norway

Black Hole Generator is a two-man band from Bergen, Norway, consisting of Bjørnar Nilsen and Dreggen, whose collective resumes include Grimfist, Aeternus, Deathcon, and Vulture Industries. Black Karma (on Ars Magna) is the band’s debut EP, with five tracks of menacing industrial black metal. Of course, the first reference point for this kind of stuff […]

Note to black metal bands: when playing live, turn down your damn kicks! We know you can play blastbeats. We came to hear some cold atmosphere, not a never-ending barrage of kick drums. If we wanted that, we’d go hear techno. I recently saw Keep of Kalessin open for Satyricon, and though the performance was […]

“This is Satanic black metal,” hisses Trondr Nefas to kick off Urgehal‘s new album, Goatcraft Torment (on Agonia Records). Well, no shit, Sherlock. I suppose there’s some Christian black metal out there, but the vast majority of black metal inverts its crosses. But while Urgehal doesn’t break any new ground, the band offers a solid, […]

I recently saw Vreid open for Enslaved. They killed it, as did Enslaved. The pairing was apt, as both play black metal but stray from the blueprint – Vreid with rock influences and Enslaved with prog leanings. CD’s are expensive here in Germany (for this album, I paid 15 euro, which is considered cheap), but […]