Ildjarn

Norway's Thou Shalt Suffer was known for being the band that featured members of what would eventually be Emperor. Another band that arose from their ashes was ILDJARN (Norwegian for "Fire-iron"). Like Burzum, Ildjarn is essentially a one-man band. Unlike Burzum, Ildjarn has produced some of the rawest, most vile sounding black metal in history.

After the demise of Thou Shalt Suffer, Ildjarn (real name Vidar Våer) continued to use the band's old rehearsal space to create his own music. He eventually began recording on a four-track, with primitive results. His first demos--with Samoth on vocals--saw the light of day in 1992, the same year as Emperor's first demo.

Here is Ildjarn's second demo, Seven Harmonies of Unknown Truths, in its entirety

This early work of his was raw and primitive, yes, but it wasn't too far removed from what other black metal bands in Norway were doing. Burzum's sound on the self-titled release and Emperor's '92 demo are good reference points for Ildjarn's initial sound. But changes lay ahead.

"Kronet" is a great example of Ildjarn's sound--from the self-titled '93 demo

Ildjarn's self-titled 1993 demo (with Ihsahn on vocals) stripped down the sound from the early demos even more. The production was bare bones, the guitars even more vile, the percussion more primitive. In a way, this sonic primitivism reflected Ildjarn's own beliefs about black metal. Black metal, for Ildjarn, was a lifestyle. In true misanthropic fashion, real black metallers---according to Ildjarn---should shun society and retreat into the woods. Ildjarn himself has said that once he has saved up enough money and resources that he would commit fully to the black metal lifestyle.

After honing his craft and putting out a couple more demos, Ildjarn released full-length studio albums on his own label, Norse League Productions. Ildjarn himself has stated that he founded the label for the sole purpose of releasing Ildjarn albums. This was also around the time Ildjarn began collaborating with fellow Norweigan black metaller Nidhogg.

From the 1995 self-titled studio album, this is "Skogslottet"

"Clashing of Swords" is one of Ildjarn's most well-known songs from the album Forest Poetry

These years---1993 to 1996---were Ildjarn's most fruitful. Not only did he put out several albums of absolute classic Norwegian black metal, but his collaboration with Nidhogg and work in the band Sort Vokter also emerged in this era. Ildjarn was extremely busy and prolific.

The Norse album--a collaboration with Nidhogg--is the source of this track, "Svarte Hjerter"

For the most part, the black metal produced by Ildjarn was raw, primitive, and necro. There was no subtlety, just straightforward minimal, lo-fi nastiness. But Ildjarn---much like that other one-man band in classic Norwegian black metal history, Burzum---ventured into ambient territory. Ildjarn (like Varg Vikernes and any other black metaller who created ambient music) recognized that black metal was a mood, a spirit, an ethos. And that could be conveyed with ambient music (although Ildjarn referred to it as "symphonic landscape music").

"Amber Lake" is from the Ildjarn-Nidhogg collaboration Hardangervidda

Ildjarn did more or less end his career at the dawn of the new millennium. But by this point, a new generation of black metal maniacs had discovered his work, and Ildjarn felt compelled to put out all of his previously unreleased material. This culminated in the brilliantly packaged, exhaustive, epic release Ildjarn is Dead in 2005.

This is the entire Ildjarn is Dead release, laid out 

Select Discography:

as Ildjarn: 

Unknown Truths (demo) (1992)

Seven Harmonies of Unknown Truths (demo) (1992)

Ildjarn (demo) (1993)

Minnesjord (demo) (1994)
Ildjarn (full-length album) (1995)

Landscapes (full-length album) (1996)
Strength and Anger (full-length album) (1996)

Forest Poetry (full-length album) (1996)

collaborations with Nidhogg:

Norse EP (1994)

Svartfråd EP (1996)
Hardangervidda (full-length album) (recorded 1997, released 2002)

Hardangervidda Part 2 EP (recorded 1997, released 2002)

other work:

Sort Vokter - Folkloric Necro Metal (full-length album) (1996)

Next time:  BESATT

Beherit

As Mayhem is to Norway and Blasphemy is to Canada, BEHERIT is to Finland.  Along with a few other luminaries of the Finnish scene (such as Goatvulva and Vadertopsy), Beherit was one of the earliest black metal bands from Finland, and arguably the most important.  They come from the northern city of Rovaniemi (just below the Arctic Circle), and formed in 1989 as Pseudochrist.  By 1990 they had changed their name to Beherit and released such demos as Seventh Blasphemy and Demonomancy.

"Grave Desecration" is from Demonomancy

The years 1990-1991 saw Beherit make a further name for themselves with the Dawn of Satan's Millenium EP and the split with Chilean band Death Yell.  They signed with German label Turbo Records to release their first album, but in exchange for the money Turbo advanced them to produce a new album, Beherit decided simply to party with that money.  As a result, Turbo Records released a compilation of Beherit's demo material as the 1991 album The Oath of Black Blood.

"Paradise, Of Thy Demonic Host" is an unreleased 1990 track

After 1991's The Oath of Black Blood, Beherit crafted some new material and released the 1993 album Drawing Down the Moon.  This marked a slight stylistic change for the Finnish dark lords.   Where the earlier material clearly showed the influence of the 1980s black/thrash scene, the material from the years 1992-1993 had a more subdued, almost occult production style to it.  The vocals, however, were still of that subterranean, inhuman, demonic variety.

"Saloman's Gate" is the perfect example of Beherit's sound from the 1993 album

Following Drawing Down the Moon, Beherit put out a split with fellow countrymen Archgoat (more on them later) entitled Messe des Morts.  This was a continuation of their raw black metal style from the Drawing Down the Moon album.  In the following year, Beherit shifted gears entirely and became a dark ambient band, releasing two albums under that style.  They then broke up in 1996.

After years of silence and a compilation album that was put out in 1999 (Beast of Beherit), Beherit got back together in the new millenium and began recording new music.  The fruits of their labor was the 2009 album Engram.  In my opinion, this was a very uninspired album.  Satanic and evil, yes, but pales in comparison to the raw brilliance of releases like the early demos and 1993's Drawing Down the Moon.

Here are the goat-worshipping demons of Beherit!

Select Discography:

Seventh Blasphemy (demo) (1990)
Morbid Rehearsals (demo) (1990)
Demonomancy (demo) (1990)
Dawn of Satan's Millenium EP (1991)
The Oath of Black Blood (compilation) (1991)
Werewolf, Semen, and Blood 7" (split with Death Yell) (1991)
Drawing Down the Moon (1993)
Messe des Morts 7" (1993)
Beast of Beherit (compilation) (1999)

Next time: MAYHEM during the Dead years

Abruptum

ABRUPTUM is one weird band.  In their prime (early to mid-1990s), they were a mixture of black metal, dark ambient, and doom-death.  They were a Swedish band that pre-dates the black metal explosion of the 1990s, but doesn't have a typical Swedish black metal sound by any means.  They were formed in Stockholm in 1989 by the mysterious gentlemen known as ALL, IT, and EXT.  Their initial sound bears the influence of doom and death metal as well as old-school black metal.

From the 1990 demo The Satanist Tunes

With the release of demos like 1990's Abruptum and The Satanist Tunes, Abruptum unleashed their unholy sound upon the world.  The demonic growls over top of the slow dirge-like metal were unlike most of what was going on in the black metal world.  It really did resemble a more experimental doom/death at times.  With the 1991 7-inch Evil, Abruptum's sound began to morph into something blacker.  The vocals varied between the low-end rumbling growls and the a more tortured screech, and the guitar playing--while still a slower pace--began to resemble black metal.  Also, through the use of distortion and sound effects, the music as a whole took on a more experimental feel.

The weirdness that is Abruptum, from the Evil 7"

By this time, they had kicked out band members Ext and All, and replaced them with EVIL (aka Morgan from Marduk).  The resulting shift in sound was apparent on the 1993 full-length Obscuritatem Advoco Amplectere Me.  This album contained the sound for which Abruptum is famous:  slow, doom-y, noisy, blackened dark ambient.  The weird sound effects and distortion that were present on the Evil 7-inch were even more prominent now.

Just fucking weird....

Abruptum released several more albums in this style, such as 1994's In Umbra Malitiae Ambulabo, In Aeternum In Triumph Tenebrarum.  For the most part, they continued in this style for years before eventually shifting to an almost entirely dark ambient sound, with no hint of black metal.  By the turn of the millenium, Evil was continuing Abruptum as a solo project.  He has put out albums mostly on Marduk's solo label (Blooddawn Productions), including the recently released Potestates Apocalypsis (2011).

Select Discography:

Abruptum (demo) (1990)
The Satanist Tunes  (demo) (1990)
Evil 7" (1991)
Obscuritatem Advoco Amplectere Me (1993)
In Umbra Malitiae Ambulabo, In Aeternum In Triumph Tenebrarum (1994)
Vi Sonus Veris Nigrae Malitiaes (1996)

Next time:  THORNS