Wulf's Official Response to Decibel Magazine's Top 100 Black Metal Albums (part 4)

70. "Scorn Defeat" - Sigh

I think it's pretty cool when bands start out super kvlt and then get all weird on everyone.  In a similar vein as Arcturus, Ulver, and Enslaved, Sigh's roots lie in evil black metal grimness.  I can't talk too much about it because I'm not very evil and have only listened to Sigh's later shit (starting with the classic "Hail Horror Hail"), but I'll bet it's still good stuff.  Just look at that promo pic!!

69. "Ravendusk in my Heart" - Diabolical Masquerade

I remember thinking this album was pretty good, but am completely baffled why anyone who is a fan of this band would choose ANY of their albums over "Death's Design", one of my favorite metal albums of all time!! Anyway, that doesn't mean this album sucks or anything like that, it's got its share of catchy riffs and good production (even though I hate drum programming that sounds obviously fake), but if you're going to check out this band I'd definitely recommend "Death's Design" over any of their other albums! The songwriting, production, concept, and overall quality in general is way better!  C'mon, Decibel!!

68. "Incipit Satan" - Gorgoroth

I'm actually in the middle of listening to Gorgoroth's discography right now, but unfortunately I haven't made it to "Incipit Satan" (surprise, surprise :/ ).  I guess is the first album with Gaahl officialy on lead vocals, and pretty much set the standard for what most people think of when someone mentions the band...even though it feels weird to call it the "classic" lineup.  Anyway, I'm not an expert so whatever!  I'm sure this is a cool album, as Gaahl's vocals are unique and this was back when Gorgoroth was still considered pretty controversial and evil.  This was before all the drama between Infernus and Gaahl and King ov Hell, the formation of two Gorgoroths, King ov Hell putting out the kind of shitty Ov Hell album, and Gaahl coming out of the closet, doing musicals, and becoming a goofy internet meme.  I'm excited to see what this one has to offer!!

67. "Casus Luciferi" - Watain

I've got this one on my iPod, but as usual I haven't listened to it yet and am only familiar with Watain's later stuff.  Ugh, maybe doing this response to Decibel's Top 100 BM Albums was a mistake!!  The only reason I started it was because Judge Dredd and Mark of the Beast were making fun of me for not participating very much in its discussion on our Facebook group chat, so I decided to show them what was up and make an entire blog series about it.  Now it's turning out almost as bad as the infamous Watain interview I did several years ago!
Speaking of Watain, this album is a kvlt classic and blah blah I'm sure it's evil as fuck, especially compared to this latest Watain album which has Erik Danielsson doing clean vocals (haha).

66. "Dark Metal" - Bethlehem

Back when I was a DJ at Malicious Intent that we had this album in the stacks, and unfortunately when I listened to it I wasn't that impressed. It's possible that I was intoxicated at the time or something like that and wasn't really paying attention, but I'll bet the real reason I was disappointed was because I was expecting it to sound like their following album, "Dictius te Necare". Hooooooooly SHIT is that a nuts album!! Obviously the most striking thing about it is Rainer Landfermann's completely batshit insane vocals, but there's all sorts of other interesting stuff going on at the same time as well. Anyway, this is supposed to be my take on "Dark Metal", so I guess I'll just have to risk sounding like a broken record and just say that I'll come back to this one soon.

65. "Telepathic With the Deceased" - Xasthur

Yeah!!  I know this one!!  What a creepy album!!  If you've ever watched Vice's/Noisey's black metal documentary "One Man Metal", you know that Malefic is a creepy dude.  Wrest comes off as just a super emo dude with a lot of anger, and Sin Nanna as a kind of weird, tripped out Aussie hippie, but Malefic seems like the most disturbed out of the bunch.  Even though his music is arguably the cheesiest and at times would work well as the soundtrack to a haunted house carnival ride or your local Halloween superstore, it definitely works well by itself as something to listen to in complete darkness as you contemplate the infinity of death or whatever.  Haunting keyboards, hypnotic riffs, this is a DSBM classic!!

Malefic is always a laugh riot at parties!!

64. "Blood Ritual" - Samael

I've always wanted to listen to Samael's black metal stuff just because I've always heard it was good and it's so different from what they put out now.  I don't really know much about their "current sound" other than what I gathered from their 2004 "Telepath" music video which was featured on some Nuclear Blast compilation DVD, but I do know that it was definitely not black metal!  Excited to give this a spin soon!!

63. ""The Book" - Root

I don't what to really say about this album because I've never listened to Root, other than I think they have a super lame name and I've never heard any good black metal from the Czech Republic.  That doesn't mean this isn't a bad album or that there aren't any good bands from there!!  In fact, it's because of this situation that makes me excited to check this band out!!  

Also, fun fact: "root" is Australian slang for "sex"!!

62. "Diadem of 12 Stars" - Wolves in the Throne Room

I've been a fan of Wolves in the Throne room ever since I checked them out after reading an interview with them in Metal Maniacs in like 2006.   What they were talking about at the time was like a breath of fresh Cascadian air for a stagnating black metal scene, ushering in a renaissance of great black metal art that transformed USBM from being the laughingstock of the underground into a powerhouse of subgenre.   By straying away from Satanism (which once upon a time were inexorably linked to the general philosophy of the genre as a whole) and instead injecting mysticism, environmentalism, and psychedelia, WIITR were one of the pioneers of this new school of USBM along with bands such as Nachtmystium, Leviathan, Agalloch, Xasthur, Ludicra, Krallice, Velvet Cacoon, etc.

Anyway, this is a cool album, but I feel like it's on their next album ("Two Hunters") when the band really starts to get good.  This is a great place to start though if you want to get into the band!  One of the greatest USBM bands of all time!!

61. "Black Arts Lead to Everlasting Sins" - Necromantia / Varathron

I haven't heard this split, but can am 99% sure that it's not better than "Diadem of 12 Stars" by Wolves in the Throne Room.  I guess I shouldn't hate, considering that I've never listened to Varathron, but I've always kind of been put off by Necromantia.  I know I need to listen to their classic stuff to really get an idea of their importance in the early Greek BM scene, but "The Sound of Lucifer Storming Heaven" sucked, and I also think it's goofy that for the longest time their sound has consisted of an 8-string bass, a regular bass, keyboards, drums, and no guitars (!).  I guess it would be cool if they sounded good, but from what I listened to I thought it sounded pretty whack.  Ah well!  I'm sure I'll get around to listening to this soon.

Wulf's Official Response to Decibel Magazine's Top 100 Black Metal Albums (part 3)

80. "In the Streams of the Inferno" - Mysticum




I know next to nothing about Mysticum except that they were playing black metal in Norway in the early '90s and and did a split with Ulver in '94. Other than that I guess this is some sort of forgotten classic? Like a lot of these albums on this half (100-50) of the list I'll have to check it out later. Sorry guyz.



79. "Fex Urbis Lex Orbis" - Ludicra



Man, part 3 of this list is starting out pretty badly. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get into Ludicra when they were all the rage several years ago. I know Judge Dredd was all over them, but for whatever reason they just didn't click for me. Add this to the growing pile of albums from this list I should probably revisit.



78. "Om" - Negură Bunget



OK, finally a band I know something about!! I've been interested in these dudes ever since I read an interview with them in Metal Maniacs (RIP) a long time ago where they talked about how their take on black metal was heavily inspired by Romanian folk tales, legends, and mysticism. Sign me up!!
Anyway, many people consider "Om" to be their best album (and if IIRC one of Terrorizer Magazine's Top 10 metal albums of the 2000s!), but unfortunately I'm still not too familiar with their stuff, even though I really like what I've heard!! I'm still pissed I didn't get to see these guys when they came to Sydney, but it was one of my first days at a new job!! :(



77. "Darkspace I" - Darkspace



I'm listening to this CD right now!! From what I can tell, it's somewhat similar to Wroth's other one-man BM band Paysage d'Hiver, except I prefer the latter. Paysage has a more varied sound, and his ambient stuff rules!! Really great for D&D (even if Professor Grindstein thought it sounded like NPR's Hearts of Space, bah!). Anyway, if you want unrelenting, emotionless, cold and uncaring black metal, then knock yourself out!



76. "Phoenix Rising" - Destroyer 666



Yeah!! Finally an album I'm somewhat familiar with!! Maybe it was because I was in Australia, but while living in Sydney I listened to this album all the time on the way to work!! I'd say "Lone Wolf Winter" is arguably the best song on the album, but almost the entire thing is chock full of killer riffs and savage energy. I don't know if I'd necessarily count this is a black metal album, but whatever. I'd say this is actually a pretty good spot on the list for this album!



75. "Written in Waters" - Ved Buens Ende



I haven't listened to much of this album, but based on what I've heard I think this album sucks and don't know why so many people like it! Maybe it's just too "weird" or whatever, maybe it's because the vocals are lame, maybe it's because the cover art blows, but if we're making a Top 100 black metal albums list then this would definitely not be one of my selections. Sorry, but no thanks!!



74. "Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum" - Deathspell Omega



Even though it took me awhile to get into Deathspell just because they're style is so unorthodox, this is a great album, even if it is arguably the weakest of the "trilogy" that makes up their three latest full-lengths. Anyway, not too sure what to say about this record other than that it's dark, evil, disorienting, and has done a lot in taking black metal to a new, more intellectual and philosophical level.



73. "Battles in the North" - Immortal



One of my favorite Immortal albums!! I remember first checking out Immortal back in the Kazaa days and downloading as many black metal music videos as I could find. Besides Emperor's "The Loss and Curse of Reverence" and Satyricon's "Mother North", "Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms" was arguably my favorite, even though not much happens in the music video. I think I just liked the song title...at the time, I didn't understand why the band was perhaps trying to sound like shit on purpose and was mainly into stuff like Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar, and In Flames. Anyway, it took me awhile but Immortal's pre-"At the Heart of Winter" sound really grew on me. I started realizing that crystal-clear production wasn't everything, and while "Sons of Northern Darkness" sounded awesome, there was a certain charm and mysterious atmosphere that went with this record's icy, hyperspeed riffing and blasting, rickety drums.



72. "Maranatha" - Funeral Mist



Always wanted to check out Mortuus' solo project, but didn't realize anything he had put out was critically acclaimed!! I'll investigate soon!



71. "Ultima Thulée" - Blut aus Nord



Seriously?? I guess it's a kvlt album and shit, but I found it to be kind of cheesy, amateurish, forgettable, and nowhere near as great as Blut aus Nord's later stuff!! Maybe I'm missing the point, as this is a much more dark, grim take on Nordic mythology (usually a lyrical theme completely beaten to death at this point by ever viking/folk metal band ever), but still!! I'm still working on BaN's earlier albums, but as far as I can tell the band didn't become truly relevant until "The Work Which Transforms God" (2003), which was also the leader in a renaissance of twisted French black metal that is still going strong today!! Anyway, sorry but I don't believe this album is good enough to be on here.

Wulf's Official Response to Decibel Magazine's Top 100 Black Metal Albums (part 1)

It's come to my attention that Decibel Magazine just released a special issue that lists their picks for the top 100 black metal albums of all time. Usually these sorts of things do nothing really except bring out an endless spew of whining and complaining from the internet's vast legions of IMNs, but we here at Malicious Intent (i.e. me) felt left out from the party and decided to weigh in with our own thoughts on this controversial list. Here we go!!

100. "Ominious Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm" - Inquisition


#100?? Seriously?? This should be much higher, as it's one of the best black metal albums to come out since 2000!! Killer stuff. Dagon's guitar-playing is top-notch, his croak is gnarly, and the way they layer the instruments in their songs is tastier than the new 7 Layer Bean Dip Crunchwrap Supreme at Taco Bell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously though, even Inquisition's lyrics are both interesting and original as well...most bands blather on about Satan and blah blah, but their take on "cosmic Satanism" is refreshing. As someone who's scared shitless of outer space after reading H.P. Lovecraft and taking astronomy courses in college, these lyrics resonate with me much more than talking about dying and going to Hell or whatever LaVey was trying to convey in The Satanic Bible.
On a side note, I actually met Inquisition when I was living in Sydney, Australia...really nice guys!! Friendly yet soft-spoken and a bit intense, I found these guys to be really cool and genuinely interested in meeting their fans and hanging out. If you're going to check out Inquisition, I would say it's perfectly reasonable just to enjoy the music as it is, but if you read the lyrics along with it I feel like it adds an extra dimension (so to speak) to it that solidifies it in my mind as a masterpiece!!


99. "Vampires of Black Imperial Blood" - Mütiilation

I've never actually listened to Mütiilation (or any other LLN band for that matter) so I'm kind of a n00b when it comes to old school French BM. I'll check it out very soon, but I still refuse to believe that it's going to be better than some of the lunacy the French have been sending our way in the past few years via Blut aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Peste Noire, Spektr, etc. Anyway, yeah yeah I'm sure this is a great album...NEXT!!

EDIT, APRIL 2015: Finally checked out this album.   I haven't listened any other LLN bands at the moment, but from what I've read this is supposed to be the pinnacle of that collective.   It's not bad!   I kind of dig the atmosphere and overall vision of what they seem to be going for, but as far as songwriting goes this isn't very good.   However, I definitely respect this record in terms of influence (raw minimalism, experimentation, vaguely romantic atmosphere), especially within the French BM scene.   I suppose this spot on the list is appropriate for this album, but it's definitely not better than anything Inquisition has put out, EVER!!

98. "Tentacles of Whorror" - Leviathan

First of all, this cover art is fucking insane. I really have no idea what to make of it...it's so bizarre and creepy that I'm just going to let it speak for itself. That being said, I've really tried to get into Leviathan and while I think it's interesting stuff, if we're talking one-man USBM then I'd much rather listen to Xasthur! I usually tend to go for the more atmospheric stuff to see where it takes my imagination, but for whatever reason it doesn't quite do it for me. I still need to check out his later albums tho, plus I'm sure at some point I'll revisit his earlier stuff. I did enjoy his Lurker of Chalice stuff tho, IIRC it's much more atmospheric and strange.

97. "Ordo ad Chao" - Mayhem

This is another great album that should be higher on the list. Yeah, yeah, it's maybe not as good as De Mysteriis, but it's arguably Mayhem's second best LP. Damn...isn't it crazy to think that Mayhem has only released four full-lengths??
Anyway, I haven't listened to this album in awhile but I remember this used to be a favorite to pass out listening to after a night of utter madness!! I don't know why, but it always reminds me of that one scene in Time Bandits where they're trying to escape from the hanging cages (or the last third of the movie where they enter the Fortress of Ultimate Darkness).

96. "Infiltration.Downfall.Death" - Revenge

I've never heard of these dudes, let alone listened to this album. I guess it's a Canadian black metal supergroup of sorts with Pete from Angelcorpse thrown in the mix? I'm pretty unfamiliar with Canadian black metal like Axis of Advance, Weapon, Conqueror, and Blasphemy. Sorry, not really much to say except that their band name is lame and they don't look like very nice guys :(

95. "V - Halmstad" - Shining

I remember when I got this promo in the mail and thinking "WTF is this?" Back then, DSBM hadn't quite become the popular subgenre that it is today, but I would argue that this was a very important album in bringing that style to the metal masses (or at least me haha). And I hadn't even heard of their legendary stage shows or all the drama surrounding Niklas Kvarforth's disappearance, addictions, mental health problems, etc. Yeah, it's pretty emo and I'm not really sure what to make of Kvarforth...he's a weird guy with a big ego for sure, but his vocal performance on this record is great!! I need to give it another listen, but at the time I hadn't quite heard music so atmospheric, depressing, and experimental, and yet at the same time still vaguely be categorized as black metal. I would say this should be higher on the list as well, kvlt warriors be damned (in black)!!

94. "Triarchy of the Lost Lovers" - Rotting Christ

I'm more familiar with Rotting Christ's newer stuff, but I thought this was the album where they started exploring a more gothic rock kind of sound or whatever. I could be wrong, maybe that's "A Dead Poem"...either way, I hate to say it but while I've listened to this album I really don't remember it at all. Sorry!! For what it's worth, I really enjoy some of Rotting Christ's newer stuff!!

93. "La sanie des siècles - Panégyrique de la dégénérescence" - Peste Noire

It's too bad that Famine's such a racist hooligan, because this band's music is awesome!! I put PN in the same boat as Nokturnal Mortum or Graveland; politically-incorrect bands that write some really killer stuff. Anyway, we're focusing on the music here, so I just want to say that I've been a huge fan of this album (PN's best, by the way) ever since Mark of the Beast played it on Malicious Intent years ago. I was blown away by the sloppy, punky attitude of Famine's guitar-playing, combined with his fucking insane vocals and the music's bizarre experimentation. Listening to this always made me think of a Bubonic Plague-stricken France, with peasants living in squalor, cities crumbling, and plague doctors wearing those bird beak gas masks running around trying to save the day all while the unwashed masses hysterically scream for forgiveness within vast cathedrals. Every Peste Noire album has gotten weirder since, but it's still been an awesome ride!! I just wish Famine wasn't such a bird brain!!

92. "Welcome to My Last Chapter" - Vinterland

Damn, 13 reviews and 94% on metal-archives.com???? I've never heard of these guys!! I'll be sure to check it out very soon.

91. "Göetia" - Mystifier

This album cover is awesome!! Sadly, I've never listened to Mystifier even tho I always feel like Brazilian bands come off as way more evil than anyone from North America or Western Europe...I have no idea why. Maybe because so many MMA fighters come fom there?
Anyway, sorry it's amateur hour at Malicious Intent right now!!

90. "Le Secret" - Alcest

Annnndd to finish off with what started with a bang and is rapidly ending in a whimper, we have Alcest's "Le Secret", which I've never listened to!! I'm quite familiar with the Neige's back story and their full-length releases, but I've never listened to this EP. I'm sure it's great though!! I remember Ty from Hammerlord saying that he really liked this release more than their later stuff. Or maybe he was talking about Amesoeurs and their "Ruines Humaines" EP, I can't remember.

Sorry this ended up being kind of shitty! It's pretty disheartening because I really thought I knew my black metal!! Looks like I've got some catching up to do!! Check in soon for further analysis of Decibel's Top 100 Black Metal Albums of All Time, more zany stories, and mildly interesting commentary!!