do need to listen to more BM. Celestial Lineage is a recent album, and I fail to see how it's an essential BM album.

I was gonna say Negura Bunget, but I remembered that Steve is unable to get into them. A shame, really.

Paysage D'Hiver is cool.

yeah i figured and i know its a recent abum but its just so fucking good i love it. if you got some suggestions for me send some in a message. Very appreciative if you do.

I will, then. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxST6kDFUuw

Gris - Etait d'une Foret. Fuck I forgot the French.

+1 on the Agalloch. There are better WITTR albums and Weakling's influence on them I'd say makes them more "essential".

Yeah, Agalloch are not black metal.

+ 1000 on Gris. Absolutely amazing lp.

Liturgy--Aesthethica

then what are they? every place i go on the internet says they are, they sound it? so....

I looked at the thread title today fellas my bad, I actually meant to say band- not album. I'm actually fairly dismayed at the shitty bands being mentioned in this thread.

are you sure you posted this in the right thread?

Well, too be fair, most hyped non-Norwegian black metal bands are pretty shitty.

That probably stems from the Cascadian scene claiming a lineage from Agalloch as well as from Weakling.

Agalloch was a primarily black metal band on their demo, "From Which of this Oak", ever since then, I'd call them something else.

call them something else? what would you call them or a close guess?

I'll contribute something on Germany, after being snarky enough.

Katharsis, particularly, World Without End. This is fast and brutal guys, the slower types of riff you can hang on come in, but not until 2 minutes plus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBPzmM9zluk

Lunar Aurora. Something much slower and atmospheric than the previous track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO3PrlQqOzs

Edit=

I guess I should note that neither of these are particularly influential and perhaps not essential, but I like them and thus posted them.

If you want my real answer to Steve's query, I think all the truly essential black metal albums originate from Norway alone. Black metal without Norway is inconceivable, and it saddens me that so many USBMers won't listen to those albums beyond maybe Nightside Eclipse and DMDS.

They are somewhere in between black and doom on Pale Folklore and The Mantle, and after that you'd have to throw in prog into their description.