Poccolus, Nahash, and the beginnings of Lithuanian black metal

A picture of Poccolus from the mid-90s

As influential black metal took the world by storm, bands began to emerge in the unlikeliest of places. Additionally, world events helped the process along. When the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism collapsed, black metal sprang up soon thereafter. The Baltic states illustrate my point.

Within a few years of the collapse of the USSR, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia all developed thriving scenes. Of those three nations, Lithuania's scene proved the most fruitful. The band at the head of the pack is the old-school black/thrash band NEMESIS, from the city of Kaunas. Nemesis formed in 1991.

While they never produced any official releases (only rehearsals, with only one of them ever seeing the light of day as a demo), this band is where various metal musicians cut their teeth (much like Old Funeral and Thou Shalt Suffer in the Norwegian scene). As a result, when the band broke up in early 1993, the members went on to form such bands as POCCOLUS and NAHASH.

Poccolus started as a more traditional old-school black metal band, releasing a demo in 1993. This was followed by the Kingdom of Poccolus demo in '94. By this time, the world metal scene was turning their attention to Lithuania and recognizing that brilliant black metal could come from anywhere.

"Rudens Miško Šnabždesiai" is from Poccolus's self-titled

Poccolus's only full-length studio album was their self-titled album, released in 1996. By the time of the recording and release of their self-titled, Poccolus was less a true black metal band and more of a pagan black metal band with some folk influences. The music and rhythms of Lithuanian culture had shaped their black metal.

Poccolus didn't last much beyond their one full-length album. A live split album was released in 1997, but when Poccolus began to write and record songs for a planned second album, musical differences led to a break-up.

This is "Wellone Aeternitas II" from Nahash's album of the same name

Nahash--the other band to emerge from the ashes of Nemesis--was a band that began under the influence of black metal (like Bathory and Darkthrone). While they never morphed into pagan metal, they created a black metal style that helped put Lithuania on the map.

After an appearance on the legendary compilation Dark Fire Dancing with other Lithuanian bands in '94, they put out the demo Nocticula Hecate. On this demo, you can hear that the typical stylistic elements of Scandinavian black metal are present, but with a unique twist.

Nahash performing live

After that demo, Nahash released their magnum opus: the 1996 studio album Wellone Aeternitas. A more refined black metal than the demo, the influence of the Norwegians was present. At the same time, the band was not afraid to make it their own with a somewhat progressive approach to the music. Since that album, Nahash hasn't been very prolific. 

Another band that peaked around the same time as Nahash was ANUBI. Formed in 1992 by Skro and Renofer, it was with Lord Ominous's recruitment in 1993 that things really began to take shape. Lord Ominous brought an artistic and philosophical temperament to the creative process. This shaped Anubi's music in new and different ways.

Here is Anubi's demo Mirties Metafora

Drawing on Egyptian mythology but with a focus on death and mortality, Anubi had an almost experimental edge to their black metal. Lord Ominous's artistic background and philosophical training were clearly evident in their nonconformist approach. Simply listen to 1995's Mirties Metafora, above.

Their full-length album--1997's Kai pilnaties akis užmerks mirtis--was even more out there. Odd time signatures, dissonant sounds, unique rhythms were all present on this overlooked masterpiece of an album. It may very well be the rarest gem of Lithuanian black metal. 

"Mirtis" comes from that 1997 album

Anubi was an important chapter in Lithuanian black metal, and was poised to keep pushing the boundaries of the genre, but Lord Ominous unfortunately died in a boating accident in 2002. The band didn't last long after that. 

One final band from the era of classic Lithuanian black metal is OBTEST. Forming in 1992, the band cites genres ranging from traditional heavy metal to thrash to folk to black metal as their influences. On their early demos, the sound owes a lot to the harsh iciness of Norwegian black metal. Listen below:

This is the title track from the demo "Oldness Coming"

After those early demos, Obtest's sound continued evolving. By their first full-length album (1997's Tūkstantmetis), the song structures were less true black metal and more on the pagan side of the genre. Over time they moved further and further away from black metal into a pagan metal sound that resembled traditional heavy metal.

"Vilkalokiai" is from Obtest's debut studio album

By the late 90s, black metal had taken root in Lithuania in a big way. The above-mentioned bands laid the foundation for what extreme metal is today in that part of the world.

Selected discography of classic Lithuanian black metal:

Nemesis:

Black Spirituality (rehearsal demo) (1992)

Poccolus:

Demo 93 (demo) (1993)

Kingdom of Poccolus (demo) (1994)

Dark Fire Dancing (split album with Nahash, Anubi, Akys, Wejdas) (1994)

Poccolus (full-length album) (1996)

Live at Black Friday (live split album with Ha Lela and Skyforger) (1997)

Nahash:

Dark Fire Dancing (split album with Poccolus, Anubi, Akys, Wejdas) (1994)

Nocticula Hecate (demo) (1994)

Wellone Aeternitas (full-length) (1996)

Anubi:

God's Pantheon (demo) (1993)

Mastabos dvelksmas (demo) (1994)

Dark Fire Dancing (split album with Poccolus, Nahash, Akys, Wejdas) (1994)

Mirties metafora (demo) (1995)

Sutemus skambės 7" (1996)

Kai pilnaties akis užmerks mirtis (full-length) (1997)

Obtest:

Reh. Demo (demo tape) (1994)

Oldness Coming (demo) (1995)

Live at Poltergeist (video) (1995)

Prieš audrą (demo) (1995)

Tūkstantmetis (full-length) (1997)

Promo 98 (demo) (1998)

997 7" (1998)

Next time: MAYHEM RETURNS