Obscurity and the 1980s Swedish scene

Bathory is arguably the first or second-most important black metal band in the history of the genre (depending on your opinion of Venom), without a doubt.  But their home country (Sweden) has always played second fiddle to their neighbors to the west, Norway.  Yet, despite this, Sweden had a pretty thriving extreme metal scene in the 1980s.  In fact, I would say that until the Norwegian explosion in the years 1990-1993, the Swedish scene was much stronger.

Obscurity

A slew of important old-school black/death/thrash bands came out of Sweden in the mid- to late-1980s, led by such groups as OBSCURITY.  Hailing from the city of Mälmo, Obscurity played a style that crossed genre lines, mixing old-school death metal with black metal.  They released several important demos, including 1986's Ovations to Death and 1987's Damnation's Pride.

Title track from the 1987 demo Damnation's Pride

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Stockholm's MEFISTO played a more blackened speed metal style than did Obscurity.  Originally forming as Torment in 1984, they only released two crucial demos (1986's Megalomania and 1987's The Puzzle) before more or less folding.  Like many extreme metal bands of the era, it seems the world was just not ready for what they had to unleash upon the listening public.  I think their sound can be best described as an old Sodom meets Venom kind of style.

"Betrayed Truth" is off of the 1986 demo Megalomania

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Rarely has a band gained notoriety for what a band member did with another band, but Stockholm's MORBID is one such band.  Vocalist Dead (real name Per Yngve Olin) became famous for his contributions to Norwegian legends Mayhem, but he got his start with this underground Swedish black/death/thrash group.  Releasing very few demos (1987's December Moon and 1988's Last Supper being most prominent), Morbid nonetheless made a huge impact.  Their style is another example of the blurring of genres back in the 1980s, but they do seem to veer more toward the occultic, black metal side of metal.  While the guitarwork is especially raw, the vocals (no surprise) have that atmospheric aura to it associated with black metal.

"Disgusting Semla" is from the infamous demo December Moon

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Of all the old-school black/death bands from the 1980s Swedish scene, the one that actually achieved a degree of success was MERCILESS.  From the small town of Strängnäs, they managed to become famous for being the first band to release a studio album on Euronymous' Deathlike Silence label (1990's The Awakening).  That being said, they made a rather large impact with the demos they released prior to that album (1987's Behind the Back Door, 1989's Realm of the Dark).  While they broke up in 1994 after releasing three studio albums, they reunited a few years ago and have continued to put out albums.

"Bestial Death" is off of the 1987 demo Behind the Black Door

 

Official video for "Pure Hate", off of 1990's The Awakening album. The

sound is much more death metal than black metal on this album.

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Hailing from the city of Linköping, SATANIC SLAUGHTER (the band famous for giving the world members of Witchery and Seance) formed in 1987, but only put out one demo in 1988, One Night in Hell, before going on hiatus for over half a decade.  It is an incredibly hard to find demo.  In fact, I couldn't find any YouTube clips of the songs from that demo.  So here is a later, re-recorded version of one of their demo songs ("One Night in Hell") from their 2002 album, Banished to the Underworld.

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There are some other lesser-known death/black/thrash bands (such as Morbidity, Orchriste, and others) from the 1980s Swedish scene, but I'm just not sure if they're influential enough to merit inclusion.  That being said, it's important to note how influential some of these Swedish bands became in the underground before the Norwegian scene fully bloomed in the early 1990s.

Select Discography of 1980s Swedish Black Metal Scene:

(in alphabetical order by artist)

Mefisto, Megalomania (demo) (1986)

Mefisto, The Puzzle (demo) (1986)

Merciless, Behind the Black Door (demo) (1987)

Merciless, Realm of the Dark (demo) (1988)

Merciless, The Awakening (full-length album)  (1990)

Morbid, Rehearsal (demo) (1987)

Morbid, December Moon (demo) (1987)

Morbid, Last Supper (demo) (1988)

Morbidity, The Curse (demo) (1989)

Obscurity, Ovations to Death (demo) (1986)

Obscurity, Damnation's Pride (demo) (1987)

Orchriste, Necronomicon (demo) (1989)

Satanic Slaughter, One Night in Hell (demo) (1988)

Next time:  GOATLORD