“As the Darkness creeps over the Northern mountains of Norway And the silence reach the woods I awake and rise... Into the night I wander Like many nights before, and like in my dreams, but centuries ago Under the moon, under the trees Into the Infinity of Darkness” – Emperor
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o nation in the world has pl ayed a role in heavy metal quite like Norway. The place that took t he template of a trio of bands from across Europe and made an e ntire g enre out of it. The home of Emperor, of Immortal, of Mayhem, of Bur zum, of Darkth rone, o f Satyricon, of Thorns, of Cadaver, of Arcturus, of Solefald, of, er, A-ha. The place that took heavy metal from controversy controversy over lyrics and artwork to imprisonment over action. The place where Satanism became something real in metal, not something sung about ’cause it sounded cool. The place that launched a thousand bad band photos. Over the last two-and-a-bit decades, Norway has seen one of extreme musi c’s most fertile scenes catch fire, burn itself out and revive again. It seemed long overdue that someone catalogued this g reat nation’s astonishing contribution to the world of Terrorizer, Terrorizer, and in this publication, we aim to do just that. Our experts have compiled your essential guide to the home of bl ack metal, from its earliest beginnings through its controversial adolescence and into the present day. We celebrate the greats and mourn the lost, and try to explain why it all happened – with the help of those who saw it happen, or even did it themselves. themselves.
The first time I got Emperor Emperor was the most powerful moment I have had as a music fan since discovering heavy metal in the first place. As the intro to ‘In The Nightside Eclip se’ fa ded out and th e disto rted c haos of the guitars kicked in, it felt like the most terrifying, exhilarating thing I had ever heard. It is not a feeling that ever faded. It is why Norway is sti ll so import ant – not just to me, but t o the milli ons of fans acro ss the globe who f eel th e same. This is why we present to you this Secret Histor y From Bl ashyrkh
De Mysic Dom Sathanas
Wyndeham Heron The views represented in this magazine are not necessarily those of Dark Arts Ltd. Best endeavours have been taken in all cases to represent faithfully the views of all contributors and interviewees. The publisher accepts no responsibility for errors, omissions or the consequences thereof. ©
2014 DARK ARTS LTD.
Terrorizer is published every four weeks. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the prior consent of the publisher. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for the advertisements in this publication. The paper used in this publication is from a mill that carries chain of custody and is from sustainable forests.
AWARDS Print Media Management ‘Innovation in Publishing' Award 2005 - Highly Commended ACE Press Awards 'Circulation Excellence and Endeavour' - Gold, 2008
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WWW TERRO ROR RIZER COM
Miranda Yardley
Kez Whelan
(Slave Driver)
(Riff Hound)
BURZUM ‘Filosofem’ (MISANTHROPY, 1996)
DARKTHRONE ‘A Blaze In The Northern Sky’ ( PEACEVILLE, 1992)
Tom Dare (Long Words)
Steve Newman
EMPEROR ‘Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk’ (CANDLELIGHT,, 199 7) LIGHT
(Crayons)
Hannah May Kilroy
Amy Harris
(Guinness)
(Fire)
WARDRUNA ‘Yggdrasil’ (INDIE, 2013)
KVELERTAK ‘Kvelertak’ (INDIE, 2010)
DIMMU BORGIR ‘Death Cult Armageddon’ (NUCLEAR BLAST, 2003)
Pic: Ester Segarra
Pic: Steve Brown
p56
SATYRICON BM ON A MAJOR LABEL
Features 4. INTRODUCTION The chronology of Norwegian extreme music
8. CHAOS REIGNS The story of the early Norwegian black metal scene
12. ORAL HISTORY
p20
MAYHEM
THEIR MOST REVEALING INTERVIEW
30. OSLO PUNK With the black metallers away, the punks have played
The sole remaining original member of Norway’s most notorious band recounts their incredible, shocking history
32. THE ODD ONES OUT Norway’s rich avant-garde scene explored
34. NOT JUST SATAN
36. WARDRUNA
Think Norway’s all about the Devil? Think again
The new expression of Norway’s uniqueness explain their mission
38. THE ART OF WAR
44. GAAHL
The imagery of Norwegian extreme music
Black metal’s most misunderstood musician is profiled in this revealing interview from the archive
52. IMMORTAL
40. CONFLICTS
The Classics
The first black metal band to sign to a major label talk history
60. TURBONEGRO What do you do if you’re in Oslo in 1993 to scare of the Satanist? Be homoerotic, apparently
Fights, feuds and fickle friendships
64. THE ESSENTIAL ALBUMS Your complete guide to the classic Norwegian records, from black metal’s birth to the modern era
The kings of the raven realm recount their remarkable story
56. SATYRICON
How and why Norwegian black metal conquered the world
The story of Norway’s forgotten scene
20. MAYHEM
An all-new interview with heavy metal’s truest die-hard and a black metal legend seeks to get to the man behind the myth
16. GONE GLOBAL
26. DEATH METAL
Profiles
48. FENRIZ
What it was like to be part of black metal’s second wave in Norway
INCLUDING;
64. 68. 72. 76. 78.
EMPEROR BURZUM DIMMU BORGIR ENSLAVED KVELERTAK WWW.TERRORIZER.COM
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INTRODUCTION
E N O R H T K R A D
THE
COMPLEX, DEEP HISTORY OF N ORWEGIAN METAL CAN BE CONFUSING EVEN TO EXPERTS. BEFORE DELVING IN DEPTH, TERRORIZER PRESENTS YOU WITH A BEGINNERS GUIDE
T
he history of Norwegian metal begins in the early 1980s with TNT, a glam metal outfit that most Norwegian metallers would run a mile from – even if they acknowledge them as the first band anyone knew about. Except, in truth, the story begins beyond Norway’s borders. With a br ief fl ash of death metal giving way to th e grea test black metal scene in history, the early Norwegian extreme bands were repeating the his tory of met al else where – namely, what starts somewhere is almost
else – although not from that far away. A boat ride across the North Sea, Venom spat ‘Black Metal’ out in 1982. It was raw, horrible, noisy, chaotic and dangerous as fuck; Monte Conner, who would later sign Immolation, Deicide and Sepultura to Roadrunn er R ecords, famously a dmitted in Sam Dunn’s film ‘Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey’, that Venom w ere to o fri ghtening for him when he first heard them. More than thirty years later, it is still clear why; the imagery, the lyrical content and the
1984
1988
1991 (April)
1991 (June)
Bathory’s eponymous debut is released, inspiring swathes of disenfranchised Norwegian youths to break out their bullet belts and get grim
After breaking the ice by sending Necrobutcher a parcel containing a demo tape and a crucified mouse, enigmatic vocalist Per “Dead” Ohlin leaves Morbid and moves from Sweden to Norway to join Mayhem
Dead’s stage name becomes harrowingly prophetic as the troubled vocalist shoots himself in the head
Euronymous opens the Helvete record shop. Thorns release the influential ‘Grymyrk’ demo, which, despite the absence of drums, is often credited as a pivotal moment in the development of the Norwegian black metal riffing style
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1987
1991 (January)
Mayhem make their recorded debut with the utterly filthy ‘Deathcrush’, spearheading the Norwegian black metal
Darkthrone’s ‘Soulside Journey’ is released through Peaceville – little did the label know what would follow next…
movement in the process
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always evolved somewhere completely different. The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal led to the A mericans – Meta llica (after they failed to make an impact in Los Angeles) and E xodus in San F rancisco, Megadeth and S layer in LA , an d Ant hrax a nd Overkill in New York – creating thrash, the California and New York thrash style was evolved in Florida into death metal, and then Stockholm’s Nihilist grew death metal into something more sinister. Norwegian black metal’s roots are, likewise, from somewhere
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1989
1990
1991
1992 (February) Darkthrone begin to leave behind their death metal leanings in favour of something altogether more evil with 'A Blaze In The Northern Sky’, and promptly scare the living shit out of Peaceville
R O R E P M E
rough music still sound frightening in a contemporary context; to the youth of the 1980s, they seemed like the most dangerous band i n the world. Norway’s most infamous, brillian t ban ds had their initial inspiration. But w hile much about Venom clearly led to black metal as it is now considered, the music was more proto-thrash riot than tremolo fury. Similarly, Switzerland’s Hellhammer, led by one Thomas Gabriel Fischer – a man who would become the legend better known as Tom G. Warrior, but was then known as Satanic Slaughter – were hugely imporant, but they were clearing the land the Norwegians would build on rather than actually laying the foundations. It was in Sweden that those foundations were laid down. Led by the in imitable , irreplaceable Thomas Forsberg – better known as Quorthon – Bathory’s first three records completed the source material Darkthron e, Ma yhem, Immort al a nd so on would need to come into being. With ‘Bathory’ in 1984, ‘The Return Of The Darknes s And Evil’ in 198 5 and ‘Under The Sign Of The Black Mark’ in 1987, the groundwork was complete, and Norway could
M U Z R U B
1992 (March)
1992 (July)
Burzum’s self-titled debut is released through Euronymous’ Deathlike Silence Productions, holding the honour of being the second album to be released on the label (the first was ‘The Awakening’, the classic first album by Swedish death metallers Merciless)
Whilst most of the rest of the scene were off burning churches, Immortal had just finished up their first album, ‘Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism’, making a video for ‘Call Of The Wintermoon’ that would later become an internet smash
1992
1993 (July) Mayhem release ‘Live In Leipzig’, the black metal equivalent of ‘No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith’ and one of the few official recordings to feature Dead’s iconic snarl
1993 (August 10) Euronymous is murdered by Varg Vikernes
1993
1992 (June)
1993 (June)
The Fantoft Stave Church, one of Norway’s most architecturally and culturally significant churches, is burnt to the ground. A photo of the burnt out ruins would then appear on the cover of Burzum’s ‘Aske’ EP. No prizes for figuring out who was charged (but acquitted) of this one, then…
Candlelight Records release Emperor and Enslaved’s classic debut EPs (‘Emperor’ and ‘Hordanes Land’ respectively) as a split album, pushing black metal even further into the public eye. Darkthrone abandon death metal entirely with the thoroughly evil ‘Under A F uneral Moon’
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INTRODUCTION
D E E S D O G
take over. Or, as Fenriz from Darkthrone puts it: “Everything you have to have to make a good black metal album is from ’87 and back. You don’t need anything else t o make great black metal. So in ’87, when ‘Under The Sign Of The Black Mark’ by Bathory was done, that’s all you really needed.” It was from these roots that everything since has grown. After Mayhem kickstarted the scene with the ‘Deathcrush’ EP in 1987, an initial flirtation with death metal (you can read about this on page 26) that included Darkthro ne, t he ban d who would later help define black metal, came and went. As the 1990s dawned, black metal came into being. f heavy metal had, up until this point, been fond o f thea tricali ty an d hor ror imagery, it had never really matched its most extreme visuals, lyrics and artwork
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with its ethos and a ctions. T he clo sest it had come was the grindcore wave which, at this point, had probably past its crest. There was no dou bt tha t Na palm De ath a nd co. stood for what they claimed to stand for, but thought-provoking political ideology that was essentia lly a rein terpretat ion of punk philosophies was not as extreme as their music. As an inverse example, Slayer’s lyrics were never intended to ge nuinely support what they sang a bout ( although occasiona lly ‘Angel Of Death’ still causes someone to get their knickers in a noisy twist). Kerry King, Tom Araya , Jeff Hanneman and D ave Lombardo may h ave made extensive use of shocking violence and Satanic imagery – something their death metal progeny embraced with gusto – but the band made no pretence of supporting Satanism or
1994
1996
1997
2000
Emperor debut with ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’, Mayhem release ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’, and Darkthrone’s ‘Transilvanian Hunger’ is released. Varg Vikernes is sentenced to 21 years in prison for Euronymous’ murder and the arson of several churches, whilst Emperor drummer Bard 'Faust' Eithun is sentenced to 14 years for stabbing a man to death in Lillehammer.
Turbonegro release their sleazy, ultra-camp ‘Ass Cobra’ via Amphetamine Reptile Records. ‘Filosofem’, the final Burzum album recorded before Varg’s incarceration, is released. Satyricon release ‘Nemesis Divina’
Ulver go uber-necro with ‘Nattens Madrigal’, while black metal in general becomes less rough, with Arcturus releasing ‘La Maquerade Infernale’ and a revived Emperor making ‘Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk’
Abandoning black metal altogether, Ulver surprise everyone with the sultry electronica of ‘Perdition City’. Vintersorg joins Borknagar
1994
1995
1996
1997
1995 Immortal head to Blashyrkh for the first time on ‘Battles In The North’. In The Woods… and Ved Buens Ende debut, marking Norway’s growing avant-garde scene. Ulver and Fenriz’s Isengard follow Satyricon into folk BM territory
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violence. This w as ‘ Hallowee n’, th is was Alice Cooper taken to a particularly spectacular, reactionary-baiting and inevitable conclusion. What happened in Nor way was different. While some of the bands – Immor tal, most obviously – had absolutely nothing to do with Satanism, violence, criminal ity or any of the extracurricular bullshit that made sexy tabloid headlines, and never pretended to be anything but what they were, this was not always the case. There was of course the odd clinger-on, claiming to be dangerous and evil while the re ality was nothing of the sort, but what brought the eye of the world – not just the metal world – to Oslo, Bergen and the other black metal hotspots was that here, the bands genuinely were as da ngerous as th eir presentation. Mayhem, the f irst o f the bands to come along, were at the heart of much of this.
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1998 Gaahl becomes vocalist for Gorgoroth
1998
1999
2000
2001
1999
2001
Nick Barker and ICS Vortex join Dimmu Borgir, who release ‘Spiritual Black Dimensions’. Immortal, with Abbath now on guitar, release ‘At The Heart Of Winter’
Samoth and Trym from Emperor release ‘World Ov Worms’, Zyklon’s debut album. Emperor release final album ‘Prometheus…’ before splitting up
Their singer Dead’s tortured vocals were matched only by his equally disturbing behaviour, culminati ng in his ta king of his own life aged just 22, passing into legend even before the band had an album out. With gu itarist Euronymous an a rticulat e advocate for the scene in the early days, his Helvete (“Hell” , in Norwegia n) re cord s tore providing the base for the bands to assemble, they had their mouthpiece to declare their intent to the world – a role that, in black metal, has only really seen the like once since, in the form of E. from Watain. With his murder in 1993, at the hands of Count Grishnackh – better known as Varg Vikernes, the man behind Burzum – who was then playing bass on Mayhem’s upcoming debut album, the scene lost its Svengali-like figure. It also ensured the notoriety of Norwegian black metal would never end. And it did not end there. The spate of church burnings led to convictions and imprisonments, and in 1994, Emperor drummer Faust went to prison for murdering a gay man in Lillehammer in 1992. He was released in 2003, and will drum for the reunited Emperor at their festival shows this summer. Meanwhile , some of the most amazing music in extreme metal was produced. Emperor, Dar kthrone, Burzum, Mayhem, Ulver, Immor tal, Satyric on, Go rgoroth, Enslaved, Dimmu B orgir and A rcturus became recognisable around the world, adorning magazine covers and turning black metal into Norway’s biggest cultural export since Edvard G rieg – apt , given that mo st of the classic albums were recorded in Bergen’s Grieghallen, which was named after the composer. But N orway’s contribut ion di d not end when the s o-called “second wave” receded as the bands splintered off in their own direction from around 1994 onwards. In fact, the sounds diversified, the music became richer, and has – in the last few years in particular – seen a Norwegian renaissance that, while rooted in black metal, is very much its own beast. Legendary figures like former Emperor member Ihsahn have found new sounds to explore; artists as diverse as headfuckers Shining and dirty, major label
Immortal split up a year after releasing ‘Sons Of Northern Darkness’. Faust is released from prison. Dimmu Borgir seduce the metal mainstream with ‘Death Cult Armageddon’
2003
e t s e B r e t e P c i p d e v a l s n E , n o s l l e j K e l t u r G
punk rockers Kvelertak have used black metal to inspire them in creating entirely new sounds; the gorgeous spiritual folk of Wardruna , led by forme r Go rgoroth drummer Kvitrafn – wh o ador ns this publicatio n’s cover, pictured at a very different time of his musical life – have found a new way to express something very old and intrinsically
Emperor reunite for a series of shows over the next two years
2004
2005
Norse; and t hat p lace it al l sta rted, that l ittle spark of a death metal scene, has kicked off a resurgence in Norwegian death metal. And of course, still scaring the fuck out of the scary Satanists, you have the deathpunk homoeroticism of Turbonegro. No wo nder Norway is so hard fo r outsiders to understand…
2006
2009
2012
Immortal reunite, Gorgoroth release ‘Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam’. The final Zyklon album comes out
Wardruna debut, Immortal return with ‘All Shall Fall’, and Infernus wins the Gorgoroth name dispute. Varg Vikernes is released from prison and reactivates Burzum
King and Gaahl work together again as God Seed, releasing ‘I Begin’. Gaahl had previously retired from music for a while, shortly after coming out as gay in 2008
2005
2003
2002
K A T R E L E V K
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2004
2007
2010
2013
Windir mainman Valfar dies of hypothermia, bringing the band to an end. Enslaved release ‘Isa’. Maniac leaves Mayhem, Attila returning as his replacement
Mayhem release ‘Ordo Ad Chao’, their best record since ‘De Mysteriis’. Emperor split up again. Gaahl and King “fire” Infernus from Gorgoroth, beginning the Gorgoroth name dispute. Kvelertak form in Stavanger
Kvelertak release their self-titled debut, Burzum releases ‘Belus’, Shining invent ‘Blackjazz’, Zyklon disband
Obliteration bring Norwegian death metal back to prominence, Emperor reunite once more for festival headline shows and Kvelertak release ‘Meir’ via Roadrunner
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THE EARLY YEARS
THE PERIOD LEADING UP TO 1994 DEFINED BLACK METAL AS A GENRE, CONTAINED SOME OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL RECORDS OF METAL’S HISTORY AND SPAWNED A HUGE NUMBER OF IMPORTANT, BRILLIANT BANDS IN A VERY SHORT SPACE OF TIME. IT ALSO LED TO SOME OF METAL’S MOST UNSAVOURY ACTS… WORDS: GUY STRACHAN
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rguably, two events that bookended the month of May 1994 marked the closing of the chapter on the second wave of black metal and yet, conversely, also marked the point at which the tentacles of the second wavers reached out above the underground bunker and spread outwards, bringing the movement and the notorious events surrounding it to the attention of the outside world. At the start of the month, Varg Vikernes went on trial for his alleged hand in the arson of a number of churches, and the murder of Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, guitarist of Mayhem, owner of Deathlike Silence and proprietor of Oslo-based record shop Helvete, who had done so much to bring both his band and black metal vision to the world. The resulting publicity from the events described during both Vikernes’ trial and the subsequent trials of others involved, as well as comments made during his subsequent imprisonment, shone a light on the activities of a small group of people. But, if the actions themselves were attention-grabbing, then so too was the musical epitaph to one of the most exhilarating periods in metal’s history. At the end of the month, Mayhem’s long-delayed ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ album was finally unveiled. With a protracted gestation (the logo for the album title can be seen on flyers for the band’s tour of Turkey and Germany in November 1990) fuelled by a lack of money for recording, line-up problems and a series of recording sessions, the album was originally slated for release in the Autumn of 1993. However Euronymous’ parents objected to Vikernes’ bass featuring on the album and the album was put on hold while the album was remixed (with the original bass lines intact, but featured less prominently).
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I
f these two events marked the end of the story, then the beginning starts a decade earlier when Euronymous, along with Necrobutcher and Manheim, formed the embryonic Mayhem. At that point in time, Norway’s best-known contribution to metal was TNT who, that year, released ‘Knights Of The New Thunder’, an album that found the band stepping out of the shadow of their influences and delivering a melodic yet powerful album that, with the right backing, could have taken them an awful lot further than it actually did. Mayhem’s sound, however, was infinitely more coarse; a blend of metal, thrash and punk that eventually gelled into a brutally rough and raw recoding in the shape of ‘Pure Fucking Armageddon’ in 1986, achieving a notably negative review in Metal Forces. The following year saw the release of ‘Deathcrush’ (first as a demo, then re-recorded and released as a minialbum) which, logo aside, bore little artistic and stylistic similarities to the recordings that were to follow. As Mayhem were taking their first vinyl steps, Darkthrone were changing their name from Black Death and taking things a little more seriously, working on the songs that would soon grace their ‘Land Of Frost’ demo. Three further tapes were released in quick succession; the final ‘Cromlech’ tape securing the band a deal with Peaceville,
resulting in the ‘Soulside Journey’ album unveiled in the first month of 1991. While one of the darker and less formulaic albums of the death metal genre, by the time of its release there was a growing directional dispute within the band; most wanted to follow a more simplistic path, leaving bass player Dag Nilsen as the sole enthusiast of a more technical direction. This split led Nilsen to leave, playing session bass for the band’s sophomore outing. That album, ‘A Blaze In The Northern Sky’, was initially a major shock to most (not least to Peaceville themselves), but has since gone on to be one of the defining releases of the genre. Two further albums, ‘Under A Funeral Moon’ and ‘Transilvanian Hunger’ followed (completing the so-called Unholy Trilogy) before an ill-conceived statement on the artwork of the latter soured the relationship between band and label.
T
he shift from death to black metal was not limited to Mayhem and Darkthorne. Bands such as Thou Shalt Suffer, Eczema, Amputation and Old Funeral would soon find several of their members joining the call to arms and forming Emperor, Burzum, Satyricon and Immortal. The reasons for this are multiple; for some the desire to replicate the bands that had inspired them (Venom, Hellhammer, Bathory, Celtic Frost) was a driving force, as was to move away from technical proficiency and the homogeneous sound that was beginning to find its way into the bigger albums of the genre. Another explanation can be traced to the immediate aftermath of Per “Dead” Ohlin’s April 1991 suicide. In the wake of his death, with
“If Everyone Had A Full-Time Job Like I Had, I Think There Would Have Been Less Criminal Acts” – Fenriz, Darkthrone
S U O M Y N O R U E & S E N R E K I V G R A V
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THE EARLY YEARS Necrobutcher parting ways due to Euronymous’ desire to use photographs he had taken of Dead’s corpse as album artwork, the guitarist saw a chance to drop the humour that had hitherto been a part of the band and develop an increasingly hostile and nihilistic persona. The vehicle for this was Helvete, a record shop that was opened in August 1991 on Schweigaardsgate in Oslo’s Old Town that soon began to serve as a central meeting point for likeminded souls. One frequent visitor was Fenriz of Darkthrone: “It was August 1991, suddenly we had a place to meet people and bands from Bergen or the rest of Norway. It was still just a few bands, but they could come in and stay there, stay in the shop – because it wasn’t just a shop. You could sleep in the back rooms. A lot of people would come there and crash and you’d party and talk and listen to metal. That ended with the church burning and murders and feuds and everything. If we had just gone on with just the letter writing, I doubt we’d have seen such an explosion. It’s probably also a matter of idle hands – we were young, not all of them had jobs… if everyone had a full-time job like I had, I think there would have been less criminal acts coming out of that. And that culminated with that press thing in ’93, and that made the impact. But at the time, we still had the same mail contact like we had in ’89, with the rest of the world. The same contact I had at the end of ’91 I would have in ’92 with the outside world. Nothing really changed – Helvete didn’t change that.”
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s both Necrobutcher and Manheim have noted, Euronymous’ outlook in this period became increasingly dark and antagonistic. A series of feuds erupted between bands in Sweden and Finland, and Euronymous himself was frequently at pains to state that war had been declared on death metal or, as he saw it, “life metal”, finding few bands who “truly cultivated and worshipped death” within the genre, even going so far to state that Dead had been driven to suicide by the prevalence of such bands. A month after ‘A Blaze In The Northern Sky’ hit the shelves, ‘Burzum’ became the third release on Deathlike Silence. Masterminded by former Old Funeral member Varg Vikernes, the album marked his entrance into Norwegian black metal. Recording several more albums over the covering months (each of which are rightly seen as genre classics), Vikernes would also make his mark by demonstrating that actions did indeed speak louder than words via acts of arson, which triggered a wave of church burnings across the country and beyond. His subsequent
January 1993 arrest following an interview given to Bergens Tidende newspaper designed to stir up publicity for both Burzum and Euronymous’ Helvete shop led to a worsening of relations between the two; despite Varg handling bass duties in Mayhem at the time, the situation deteriorated to the point where Varg was to murder Euronymous in the early hours of August 10, 1993. Accompanying Varg on his fateful trip to Oslo was Snorre “Blackthorn” Ruch, at the time another member of Mayhem and one of the unsung pioneers of the musical style, thanks to the demos that he recorded under the name of Stigma Diabolicum and later Thorns. Using full bar chords (instead of the power chord so frequently used in extreme metal) allowed him to generate a truly melancholic guitar sound, the style of which also featured heavily on ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’, giving the recording a unique sense of chasmic depth.
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mperor and Enslaved were the first two bands signed to Candlelight, both recommended to label founder Lee Barrett by Euronymous, who was keen for both bands to have some promotion before issuing their albums on DSP (although in the event, Emperor chose not to progress with the deal). Emperor were the first band of their type to hit the UK when they played four shows supported by Cradle Of Filth during the Summer of 1993. Enslaved’s calling card contained one unique facet: their focus on their country’s Viking past. At the time one of the few bands to look to their historical past for inspiration; their outlook would prove highly influential, especially by bands looking to move away from purely Satanic subjects. Emperor’s lyrical focus was atmospheric over Satanic, yet the band would, despite drummer Bård “Faust” Eithun and guitarist Tomas “Samoth” Haugen being imprisoned for murder and arson respectively, with the release of ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’ establish themselves as one of the pre-eminent and most successful names of the genre. Like Emperor, Immortal were lyrically inclined more towards “woods, mountains, forests and fog” than anything more devilish, but their particular style of face paint and frequent photo sessions surrounded by ice and snow (as well as an infamous appearance on Norwegian television in 1992) rapidly made them one of the most instantly recognisable bands of the genre. Initially deviating little from a full-frontal, blast-beat assault that reached a crescendo with ‘Battles In The North’, they would later bring in a more thrash-fuelled style. Mysticum had impressed Euronymous with their demo tapes, which he listened to on the drives
“The Atmosphere Of The Norwegian Black Metal Scene, The Spirit, The Vibe That Was In ’91, ’92, ’93 Is Completely Unique” – Satyr, Satyricon 10
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E N O R H T K R A D O T L U C O N R U T C O N
between Bergen and Oslo that were part of the gruelling recording sessions for ‘De Mysteriis…’. Ultimately signing the band a few short weeks before his death, it would take the best part of three years for their album, ‘In The Streams Of Inferno’, to surface but, when it did, such was the power and strength of their blackened industrial metal that it has rarely, if ever, been superseded by anyone since.
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longside the prominent names mentioned above, a number of other bands were active by the time of Euronymous’ death. Some would go on to achieve a considerable amount of fame (Gorgoroth, Satyricon), others would record a demo before dissolving (Fimbulwinter), some would release a few recordings before disappearing from view (Ildjarn), while others would veer away from the genre entirely (Ulver). Whichever path they ended up taking, the fact remains that, listening back to those recordings now, one key facet is that every single last band had their own singular take on the style and, as a result, still sound fresh and unique today. ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ is, to this day, the outstanding album of the period, yet by the time of its release several key players in the scene were deceased or incarcerated, and bands had moved away from the displays of aggression and nihilism that had once been such a defining part of the genre. Despite many subsequent impressive and influential releases few – if any – were to prove as influential as the recordings made during 19911994. This is a point not lost on Satyr of Satyricon, who states that “if the atmosphere is right, if the vibe is the right one, it can bring out things and it can create a certain chemistry that cannot be taught, you have to be there. That’s why I think it’s so difficult for bands who came a few years later in Norway, even if they are culturally the same, they know the same people, they started only 3-4 years later… the atmosphere of the Norwegian black metal scene, the spirit, the vibe that was in ’91, ’92, ’93 is completely unique and without an in-depth first-hand understanding and experience of what that is about, it’s a vital ingredient in your musical sandwich missing.”
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