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 2)

89. "The Black House" - Krieg

Man, I always wanted to get into this album. I've already expressed my disdain for 90's USBM bands since they just seemed so lame compared with their European counterparts...however, the whole concept behind this particular record really intrigued me. Back when I was still a bit new to the scene in 2004 I just thought black metal for the most part just involved being Satanic and anti-Christian, so to read about a band who was doing something different lyrically was interesting to me. For those out of the loop, "The Black House" is somewhat of a weird autobiography of Imperial himself portrayed through some nightmarish musical lens. I should probably actually listen to the album before I talk about it in more detail, but I always wanted to sit down with this record and try to get a better idea of what Imperial's deal is. Great album cover too!!

88. "Those of the Unlight" - Marduk

Even though the album cover is fucking awesome, I think early Marduk is kind of mediocre. I don't know why people are so blown away by it! Yeah, it's got its strengths: Bogge's bass sounds great, the drum production matches the atmosphere, and Av Gravf's vocals are really well-done. However, what brings it down are too many mediocre riffs that don't go anywhere, as well as being a bit slow (compared to Marduk's later stuff)...it just doesn't do it for me. For me shit doesn't start getting real though until Legion and Fredrik Andersson are both in the band and take the intensity up a notch, although it's debatable who is the better vocalist between Legion and Av Gravf. My vote goes to Legion I suppose just because on metal-archives.com he looks like this, whereas Av Gravf looks like this (and went on to play in Dimension Zero, which isn't very evil).
Anyway, Norwegian BM during this time was way better during this time as well. This shit is especially whack if you compare it to what Mayhem, Burzum, Immortal, Emperor, etc. were putting out in the early '90s. I know most BM elitists consider Marduk's pinnacle to be either this one, "Opus Nocturne", or "Heaven Shall Burn...When We Are Gathered", but what can I say?? I like my black metal fast and brutal, and Marduk doesn't start getting truly speedy until "Nightwing" (which I would much rather listen to than any of their albums that came before it). Still though, one of my favorite album covers!!

87. "Malice (Our Third Spell)" - Gehenna

I've never really listened to Gehenna. I know that they're an old-school Norwegian BM band from back in the day, but the only song I really know by them is "A Witch Is Born" from their second LP...I think it was back in 2003 or so and I had just read Lords of Chaos and was trying to check out as many new Scandinavian black metal bands as I could find, and this was their only song available on Kazaa. I remember thinking the track was pretty cool, but didn't like it enough to get my hands on any of their records. I'll come back and give this a listen later!!

86. "Black Thrash Attack" - Aura Noir

Surprise, surprise, I haven't listened to this album, sorry!! I know it's got a bunch of big names involved with it from the Norwegian BM scene and blah blah but I'll probably give it a listen after I check out Gehenna haha.

85. "Anno Domini" - Tormentor

God fucking damnit!! I haven't heard this either!! When I first saw this I was pretty surprised...Attila Csihar's old band's 1989 demo...yeah right! No one's heard that shit! Then I looked on metal-archives and saw that it has 9 reviews and a score of 92%. Ugh. I'll have to check it out...is it really that good though?? These guys were like, 17 when this came out (yeah, I know so were the dudes in Emperor, but you know what I mean!!)!

84. "Thy Dying Light" - Judas Iscariot



First of all, I need to mention that the song title "His Eternal Life, Like a Dream Was Obliterated..." is one of my favorite song titles ever (it's also my favorite track on the album)!! Actually, all the song titles are pretty cool on this album...not too sure what the lyrics are since they're mostly just (allegedly) trance-induced improvised babbling (IIRC based on interviews with Akhenaten). I don't know why I enjoyed this album more than his others (besides "Heaven in Flames", that's a good one too). It's been awhile since I've listened to it, but I remember enjoying it because the songs are long, hypnotic, and depressing. Also, he seems like he was pretty fucking serious about this shit. Something about the ritualistic, hypnotic quality of the music and its mysteriousness just gets me. Why it applies to this album more than the others I can't remember, but this one stuck out in my mind as his best work along with "Heaven in Flames". I also just really enjoy listening to his psychotic babbling too! I like to imagine this was recorded on a cold day in a shitty part of DeKalb, Illinois, with weeks of physical and mental preparation and the actual music itself being an afterthought. Worth checking out, but I would put it a bit higher on this list, if at all.



83. "Fuck the Universe" - Craft



I listened to either this album or their latest ("Void") and remember thinking it was just OK. I should probably listen to it again though, as these guys seem pretty evil!!



82. "Gin" - Cobalt



Damn, this one's tough! I really wanted to like it, as Phil McSorley seems like an interesting cat based on his interviews. The fact that the record is all philosophical and nihilistic is cool, but the cover art is what really does it for me! I love it when there's just some old photograph or artwork (in this case, it's a portrait of a young Ernest Hemingway) with a metal logo superimposed randomly on the cover. It's too bad that Cobalt's logo is kind of lame; I prefer the traditional, completely illegible BM logo, but whatever. Anyway, I remember the music on this album to be interesting and fairly original, but nothing special enough to cement itself on some underground metal magazine's Top 100 Black Metal Albums list. I've always been meaning to give it another chance though, as well as Cobalt's earlier albums. Anyway, as with many of these albums on this list, I'll have to revisit it sometime soon to make a final judgement!



81. "Min Tid Skal Commme" - Fleurety



This is one band I come across like once a year when I'm drinking wine by myself on a Friday night and digging through metal-archives for random crap. While usually I'm drawn to experimental black metal, I really don't want to like these dudes just because I think their name sucks (yeah it's supposedly the name of a demon, but that demon picked a pretty shitty name...it sounds like something Tom Cruise would name his daughter or some shit) and the guys just look like dorks. Anyway, I'm just talking out of my ass, I'm sure this is a wonderful album. I'll check it out soon enough!!