SurgicalBrute

The earlier talk about Portuguese black metal had me wandering around a bit...

BARBARIC HORDE - Axe of Superior Savagery...Portuguese war metal

I don't think that's what you were saying Zack, but emphasis on atmosphere over intensity and riffs appears to be at least in part, what Dead is saying he doesn't like about black metal, while Goatfucker 😜 ....err Goatmaster (man, I'm not going to ever get used to that new handle) was saying he likes intense, riff heavy black metal...or at least that's how I read it. I was agreeing with Dead on that particular point, that while there are obvious exceptions, as a whole it's definitely more about atmosphere over riffing

I don't know...intense isn't really a word I associate with black metal. Despite completely disagreeing with his conclusion, which I think really just comes down to "I only like stuff with a quick pace", I honestly (hold onto your underwear here) actually agree with what Dead said a bit earlier that black metal is...at least a lot of the 2nd wave Scandinavian stuff is, more often than not, more about atmosphere than riffs, and a lot of it does tend have an, I would say intentionally, thin production. Doesn't mean it can't be riff heavy, but I don't think that's the primary goal of the genre

Depends on what you mean by decent. Portugal is really known for their lo-fi, minimalist approach to black metal such as bands like Black Cilice

Yeah...the main guy from Satanic Warmaster is kind of sketchy and a bit controversial, so I have no doubt they yanked his music for exactly that reason.

Yeah...you're going to want to look more into black metal if it's the raspy, screechy vocals you like. Death metal is primarily known for it's "growled" vocal style. That being said, don't give up on death metal completely. There's a lot of variety in that genre, and I'd be surprised if you didn't find something you liked....maybe give some of the Swedish Death Metal bands like Dismember or Entombed a try, just to see how you feel about them. I'd also recommend something like Incantation or maybe Autopsy from the U.S. 

When you're first getting into things, it's really about just trying different bands and different styles and seeing what clicks for you personally, there's no real other way to do it...and don't be afraid to go back to bands later on down the road and try again. As your preferences develop they also tend to evolve and what sounds terrible to you now may be something you really enjoy later on.

For black metal, you have so many bands still ahead of you...and that's a good thing. Discovering this stuff is half the fun of listening to metal. I'm going to try and recommend bands who are pretty solid with all their releases, so you can listen to something at random without getting a bad impression of the band.

So try out Emperor, Horna, Marduk, Sargeist, Mgla, Baptism, Azaghal and Immortal and see what you think of any of those.

For Darkthrone specifically, it really depends on which albums you listen to..they've gone from playing Death Metal on their first album (Soulside Journey), to really locking in the blueprint for what black metal sounds like, and then moved to a more traditional metal/punk style of music. For now, I'd stick with the albums A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Under a Funeral Moon, Transilvanian Hunger, and maybe Panzerfaust just because those will probably be more in line with what you want.

...if you want more recommendations, we can definitely do that...we'll give you bands for days. I just don't want to overload you with a thousand bands right from the start

Okay, I'm honestly not clowning on you when I say this, but you THINK it's a Greek thrash band, and you THINK it's an album from between 2010 and 2018?

Dude...I got to be honest, that's a razor fucking thin amount of information to go on if your not sure about the country or the year. Is there anything else that stands out that you think might help?

Furis Ignis - Decapitate the Aging World

One man black metal band from Germany getting released through Iron Bonehead

Track 5 is a bit of a ripper IMO

Morbid Winds - The Black Corridors of the Abyssal Depths of Existence Opened Their Gates

Sloppy, punk-inspired, raw black metal...released as one giant 30 minute track, which is kind of weird. Solid music, though

Lo-ish-fi, synthy, mostly mid-paced black metal from Germany.  Missed this from last year, probably because it was only released on one of those kvlt "$666.00 - Bandcamp is only for promotional purposes - derp" dweeb labels.

2 hours ago, navybsn said:

Wasn't that the guy from Funeral? I remember reading something about that, but honestly never bothered to check out anything by them. I do like some Blasphemy now and then who definitely aren't French but have committed similar hijinx in the past.

Never dug deep into the sketchy underbelly of the French scene. More familiar with the Finnish, American, and Canadian stuff. As with RABM, the vast majority of NSBM or borderline NSBM just isn't that good. 

Yeah, that's the dude...more specifically, when he was with Seigneur Voland and Kristallnacht, which I can hear now that I'm looking for it. 

Honestly, I don't typically go out of my way to dig around for sketchy bands, but I do seem to stumble into them more than I'd like...and yeah, a lot of them are garbage, or at the very least, way overrated. Right now I don't see too many coming out of France, or at least not many that seem to be getting much attention from anyone. Seems like these days, the Quebec scene has most of the french speaking dirtbags

26 minutes ago, navybsn said:

Les Légions Noires - bands like Mütiilation and Vlad Tepes. Huge influence on early Finnblack like Horna, Sargiest, etc.

Honestly, for some reason I've never dug too hard into Vlad Tepes, but I defintely love me some Mütiilation...especially Vampires of Black Imperial Blood.

Yeah, the bands I saw being cited were a fair bit sketchier, and I wasn't sure what the policy here was on naming that kind of thing, so I figured I'd avoid specifics. Lets just say it was a band started by a guy who was in prison for grave desecration

Didn't look...has anyone put up the new Altar of Gore demo? Cavernous new jersey blackened death by 2/3 of Death Fortress

Not always the case, but for the most part I like my black metal lo-fi and fuzzy with a bit of melody underneath, so a lot of the so-called "raw black metal" bands are really enjoyable to me. That being said, as long as the production isn't super-crisp sounding, cleaner doesn't necessarily detract from a band for me.

...and not to drag up an old conversation again, but in regards to RABM, my issue with it isn't the lyrics. Hell, even in English I can't understand 99% of what extreme metal bands are singing anyway. My only real problem with it is that the vast majority just isn't really very good black metal. It's a scene that seems overly populated by members, or at least former members, of various punk scenes and the result just sounds like some kind of hardcore or crust punk with some black metal trimmings attached to it. I know it's not all like that, I've heard a couple of bands that I have genuinely liked, but I'd say the majority I've heard would fall into that category

Just found this out recently, but apparently that "Finnish" riffing style was actually an import from a couple of French black metal bands. It just seems to have gotten associated with Finland because of how prevalent it is for the black metal bands over there to use it.

Schrat was last year, but I'll allow it because I think it came out literally on like the last week of 2021...Alchemist must be a reissue though, because that ones old

Is that what happened with the bearded wookie from Utah? That sucks to hear, I miss that dude, though I understand it to a degree too. I just decided that if Beirne wants to spam the thread with a 100 texts about getting another goddamn Macabre vinyl in the mail or if Ric wants to send 50 texts to himself at 4 in the morning...whatever, that's why my phone has a silent mode. I won't lie though, there is only so much Florida death metal/Dim Mak/Cannibal Corpse talk I can handle myself before I just full-on start ignoring the conversation...

...but thanks everyone for the warm reception.

Vaino - Metsänpeitto

Not going to blow anyone away, but not a bad little black metal album

Yeah Zack...those guys are killer. Found them and Haunting Depths a few years back, right around the same time, and though they were both awesome. Unfortunately seems like Haunting Depths fell off the face of the earth after that one album, but Nocturnal Triumphs been killing it ever since.

Still annoyed I had to hit the high seas for their last one though

...Anyway, Eliminator's new one came out today

Mark...good to see you man

 Father A...I'll try not to crap up your forum too much

Is that where everyone posts?...I'm still trying to figure out where everything is located

Yeah...I saw a bit of that conversation about the underground disappearing, but like I said over there in a reply, I don't think that's accurate. Underground metal isn't just one big blob, there's degrees to it. Most of the underground stuff that gets noticed by wider audiences is stuff that's essentially become so buzzed about that it really can't helped but get noticed. In other words, it's really only underground in name only by that point

Oh yeah...this is the thread for me

Crude and tinny as hell with the production, but this album was surprisingly awesome. Now if only I could find a copy somewhere

Grole - With a Pike Upon my Shoulder

Pure early Darkthrone worship...but really, really good Darkthrone worship

Gauntlet Ring - Upon The Wings Of The Black Eagle

Been waiting on this one...glad to see it's getting a somewhat wider release after the last one was basically cassette only to some kind of underground fan club or something. I mean there's underground and then there's "are you kidding me with this shit"

Anyway, these guys kill if you like fuzzy, somewhat melodic black metal

Nocturnal Triumph - s/t

Honestly surprised more people didn't latch onto that Qrixkuor album. It was like there was a ton of build up while people were waiting for it to drop...then it just kind of disappeared from people mentioning it