Two columns ago I devoted a few sentences (and then constructed an entire piece around) to Darkthrone and their new album, It Beckons Us All, entirely out of my dislike of the last two records and Fenriz’s incessant need to either do funny “metal” voices or talk about obscure metal references in songs. I do not like heavy metal, or very much of it anyway, and the platitudes thereof, which wouldn’t have bothered me (as they haven’t for the last decade or however long this has been there…um..thing) at least as much if I didn’t find the music to be boring. So I figured that was that, harp a little in a column and maybe a throwaway line during the year end writing bonanza.
Then my pal, the Spotify DJ that I keep on during car rides, played a song (“Black Dawn Affiliation”) from it.
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I ordered “Fenriz Blue,” if anyone was curious.
Grabbed me instantly, and dug in deeper (and quicker) than any record they’ve done since Sardonic Wrath. Sure, heavy metal is all over this fucking thing but the riffs are dark, dirty, or both. Sure, Fenriz said it sounds like a thirty seven second part of a song on a Queensryche record (pre “Silent Lucidity”) but what I hear in this record is certainly closer to traditional black metal than their last two, with the specter of Neptune Towers all over it. Black ‘N Roll with a space theme? Sounds like what we tried to do with Hidden, except that people actually care about Darkthrone and the record isn’t ridiculous. With each listen It Beckons Us All continues to hold my attention. Is it the Darkthrone that I grew up with in the 90s? No, and it never will be again. Anyone who still holds out hope for another Transilvanian Hunger lives a life of illusion and disappointment. For Darkthrone to do a pure black metal record would mean something completely disingenuous and there’s thousands of bands doing that now for you to choose from.
My intention for this piece was oddly based on second chances before I even gave the aforementioned record a shot. Basically, albums that I did not like upon initial listen(s) that eventually clicked and I grew to love. It’s difficult now to give things second chances because of the constant influx of new music rendering the need to revisit records somewhat obsolete for those with shit attention spans (which is most of us, unfortunately.) Anyway, here’s five I changed my tune with.
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Khold – Svartsyn
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I hadn’t really given Khold much though in a long time. I really enjoyed the first two records (which I first heard and bought when I was staying at Redstream HQ to record the second Hidden record, to bring it back to shit no one cares about) and remember digging bits of the subsequent two but losing track of them around the time I stopped giving a shit about black metal. Svartsyn came to my attention when I was looking up the Swedish band, probably for this very column (because everything fucking revolves around me, afterall) and, remembering I dug their older stuff, I gave it a listen. And I was vastly underwhelmed. Maybe because I was listening on laptop speakers at work or maybe because I just was uninterested in adding even more to my listening plate I just could not get interested in the record. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and Spotify’s erstwhile DJ played a song from a more recent album and I dug it, so when Soulseller Records announced a new full length and premiered a track I was all in.
I decided to work backwards on their discography, with Svartsyn directly preceding the newest record and I don’t know what I was hearing two years ago but this record might be better than the new one, which I already feel will be in my top of the year list. Filthy black ‘n roll with punishing riffs and a stellar vocal performance, this record is great from start to finish. Fortunately I corrected the course early here, before it becomes difficult to find.
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Gorgoroth – Instinctus Bestialis
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Anyone who’s paid attention to this column over the last few years, or read any interview with me during that time, or paid attention to me at all (please pay attention to me) knows that I’ve become obsessed with the classic first three Gorgoroth records, as well as the post-Gaahl years when Pest was back in the band. There’s something about these records that reaches deep within me, that I sort of pushed to the wayside during the years where it seemed they were all style and no substance (ie King ov Hell) only to rediscover a few years ago when driven by nostalgia and a desire to remember where I came from. Since then I’ve been annoyingly vocal about these records and their importance but when I gave 2015’s Instinctus Bestialis a listen I just didn’t mesh with the vocals at all, which are deeper, closer to death metal, than Pest, who I’ve grown to consider to be the best of the Gorgoroth vocalists.
Then I heard the song “Awakening” and my opinion swiftly changed. It’s a simple, straight forward song bringing to mind Bathory, VON, and Beherit (and early Gorgoroth, which..yeah, no shit) that just delivered the kiss of a nuclear warhead. After listening to the song on repeat for the better part of an afternoon (because I probably have some issues) I gave the rest of the record a proper chance. While it’s not Pentagram it fits very strongly with the best of Gorgoroth’s catalog, which has been silent for close to a decade. Hopefully all these fest appearances are a sign of things to come.
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Blut aus Nord – The Work Which Transforms God
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Unlike a lot of people, I didn’t have very much history with Blut Aus Nord. I picked up the first two records when they came out but didn’t think much of them outside of being competent (albeit unoriginal) black metal records that fit well within that whole Impure Creations/Velvet Music thing. When Mystical Beast of Rebellion came out I remember people telling me how it was like a more elevated Velvet Cacoon (pre that whole…what have you) and so I picked it up and enjoyed it but, again, didn’t pay it much mind. Then The Work Which Transforms God is released. I remember having conversations with Jef Whitehead and him explaining that this record rendered anything he (or nearly every other modern band that had any kind of “weird” bent to them) obsolete. Obviously I needed to hear it, so I picked it up and gave it a listen and….felt none of that. I found the record to be cold, almost sterile, and I just didn’t see in it what everyone else did. So I shelved it and moved on.
Years later, while going through my CD collection trying to sell things to cover rent, I came across BaN’s Odinist, which I guess belonged to my ex. For whatever reason I decided to give it a spin and was instantly drawn in. Two or three years later Hallucinogen nearly tops my year end list. From then on I would go through various records, trying them out, but for whatever reason I avoided The Work Which Transforms God until a month or so ago when I found a copy cheap on Discogs and figured, fuck it. When it showed up in the mail I threw it on and I finally, from the first moment on, heard what Jef was talking about nearly twenty years ago. The absolute brilliance, how ahead of its time it is. The Work Which Transforms God is actually what inspired this column. Aren’t you happy I bought it?
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Merauder – Master Killer
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Master Killer came out via Century Media at a time where all I wanted to hear from the label was death and black metal. Merauder were not at all my taste, I think I lumped them into the same category as Stuck Mojo: just meat headed jocks playing meat headed bullshit with grooves and a martial arts theme, which I thought was silly. I had this thought while I donned a robe and corpse paint to take pictures on a local golf course in broad fucking daylight (wait for the memoir, I guess) so my authority on aesthetic choices may not have been the greatest. I put Merauder on the pay-no-mind list and went on with my life. A few years later I got into a fight at a club in NYC and, as the scary as fuck bouncer made his way through the crowd towards the ruckus, I grabbed the guy who I was fighting’s friend and tossed him towards the bouncer, who thought he was the one fighting and drug him out with the ease of someone lifting a feather. Turns out this man was the singer for Merauder and I (undeservedly) avoided an ass kicking.
Years and years later and I’ve obviously become a fan of hardcore, though I never ran across Merauder in my listening exploration until they randomly popped up on a playlist. Instantly hooked. My first (second, since this was a few decades later, you get it) impression was how the vocals sounded close to Pete Steele’s performance on the first Carnivore record and just what an assbeating of a sound the band had. I guess being nearly thirty years late to the party is better than never?
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Venom – Welcome to Hell
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If I didn’t already give the internet dozens of reasons to wish ill upon me through my charming demeanor, then here’s another gift to you. I first heard Venom sometime in 1994/95 on WLFR’s “Hours of Desolation” radio show with my introduction being “Red Light Fever”, which I thought had the fucking dumbest lyrics possible. God, I just thought it fucking sucked and that Celtic Frost were much better because they had a more “serious” approach. I couldn’t believe this was the band that inspired so many of the second wave black metal bands I was becoming obsessed with. It just seemed goofy to me.
It didn’t take more than two or three weeks to realize the error of my ways, with my second impression being “In League with Satan” and “Witching Hour” a few episodes later. Within a month or two I owned all of the classic records, which remain favorites to this day. I still think “Red Light Fever” sucks, though.
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I bet the title of this one was a little misleading since you would imagine it would have to do with me and folks’ opinions of me. Surprise, gotcha bitch. Unless you know me personally you don’t really have any inkling of me outside of these charming tales. But, by all means, keep me in your thoughts and prayers.
As for the next one of these? I don’t know, I guess we’ll see in two weeks.
