Nehëmah

 

When it comes to quality French black metal, there is so much more than just Les Légions Noires. While underground bands like Ixion and Skullface predate LLM by several years, NEHËMAH, from Savoy, emerged around the time that the Légions were just getting their start.

With a name based on the Sumerian word for the demon Lilith, the band was founded in 1992 by Corven. While there were several other musicians in the band in these early years, the essence of the band really consisted of Corven and Eligor. From the outset, Nehëmah has drawn inspiration from Bathory and other old-school bands. And while there isn't much music from the early years of the band, a 1992 rehearsal did eventually see the light of day as part of a boxed set.

"Black Winds Over the Walls of Csejthe" comes from their 1995 demo

In 1995, Nehëmah put out a now-classic demo, Light of a Dead Star. This demo showcased the raw, stripped-down, minimalist stylings Nehëmah is now known for. The sound clearly bears the stamp of early Bathory as well as Dead-era Mayhem and old Burzum. It's the kind of demo black metal fans live for. Following this demo, Corven chose to put the band on hold so he could focus on other projects (mainly the viking metal band Himinbjorg). 

This is the title track from the 2002 album Light of a Dead Star

Upon re-forming at the dawn of the new millenium, Eligor had departed and Corven had recruited new musicians to round out the band. Corven, Sorghal, and Dargon then became the core of the band. They continued putting out music in the raw, minimalist vein of their '90s demo material (many of the songs from this era were simply re-recorded songs from the early years). In addition to the aforementioned bands, the influence of Darkthrone's early work can also be heard. Simply listen to "Light of a Dead Star" (above).

With 2003's Shadows from the Past..., Nehëmah's vicious black metal was given a smoother production style, for a different effect. Still nasty and evil, the production was more Swedish than Norwegian. That said, there really was no one in the French scene that sounded like them. 

"The Thousand Tongues of Medusa" comes from their 2003 album

2004's Requiem Tenebrae gives us "The Great Old Ones"

Select Discography:

Feigd (rehearsal demo) (1992)

Light of a Dead Star (demo) (1995)

Nehëmah (demo) (2001)

Light of a Dead Star (full-length) (2002)

Shadows from the Past... (full-length) (2003)

Requiem Tenebrae (full-length) (2004)

Next time: XIBALBA

Obtained Enslavement

 

Returning to Norway, we encounter a band not as widely known as the elite of the second wave, but one that formed before many of them:  OBTAINED ENSLAVEMENT. Formed in 1989 in Stord, they started out as a three-piece. The founding members initially went by their legal names before adopting evil stage names:  Thomas ("Pest"), Orjan ("Torquemada"), and Ove ("Døden").

They toiled in the underground as a three-piece for a few years before Heks joined as second guitarist and keyboardist in 1992. It was then that they started putting out demos. After their self-titled demo in '92, it was 1993's Out of the Crypts that caught the ear of metalheads worldwide.

In its entirety, here is the Out of the Crypts demo

On their early nineties demos, OE was--like many Norwegian bands at the time--a raw old-school death metal band. Black metal was still in its infancy in Norway, with a mere smattering of second wave albums having been released.

Obtained Enslavement's sound, however, began to evolve. By the time of the release of their self-funded debut album--1994's Centuries of Sorrow--they had begun to take on a more blackened sound. The drum production still sounds pretty death metal to me, but otherwise, it's an aggressive black metal style. Listen below:

From their debut, here is "Dark Holiness"

Despite being basically self-released, Centuries of Sorrow caught the attention of the black metal underground. It didn't sound like the then-typical Norwegian sound. But change was in the air. 

The follow-up was the brilliant Witchcraft, which took three years to release because of issues finding a reliable record label. The aggressive style of Centuries was gone in favor of a more traditional Norwegian black metal riffing. At the same time, Heks's synth playing--with the help of folk and classical instruments--added a grander, more epic feel to the songs. It's an incredible album that belongs in heavy rotation for any fan of melodic and symphonic black metal.

"From Times in Kingdoms..." is from Witchcraft

1998's Soulblight continued the sound of Witchcraft. It was a solid release of symphonic black metal that built on its predecessor. Highlighted by ice-cold riffing, Soulblight is a sorely overlooked classic of Norwegian black metal.

Soulblight gives us "The Dark Night of Souls"

These years were busy times for the members of Obtained Enslavement. In addition to releasing incredible black metal albums, their skills were in high demand elsewhere. Pest, for example, was briefly the vocalist for Gorgoroth--but OE was his main focus.

In 2000, OE released The Shepherd and the Hounds of Hell. An underwhelming release, it sounded more like typical black metal, and had a crisper, cleaner production style. It was not a bad album, but it alienated many fans. Around the time of the release of this album, Pest relocated to the USA. Shortly thereafter, the band broke up.

Select Discography:

Obtained Enslavement (demo) (1992)

Out of the Crypts (demo) (1993)

Centuries of Sorrow (full-length) (1994)

Witchcraft (full-length) (1997)

Soulblight (full-length) (1998)

The Shepherd and the Hounds of Hell (full-length) (2000)

Next time: NEHËMAH