First, the disclaimer. I do not bear Enslaved any ill will. Their early output up to 1997’s ‘Eld’ represents better than average black metal. 1994’s ‘Vikingligr veldi’ deserving special mention as a classic. There’s no doubt that the shift in their career in the new century – marked by so called progressive/psychedelic influences – has... Continue Reading →

The belief that a key hallmark of raw black metal is music that intentionally alienates the listener is mistaken. Harsh vocals, distorted yet thin guitars, blasting drums, and shocking production values; all those descriptions do indeed apply to much black metal, but many musicians and producers tailored these low-fidelity values deliberately to create the desired... Continue Reading →

In the early 1990s thrash metal and death metal came down with a severe case of something called ‘groove’. Patient zero was probably Sepultura, who caught groove from an unnecessarily macho flee; known to science as ‘Pantera’. Other notable sufferers included the likes of Slayer, Napalm Death, Destruction, and many more. This only worsened as... Continue Reading →

Mischaracterising the Cold War’s end as the end of history has since morphed into an amusing theoretical anecdote; a historical touchstone for our own turbulent age; as if desperately exploring every aspect of the early 1990s will provide clues to our future. For underground metal however, a case can be made for our history’s end... Continue Reading →

1994 was something of a turbulent watershed for black metal. Some of its most revered works were released, some or all of which regularly make top multiple-of-ten lists to this day. It was also the year that many of its most infamous crimes were brought to light, and for a brief time the world beyond... Continue Reading →

Here we have two artists that took the basic building blocks of primitive extreme metal as it was in the early 1990s, and produced music not of this earth. Black metal of this era will forever be mired in the actions and words of individuals within the scene. I’ll be dealing with none of that... Continue Reading →

Following the explosion of (what can only be called) mainstream success for death metal in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a backlash was inevitable. Growing out of grassroots tape trading and zine distribution, analogue social media if you will, death metal had caught the attention of major TV channels, record labels, and concerned parents,... Continue Reading →

Defining words and actions as offensive is tantamount to declaring that your feelings have been hurt. This idea is nothing new. But people have extrapolated on this simple fact, and manufactured it into an anti PC war-cry. Advocates of political correctness are accused of trying to create a world without offence. Of trying to manufacture... Continue Reading →

It’s a well-established fact that metal has an unhealthy addiction to genre classifications. One look at our database over at metal-archives will tell you as much. It is not just the sheer volume of genres – many of which are  just the same groups of words shuffled around a bit – it’s also how important... Continue Reading →