MaxFaust

Yeah, I remember Zyklon. World Ov Worms. Not bad, but not great either. However, what I remember most is how they insisted that they were neither "death" nor "black" metal (which makes me inclined to think that they would roll their eyes at being labelled "blackened death", whatever the hell that means) ... but rather "extreme metal" on the side of established genres, making it the first time I ever heard that concept being used in the field, so to speak. Then again, at the time, it was important for a lot of people in the scene to distance themselves from all the shenanigans of the second wave of black metal, or whatever. It had become crippling to their integrity as creative musicians. They needed to move on. Do something different, something less associated with all the stupid stuff that happened during the 90s.

Where to even begin? I've been in this business for 46 years, which means I've heard my fair share of shyte. Be that as it may, I am of the mind that it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness ... so I prefer to rush into denial whenever I hear that which does not please my ears. ("Who? Me? Dude, I'm not even here, and if I were, this would all just be a bad dream.") There is something else as well. During most of the 80s and well into the 90s I worked at almost every big gig that came to town, which means that I got to witness all the shows by all the fucking hair metal bands over and over and over again. Let me assure you, that sucks, even if you get paid for the discomfort. I have no love for Poison, Ratt, Bon Jovi and that sort of thing. But if there's "one ring to rule them all" in this respect, it's gotta be Dynasty by Kiss. That was a real WTF moment.

These guys are kind of all over the place ... but they are Swedish ... so what I'm thinking is that if the Swedes get to have their own DM genre, then why not a separate Swedish Thrash/Speed genre? What we can say, at the very least, is that they used to kick some serious ass when playing live.

It's neither metal nor rap ... I think ... but I used to be quite fond of these guys back in the day.

Man, this is a looooong thread ... that took some time to get through. But it's also a very interesting one. I'm going to throw in a band that Euronymous was fervently championing for a while ... before his life came to such an untimely end. They weren't heard of for the longest time, but are out with a (relatively) new one now, called Planet Satan. Their sound will NOT appeal to everyone ... but if you like the thin and noisy guitar mix thing, this might just work for you. Oh,and yeah, they use a drum machine ... which I suppose makes them somewhat "industrial". Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mysticum (possibly my personal favourite among BM bands, from any time or "subgenre"): Another great band that should be mentioned among the old guard from the 90s is Windir, although they may not be much known outside of the Norwegian scene. More melodic and "viking" than Satanic, really ... but it ought to appeal to those who like Ulver. Or at least, so I think. This is Journey To The End:

Indeed I do, Sir. With your location listed as Italy, you might find it interesting to hear that I got into philosophy by way of Lucius Annaeus Seneca ... because of a misunderstanding. At the point in time when I bought a text collection of his (in Norwegian, simply titled "Various Writings") I believed it to be some kind of Native American thing (the Seneca indians, I think they are/were located somewhere in upstate New York, possibly Canada) but it turned out to be something by far more older ... and yet it was a voice of such clarity that I was floored. No bullshit, no lame ass excuses, no pitiful whining, just straight to the fucking point. For this reason, I'm partial to the Stoics. They never let you down like that. If we move on to more modern times, I'm quite the Schopenhauer man. Although I can't really say that there's any philosopher that I actively dislike, come to think of it. They all have some kind of something which has the power to fascinate me and tickle that old grey whistler between my ears.

Being a philosopher, this is kind of my home turf. Firstly, language plays tricks on the mind. The word "paranormal" literally means "on the side of what's normal" ... which of course begs the question: Who gets to decide what's "normal"? It's still a better word than "supernatural" though ... because at least, it doesn't suggest that there's another kind of nature than the world of physics (which admittedly is getting really arcane these days, with the quantum gravitational waves and all that malarky). Thing is, we can't observe the "real" world out there ... we can only see (and hear, smell, etc.) a sample of reality which is creature specific to the human form. Light waves, free floating molecules, micro changes in air density, and so forth, all calibrated to serve the purpose of survival and procreation. Obviously, there's a lot "more" going on out there than that which we can perceive. Evolution, being the messy game of variables that it is, will probably manufacture lots of individuals who are able to pick up parts of that which is "more", without having any proper ("normal") language to explain their experiences, which is my best guess for how and why some people see ghosts and whatnot. That being said, I must admit that I'm really fascinated by "crop circles". I don't know what to think about that.

Saxon did a metal cover of the old Sweet song "Set Me Free" (which I suppose is categorized as glam) on their 1984 album Crusader. A few years later, the Norwegian HC band Stengte Dører ("closed doors") covered the same tune in a rather ultimate way, in my opinion. PS ... Stengte Dører ("closed doors") was popularly referred to as Sprengte Ører ("blown ears") because they had a habit of playing even louder than Motörhead during their live shows.

I've been a friend of the weed (mostly in the form of hashish) since 1976. My consumption has been up and down, though. It really peaked after I decided that to quit drinking alcohol (after having been a moderate to heavy drinker all my adult life), but has since evened out ... to the point of living a mostly sober lifestyle now. No drinking, no drugs, no nothing, really, except for the black coffee. Which is a whole different kind of trip, to be honest. Being sober is a really fucking psychedelic thing. Seriously. However, should I feel like smoking some weed, that's "allowed". I don't think I'll ever drink again though.

Classic problem. Is that which you think is good based in skillful playing or "band personality"? Case in point, there are loads and loads of singers that are much "better" (in the technical sense) than Ozzy ... but on the other hand, Ozzy's voice has something eerie about it which makes it perfect for that sort of thing. It's not all about range. Then there is the guitar. It's possible to find clips on YouTube that boggles the mind, in terms of how technically skilled those people are ... but was there ever a better riffman than Tony Iommi? There is some alchemy going on in music. An X-facor, if you like. That's what I mean with "personality". Yet there must obviously be at least some minimum requirements with respects to skill. Which is more important though? I'd wager that skill is what you need to get to a certain level, but from then on it's all about personality. After you've reached the minimum standards, skill actually has a tendency to work against you. I base this assertion in private opinion only, after having watched thousands of bands come and go over the years. Is skill counterproductive for "staying power"? I'd like to hear how other people see this thing. Perhaps I'm way off and just floating around in a theorethical ocean of little merit and even less importance.

"Punk rock" died in 1978 as far as I'm concerned. It was a movement which was about a lot more than just the music. Culturally speaking it was the end of Clement Atlee's "Ingsoc" era, harbinger of the Thacher years, and very very very native to the UK (where that sort of thing was quite common, the catalogue of youth subcultures like skins, teds, mods and whatnot, were followed by punks). That being said, it leaves the problem of what to call that sort of thing, i.e. hard, fast, aggressive rock, often with a heavy political leaning. For instance, at the time, everybody knew about the Ramones (and many were inspired by them) but nobody considered them to be "punk rock" proper. The name punk has stuck though ... and I guess that's allright, even though it's kind of misguided. Much of what's considered punk is just good old party music ... such as ... WTF are you supposed to call bands like The Carburetors? This is where the punk label meets the wall. But who am I to be such a fucking snob? Once upon a time in Norway, the genre thing was mocked by the band Turbonegro, who labelled themselves "deathpunk" and definitely delivered the goods ... but they shunned the punk label for precisely the reasons mentioned: Then there was the hardcore boys. There can be little doubt that the 90s scene grew out of the 80s scene ... but the overall music scene in Norway is so small that everybody knows everybody else, at least at the rock end of the spectrum ... which is why the groundwork laid down by bands such as So Much Hate was really important to understand the context from which Norwegian rock (in general) entered the world stage.

Yeah, that's the way of the internet, innit? There will always be some wanker who comes along and wakes up dead threads, several years after everybody stopped talking about whatever was the original subject matter. Sometimes even wildly out of context. That being said, I'm fairly certain that I first came across Author & Punisher because of that right hand menu of "related videos" that they have on YouTube (which is fucking genius!!!) and that I was initially attracted to the name (I do a bit of writing myself), figuring that if you've got a name like that, how bad can the music be? I had my most "industrial" period in the 90s, but I still like that sort of thing, so I was quickly sifting through everything I could find on this guy ... including a short documentary thing where I learned about his day job (but I can't quite remember who/what posted it, sorry, I'm terrible with names like that). End product remains the same: I think that his music is awesome.

It wasn't usual to call this music style "heavy metal" back in the 70s. To the best of my knowledge, nor did any bands call themselves heavy metal until Judas Priest in 1975. However, what got the whole NWOBHM thing started was Motörhead's album Overkill, first released im March of 1979. You can't possibly overstate what kind of impact that album had on rock fans of all genres, even the punk rockers ... who would routinely dismiss all "heavy" music as decadent burgeoise nonsense. I mean ... I remember how I couldn't believe my own fucking ears. What is this? It was like having a religious experience or something. Or at least, it was as OMG as anything can get. Video gamers would probably call this "the boss level". The next thing that happened was that the now opened ears were receptive to "more of this stuff" ... which sure enough started pouring in from all over the place. This is how I remember it. I'm not saying it's the "right" way to see things, only that it's my way. There was no denying the musical authority of Motörhead. They pretty much united everyone in a state of awe. Us old geezers call this the "pre-fragmentation era" and it lasted until 1981. Then tastes (and opinions) started to differ and genres came into play. I guess it's how you can't ever really get over the feeling ever after, when you've experienced a time when "it all made sense".

Iron will turn black when you apply wax to it while still in the forge (resulting in a smooth, black surface). It was what they did to protect it against rust back in ye aulde days, before they figured out that whole "stainless steel" thing. I shall make a disclaimer though. English is not my natural language and they may not be using the word in the same way as in Norwegian, although I fail to see any other rational reason for why the iron-smith is called blacksmith. I could also be wrong. It happens every once in a funeral moon. (Don't they call parts of the Midlands "the black country" because of coal dust? Some image-transfer may be going on.)

Considering when this thread was started, I suppose this is the future. And Kadavar is still a great band. If you like Kadavar, you'll probably also like Orchid (who's listened a little to Black Sabbath, me thinks), Graveyard and The Vintage Caravan. Then there is of course that ghostly Led Zep apparition they call Greta Van Fleet. Fuck me ... is that Robert Plant singing? The opinions on this 70s revival thing are of course divided (when are they ever not?), but I like, like, like it.

Yeah ... at the age of 55, I have a lot more past than future, as far as life on this earth goes. It would be a crying shame if at least I didn't have a story or two to go with my nostalgic sentimentality.

So ... this is probably blasphemy to A LOT of people ... but I never liked the new singer in Iron Maiden. Meaning that they stopped making sense to me after Killers. Paul Di'Anno had a very different style from Bruce Dickinson, with his more menacing stage presence, in combination with lyrical contents that explored the grey area between Gothic novels and British 70s "kitchen sink realism". I was very disappointed with the Number album, liked the Piece one a little better, but finally abandoned Maiden when they released Powerslave. Fortunately, Venom came in from left field, to save the day. (If we are to play the "if no X, then no Y" game, I'd have to say "if no Motorhead, then no Venom".) It was inevitable that someone would start using the phrase "black metal" because this is an old name for iron. (Consider how for instance a silversmith works with silver, whereas an iron worker is traditionally called a blacksmith.) Trying to explain what happened by terms of "genre labels" and in hindsight will probably not give anybody the right idea about what was happening in the scene at the time. In my opinion, Venom was NWOBHM, end of. They were in the scene, at the time, and delivered the harder, edgier, dirtier stuff that the afore mentioned Maiden abandoned as they decided to become big rock stars instead of the rock'n'roll rebels they came off as to begin with. (My very first impression of Maiden was when they played support for Kiss in 1980, in the first ever Kiss concert -- old style, full rigged circus of flames and paint -- in Norway. They made Kiss look like dinosaurs, which, to be fair, they also were at that time, but they were a proper rock'n'roll outfit when I first heard them, in 1975.) Anyway, Venom covered a "market niche" that had been left open by the more rock star oriented guys. Genre thinking may obscure that somewhat. Metal was supposed to be rebel music for punk ass kids ... or at least, that was how some of us felt about it. We didn't want "Rainbow on stereoids", we wanted our own thing.

Things probably look somewhat different from my perspective. I've been with Mayhem since 1987, thinking little of them at first (although I liked the sheer ferocity of their Deathcrush album, they were also kind of silly), but that changed when they released the Mysteriis album. That was (and remains) just wow. Maniac and Hellhammer are guys I used to sit and drink beer with at the local pub. It's hard for me to think of them as "rock stars". And Euronymous, bless his heart, was the one that kept nagging me until I finally caved in and bought the Morbid Angel classic "Altars of Madness" one fine day in 1992, when I visited his shop. (He just wouldn't STFU about it.) In my opinion, though, Blasphemer was the musical genius that lifted them to new heights. Grand Declaration was very impressive when it was released, and Ordo even more so. Man, what a great album! As everybody learns sooner or later, reality isn't quite as exciting as fantasy. None of that whole Norwegian Black Metal hype ever seemed like a real thing to me. But I was happy to see dudes were doing so well. Not least Fenriz, who's a great guy in just about every way (also a drinking companion at the same pub). As for that whole "dark and cold, snowy Norwegian forests" thing ... dude, that's where I live. The Siberian taiga starts right outside my doorsteps. And the anti-Christian sentiments have always been a part of my life. Back in my primary school years, calling someone "Christian" was considered a fighting insult ... meaning that you have to fight if someone throws that at your face, or else it's considered to be true, which makes you everybody's bitch. (That only makes sense if you're familiar with Norwegian history.)

I find Author & Punisher to be a quite impressive one-man outfit, particularly because dude's an electrical engineer who designs and builds all his "instruments" (if you can even call it that) in his own metal workshop.

Oh swell. Now I'll have to add much new stuff to my already way too long "shit that I need to buy" list. I really like that jazz-metal fusion thing ... which fits like a glove with how I perceive French music to be, in a general kind of sense. (I used to be a light and sound technician for both music and theatre -- with a strong preference for the Twilight Zone that is the theatre world -- and have some very fond memories from a tour in France in 1992, which included the Eclat festival in Aurillac, where I made friends.) If you don't mind travelling a bit back in time, I'd recommend going all the way back to 1969, when the French band Les Variations released their outstanding "Nador" album (the band consisted of musicians with Moroccan and Algerian backgrounds), which was quite heavy for its time ... but of course also psychedelic and whatnot.

I think reggae is actually to blame for why I'm not much fond of rap music. The thing is, back when "punk rock" was a novelty (for reasons that are fairly obscure when viewed in hindsight), reggae served a kind of low-slow-beat function. "Everybody" was into both the hard and fast edginess of punk as well as the laidback, dopey vibe of reggae. That was the normal order of things. Modern reggae fans look at me in bewilderment ... because I have "roots rad" stuff like Count Ossie, Prince Far I, Ras Negus, King Tubby, Yellowman, Scientist and Eek-a-Mouse in my shelves ... but absolutely no "modern" stuff. Nor any of the more mainstream artists like Bob Marley and Toots. They can't quite wrap their heads around that, which is obviously because they just weren't there at the time. But what can I say? I like what I like, end of. Old school dub reggae is a thing for me. Dancehall, not so much.

In physics, heavy metal is a generic name for all metallic compounds that are heavier than iron ... meaning that they weren't created by normal stars but by supernovae. In pop culture, the word was first used by William Burroughs in 1962, and he was explicitly referring to drugs and drug culture, which to Mr. Burroughs represented the ultimate in consumer mentality. For instance, he talked about "the heavy metal people of Uranus and their heavy metal music". Which is probably why so many early proto-metal bands would refer to Uranus (not just because it's pronounced like "your anus" at least as often as "ooranoos"). It's also worth keeping in mind that to the Beatniks -- that Mr. Burroughs represented -- the word "heavy" was used for things that were grave, serious, profound, etc. ("That's heavy, man!") Most musical genealogists agree that "heavy metal" (as a separate musical genre) grew out of the psychedelic rock (psych, or freakbeats) of the 60s, and that the real turning point was the fuzz box. Up until musicians learned to take proper advantage of this effect, they tended to use keyboards (organ) for sustain ... but the fuzz box allows you to hold a guitar tone for much longer, so the sound landscape started to gravitate towards more of an emphasis on the guitar. It's fairly easy to detect how that shit went down if you listen to a lot of music from the late 60s and early 70s. At the same time, the so called "comedown era" began in America (after seeing popular drug culture peak with the so called summer of love in 1967). Everything started to get darker and grimmer. At the same time, drugs got harder and more "speed" oriented, as opposed to the "acid" period that preceded it. Music journalists at the time picked up on this and started to use "heavy metal" as a generic name for this new type of sound. Meanwhile, in Birmingham, England, the blues-rock outfit Earth had been to the cinema and watched a Mario Bava film called Black Sabbath, which must have made an impression, because they decided to change their name and start making "horror music". At the time, Birmingham was one of the most heavily industrialized cities in Europe. It was said to be "black at day, red at night", like a modernist vision of Hell. Everywhere you could hear the pounding and hammering from steel mills and metal manufacturies. (Rob Halford -- who is also from Birmingham -- has spoken extensively about this in various interviews that's easy to find on YouTube.) As everybody knows in the clarity of hindsight, Black Sabbath, although not much liked by critics, hit right home with the audience. They became big stars overnight, particularly in the British working class, whose future prospects were rather bleak at the time. Yet they never thought of themselves as a heavy metal band. That wouldn't happen until the other big band from Birmingham, Judas Priest, decided to throw away their hippy garments and go for a more sadomasochistic look, with studs and leather and all that, in 1975, thus becoming the first band to openly and proudly call themselves (and their music) heavy metal. The whole Satan thing came into play because it's just the most convenient go-to guy when you want to make horror. Particularly in the early 70s. It behooves you to be aware of a crucial fact when it comes to our favourite arch villain ... and that is "the power of faith". When you don't actually believe in any actual devil, it's just one of many fictional strategies you can employ to create the proper mood of horror ... but if on the other hand you do in fact believe in spiritual warfare and Satan trying to turn humanity away from Christ the saviour, the picture is going to look a lot different. Crazy as it may be, believers are prone to see "signs" all over the place, not least in how rock'n'roll ever since the 50s seemed to be seducing the young and encouraging them to indulge in sex and drugs. This shit hit the fan for real when in 1980, the book "Michelle Remembers" was published, sparking what has later come to be called "the Satanic panic" of the 80s. Which looks utterly insane to any person who's rational and reasonable ... but it made all kinds of sense to the believers. By an unfortunate turn of events, the publication of "Michelle Remembers" coincided with "The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal" ... so you didn't have to be Nostradamus to predict how that shit would play out. Is there a correlation between liking horror movies and horror music (i.e. metal)? I don't know if this has ever been properly researched ... but it is, in my highly personal and anecdotal experience, more often than not the case. I am also fairly certain that most metal heads are either agnostic or atheistic when it comes to religion (if they are even interested in religion). As a general rule, metal heads (hell, even rock music fans in general) are mostly in it for the kicks. They like the raw power, the loudness, the massive onslaught of sound ... caring less about the cleverness and musical acumen. This is very hard to explain to people who don't like "the noise". To them, it seems ugly and incoherent, like so much modernist art. Which is why they fail to comprehend that as sheer musicmanship goes, contemporary "extreme metal" is up there with the Miles Davis class of jazz when it comes to musical complexity and how good you have to be at mastering your instrument to be taken seriously anymore. I recently managed to piss a lot of people off by stating that even Eddie Van Halen -- although sensational in 1978 -- wouldn't be much more than an average axe man today. But that's how I see it. The younger generations of metal are insanely adept at their thing. In fact, I take my hat off. Metal has never been better than it is today ... and I've been in this business since 1972, when at the fine young age of 9, I managed to make my grandmother pay for the album Paranoid by Black Sabbath, which was my gateway drug to the scene, so to speak. I was deeply and permanently impressed. The music spoke directly to my already quite morbid soul. And I've never looked back.

My youngest child turns 20 in a few months, so that's a bygone phase for me ... until they start manufacturing the next generation and want me to babysit (which I suppose is bound to happen at some point). Thing is, I find that when I'm behind the wheel, the particular mind-state of being relaxed and alert at the same time works very well with listening to music, whereas when at home, I tend to get distracted by any number of just-about-anythings. Be that as it may, my other three albums are: 1. Wo Fat - The Conjuring 2. August Burns Red - Phantom Anthem 3. Mayhem - Ordo Ad Chao

I'm not into genres, or even metal exclusively (about half of all my albums are metal), but tend to like "the musicians' choice" in terms of what's interesting, remarkable, well played, etc. It's all very subjective, of course, but I like to think that I'm into quality. My favourites tend to change with my overall mood ... but like so many others, I love most that which had an impact on me at the tender age. Which in my case means stuff from the 70s, and modern productions that have a similar kind of groove. My eternal favourite band is Motörhead. My other true love is Black Sabbath.

This is a very long thread ... so I apologize in advance if my lazyness (TL/DR) has lead me to an oversight ... but I wouldn't think so. These are fairly obscure bands, although well known (and loved) in Norway. Both classify as "thrash metal" although those who are familiar with "the Norwegian sound" can probably hear how it's manifests in these guys' work: Nekromantheon - Rise, Vulcan Spectre ... It's a clip, that will (or will not) inspire further investigation if you like it. The other one: Audiopain - Hellbound That's all I wanted to share at this point in time. In my opinion, some very solid thrash metal.