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