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The Official Black Metal Recommendations Thread


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1 hour ago, navybsn said:

Well glad to see we're back on track and that I wasn't alone with my suspicions.

Anyway, what have you guys got for USBM? It certainly seen a bit of growth very recently (the Lamp of Murmur types). A few I like and connect with, but it seems very hit or miss. I did a deep dive into the classics last year and while there is no distinct US sound, there's definitely a vibe to older USBM that I don't get from most of the newer projects which seem to clone the Scandinavian sound almost exclusively.

Standouts to me from my research:

Absu

Black Witchery

Demoncy

Profanatica

Weakling

Early Xasthur

Cobalt

Recluse

Some Nachmystium

Krieg

Judas Iscariot

Wind of the Black Mountains

I'm sure none of those would come as a surprise to anyone here. That said, I know there are other scenes now that are drastically different, but are there any newer bands putting out music in the same vein as those above and not just aping the European bands?

Or, are there other US bands putting out interesting music that may not fall in with the aforementioned but still don't sound like European stereotypes? There are some obvious ones (Panopticon, Wolves in the Throne Room), but deeper cuts we may not be aware of. I know it's not a deep field, but I'm sure you guys have favorites I can investigate.

 

Black Mass of Absu is another great USBM band that does not seem to get discussed nearly as much as they should.  They sound totally unique - almost doom with BM vocals.  Slow, heavy, and drenched in pitch-black sludge!

Complete discography:

 

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55 minutes ago, markm said:

Navy, you mentioned Xasthur. I used to enjoy Subliminal Genocide, Nocturnal Poisoning and The Funeral of Being....well "enjoyed" might not be the right word, but yeah....spend quality depressive time with....

His early stuff was really good. Enjoyed it a lot back when. I discovered Leviathan around the same time. Might have been the split they did or just independent albums. Not really my cuppa these days, but they were both  unique and influential. I remember seeing a documentary with him (Malefic) in it. Strange dude for sure.

Still spin Tenth Sublevel and Massive Conspiracy once or twice a year. Both of those are really solid albums.

I've seen Black Mass of Absu in passing but never checked them out. Thanks for the link @Balor.

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2 hours ago, Parker said:

Hey guys, what can you recommend as the single most extreme/brutal/aggressive/insane Black Metal song that you have heard? For me, this award goes to Pandemonic Hyperblast by Anaal Nathrakh. What do you guy recommend?

Should a black metal song be all of those things at once? For me Spell Of Destruction by Burzum is the most insane Black Metal song, the musically minimal and cold with that vocal delivery, this song will never be outdone.   

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10 hours ago, navybsn said:

Well glad to see we're back on track and that I wasn't alone with my suspicions.

Anyway, what have you guys got for USBM? It certainly seen a bit of growth very recently (the Lamp of Murmur types). A few I like and connect with, but it seems very hit or miss. I did a deep dive into the classics last year and while there is no distinct US sound, there's definitely a vibe to older USBM that I don't get from most of the newer projects which seem to clone the Scandinavian sound almost exclusively.

Standouts to me from my research:

Absu

Black Witchery

Demoncy

Profanatica

Weakling

Early Xasthur

Cobalt

Recluse

Some Nachmystium

Krieg

Judas Iscariot

Wind of the Black Mountains

I'm sure none of those would come as a surprise to anyone here. That said, I know there are other scenes now that are drastically different, but are there any newer bands putting out music in the same vein as those above and not just aping the European bands?

Or, are there other US bands putting out interesting music that may not fall in with the aforementioned but still don't sound like European stereotypes? There are some obvious ones (Panopticon, Wolves in the Throne Room), but deeper cuts we may not be aware of. I know it's not a deep field, but I'm sure you guys have favorites I can investigate.

 

 

There seems to be more USBM than ever with everyone self releasing these days. And while much of it is definitely in line with what most people think of as 2nd wave black metal, I wouldn't exactly consider most of these bands to be "just aping" the European bands though. At least not any more than let's say Judas Iscariot was. You said there's "no distinct US sound, [but] there's definitely a vibe" It does sound to me like the recent American stuff mostly has a certain vibe or feel to it that identifies it as American. Unless I'm just fooling myself into thinking it all sounds American because I know that it is. I'm really not sure if all of these bands would fall into the "Lamp of Murmuur types" category since maybe being too close to this shit I'm not really sure what that means tbh. If they are and I've completely missed the point and this isn't what you're looking for then please disregard my post. The one I left off because they sound too different but should probably be mentioned in any USBM discussion is that Aoratos Ahklys Nightbringer Bestia Arcana guy from Denver.

 

 

Utzalu (US) - The Grobian Fall 

 

Valac (US) - Burning Dawn of Vengeance

 

 

Ancient Necromancy (US) - Diabolical Forest Alchemy

 

 

Crucifixion Bell (US) - Eternal Grip of the Nocturnal Empire

 

 

Grógaldr (US) - Illness Unto the Womb of Spirit

 

 

Oppressive Descent - Alchemy and War

 

 

Luctum (US) - Ashes of the Titans

 

 

Elegiac - Father of Death 

 

 

Cerberus - Cerberus

 

 

 

Funeral Chant - "Dawn of Annihilation

 

 

Altar of Rot - Altar of Rot

 

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3 hours ago, Parker said:

Hey guys, what can you recommend as the single most extreme/brutal/aggressive/insane Black Metal song that you have heard? For me, this award goes to Pandemonic Hyperblast by Anaal Nathrakh. What do you guy recommend?

Was curious because it had been quite a few years since I'd heard anything by Anal Nunchucks so I pulled up Codex Necro on Youtube. I don't hate it or anything but I definitely don't consider this to be black metal. I can see why some people might, but I wouldn't. Blackened grind maybe I'd give them. But I haven't heard all their albums, just half of this one now. So I don't know if this is par for their sound or just an outlier.

As for your question about the most extreme song I can't help you because I don't bother to learn the names of many songs on the albums I listen to. I generally listen to the albums as single units. I could list some extreme/brutal/aggressive albums, but I doubt any of them would be nearly as "insane" or chaotic as this. 

 

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I've always thought USBM covers a pretty wide range from more traditional sounding BM to pretty experimental boundary pushing material from the New York avant-garde kind of (Krallice, Imperial Triumphant) to Cascadian stuff like WITR to atmoblack (Panopticon, Ash Borer) to post black/gaze kind stuff plain weird BM. A lot of these bands obviously look to nature and pagan and themes of madness, depravity etc. vs the good ole horned one or "evil". And of course tons of under the radar bands popping up that a lot of you find and share. At least that's my general sense as a voyeur.   

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58 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

 

There seems to be more USBM than ever with everyone self releasing these days. And while much of it is definitely in line with what most people think of as 2nd wave black metal, I wouldn't exactly consider most of these bands to be "just aping" the European bands though. At least not any more than let's say Judas Iscariot was. You said there's "no distinct US sound, [but] there's definitely a vibe" It does sound to me like the recent American stuff mostly has a certain vibe or feel to it that identifies it as American. Unless I'm just fooling myself into thinking it all sounds American because I know that it is. I'm really not sure if all of these bands would fall into the "Lamp of Murmuur types" category since maybe being too close to this shit I'm not really sure what that means tbh. If they are and I've completely missed the point and this isn't what you're looking for then please disregard my post. The one I left off because they sound too different but should probably be mentioned in any USBM discussion is that Aoratos Ahklys Nightbringer Bestia Arcana guy from Denver.

 

Yeah, I have to say a bit of a lazy comment meant to spark discussion and recommendations. "Lamp of Murmur types", although I like that project, was meant as one man sad boy bedroom type projects. Seems to be a ton of them out there right now. I'm not saying those bands are bad necessarily as I do enjoy some of them, but it's just not what I'm looking for necessarily. I'll admit that I don't really pay attention to the country a band is from. I though Crucifixion Bell was from South America. So maybe a better way to ask the question would be: Who are your current favorite USBM bands? Nightbringer/Aoratos definitely belongs on that list for me. I agree that like him or not, he deserves to be in the discussion of modern USBM.

Utzalu is a great one. Vrasubatlat has another band that deserve mention in this thread. Triumvir Foul.

A few more just perusing my collection not already mentioned:

Vanum

Ash Borer

Grok

Woe

Blaspherion (although they haven't put out anything in a decade)

Void Meditation Cult

Alghol

Golden Light

Temple of Gorgon

Scour

Serpent Column

מזמור

Yith

Pan-Amerikan Native Front

Blue Hummingbird on the Left

Volahn

 

As far as "vibe", it's hard to describe what I meant with that. The early US scene had a different feel to it. Lots of different interpretations of black metal (think Black Witchery vs Absu vs Judas Iscariot). The same could be said for early bm scenes everywhere certainly, but I guess what I was getting at was looking for US bands that take an approach similar to those early US bands rather than a more homogenous second-wave lofi approach associated with a "European sound".

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7 hours ago, Parker said:

Hey guys, what can you recommend as the single most extreme/brutal/aggressive/insane Black Metal song that you have heard? For me, this award goes to Pandemonic Hyperblast by Anaal Nathrakh. What do you guy recommend?

Anything by Reek of the Unzen Gas Fumes would fit that description.

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I guess my problem is that for the most part I only really like the 2nd wave Darkthrone styled bm or the Blasphemy bestial styled bm or the Bathory/Venom styled 1st wave homage and I tend to avoid all the experimental progressive boundary-pushing avant-garde bm and tree-hugger post ambient stuff. Basically any black metal that doesn't sound dark evil and raw gets dismissed and ignored. So I'm probably the wrong one to ask about outlier bands that sound a bit different.

Funny Navy says he doesn't always pay attention to the country of origin. The country is very important to me, always the first thing I want to know. What I'm more likely to skip over in passing is who's in the band. I don't always pick up on these one man projects and I will sometimes mistakenly assume that things I'm hearing are an actual band playing live.

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8 hours ago, Parker said:

Hey guys, what can you recommend as the single most extreme/brutal/aggressive/insane Black Metal song that you have heard?

Soon as I saw this question, I knew someone would say Anaal Nathrakh. That always seems to be the go-to answer for most people. Honestly though, I'd probably pull something from the war metal side of things...like Proclamation's "Execration of Cruel Bestiality" or maybe Nyogthaeblisz's "Ordnance for Adamic Holocaust and Cosmocidal Entropy"

 

45 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Funny Navy says he doesn't always pay attention to the country of origin. The country is very important to me, always the first thing I want to know.

I'm like Navy with this stuff. It's one of the reason's I'm always so terrible with the "what are some bands from this country" type questions, because I almost never look, and even when I glance at it I usually forget pretty quickly. I do know that the U.S. seems to be leading, or at least should be counted as part of the forefront for a lot of the raw black metal trend that's gotten so popular in recent years.

We also had our "cascadian black metal" trend from a few years back, but the only band I gave a shit about in that scene was Ash Borer.

Couple of more U.S. bands that are worthy:

Avichi - The Divine Tragedy

 

Mäleficentt - Night Eternal Darkness

 

 

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1 hour ago, SurgicalBrute said:

That's why Skaphe threw me off too. Always had them in my head as Icelandic...

Totally forgot Häxanu...that was a great release

...forgot Akasha was from the U.S. as well

Akasha - Canticles of the Sepulchral Deity

 

That album rules. Enthroned in Catacombs is one of the best riffs I've heard in a long time.

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