Transilvanian Hunger

Requested by a friend.

Transilvanian Hunger (Darkthrone, 1994)

The "OMG Ihsahn Fanboy" Post

I just want to remind you all to pick up everything by Peccatum (below), Emperor, Zyklon-B, and Ihsahn's solo project or I will hate you forever.

Peccatum

"Peccatum was formed by singer Ihriel (Heidi Solberg Tveitan), her husband Ihsahn (of the well-known black metal band Emperor), and her brother Lord PZ. The group has released five albums since their inception in 1999. Lost in Reverie, released in 2004 after Lord PZ's departure, demonstrated a change in a more classical, avant-garde and musically opaque direction.

Lost in Reverie and the 2005 EP The Moribund People were both produced under the label Mnemosyne Productions, owned and operated by Ihriel and Ihsahn themselves.

On March 4th, 2006 Peccatum split, leaving room for Ihriel to continue with Star of Ash and Ihsahn to work on his solo work." (Taken from Peccatum's last.fm page)

Peccatum play some very interesting and varied Avant-Garde Metal... I'm not quite sure how to describe them but if you like Avant-Garde, Emperor (parts of it are Blackish!), or Ihsahn's solo project you might like it or might as well give it a try. If one album doesn't do it for you, check some of the others. You can't listen to one and understand them all.

Enjoy.

Strangling From Within (1999)
Amor Fati (2000)
Oh, My Regrets EP (2000)
Lost in Reverie (2004)
The Moribund People EP (2005)

Crushing the Holy Trinity

Crushing the Holy Trinity is a set of three splits named Crushing the Holy Trinity (Father), Crushing the Holy Trinity (Son), and Crushing the Holy Trinity (Holy Spirit), made by the Black Metal bands Deathspell Omega, Stabat Master, Musta Surma, Clandestine Blaze, Mg³a, and Exordium. All the songs are in one folder here, so here is the track listing so you know how to arrange it all:

Father
1. Deathspell Omega - "Diabolus Absconditus"
2. Stabat Mater - "Above Him"

Son
1. Musta Surma - "Kalpeina Helvetin Tulessa"
2. Musta Surma - "Ruton Ruhtinas"
3. Musta Surma - "Han On Pimeys"
4. Musta Surma - "Valkeuden Hauras Tuhka"
5. Clandestine Blaze - "Intro"
6. Clandestine Blaze - "Destroyer Of Nations"
7. Clandestine Blaze - "Trophy"
8. Clandestine Blaze - "Behind The Faith"

Holy Spirit
1. Mg³a - Power And Will I
2. Mg³a - Power And Will II
3. Mg³a - Power And Will III
4. Mg³a - Power And Will IV
5. Exordium - Ei Toivottu Vieras (Intro)/Tyrannia Martyrum
6. Exordium - Craving Vehemence
7. Exordium - Unevangel

Great thanks to Michelle for uploading this for me and the rest of the dudes at Gaia, and for giving me permission to put it up on my blog. :)

Enjoy.

Crushing the Holy Trinity (2005)

Neptune Towers

Neptune Towers was an Electronica Ambient project done by Fenriz of Darkthrone. He released two albums, each containing but 2 long tracks each. The music consists spacey synth based sound scapes. If you like Electronica/Ambient or feel the need to own everything possible that is related to Darkthrone, you should check this out.

Enjoy.

Caravans To Empire Algol (1994)
Transmissions From Empire Algol (1995)

Zyklon-B

"Black Metal Project from Norway with members of Emperor, Satyricon and Dødheimsgard. Their only release was a Single with 3 tracks and 10 minutes playtime. Very fast, aggressive and atmospheric tracks about war, violence and depopulation of humanity.

Samoth: Guitars.

Frost: Drums.
Draug Aldrahn: Vocals.
Ihsahn: Keyboards.

The soundclips on the track "Warfare", are taken from Bob Larson's show "Talk
back", with Boyd Rice as a guest on that particular one." (From Zyklon-B's last.fm page)

Blood Must Be Shed consists of the songs:

1. Mental Orgasm
2. Bloodsoil
3. Warfare

Total Warfare is a remix of "Warfare" which was included on a split with Mayhem:

1. Total Warfare (Sea Serpeant Remix)

According to Metal Archives, " Zyklon-B was a delousing agent used in German prison camps during WWII, later adapted to kill prisoners in concentration camps." Pictured in the above image are (from left to right) Draug, Samoth, Ihsahn, and Frost.

Enjoy. It's kvlt.

Blood Must Be Shed EP (1995)
Total Warfare (1999)

Pain of Salvation

These guys need know introduction. Simply some of the best Prog Metal ever. All of their albums are concept albums and contain complex and well made songs full of emotion and paired with brilliant lyrics, all accompanied by Daniel Gildenlow's incredible voice.

Enjoy.

Entropia (1997)
One Hour by the Concrete Lake (1998)
The Perfect Element I (2000)
Remedy Lane (2002)
"This Heart of Mine" (2002; from Remedy Lane)*
12:5 (Live Album) (2004)
BE (2004)
Scarsick (2007)

* "This Heart of Mine," track 5 from Remedy Lane, is broken in the version I uploaded. Click the link "This Heart of Mine" to download a working version of the song.

Neglected Fields

Neglect Fields are a Technical Death Metal band hailing from Latvia (of all freaking places) who play Tech Death that ranges from intense and all over the place to something that leans on the progressive side. Their vocalist has a very unique, raspy sound that fits the music well. They're bass player kicks arse too. Not really sure what to say other than that, just check this out if you like DM.

I'd just like to note that the track listing for songs on Mephisto Lettonica is fucked up, the song order should go as follows:

1.	Solar
2.	The Spider's Kiss
3.	Whatever that Tempts
4.	Feral Garden
5.	Presentiment
6.	The Human Abstract
7.	Creaturesque
8.	Once Carcass is Cold...
9.	Outro

Also, I have no idea where the fuck "Sinesthetic" came from, but it was in the folder when I downloaded the album so I left it in. Might as well just make it track 10.

Enjoy.

Mephisto Lettonica (2000)
Splenetic (2006)

Watchmaker

There's only one way you can really describe Watchmaker: brutal fucking ass-kicking Grind. Watchmaker is anger incarnate with driving, skull-bashing music and hate-filled, demonic vocals. This is really, really damn fucking good Grind and it will tear you a new asshole and then kick you in it. I'd like to thank David for uploading this album for me.

Enjoy.

Kill.Fucking.Everyone (2004)

Thiasos Dionysos

Thiasos Dionysos is a one man Viking/Folk Metal project a man only known as Groschi. It contains both high black-like and low death-like harsh vocals used to great effect as well as many folk aspects. Everything from acoustics to harpsichords are used in the music and it creates for some awesome Viking Metal to listen to. Highly recommended to fans of Viking and Folk Metal. I'd like to thank Stranger for introducing me to the band... er... man.

Enjoy.

Satyr (2005)

Golden Dawn

Described rather acurately by Metal Archives as "Extreme Gothic Metal," Golden Dawn approaches Gothic Metal interestingly and originally with a slight touch of blackiness, as the band used to be a one man Black Metal project. The vocals range from clean male vocals that sound odd at first but ultimately fit wonderfully with the music, raspy BM growls, and beautiful female vocals. The music on each song is different and of itself with very interesting composition and an impressive use of keyboards to create all forms of sound, effect, and atmosphere. This can be seen particularly clearly on the two instrumentals in their album Masquerade. Certainly worth checking out for anyone into Gothic Metal or for anyone interested in something new.

Enjoy.

Masquerade (2003)

Disarmonia Mundi

Disarmonia Mundi is a Gothenburg Melodeath band of incredible originality, their music is full of tastefully used Electronica and, instead of the usual death growls, they make use of a powerful combonation of "Speed" Bjorn's unique vocals and beautiful clean singing. (Don't be put off by the vocals, they're mindbogglingly well done). With driving and powerful music, they make for quite the listening experiance. I suggest Fragments of D-generation for a first listen, then Nebularium and then Mind Tricks. The latter wasn't received with very critical acclaim but I find it a rad album in its own right, so don't fear checking it out.

Enjoy.

Nebularium (2002)
Fragments of D-generation (2004)
Mind Tricks (2006)

Disillusion

Disillusion is a German Progressive Metal band who, from their first demo to their first album, Back to Times of Splendor, played a blend of Melodic Death and Prog. With their latest album Gloria, though, they've changed to Progressive with many Industrial and Electronica overtones. All the band's songs are conceptual and connected to stories. The lyrics are incredibly well written and intelligent and fit well to the music that became more and more complex as their career continued. Back to Times of Splendor contains a 15 minute and an 18 minute long song, both of which manage to stay engrossing through impressive songwriting. The vocals, all of which are done by Vurtox, transfer between agressive growling and beautiful and melodic clean singing.

Disillusion are my favorite band, go listen.

Enjoy.

Red demo (1997)
Three Neuron Kings EP (2001)
The Porter Single (2002)
Back to Times of Splendor (2004)

Emperor

Emperor was one of the pioneers of the second wave of Black Metal in Norway, paving the way alongside bands such as Darkthrone, Mayhem, and Burzum. While many early Black Metal bands had more simplistic song structure, even Emperor's early work was characterized by time changes and great complexity, all amidst Emperor's character synths. Now defunct, Emperor left an imperial legacy of four albums: 1994's In the Nightside Eclipse, 1997's Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, 1999's IX Equillibrium, and 2001's Prometheus- The Discipline of Fire and Demise. The latter, Emperor's farewell album, is an incredibly complex symphonic masterpiece, a testament to Ihsahn's genius. Samoth has changed his stage name to Zamoth and is now in the Death/Black band Zyklon, Ihsahn moved on to make music with his wife Ihriel in Peccatum (now split-up) and at present Ihsahn has his own solo project (see a few posts down for his album).

In the Nightside Eclipse (1994)
Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk (1997)
Thorns vs. Emperor Split (1999)
IX Equillibrium (1999)
Prometheus- The Discipline of Fire and Demise (2001)

Green Carnation

This is a repost of my previous Green Carnation post. Added is the rest of their discography.

Green Carnation, a project of Carpathian Forest's guitarist Tchort, are an interesting band indeed. They started out playing Death metal, then went on to Doom, and are now Progressive metal with some albums being rock, even. One of their masterpieces is Light of Day, Day of Darkness, a single 60 minute and 6 second long track (the longest metal song ever recorded) which is composed of 600 different samples, resulting in an impressive and complex soundscape. Another impressive album by the band is, their latest, The Acoustic Verses, which marked the 15th anniversary of the band's creation. This album, as can be gleaned from its name, is entirely acoustic and shows a calmer, more thoughtful side of the band. It has another epic song, "9-29-045," which is 15 minutes and 28 seconds long and is split into 3 parts. Another interesting track on the album is "Alone," which is the Edgar Allen Poe poem of the same name put to music! Yeah so I just realized that everything in this post is locked except The Acoustic Verses because I got it off of the iTunes music store. I'm going to get rid of the links to those albums and will try to burn and rerip them as mp3s and then reupload them... if I don't get lazy.

Enjoy.

The Acoustic Verses (2006)

Ihsahn

This is the solo project of the legendary Ihsahn, the musical genius who fueled and added to such bands as Emperor and Peccatum. With The Adversary he once again proves his prowess by crafting a brilliant Post-Black Progressive Metal album with complex, stunning and emotional music and inspiring lyrics that encapsulate many of Ihsahn's humanistic Satanic principles. The masterful drum work on this album is done by Asgeir Mickelson of Vintersorg, Borknagar and Spiral Architect. One of the best albums of 2006 and one of my favorite albums of all time. It's worth checking out for any fan of Ihsahn's work, Black Metal, Extreme Prog, or Extreme music in general.

Enjoy.

The Adversary (2006)

UneXpect

"An ecclectic band rooted in the creative soils of Montreal,Quebec. Mixing elements of black, death, core, progressive and melodic metal ; classical, operatic, medieval, electro, ambient, psychotic, noise and circus music with an occasional jazzy touch. 7 musicians all in all. Their vocal performance range from an extreme to the other as they alternate between glorious choirs; inhuman screams of deep, high, mid-growl and delirious intensity; theatrical narrations; and clean/sober sections strewn with a female singer who's angelic voice could melt the will of the most vile corporate jerk.

Daydreamers and lunar people, the ideas traveling in their art are related to the imagination and the inherent creative power of all human beings, subjective faraway fantasy tales, trancelike sensorial exploration, undercover denunciation of social aspects and subconscious realities.

From their humble beginnings in 1996, the band saw it's share of line-up changes, as only 3 members of this period are still in the band. unexpecT then recorded a full length album called " Utopia " in 1998 which saw the day only in 1999. This first offering was critically acclaimed by many countries around the world ( from Russia to Brazil by the way of the Philippines ) with no distribution whatsoever and with internet as only support. A new era began for these sound-painters with the release of a new surreal opus called _wE, Invaders in November 2003. This EP, released on the label Galy Records in America, caused quite a positive stir with the critics and is the glorious introduction to the following album currently in progress that will smash some dull boundaries of vile standards. They are now signed on the eclectic label The End Records; a new relation that should lead their ambitions to their far reaching goalsthe future is set for a coloured ride, indeed." (From UneXpect's myspace)

Enjoy.

Utopia (1999)
_wE, invaders (2003)
In a Flesh Aquarium (2006)

Acid Bath

Acid Bath are Sludge Doom band that have a very unique sound. They're different from many Sludge bands and not at all representative of Sludge, as they have songs with no yells, acoustic songs, and a few songs that are rather speedy. With their two releases before they split up due to their bassist's death, they carved out their own unique (and brilliant) sound, combined with some truly sinister and evocative lyrics. I'm really not sure how to describe them properly, you just need to hear them for yourself... and you should.

Enjoy.

When the Kite String Pops (1994)
Paegan Terrorism Tactics (1996)

The Red Chord

" Containing members of Beyond the Sixth Seal, The Red Chord are a band from Revere, MA that play a mixture of technical death metal, grindcore, and metalcore. The band is known for its spastic rhythms similar to that of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Cryptopsy and Mastodon. Vocalist Guy Kozowyk runs the label Blackmarket Activities, home to bands such as Animosity,From A Second Story Window, Deadwater Drowning, and Ed Gein." (From last.fm)

Enjoy.

Clients [Deluxe Edition] (2005)

Yyrkoon

Yyrkoon are a Death/Thrash band hailing from France. They have dark and fantastical lyrics. Occult Medicine speaks of torture, the creation of life by the hand of man, the occult, and the rampages of hordes of abominations. Their follow up album to that, Unhealthy Opera, is based around the cliche of H.P. Lovecraft thematics. Their music is very heavy and almost feels clastrophobic. It creates a very dark and intense atmosphere. This is a good thing to atleast check out if you are a fan of Death or Death/Thrash.

Enjoy.

Occult Medicine (2004)

Diablo Swing Orchestra

The history of Diablo Swing Orchestra:

"The Diablo Swing Orchestra dates back to 1501 in Sweden, where history tells the tale of an orchestra that played like no other. With music so seductive and divine that the ensemble overwhelmed audiences all over the country, and people from all social classes took them to their hearts. Their performances rapidly earned a reputation of being feral and vigorous and gained the orchestra a devoted crowd that followed them around.

During the later half of the 16'th century the criticism against the church dictatorial ruling had intensified. Gifts and tenancies had made the church extremely wealthy, and since the money merely was used to strengthen their power the discontent among the people was growing. To many people the orchestra presented them to a new view upon things and a way to cope with everyday life.

The church witnessed how their influence over the people decreased and began to depict the orchestra as treacherous, saying their intentions were anything but righteous. The orchestras extensive use of the prohibited tritonus interval in their music as well as their excessive lifestyles was facts that were not looked mildly upon. During church services priests slandered the music saying it was an insult to Christ himself. However, when this attempt to reduce the orchestras popularity failed, the church began to use more desperate measures in order to regain its former power. The Devils orchestra became the slogan they used and the members were accused of being everything from devil worshippers to the spawn of Satan. This catchphrase eventually caught on and became the popular name of the orchestra. When even these efforts shown futile the church ultimately framed the orchestra members for a murder and a ruthless manhunt began. The following two years the orchestra lead the lives of outlaws and were forced to perform in barns and outhouses, where only a strictly limited number of people were allowed to attend. Luckily generous people provided them with food and somewhere to sleep.

In order to capture the orchestra the church issued a reward to the person that could provide such information that lead to the capture of the orchestra. The sum was so large that the orchestra, tired and weary of living as fugitives, realised that it all had come to and end. They knew that sooner or later someone would reveal their whereabouts and the decided to go down in style.
But before doing so they all signed a pact saying that their descendants were given the task of reuniting the orchestra in 500 years and continue their work of spreading thought-provoking music. Six envelopes were therefore sealed and given to trustees of the orchestra to pass on to family members.

They announced their final concert publicly as a grandeur finale. Thousands of people showed up and even though it was almost no one who could actually hear the music, the massive sing-along of the crowd granted the performance to be the most talked about in history. Thanks to the huge amount of people the orchestra was allowed to play until their last song when armed guards finally managed to storm the stage and arrest the musicians. They were sent prison and later sentenced to death by hanging.

Stockholm 2003, by mere accident two of the original orchestra descendants meet in a music shop and began to discuss music. It later shows that they both have received a strange letter from some ancient relative containing instructions on how to reunite The Devils Orchestra. They both become very excited and though some genealogy they managed to find all of the remaining successors in a period of three months.

Unfortunate all of the original scores were confiscated and burned by the church back in 1503. So music-wise the new orchestra were left with no directions on what to play. After some meticulous discussions it was agreed upon that the music should be like a modern version of the old orchestra. Annlouice was chosen to front the band, her angelic yet powerful operatic voice was perfect to bring a bombastic feeling to the music. Pontus dance-influences and programming skills came in handy since the orchestra wanted the arrangements to sound a bit more futuristic. He shares guitar duties with Daniel who also is the main composer in the band. Andy brought some groove to the mix adding powerful slapping and funk-oriented bass licks, while Andreas's energetic drumming made sure the songs are driven and pulsating. Together with Andy, he lays the solid swinging foundation of the band. Johannes's theoretical knowledge and stunning technique combined with an emotive cello-playing style made him essential to the bands sound.

Together they answer to the name of Diablo Swing Orchestra and are determined to honour the legacy of their ancestors."

All of that makes for interesting Avant-Garde Metal. A big thank you to Draomere for supplying myself and the rest of the folks over on Gaia with this album!

Enjoy.

The Butcher's Ballroom (2006)

Elvenking

Elvenking are a power/folk metal band. They have a very interesting sound, making heavy use of the violin, the usual occasional acoustic parts and, the high power metal vocals, which at times themselves have a folky aspect, sounding almost Celtic. This is certainly some excellent listening for the power metal fan or anyone willing to try something new.

Enjoy.


Heathenreel (2001)
The Winter Wake (2006)

Edguy

"With their uncomplicated easygoing melodies and Sammet's high voice, Edguy is representative of typical European power metal. Their lyrics are often metaphorical, alluding to metaphysical or social themes: conformity (The Headless Game, Mysteria, King of Fools), dictation by the church (The Kingdom, Theater of Salvation), and dangers of modern civilization (Navigator, The Devil and the Savant). To express such themes, Edguy sometimes use esoteric and hermetic expressions. Yet some of their songs are light-hearted or comedic (Das Reh, Save Us Now, Lavatory Love Machine). Edguy does not claim to represent any ideology; Tobias Sammet claimed "We are not political and we are not religious; at least there is no key message in our songs telling you what to think in terms of anything". Edguy also employs lengthy and epic sections in almost every album." (From wikipedia)


The King of Fools EP contains the song "Holy Water" which cannot be found elsewhere, and the Lavatory Love Machine Single has the acoustic version of the eponymous song, so check those out too.

Enjoy.

Mandrake (2001)
Lavatory Love Machine Single (2004)
Rocket Ride (2006)

Borknagar

Borknagar is a unique band, playing epic extreme progressive/black metal. As The BNR Metal Pages says, "The band forgoes the simplistic blastbeats and shrieking typical of the early black metal bands, instead opting for a more majestic black metal sound ("epic metal" as Brun himself has described the style)." Quintessence marks Borknagar's last album with I.C.S. Vortex as vocalist, before he decided that Dimmu Borgir would be his main band, and has very epic music that is aggressive while still retaining the feel of a powerful soundscape that isn't too in your face and remains thoughtful in its own way. With Empiricism Vintersorg joined the line-up as the new vocalist, bringing his own unique touch to the band. Their most recent album (unreleased at the time of this post...) is acoustic, unlike Borknagar's other fare, and is very much a folk (acoustic) metal album.

Enjoy.

Empiricism (2001)
Origin (2006)

Leviathan

Leviathan is a one man USBM project done made by Wrest. Leviathan's music is very slow, atmospheric, and downright creepy. Many of the tracks are long Howl Mockery at the Cross are long and they go through many shifts, resulting in disturbing soundscapes. Wrest's vocals are almost indescribable. It's as if they hiss and slither and push themselves forcefully from his throat and it just adds to the already eerie music. Howl Mockery at the Cross is a best of/compilation album, not be to be mistaken for the 2001 demo of the same name.

Enjoy.

Howl Mockery at the Cross (2005)

Windmills by the Ocean

"WINDMILLS BY THE OCEAN is the title of a recently unearthed recording from August 2003, the sole output of Boston natives Mike Davis, Dave Dunbar, Brooke Gillespie, Bryant Clifford Meyer and Thos Niles. Since the project's beginning and end, the creators have moved on to form such bands as 27, ANODYNE, ISIS, and RED SPAROWES, but the relevancy of this intense recording can be most appreciated now, three years after it's conception. The variety and depth to this (mostly) instrumental music documentation reaches far beyond those of any mere side-project, and the heavy-music genres are in dire need of something refreshing. These rock-based songs incorporate so many elements of "drone" the group could almost reside next to their celestial forefathers SUNN and EARTH, except with more melody... and drums. However, the usage of keyboard and electronic elements alongside several guitars make the album more comparable to SIGUR ROS than BLACK SABBATH, but without compromising any of the heavy metal elements the members have become most-known for. The additional usage of improvisation and mild repetition allows the listener to relax into a slow headbang across five songs that each surpass the six-minute mark. But what makes this album most impressive is the triumphant, anthemic feel to it, especially considering the group never even made it to the live setting. An important period of musical evolution is captured here, and Robotic Empire is proud to present it to you." (Amazon.com)

Enjoy.

Windmills by the Ocean (2003)

Ildjarn

The now split-up Ildjarn, a one man project by Vidar Vaaer (otherwise known as... Ildjarn), hailed from Norway and it shows. Ildjarn is pure Norweigan Black Metal to the core, with a production that makes other raw BM sound like Dimmu Borgir. This stuff is artful and immersive, but only if you don't mind horrible (Raw BM fans, read: excellent) production. Det Frysende Nordariket is a 25 song compolation of material from Ildjarn's early demos.

Enjoy.

Det Frysende Nordariket (1995)

Cronian

Cronian is a side project by Vintersorg (the man) and Øystein G. Brun, both of Borknagar. Cronian is extreme progressive metal that sounds almost like Borknagar gone arctic. The music sounds very icy, as was the intent, and has an excellent mood to it. When I bought the CD, it came with a sticker on the front that said "A challenging personal journey of the soul awaits you!" See for yourself. This is a must for any big fan of Borknagar or Vintersorg (both the guy and the band).

Enjoy.

Terra (2006)

Vintersorg

"The origins of Vintersorg the band come from a band called Vargartron in 1994. The band eventually folded, but Vintersorg (the man) decided to continue with some of the band ideas, and so Vintersorg the band was born. Mostly a one-man project with only a couple of guests helping out (though guitarist Mattias Marklund is now considered an official full member), the Vintersorg style is epic, post-black metal, with occasional folk influences. Vintersorg's midrange vocals are unique (the closest comparison might be Dan Swano's clean/non-death style), he is a fine vocalist and a very good songwriter, as the songs have none of the self-indulgence one might expect from a one-man band." (From The BNR Metal Pages)

Visions from the Spiral Generator (2002)

Enjoy.

For other Vintersorg albums see DKM's Metal Tomb.

Welcome to The Clocktower.

This is FC's music media blog! Check back now and then, I'll try and upload regularly.