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.

Interview with Erik Danielsson of Watain!!

I should preface this post with somewhat of a warning-- it's not a very good interview...at all. While it's clear that Erik was fucking around with me by being creepy and weird, unfortunately for me I was like a deer in the headlights. Since I've never been in this situation before I wasn't quite sure how to handle it, so this is definitely the weirdest and most awkward interview I've ever done. Also, throughout most of the interview there were these strange noises that made Erik sound like he was speaking to me from another dimension...bizarre electronic screeches, white noise, etc.
It's also difficult to transcribe this interview because it's a challenge sometimes to make out exactly what Erik is saying, so in order to really do this interview justice I should probably just upload the audio so you all can hear it for yourselves...however, since I'm pretty damn lazy that will probably never happen, so unfortunately you're going to be stuck with this for now.

Phone interview conducted on May 12, 2010.



(high-pitched weird noises start)
WULF: Alright, so I'd like to start off by saying your new album is excellent. We were lucky enough to get a digital promo copy via Season of Mist, and when we listened to it we were blown away.

ERIK: ...Blown away...

WULF: I'm sorry?

ERIK: ...Blown away...

WULF: Yeah. Um...for those who have heard the album on your end how has the reception been so far?

ERIK: They've been blown away...

WULF: They've been blown away? That's awesome. Most of the songs are very aggressive but my particular favorites are "Death's Cold Dark" and "Wolves Curse", because the atmosphere I feel is perfect. Do you have a particular song that stands out to you, or a particular favorite track on the album?

ERIK: No.

WULF: No? Um...I have a question about "Wolves Curse", there--

ERIK: (interrupting) What!?

WULF: The samples in "Wolves Curse", did you record those yourself or did you find them out a film or something?

ERIK: (inaudible)

WULF: Did you have difficulties while in the studio recording or are there any songs that you or the rest of the band had difficulty nailing down while in the studio?

ERIK: ...No. (inaudible)

WULF: I see. The uh--

ERIK: There are no (inaudible) around here, (Wulf). (inaudible)

WULF: The cover art for "Lawless Darkness" reminds me of something out of an H.P. Lovecraft story. As I understand, the art is by Zbigniew Bielak--
(shrill electronic feedback interrupts me)
Is he a personal friend of the band?

ERIK: What?!



WULF: Is the artist Zbigniew Bielak a personal friend of the band, or did he have any inspirations for his art besides your music?

ERIK: No.

WULF: I see.

ERIK: I'm sorry, will you repeat that question?

WULF: I was wondering, since I saw the cover for "Lawless Darkness"--
(more shrill feedback interrupts me)
It reminded me of something out of an H.P. Lovecraft story, so I was wondering if the artist Zbigniew Bielak--

ERIK: (interrupting, inaudible, more shrill feedback)

WULF: As I understand it, you're about to come to America to play Maryland Deathfest, and it looks like you're going to play a bunch of festivals in Europe.

ERIK: (inaudible, abrasive feedback continues)

WULF: What's all that's noise?

ERIK: (inaudible)

WULF: Your band is rehearsing?

ERIK: No. Sorry, what's the question?

WULF: OK, so my next question is, as I understand it, you guys are covered in animal blood when you perform live. I was curious, does this ever call into question any your own health's safety or anything?

ERIK: What?!

WULF: I mean, do you guys ever get sick from covering yourselves in animal blood?

ERIK: You're breaking up...

WULF: I said, do you guys ever get sick from covering yourselves in animal blood or anything? Isn't that kind of dangerous?

(screeching feedback continues for a bit)

ERIK: Wait a second (Wulf)
(feedback now stops)
...and the band is done. They're going to rehearse. Wait a second.

WULF: Are you guys in the middle of rehearsing right now?

ERIK: Always, always, always (Wulf), always.

WULF: (laughs) OK, so I was wondering, since you guys are always covered in blood when you play live, I was wondering is that dangerous or anything to your health?

ERIK: (a pause) Of course. What do you mean?

WULF: I mean, have any of you ever gotten really sick or had to go to the hospital because of it?

ERIK: No. The people that are not of the Devil get sick and go to the hospital all the time. That's fine, and how it should be.

WULF: I see.

ERIK: We like it when people go to the hospital...a lot.




WULF: (laughs) I see. You've been doing a lot of touring and have been around now for more than a decade. It's obvious that you guys have gained quite a reputation as being very prominent in the metal scene as being one of the most extreme black metal bands on Earth. So I was wondering if this will ever be captured in a live DVD of yours or anything?

ERIK: No, fuck DVD's. I mean, fuck that, you know? I mean, even fuck talking about it because I'm so fucking tired (of talking about it), like, "yeah, we're these extreme guys", yeah, so what? You know, let us be that. I don't like to talk about it, I like to be it, you know? If you please.

WULF: I understand.

ERIK: This is not some sensational shock value band, you can go to Gwar or Dark Funeral for that, you know? Fuck it. That's not what we're here for, you know?

WULF: I understand. So earlier I asked you a question and I'm not sure if you heard me or not, but it was about the "Lawless Darkness" album art because it reminds me of something out of an H.P. Lovecraft story.

ERIK: Well I gave you an answer, didn't you hear it?

WULF: I didn't hear it very well, no.

ERIK: That's because what I was trying to say can really not be put into words. I was trying to express it with feedback and noise because that's pretty much the only thing I can reasonably say about it.

WULF: So that's what that was all about earlier?

ERIK: Well, this whole interview is about Watain so that's what all the answers are about as well.

WULF: (laughs) Well, I must say it is by far the most interesting interview I've ever done. I haven't done many, but it's definitely very interesting so I think you succeeded in that.

ERIK: We succeed in everything, (Wulf). I'm just answering your questions, so you can give yourself a big fat clap on the shoulder.

WULF: Well thanks. That's pretty much all the questions I had, just right there.



ERIK: Mmm. There you have it. Now you can die a peaceful death, seeing that you've got the answer to every question in your life that you ever needed answered.

WULF: (laughs) That's true.

ERIK: I'm happy for you, (Wulf). I look forward to that day myself.

WULF: (laughs) Hopefully I'll be seeing you guys sometime when you come on tour if you ever make it out to the Midwest.

ERIK: Mmm. I'm sure we will.

WULF: I wait for you.

ERIK: When you least expect it.

WULF: (laughs) Alright, well enjoy the Maryland Deathfest and best of luck to you all on the road.

ERIK: Yeah, watch it. That's all I can say.

WULF: (laughs) Thanks. Have a wonderful (time with) the rest of rehearsing, and enjoy the rest of your day.

ERIK: Yeah.

WULF: Thanks.

ERIK: All of my love to you, (Wulf).

WULF: Thank you. All of my love to you as well.

ERIK: Bye-bye.