Enslaved

Like many bands of Norway's second wave of black metal, ENSLAVED formed from the ashes of a defunct death metal band. The death metal band in question--Phobia--managed to put out a demo before breaking up.

By the time of the demise of Phobia, band members Grutle Kjellson, Ivar Bjornson, and newly recruited drummer K. Johnny (later to go by Trym Torson) set about creating material for this new project, Enslaved. While the sound was definitely firmly in the Norwegian black metal style, the lyrical content moved away from the Satanic and toward Norway's pre-Christian past. Their early demos--1991's Nema and 1992's Yggdrasil (a classic!)--showcase this sound.

"Allfadr Odin" is one of Enslaved's classic demo tracks

Citing Bathory's mature viking metal albums (Twilight of the Gods and Hammerheart) as inspiration, Enslaved viewed their Norse pagan heritage more philosophically than most. For them, it wasn't ideological fodder or reactionary drivel, but a real, meaningful set of beliefs. This philosophical orientation permeated their song lyrics. At the same time, Enslaved's songwriting began to transcend the simpler aspects of the Norwegian black metal template. Beginning with the amazing 1993 EP Hordanes Land (which was also released as a split with Emperor), songs with multiple motifs and long, epic passages started to become the norm for this viking metal band.

One of Enslaved's more well-known songs, this is "Heimdallr"--off of Vikingligr Veldi

Following this EP, Euronymous--who had been a supporter of the band since the beginning--released Enslaved's full-length debut (Vikingligr Veldi) on his Deathlike Silence Productions. This album was a more mature effort at their epic viking metal. Thematically--and to a lesser degree, structurally--this album was quite different than what other Norwegians were doing, but it still fit in the camp of Norwegian black metal in terms of sound. The guitar riffing style, lo-fi production, screeched vocals, and focused use of atmospheric snyths were still a key component of Enslaved's sound.

Since Deathlike Silence went under with Euronymous's death, Enslaved had to search out a new label. Within a few months, not only had they landed a deal with French label Osmose Productions, but they had also released their second full-length album, Frost. This album did continue the viking-themed lyrics, but in terms of sound, Frost was a much more aggressive album. The synths were almost entirely absent, and the song structure resembled that of other Norwegian bands.

"Loke" is an amazing track off of 1994's Frost

Frost was a cold, harsh, unforgiving album. Like much of Enslaved's work from this era, it is an absolute classic of Norwegian black metal. They followed it up with 1997's Eld (Trym Torson had left to join Emperor, so they recruited new drummer Harald Helgeson). Also released on Osmose, Eld was yet another change in style. The production, song structure, and even musical approach stayed true to Enslaved's viking metal ethos, but it was pretty distinct from both Frost and Vikingligr Veldi. 

"Glemt" is my favorite song off Eld

1999's Blodhemn gives us songs like "I Lenker til Ragnarok" 

With these classic releases under their belt, Enslaved was now the master of the viking metal subgenre. With one more solid black metal album in the viking vein to come (1999's Blodhemn), Enslaved had more or less exhausted the possibilities of that particular style. There was nowhere left for them to go but to change the face of black metal completely.

With 2000's Mardraum: Beyond the Within, they did just that. While this album rested on a clear black metal foundation, it bore the influence of more progressive fare at the same time. Epic, long songs filled with time and motif changes, non-standard riffing, and vocal variation dominated this masterpiece. 2001's Monumension took it even further, with song structures that were not only progressive in nature, but borrowed from other genres.

Listen to the new direction evident on Monumension's "The Voices"

Since those early 2000s albums, Enslaved has continued to push the boundaries of their music. Their work still retains elements of the Norwegian black metal from whence they came, but they test the limits further and further with each release.

Select Discography:

Nema (demo) (1991)

Yggdrasil (demo) (1992)

Hordanes Land EP (1993)

Vikingligr Veldi (full-length album) (1994)

Frost (full-length album) (1994)

Eld (full-length album) (1997)

Blodhemn (full-length album) (1999)

Mardraum: Beyond the Within (full-length album) (2000)

Monumension (full-length album) (2001)

Next time: BEHEMOTH

Winged

Italy, as we have seen, is home to a rather fruitful black metal scene. While some of Italy's black metal bands have gone on to some degree of international renown on the world stage--such as Opera IX and Mortuary Drape--other bands were much more underground by nature. Catania, Sicily's WINGED is one such band.

Winged formed in 1991. Fabio War had recently left Sinoath, and soon recruited Alex Storm (bass), Danilo (vocals), and Alexander (drums) to round out this new band of his. After releasing a couple of untitled demos later that year and in 1992, the line-up changed with Devastator replacing Alexander on drums and Fabian taking over on vocals after the departure of Danilo. This new line-up put out a demo that has since taken on legendary status in the underground, 1993's Oath of Blood.

This is Oath of Blood in its entirety

As can be heard above on the demo, Winged's style is kind of an old-school black/death metal. With riffing that is reminiscent of 1980s death metal, but at the same time has an almost hellenic sound to it, the songs on this demo possess a uniquely sinister aura to them. Punctuated by the use of eerie, dark keyboard passages, Winged was definitely on to something new with their sound. No other Italian band of this era had a style like theirs.

1996's A Voice Beyond the Grave highlights a different direction in their sound

This demo caused black metallers throughout the underground to sit up and take notice. However, Winged went on temporary hiatus until late 1995, when they emerged newly invigorated with a relatively fresh line-up: Fabio (guitars), Axl Moto (vocals), FullMoon (bass), and Alf Thunder (drums). The result was two demos in 1996 that showcased a more occultic, black metal sound. The death metal influences of their early years were much more subdued in favor of a playing style that easily fits under the label "black metal". With their black metal credentials more firmly established, Winged entered the studio to create their first (and to date, only) full-length album, From the Arcane Burning Legions.

"Living in My Hell" is off of Winged's full-length debut

Recorded in late 1997 and released in 1998, Legions is a dark, mystical album that balances the sinister black metal stylings of the recent demos with a melodic use of keyboards and clean vocals. The result was a release that was clearly consistent with Winged's earlier efforts, but at the same time did something new. While I would argue that there isn't an "Italian sound" in black metal, per se, I would say that some of the elements of Winged's sound are present to some degree in the work of fellow countrymen Sinoath, Opera IX, and Mortuary Drape (eerie synths, a more mid-paced guitar style, non-traditional black metal vocals, to name a few).

Since the release of 1998's Legions, Winged hasn't really done much. They have put out a four-song EP in 2007 (House of Silence) and a compilation of old material in 2013. Additionally, they have re-released their full-length album a couple of times. There are rumors that new material is being worked on, but until it surfaces, we shall have to see what the future holds for Winged....

Here is the 2007 EP of House of Silence

Select Discography:

Rehearsal Tape (demo) (1991)

Rehearsal '92 (demo) (1992)

Oath of Blood (demo) (1993)

A Voice Beyond the Grave (demo) (1996)

When the Evil Emerges (demo) (1996)

From the Arcane Burning Legions (full-length album) (1998)
The House of Silence EP (2007)

Next time: ENSLAVED

Ammit

While Latin America was a hotbed of first wave black metal activity in the 1980s, the 1990s saw that situation change. Really crucial bands were few and far between. The major exceptions,  then, are worth taking note of. Santiago, Chile's AMMIT is definitely one such band.

Ammit initially formed as a one-man band in 1991--that one man being Count Czar Yang. The demo material recorded in the early years was material that was never intended to be heard or reviewed by the black metal press (such as zines). In terms of style, the early stuff was a more atmospheric approach to an old-school black metal sound. You can clearly hear the influence of 1980s black metal and black/thrash, but there is an almost mystical aura to the music. Check out the title track to 1992 demo Return of the Wizards, below:

This is "Return of the Wizards"

For years, Ammit was an underground phenomenon. One of the primary reasons Ammit remained so entrenched in the underground was the fact that the man behind the band--Count Czar Yang--refused to do interviews (even with zines) or promotional photo shoots. As a result, the band's output through most of the 1990s was demo material.

In 1998, however, Ammit finally released their first full-fledged studio album, Steel Inferno. By the time of this release (and its follow-up, 2000's Mass Suicide), Ammit had abandoned some of more eerie, atmospheric elements present on their early demos. Instead, their style was a raw, old-school style that resembled classic bands like Hellhammer, Sarcofago, and Venom.

Steel Inferno gives us this song, "Ritualistic Crime"

Their style is one that is not for everyone. It's raw, vicious, and fast. It has a crude production style that--to many black metal fans--feels out of place now that the genre has passed its 'growing pains' phase. That being said, this is black metal, and there is always a certain ugliness inherent in it.

Ammit, now having some full-length albums under their belt, was becoming more widely known outside of the darkest corners of the underground. Count Czar Yang has even gone so far as to do interviews with zines, and he recruited additional members to the band--making it a one-man band no more. Since Mass Suicide, Ammit has put out some really spectacular work. Albums like Extreme Speed Satan (2003) and Hammer of Darkness (2006) draw on the vilest, rawest, thrashiest corners of the black metal world. While not exactly a household name, Ammit is a band that continues to carry the torch for nasty old-school black metal, and, in their own way, can be seen to be part of the aggressive South American scene that was initiated by bands like Vulcano, Sarcofago, Holocausto, and Blasfemia.

"Las garras del mal" is from Hammer of Darkness

Here's a sample from 2009's Armageddon Cobra 

Select Discography: 

Return of the Wizards (demo) (1992)

Promotional Tape (demo) (1995)

The Demoniac Defloration (demo) (1996)

Steel Inferno (full-length album) (1998)

Mass Suicide (full-length album) (2000)

Extreme Speed Satan (full-length album) (2003)

Hammer of Darkness (full-length) (2006)

Armageddon Cobra (full-length album)  (2009)

Next time:  WINGED

Satyricon

A classic picture of Satyricon, circa Nemesis Divina

With the Norwegian Second Wave of Black Metal under way, bands of all stripes were emerging left and right. The legendary SATYRICON emerged in the early years of the second wave, around the same time as Emperor. Initially forming in 1990 as death metal band Eczema, it wasn't long before they shifted gears entirely and became a black metal band.

It was in 1991 that they not only became a black metal band,  but that they changed their name to Satyricon and acquired Satyr as band member. It wasn't long before the band put out a demo (1992's All Evil) with a full line-up: Satyr on vocals, Lemarchand on guitars, Wargod on bass, and Exhurtum on drums

This is the title track from their 1992 demo, All Evil

While this demo was well-received, it was their second demo (1993's The Forest is My Throne) that really caught people's attention. Unlike the relatively simple black metal on the first demo, this 1993 demo sounded more like the traditional Norwegian black metal the world has come to know and love (hate?). The line-up was also notably different for this demo: Wargod quit the music scene entirely, Exhurtum was kicked out because he wasn't interested in the direction the black metal scene was taking (although he did later become a part of other important black metal bands in the Norwegian scene, like Aura Noir and Ved Buens Ende), and Frost was recruited as the new drummer.

"The Forest is My Throne" is from the 1993 demo of the same name

With this noteworthy demo under its belt, Satyricon was courted by record labels, eventually signing with No Fashion Records. They weren't financially very stable, so Norwegian label Tatra Records ended up buying the master tapes of what would become Satyricon's first album, Dark Medieval Times. A new sublabel was created under Tatra Records specifically to release extreme metal: Moonfog Productions, which was helmed by Satyr himself (and has released some amazing albums to this day!). The album was released at the end of 1993 in Norway, and in the rest of the world in 1994.

Here is "Dark Medieval Times"

Dark Medieval Times was a powerful mix of standard Norwegian-style black metal and folk elements (including folk instruments). This was a reflection of Satyr's interest in the middle ages and folk culture. Check out the title track to the album, above.

By this point, Satyricon was a two-piece: Frost and Satyr. They still recruited session players for recording purposes, including Emperor's Samoth and Darkthrone's Nocturno Culto (who went by the name Kveldulv).

The follow-up to Medieval Times was 1994's The Shadowthrone, another solid album of classic Norwegian black metal. But it was 1996's Nemesis Divina that really saw Satyricon elevate black metal to new heights. In addition to folk elements, Nemesis saw the band incorporating symphonic elements and more clean vocals. This--combined with the crisp, regal guitar sound they had borrowed from Thorns's Snorre Ruch--resulted in a truly epic black metal album that is an absolute classic  of Norwegian black metal. 

The opening track from Nemesis Divina--this is "Dawn of a New Age"

This powerful album was easily the peak of Satyricon's brilliance in this phase of their career. The next few years would see them transition to a different style of black metal. While EPs such as Megiddo (1997) and Intermezzo II (1999) saw them begin to incorporate non-black metal elements into their sound (including electronics and industrial), it was their approach to song-writing that shaped their sound. The music began to take on a more hard rock edge, moving away from the high-speed riffing and lo-fi production of second wave black metal, and adopting more traditonal rock'n'roll structures to their songs. Full-length albums such as 1999's Rebel Extravaganza and 2002's Volcano highlight this sound shift well.

This is the official music video for "Fuel for Hatred" (from Volcano)

With this change in style, Satyricon had helped pioneer a new approach to black metal. This particular sound--the blending of black metal sensibilities with hard rock song structures--has since come to be known as black'n'roll (a play on the title "death'n'roll," a subgenre associated with post-Wolverine Blues Entombed). Some other bands associated with this subgenre are Vreid, Khold, and post-millenial Darkthrone (more on Darkthrone's black'n'roll phase later).

Here is Satyricon performing perhaps their most famous song, "Mother North" (off of Nemesis Divina), with a full operatic chorus

Select Discography:

All Evil (demo) (1992)

The Forest is My Throne (demo) (1993)

Dark Medieval Times (full-length album) (1994)

The Shadowthrone (full-length album) (1995)

Nemesis Divina (full-length) (1996)

Rebel Extravaganza (full-length album) (1999)

Volcano (full-length album) (2002)

Now, Diabolical (full-length) (2005)

Age of Nero (full-length album) (2008)

Next time: AMMIT

Ungod

Germany's UNGOD, hailing from Bavaria, is a band that has made an impact on German black metal, but is not as widely known outside the borders of their native land. Their music in the early 90s helped shape the German scene almost as much as that of Desaster's or Eminenz's, and in that regard, they are an important band.

Ungod was formed in late 1991 by Schiekron (bass), Condemptor (drums), Ancient Blasphemic Grave Invocator (guitar), Angel of Blasphemy (guitar), and Infamist of Tumulus (vocals). Citing old-school masters Hellhammer,  Venom, and Bathory as inspiration--as well as Master's Hammer, Samael, and the early Greek scene--Ungod set about creating vile, blasphemous music shortly after their inception.

Here is their 1992 demo in its entirety

The result was the 1992 demo Magicus Tallis Damnatio. As you can hear above, this demo is raw and primitive black metal that not only bears the imprint of Ungod's aforementioned inspirations, but you can also hear the influence of bands like Sarcofago and Blasphemy. The intense minimalism of their sound also calls to mind the style of Dutch band Bestial Summoning.

Speaking of Bestial Summoning, the release of Magicus caught the ear of The Unsane, vocalist for that Dutch band. After reviewing the demo favorably in his underground zine, he approached  the band with the idea of putting out a full-length album on his label, Heretic Supremacist Records. The band agreed.

This is the title track from Circle of the Seven Infernal Pacts

The resulting album, Circle of the Seven Infernal Pacts, is a refining of their demo sound and a milestone in 1990s German black metal. The influence of Samael and Master's Hammer can be heard pretty strongly, yet the album stands on its own. Heretic Supremacist Records released the album on vinyl in early 1993 before folding. Germany's Merciless Records then put out the album on CD in late 1993.

With this album, Ungod had now established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in German black metal. That being said, they still remained a very underground band. Over the next few years, they only managed to put out splits with other underground bands and the occasional demo. While their cult, underground ethos propeled them forward, they never exploded on the international scene in the way that fellow Germans Desaster or Nagelfar did. Due to personnel issues, the band broke up in 1998.

The 2009 self-titled EP is the source of this song, "Dawn of the Black Apocalypse"

Other than a re-release of the Magicus demo as a split with Baxaxaxa (a band that featured Condemptor and Ancient Blasphemic Grave Invocator) in 2002, there was silence from Ungod for many years. Then, in 2008, members of the band were approached by Kneel Before the Master's Throne Records about re-releasing 1993's Circle. This eventually led to the band re-forming with the original line-up fairly intact (new member Kvaltor was now their sole guitarist, however). Since re-forming, Ungod has been extremely prolific, putting out multiple full-length albums and continuing their tradition of collaborating on split albums with other underground bands.

An example of their recent sound, "Blessed by the Whore" is from their 2016 album, Bewitched by Sins and Lust

Select Discography:

Magic Tallis Damnation (demo) (1992)

Instrumental Rehearsal (demo) (1993)

Circle of the Seven Infernal Pacts (full-length album) (1993)

Conquering What Was Once Ours EP (1995)

Renaissance of the Dark Arcade 7" (split with Cabal) (1995)

Aeon of Sunless Dominion 7" (split with Desaster) (1995)
Promo 1995 (demo) (1995)

Phallus Cult 7" (split with Sadistic Intent) (1998)

Ungod EP (2009)

Cloaked in Eternal Darkness (full-length album) (2011)

Bewitched by Sins and Lust (full-length album) (2016)

Next time: SATYRICON

Black Witchery

The American black metal scene, as has been mentioned before, got off to a slower start than many other countries' scenes. The 1980s saw some important advancements by bands like Goatlord and NME, and by the early 1990s, groups like Von, Profanatica, and Demoncy were helping the style evolve, but nothing as fruitful as the Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, or Greek scenes took hold for several years.

Instead, bands were few and far between for several years in the nineties, and a lot of these bands confined their activity to the underground. One such band was black/death band IRREVERENT, from Florida. Forming in 1990, they intially started out as a band interested primarily in covering old-school black metal bands like Hellhammer and Bathory.

"Crush the Messiah" is one of Irreverent's songs from an old demo

After a couple of years as Irreverent, the band kind of ran out of steam and essentially broke up. From the ashes of this band arose WITCHERY. Their style was darker, heavier, more aggressive. By the time Witchery formed in the mid-nineties, the American black metal scene was in full swing, but Witchery was playing in a style not well-represented in the black metal mainstream. The Norwegian template laid down by Mayhem, Darkthrone, and Burzum on the one hand and the eerie symphonic stylings of Emperor, Cradle of Filth, and Dimmu Borgir on the other were the two dominant modes of making black metal, but Witchery's sound resembled an Americanized version of Blasphemy-style war metal.

Witchery's 1998 demo Evil Shall Prevail gives us "Dominion of Everlasting Darkness"

Witchery's demo material from the mid-nineties was well-received in the underground, but member Darkwulf eventually left the band due to his disgust with the direction the USBM scene was taking. Main man Impurath then recruited Tregenda and Vaz to round out the band. With this change, their music got even darker and more hellish. It was also around this time that the Swedish retro-thrash band Witchery was starting to get really big on the international metal scene, so Impurath and company decided to change their name. Thus, BLACK WITCHERY was born in 1998.

After 8 years of laboring in the American black metal underground, this band--under the moniker Black Witchery--was finally able to start putting out proper studio releases. Their first such release was 1998's Summoning of the Infernal Legions 7" on Dark Horizon Records. It featured new versions of old Witchery classics. However, I would say that the release that really dragged Black Witchery from the underground into the light (so to speak) was their split album with Canadian war metallers Conqueror. This album--entitled Hellstorm of Evil Vengeance--is a savage black metal masterpiece, and perhaps my favorite black metal split of all time.

From the split with Conqueror, this is "Unholy Vengeance of War"

With these releases, Black Witchery was now becoming known as one of USBM's more crucial bands. Their style of war metal was still not incredibly common in the American scene, so this made them even more of a curious anomaly. Nevertheless, they have remained a consistent source of black metal intensity since their re-branding as Black Witchery in 1998. Studio albums such as 2001's Desecration of the Holy Kingdom and 2005's Upheaval of Satanic Might showcase this brutal, unapologetic style.

"Command of the Iron Baphomet" comes from Desecration of the Holy Kingdom

2005's Upheaval of Satanic Might gives us "Darkness Attack"

Impurath, the mastermind and main driving force behind Black Witchery

Select Discography:

as Irreverent:

Inverted Crucifixion (demo) (1991)

Crush the Messiah (demo) (1992)

as Witchery:

Death to Trends (demo) (1997)

Evil Shall Prevail (demo) (1998)

as Black Witchery:

Summoning of the Infernal Legions EP (1998)

Hellstorm of Evil Vengeance (split with Conqueror) (1999)

Desecration of the Holy Kingdom (full-length album) (2001)

Upheaval of Satanic Might (full-length album) (2005)

Live Destruction Ritual (live album) (2010)

Inferno of Sacred Destruction (full-length album) (2010)

Holocaustic Death March to Humanity's Doom (split with Revenge) (2015)

Next time: UNGOD

Deiphago

Traveling to the Philippines, we encounter that country's most famous extreme metal band: Manila's DEIPHAGO. Like many bands from East Asia and Southeast Asia, Deiphago plays a brutal style of black metal that clearly draws on Blasphemy and Sarcofago, and can be compared to other bands from the region like Abhorer, Impiety, and Zygoatsis.

Initially forming in 1989 as Satanas, Filipino metal maniacs Voltaire 666 and Sidapa sought to create evil, dark music in the vein of classic old-school black metal bands like Venom, Sodom, Hellhammer, and Sarcofago. They didn't exist long in this incarnation before changing their name to Baalzebul and eventually Deiphago in 1990. They have since admitted in interviews that the inspiration for this name change was their admiration for Brazil's Sarcofago and American death metal band Deicide.

"Satanas" is from their untitled 1991 demo

Their output for much of the 1990s consisted of some really raw, really vile, truly evil-sounding demos. Their first demo--an untitled demo from 1991--showcases the influence of the bands listed above that inspired their formation. Their sound slowly began to evolve to a heavier, more grindcore-influenced style, and the result was a 1993 demo entitled Hail Mary Inanna. By this time, bands such as Morbid Angel, Beherit, and Impaled Nazarene had begun to shape Deiphago's sound. Such influences can be heard on the demo.

This live performance from 1993 highlights their early sound

Deiphago continued as a purely underground phenomenon for many more years. They put out a demo in 1997, but then life circumstances necessitated that they put the band on hiatus. In their own words, they "had to concentrate on [their] professions to survive." In addition to that, the Filipino society in which they lived--famous for its religiosity--was a difficult one in which to create black and death metal.

This is a re-recorded version of the title track from 2006's Rapeslay of the Virgin Mary demo

In 2004, Deiphago relocated to Costa Rica. This was the year they ended their hiatus and set to work writing new music. They released the Rapeslay of the Virgin Mary demo in 2006, followed by their first full-length album, Satanik Eon that same year. Their sound from the nineties was still intact on these releases: vile, aggressive black/death metal with harsh, growled vocals and pummeling percussion.

2009's Filipino Antichrist is an outstanding Deiphago release

Following Satanik Eon, Deiphago has released a steady stream of raw black/death albums that has helped them maintain their cult status. Never compromising their artistic vision, these Filipino metal maniacs show that brutal black metal intensity knows no boundaries.

Select Discography:

Rehearsal (demo) (1991)

Hail Mary Inanna (demo) (1993)

Demo '97 (demo) (1997)

Rapeslay of the Virgin Mary (demo) (2006)

Satanik Eon (full-length album) (2006)

Filipino Antichrist (full-length album) (2009)

XCIII 7" (2011)

Satan Alpha Omega (full-length album) (2012)

Into the Eye of Satan (full-length album) (2015)

Next time: BLACK WITCHERY