“Sometimes, on a cold and miserable winter evening, when you haven’t been outside for several days because Lockdown 3.0 and work sucks because you haven’t been to the office or seen any of your colleagues for 11 months and you really want a beer or five but can’t because you decided not to drink for January for some damn fool reason and… well, anyway, you get the picture. On those sorts of evenings, sometimes what you need is an ice-cold sliver of raw, lo-fi black metal.” Feel the moon.
“Denmark. It’s one of those places oft-overlooked, by me at least. If I think of Scandinavia, Norway and Sweden immediately come to mind, belatedly followed by Finland — which I’m reasonably sure is not actually part of Scandinavia — and only then, Denmark. Similarly, when I think of metal, and black metal, in particular, the same countries come to mind, probably in the same order. Denmark just isn’t really on my geographic or musical radar. I realize this will be deeply offensive to any Danish readers but I’m British and we currently specialize in offending other Europeans by the disparaging way we talk about them and their countries.” Dis-Danes.
Metal these days is in an undeniable downswing. Right now very few bands are doing something new, fresh or innovative. Instead, we’re riding a wave of retro metal: retro Swedish death; retro power; retro ’80s; re-thrash. In all the bustle about the latest cult ’70s style doom record that making everyone hot in the britches, I’ve been getting the itch for something new. Unfortunately, with the exception of the occasional glimmer of hope, right now is also a time for those of us who can to turn our eyes backwards. With a backward glance we talk about records that really should not be forgotten, things that were and, given the retro craze, probably will be again. In this case, I am thinking of Lumsk’s debut record Åsmund frægdegjevar.
King of Asgard is back for another flogging. But this time, they showed up with their butt kicking armor on.
It would seem that Angry Metal Guy is actually forming review themes, like some sort of ongoing process wherein I discuss the ups and downs of the metal scene while reviewing records, and even debate them with some of the other reviewers. Because reviewing is an ongoing process here, often times things get lumped into groups in my head that others might not see. But what’s interesting is how during this big debate about whether or not bands should really be striving for an original and unique sound I am basically reviewing NÃ ttsol’s new record and Galar’s new albums side by side. Like NÃ ttsol, Galar is a young Norwegian band that is working in the footsteps of Ulver. Released by Dark Essence Records, Til Alle Heimsens Endar (“Until the End of All Worlds”) is the second album from the band, whose first record Skogsvad was released in 2006 and I, incidentally, have never heard it. The record itself is based on the work of Snorri Sturluson’s “Heimskringla”.
Angry Metal Girlfriend found this blog with a really very amusing flowchart of Heavy Metal band names. It was obvious to me from the getgo that this person was not, in fact, a real fan of metal because they missed the ever important Names Taken from Lord of the Rings section (see: Gorgoroth, Burzum, Amon Amarth, Amon Din, Crebain, Isengard and so on and so forth), but it is, in and of itself, a very excellent flowchart which demonstrates just how awesome metal naming conventions really are. Also, complete with inverted pentagram. (Cick the picture below to get it to open in a new tab/window.)
