Many metalheads associate Norwegian black metal with church arson and murder. But not all TNBM is prone to such dark acts. Filled with broad, over-the-top concepts like philosophy, space and nature, Borknagar brings a melodic and epic viking-influenced element to their black metal that few others in the genre dare to attempt.
Officially released in the U.S. yesterday, Borknagar’s 9th studio album, Urd, has a very literal Earth theme. Before even hearing one track, the sullen faces carved into stone that you see on the album cover evoke imagery of ancient forests, soil and man’s hunter/gatherer connections to the past. (That, and maybe a few flashbacks to elements 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, if you’re anything like me.) For your chance to win a copy of this new record, tell us in the comments below about the album that most evokes thoughts of Earth and/or nature for you. This contest will run until midnight on Tuesday, April 3rd. To be eligible to win, you must have a mailing address in the continental U.S. or Canada.
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Agalloch’s The Marrow of the Spirit is the one album that really captures nature and the earth, to me.
Another Marrow the Spirit lover? *high five*
I think that Waldgefluester’s Femundsmarka is the perfect musical representation of nature, the album feels old and cryptic, but has enough beauty that anyone can easily relate to it. Plus the album was entirely inspired by the musician’s walk across a forest in Germany. Definitely worth checking out.
I guess probably Ulver’s “Kveldssanger,” at least as it relates to like Vikingy Earth, as in the above review. It really sounds like wood and stone and dirt and old tradition. But also, if you are ever deep in a cave without other people, it’s really, really silent. So maybe John Cage.
Isole – Bliss Of Solitude. Conjures images of the most desperate and beautiful kind of nature to me.
May sound cliche, but the first thought in my head was Earth’s “Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method”. Anything by Barn Owl is fitting as well. Twangy drone.
I’m going to have to go with Arcturus “Aspera Hiems Symfonia.” When I went off to college in the mountains, it took on a whole new meaning for me. Driving around with my friend (who at that time was a new Arcturus convert) in the dead of winter in the mountains with nothing but the night sky was epic.
I would say this even if the giveaway wasn’t for an album by this band–I’ve got to go with Borknagar’s “The Olden Domain”. I can feel the frost, bark, and moss oozing from my speakers when I listen to that album.
Gojira’s From Mars to Sirius does a great job of bringing out the sounds of the ocean and water in the form of metal music.
Was thinking same thing… nice.
Pretty much anything by Wolves in the Throne Room, but I’ll go with Diadem. Mantle, Ashes or Marrow by Agalloch all conjure the grandeur and mystery of nature. But of course Cascadian BM does not exist.
Moonsorrow’s latest album: Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa. It’s not just the sounds of the last humans on Earth wandering and slowly dying out in the wintery wilderness you hear during the interlude tracks. The entire sonicscape is so large and vast and beautiful. It evokes the same feelings in me as when I try to digest the fathomless, starry distances of space.
give it to that ^ guy
This will probably sound strange but for me it’s Kyuss’ Welcome to Sky Valley. I live in the SoCal desert myself, like the dudes in Kyuss, and I love the harsh and barren landscape. To others it feels unwelcoming, but to me there’s no other place more home-like. When I hear the slow, epic grooves of songs like Gardenia and Odyssey or the cascading riffs of Supa Scoopa and Whitewater I can just imagine myself in the midst of desert with Joshua Trees and brush all around me, or speeding down the highway on the cover. The music is slow, like the desert, but it’s also powerful and irresistible in a way. I think the feeling must be something you have to live in the desert to experience.
I live in England so I’m not eligible but for me it’s maybe Wardruna’s Gap var Ginnunga. Such an earthy and natural record. Either that or Myrkgrav’s Trollskau, skrømt og kølabrenning. Taking a walk in the hills with that in your ears is brilliant. Lastly, Mellom Skogkledde Aaser by Kampfar.
I’m going to say Mournful Congregation’s Book of Kings and here’s why:
To me, a ton of metal (especially black metal) addresses some aspect of nature lyrically, but the actual music is often the sonic antithesis of it: guitars sound like buzz saws, drums like machine guns, etc. On the flip side, when the music makes me think of nature, it tends to embody only the inhospitable and adversarial side (as evidenced by ‘The Five Most Metal Places on Earth’ post). I.E., there’s not a lot of metal that musically makes me want to be outside. At all.
For me, BOK visits all of nature’s faces though. The foreboding opening section of the first track covers the arduous journey up the mountain, but then subsides and provides ample time to enjoy the majestic view from the top as well.
The whole album feels sonically huge like that; the songs are crushing one moment, then pastoral or buoyant the next. They take their time to breath, and the seemingly glacial pace with which they expand and contract suggests to me that they exist on their own timescale, one that will far outlast the listener.
Coven- Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls. No explanation. It just does.
It’s really hard to come up with a better example than Agalloch. Marrow of the Spirit is a good answer, but The Mantle has my vote.
Writing from Berlin, so I’m not eligible either, but I just wanted to weigh in with Drudkh’s Autumn Aurora–majestic natural BM par excellence.
Journey to Ixtlan’s s/t record sounds like the desert landscape on its cover, much more so than any Kyuss-inspired record I’ve heard. Spare, sun-baked, reveberating canyons of doom, crawling with all manner of reptiles and strange little mammals. At night, a group of half-naked, war-painted ne’er-do-wells light a bonfire, gather in a circle, and eat peyote.
This might be an obvious choice, but I’m going with Mastodon’s Blood Mountain. Although they have basically described it as the Earth element in their short run of element-themed albums, I would argue that they incorporated the theme into the songs themselves and not just the more obvious artwork and lyrics. The production feels earthy and crunchy to me, while stories of mountainous expeditions and dangerous encounters with wild cavemen and hunters unfold before the mini-journeys of songs. I dig it.
WITTR would probably be my second choice though.
Isis – In the absence of truth.
For me it’s Morgion’s Cloaked by Ages, Crowned in Earth.
I find Ulver’s first three albums very connected to the Earth, however, Bergtatt encompasses the whole experience for me. Where Kveldssanger seemed more ritualistic and Nattens Madrigal more primal, Bergtatt encompasses the entire spectrum- beauty and malice. Plus there’s a recording of a man running in the snow for like three minutes with a piano backing him; I’ve listened to this album at least a hundred times, and not once does that lack in impact. I want this fucking album buried with me.
“Ocean Machine – Biomech” is the perfect reminder of “oceanic soundscapes”
SYL’s “City” is the perfect “urban chaos” illustration
Sepultura’s “Chaos AD” reminds me of fuel-stinking tracked excavators ripping through outskirts of rainforests.
Agalloch’s “The Marrow of the Spirit” has an entirely earthy musk to each listen.
Alcest’s “Écailles de lune” and “Souvenirs d’un autre monde” are the pinnacle of childhood fantasy worlds, the innocence of a blank page that we’ve lost forever at/after puberty…
Tiamat’s “Wildhoney” is the one which throughout the full length of the voyage evokes dusk at the country-side while insects and small animals ready themselves for the imminent obscurity, in the ominent shadow from a sprawling city not too far…
“”Sepultura’s “Chaos AD” reminds me of fuel-stinking tracked excavators ripping through outskirts of rainforests.”"
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Yuuuuuuuuup. Was on my list.
Narnia “Desert Land” for you power metal junkies. Lands End “Terra Serranum” or Chain “Reconstruct” for you prog frogs on IO.
Gojira’s Way of All Flesh for me. It discusses the corruption of nature through our greed but it also gets into the nature of mankind and our place in the grand scheme of things.
Earth’s The Bees Made Honey In the Lion’s Skull is an exemplary release that best captures thoughts of nature for me. I love the organic jazz, bluesy, rock instrumentation throughout the album. The sounds on this album capture themes of life, death, struggle, strength, decomposition and continuance. In other words, one organism’s death and decomposition leads to another organism’s survival, as the cover depicting a colony of bees thriving in a rotting lion’s skull amidst an otherwise lush and fertile setting. Listening to this period of Earth works in any natural setting, whether it is alone in the middle of the desert, or during an otherwise tumultuous snowstorm. The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull works best for me when I am alone, in silence and I can let my mind wander. This is not an album where you listen to one or two tracks at a time. Rather, The Bees Made Honey In the Lion’s Skull is best consumed in its entirety from start to finish. Roughly 12 years ago a Psychology professor once told my Introductory to Psychology class that life is difficult and a constant challenge, and that furthermore, to think otherwise is foolish. The Bees Made Honey In the Lion’s Skull, without speaking a single syllable captures the haunting, sometimes bleak, beautiful challenges associated with Earth and nature.
Korpiklaani’s TERVASKANTO does it for me… It’s less happy than alot of their stuff and just kinda feels a little dark and earthy. I’m not very good at describing emotions… But yeah.
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“”Never gonna give up my rugged life,
never sell my infertile soil.
Never gonna give up this simple style,
let’s drink and enjoy.”"
who won the fucking contest? and which aspect of earth you fuken lutherans.