Recent black metal downloads.
Black metal has invaded my soul! I spend hours, megabytes, and money downloading countless bands from numerous countries, basking in the beauty of black metal!
Craft – Total Soul Rape (Moribund) & Terror Propaganda (Moribund)
I just discovered this Swedish band and they have completely blown me away. They perfectly fuse black metal with groove-laden doom metal for a result that not only rocks, but is actually (gasp!) catchy!
Xasthur – Telepathic with the Deceased (Moribund Cult), Subliminal Genocide (Hydra Head) & Defective Epitaph (Hydra Head)
Scott Conner, aka Malefic, is the American Varg Vikernes. His music evokes the epic, dreamy quality of Burzum’s Filosofem or Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, and his songs are thickly woven tapestries of mourning and lamentation.
Darkthrone – Panzerfaust (Moonfog)
Darkthrone’s fifth album is my favorite. The song styles vary from blazing speed to slow and heavy. Memorable riffs, too.
Arckanum – Fran Marder (Necropolis) and Kostogher (Necropolis)
Shamaatae’s approach to black metal is unique. His lyrics focus on chaos magic and gnosticism and the music reflects this. It’s actually quite melodic, like a more extreme version of later Bathory.
Ildjarn – Forest Poetry (Norse League)
Second album by the solitary misanthrope of Telemark, Norway. Raw and nasty with a lo-fi quality that easily competes with anything Billy Childish ever recorded. With all 22 songs clocking in at around two minutes, this is the closest black metal has come to hardcore punk.
Emperor – Wrath of the Tyrant (Wild Rags)
They quickly became a pretentious, self-indulgent “symphonic” black metal band, but on this eleven-song demo, their songs are blistering, scathing attacks on the listener. It’s too bad they changed styles.
Leviathan – The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide (Moribund Cult)
First album by San Francisco-based, lone band member Wrest. Musically, it could be considered the outgoing cousin to Xasthur, which makes sense, considering they ended up collaborating later on.
Immortal – Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (Osmose)
Immortal’s first album is my favorite. The songs are more varied than later albums, and bassist/vocalist Abbath Doom Occulta hadn’t yet developed his tradmark Popeye-scowl vocals. Some interesting guitar-work from Demonaz, too.
Bathory – Bathory (Under One Flag/Black Mark)
Bathory’s first album takes the fury of Motorhead and the take-no-prisoners attack of early Venom to a whole new level. This album essentially defined the movement that would crop up around Mayhem six years later in the early ‘90s.
Portishead – Third (Mercury)
No, Portishead hasn’t thrown us all for a loop and done a black metal album, although that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. A close friend told me it sounded like a cross between Can and early Silver Apples, so I had to get it. And, yeah, that’s pretty much what it sounds like. Somehow, they get better with each album.
