Favorite First Wave Norwegian Black Metal Act.

wow, there's more than two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Cj_EVnuMs

The Darkthrone one actually sounds a bit like Striborg. Until the heya heya polkasection kicks in, that is.

I like the more recent stuff by Enslaved and Satyricon better (I know, probably blasphemy but whatever), so I think I'm going to have to vote Emperor.

Voted Darkthrone. My Norwegian forestcat is called Fenriz, so that's a no-brainer really.

found this on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luFCBdS5PAs

Whoah, this is hard. To me, Immortal are the quintessence of black metal in the sense that "Pure Holocaust" pretty much exemplifies what the genre is about and would be the record to give somebody who didn't know anything about this genre, while the Darkthrone story and the way they've changed over the years make them a far more interesting band, but less likely to "exemplify" a bigger genre. Darkthrone is Darkthrone and they've evolved many times. Same with Burzum- undeniably high peaks, but such a specific and truly individual case, esp. in the jump from the first records to the Casio/prison era. (reminds me of the debate about what was the greatest goth band- the best ones are too thorny and particular to easily exemplify a movement)

No idea, really, but voting Mayhem since I went to the same school as Øystein Aarseth.

Drew please post *that* pic of you wearing your Burzum shirt :)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/2973592054_8883935155.jpg

but my heart belongs to . . .
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3418/3354729329_1d57d05ae4_o.jpg

hehe I love that pic.
xp
ok i always avoided a lot of these bands due to the nazi connotations. If i was going to listen to burzum, which album should i download?

filosofem

tossup 'tween burzum & darkthrone btw

i can't believe Geir is the only person on this thread who has mentioned Mayhem yet. Where is the love?

might vote darkthrone tho, for 'panzerfaust' alone but they've also got all those other great early albums

Dude, I can see those matches in yr pocket.

x-posts

Filosofem is the most famous of the Burzum albums, and probably the best one to start with. Voted Burz.

What is that 8bit stuff stanm posted?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitpop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiptune

"i can't believe Geir is the only person on this thread who has mentioned Mayhem yet. Where is the love?"

Well no one else here went to high school with Euronymous. I like Mayhem, but they are the weakest act of the eight IMO.

I mean if we were setting aside the music, Mayhem were pretty fucking metal and I'd vote for them. But, yeah, tbh, weakest band in the poll.

The original four (Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, Mayhem) are all very worthy of the vote on the strength of their discographies, the other four all had their moment of greatness at some point but none of them produced more than one classic album and all went on to suck really badly. Still voted Burzum, just because...well I don't really know. He just got out, let 'm shine.

Also, Gehenna, Gorgoroth, Mysticum, Forgotten Woods, Trelldom, Ildjarn, and Ancient could've been mentioned but I can't really imagine them getting much of the vote.

And you ppl are crazy, sure Mayhem put out some tripe but De Mysteriis, Wolf's Lair Abyss and Ordo Ad Chao are so much stronger than anything Satyricon, Ulver, Emperor or Enslaved recorded after 1994.

finally, the voice of reason. wolf's lair is one of my fave metal records ever. i have a fondness for early fleurety stuff and i'd like to give them a shout-out. not that they would win any poll either. and forgotten woods and trelldom as well.

i've got the first ulver demo on ten-inch at home and i wish i had it now to play.

I need to give those main two Mayhem albums a serious going-over. Recall liking Ordo Ad Chao really quite a lot.

wolf's lair is one of my fave metal records ever.

All time top ten for me, I could never understand the bad press it got when it came out. Every single riff is gold and the all-out aggression/violence on this thing is unbelievable. The EP-length also does wonders, this wouldn't have worked at all as an album.

ok, THREE main Mayhem albums.

I did like Trelldom's '07 record. It was very gritty and punishing in the way that trad BM must be.

My own tastes, of course, veer more towards the likes of Deathspell Omega, Dodheimsgard and other such 'avant-BM' artists. I make no apology. But I understand those who prefer their BM, well, BM.

It was very gritty and punishing in the way that trad BM must be.

lolling about the potential non-musical interpretation of this sentence

Long xp Yeah but all those acts are basically known for what they recorded in 93/94 so I'm not sure what your point is.

Well one point is that De Mysteriis is a stone cold classic and their post-murder stuff kicks ass too.

Sure, but In The Nightside Eclipse, Dark Medieval Times, Vikingligr Veldi and Frost are stone cold classics too and each is better than anything Mayhem put out frankly (even if overall Mayhem is probably been the more consistent act since '94-95.)

I've only seen 3 of these bands live. Enslaved (x3), Satyricon (late era), and Mayhem (like a month ago). Of those, Mayhem destroyed the others with their live show.

And I'm still voting Enslaved, based on the strength of their catalog.

Fuck purists. The trilogy of Mardraum, Monumension, and Below the Lights (not to mention Ruun and Vertebrae) are simply some of the greatest progressive metal records ever.

I love Emperor and the aformentioned Mayhem records. But Enslaved is just the most forward thinking, inclusive and musical band on this poll. Why would I care for a second about who is grimmer? I just want great music.

De Mysteriis is maybe, maybe, my favourite of the debut full-lengths of these bands. But I voted Emperor because the gloopy organ murk of In the Nightside feels sufficiently different to the others to make me give it a nod.

Can anyone explain to me what makes Nightside even comparable in quality to Anthems or Equilibrium? I mean, it's good. It just seems like everything about them improved.

they didn't need to improve. nightside is perfect.

"My own tastes, of course, veer more towards the likes of Deathspell Omega, Dodheimsgard and other such 'avant-BM' artists. I make no apology. But I understand those who prefer their BM, well, BM."

check out Mayhem's Grand Declaration Of War album if you haven't already. experimental. lots of electronics. some strange stuff on there. it's an album that most metal fans either love or completely hate.

I half like it.

Fuck purists. The trilogy of Mardraum, Monumension, and Below the Lights (not to mention Ruun and Vertebrae) are simply some of the greatest progressive metal records ever.

TRUTH. but i voted for darkthrone anyway.

darkthrone

blaze, funeral moon and transilvanian hunger is the trilogy to beat here. though gorgoroth is really in the same league as all the named bands here - ad majorem one of the best recent black metal albums, just breathtaking

The trilogy of Mardraum, Monumension, and Below the Lights.... are simply some of the greatest progressive metal records ever.

I need to hear those three then, ASAP! Funnily enough I have the three before those and the three after those.

these are first wave?

just checked out wolf's lair - really enjoying it

Nightside even comparable in quality to Anthems or Equilibrium?

BTW Anyone who likes mid 90s Emperor really, really needs to hear Setherial "Nord...", it sounds exactly like a lost Emperor album between Nightside and Anthems and is amazingly good.

xxpost: the first Norwegian wave = the second wave (after Venom, Celtic Frost, Bathory), probably.

oh NORWEGIAN, im retarded

My favorite Darkthrone is still Soulside Journey.

LOL Hank Amarillo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulside_Journey

poll needs gorgoroth

that said, love all these bands except immortal and emperor. it's basically a list of my favorite extreme metal bands aside from those two.

I thought they kind of sucked when I heard them.

you know what you're overrated

xpost

"I don't know their stuff - what did they do to deserve this?"

No idea. Dark Medieval Times >>> anything Ulver ever did.

I'm a big lover of Nemesis Divina. The first track has a weird sound in it. My friends asked me to identify it when they first bought the record. I listened once and declared that it's obviously the sound of a sword being pulled from a scabbard. I know about these things. NATHAN CARSON!

Hail Nathan \n/

"you know what you're overrated"

Don't blame me, I voted for Emperor.

Xpost: "Dark Medieval Times" is indeed a fine and singular work, a perfect mix of minimal synths and icy blasting. Thanks for the tip!

Dark Medieval Times is a strange album. It's laughably incoherent, the songs are just collections of three, four completely unrelated riffs stitched together. Every song has at least one or two moments where there's a brief pause with some feedback before the next segment kicks in. The album is only held together by that amazing guitar sound and the vocals. It's proof that the lack of any songwriting skills doesn't stand in the way of a decent career.

Works for me. Maybe I've spent too much time listening to LLN side projects.

"It's proof that the lack of any songwriting skills doesn't stand in the way of a decent career."

Or in the way of making a great album!

what the fuck

http://www.collectorsfrenzy.com/Details.aspx?id=160333180809

'mother north' from nemesis divina shows astonishing songwriting skills. but it's a total flash in the pan, a real "where the fuck did that come from?" moment. even that album has its share of bizarre fragmented half-songs.

Vlad Tepes/Belketre split (both parts great), the Mutiilation debut. Mutiilation's "Remains..." also very good, similar to Darkthrone "Under A Funeral Moon". Rest of the Legions Noires stuff not really so good except Seviss and Black Murder, all those countless demos by the Vlad Tepes guys have their moments but also a lot of crap. Torgeist sucked.

Vlad Tepes/Belketre split is amazing, as is Belketre's Ambre Zuèrkl Vuorhdrévarvtre demo. Really, these guys were pretty much THE kvltest BM band out there, along with the whole LLN scene in general. The funny thing is I listed to Belketre's pre-BM demos in their Zelda and Chapel of Ghouls guises, and tho just as lo-fi and obscure-sounding as Belketre, are mMUCH more death-metal oriented, even carrying a fair bit of Mr Bungle-esque muso-experimentation. What a weird group of people! Perhaps even more drastic a transformation into BM than Darkthrone made from their first record to their second.

(also fascinating is the amount of money these demos go for on eBay, and their continued bootlegging by people tangentially related to the band)

Yeah I've got a few of the Legions Noires albums, probably not a bad idea to offload them. Ildjarn albums also seem to fetch crazy prices.

Can I just repeat this one word: Bathory.

― StanM, Saturday, July 25, 2009 5:16 PM bookmarkflaglink

Can I just point out that they are Swedish?

― He was only 21 years old when he 16 (Alex in SF), Saturday, July 25, 2009 5:16 PM bookmarkflaglink

lol

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Saturday, July 25, 2009 5:17 PM bookmarkflaglink

Or rather he is Swedish. . .

― He was only 21 years old when he 16 (Alex in SF), Saturday, July 25, 2009 5:17 PM bookmarkflaglink

Can I just point out he's Belgian?

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Saturday, July 25, 2009 5:18 PM bookmarkflaglink

(Stanm)

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Saturday, July 25, 2009 5:18 PM bookmarkflaglink

Can I just say touche?

― He was only 21 years old when he 16 (Alex in SF), Saturday, July 25, 2009 5:19 PM bookmarkflaglink