In the early 1990s, black metal music developed in Norway, the cold land of Northern Europe, which is regarded as the birthplace of black metal, such as Mayhem (Mutilation), Darkthrone ( Bands such as Darkthrone, Burzum, Enslaved, Immortal, Emperor, and Ulver dominated the world of black metal; in addition, Poland's Graveland was also The most famous Nordic band outside of Norway.
The logos of black metal bands are often an upside-down cross, a five-pointed star with the top pointing down, Mjollnir (Mjollnir), the god of thunder in Norse mythology, and a Celtic cross. These symbols symbolize Worship of Satan, but also to prove that they are not the Lamb of God. The members of the band painted horrifying facial makeup, such as smearing their faces to look like corpses, as if they were from hell, and when they played wildly and roared like the god of death, what you felt was not only shock, but also There is more sadness, and only when you are deeply involved can you truly understand the moving melody hidden in the heaviness and darkness; dark metal music has the rapid impact of speed metal rock, and also has the connotation of classical music. deep.
The Mayhem band is one of the pioneers of Norwegian black metal music. It was founded in 1983. The earliest band members were fans of the Venom band. The Mayhem band did not publish many records in the 1980s. "Deathcrush" (Deathcrush), published in 1987, is considered to be the album that formed the prototype of modern black metal. In 1991, Mayhem's lead singer Dead (meaning "death") cut the arteries in his throat and wrists and shot himself in the head. Half of his head was blown off by the bullet. This is Norwegian black metal. A famous tragic incident in the world, and the photo of Dead's body became the cover of the band's album "The Dawn of the Black Hearts". In 1993, another tragedy occurred in the Mayhem band. Guitarist Euronymous (Death Son) was stabbed nineteen times and died by bassist Count Grishnak (also the founder of Burzum). The latter was sentenced to twenty-one years in prison. , this incident led to the band's disbandment. Mayhem's style is pure black metal music, and it also has very strong characteristics of brutal black metal. "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" is their most classic album, published in 1993. The guitarist It was Euronymous who was stabbed to death in the same year. Primitive, wild, cruel, and chaotic are the perfect words to describe the music of this album. From beginning to end, there is the fierce and heavy monotonous percussion of the drums and the distorted manic noise of the guitar, which makes people unable to breathe and also There are evil, cold and weird singing that are tearing apart, making people fall into a whirlpool of fear. The record consists of eight songs: "Funeral in the Mist", "Ice Moon", "Eternal Damnation", "Pagan Terror", "Immortal Life", "From the Dark Past", "In Time and Buried in Dust" and "The Mysterious Cathedral of Sashanas".
Darkthrone, one of the most important early bands in the Norwegian black metal scene, was founded in 1986. Their music is full of original flavor and strong aggression, and they are famous for their extremely radical ideas. ——They promote evil and hatred, advocate death, and claim that their music is created for death, so they are criticized by the world. But Darkthrone played a pioneering role in the development of black metal music from early styles to modern styles, and they are also one of the black metal bands with the highest artistic achievements.
In 1991, Darkthrone brought extreme and primitive impact to people with their second album "A Blaze in the Northern Sky" (A Blaze in the Northern Sky), followed by the album "Under A Funeral Moon" , the music is more extreme, the mood is gloomy, the singing is miserable, and the content promotes death; in this record, they thanked a terrorist organization in Brazil that engages in street assassinations. In 1994, "Transylvanian Hunger" (Transylvanian Hunger, Transylvanian is a region in western Romania) was published. This is an album called "full of Satanic melodies", and the music is absolutely destructive. He has been accused of having Nazi tendencies. Then, the next year, they brought the terrifying Panzerfaust.
Burzum, another famous early black metal band in Norway, was established between 1990 and 1991. In addition to having the same pure black and original characteristics as Darkthrone, their music embodies more intense emotions and expounds on life. The endless pain in it is permeated with more profound thoughts, like thinking in the dark, and in later works, the style is often not limited to the black metal music style.
One of the founders of Burzum is the legendary Count Grishnak (meaning "dark light", formerly known as Varg), who brought a deep hatred of Christ and the Scandinavian god of war. His fanatical worship of Odin led to the burning of churches one after another in Norway, and the non-stop violence eventually led to him being jailed for killing the guitarist of the band Mayhem (this time The incident has been described previously). The Burzum band's debut album "Darkness" (Burzum) published in 1991 is a pagan hymn, with the lead singer's extremely heretical death tune, which makes people feel trapped in the cold darkness; among them, "Dark Medieval Castle" is a An excellent piece of purely instrumental ambient music. In 1992, Burzum published the single "Aske" (Aske) and the second album "Det Som Engang Var", which continued the style of the first album. The cover of "Aske" was the remains of a burned-down church. wall. In 1993, Burzum released his third album "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss". It was a record with only four songs. The first and last two songs were nearly fifteen minutes long. The fourth song "Tomhet" has a simple style. Purely instrumental, the music is very beautiful. After Count Grishnak was imprisoned in 1993, he still continued his creation. "Filosofem" published in 1996 developed the style of "Tomhet" in the previous album. The musical language became more simple, and instrumental music occupied an absolute proportion, often Use the noise played by an electric guitar to accentuate a single melody. "Balder's Dod" in 1997 further developed the minimalist style, the music is more romantic, and some tracks have the characteristics of medieval music, mysterious and beautiful, and they are all purely instrumental music, which makes people feel that it is no longer black metal music.
About the time when Burzum was founded, two more bands, Immortal and Enslaved, appeared in the Norwegian black metal scene. Immortal's music style leans towards traditional primitive black metal, with a Scandinavian mysterious atmosphere. It is dark metal music full of destructive brutality and blood. The lead singer's voice is evil and provocative, and the guitar playing is noisy and Noisy, the beating of the drums is rapid and brutal. Immortal's famous albums are "Pure Holocaust" in 1993 and "Blizzard Beasts" in 1997. Among them, "Pure Holocaust" is an outstanding classic of black metal music. Enslaved's creations are based on the myths and legends of the Vikings.
The Vikings were alien warriors who galloped on the North Atlantic in the Middle Ages. They drove leather rowing boats and survived in constant plunder and battles. They were called barbarians by the European kingdoms at that time and were extremely feared. Enslaved's music emphasizes the early Germanic pirate culture, pursuing cruelty and domineering; their most famous albums are "Eld" (Norwegian, Fire) published in 1997 and "Blood for Blood" published in 1998 》(Blodhemn).
In 1991, the Emperor band, known as the "King of Black Metal", was formed. They began to try new styles and techniques and further developed Norwegian black metal music; their most prominent experiment was in pure darkness. Metal has infused symphonic elements, focusing on building momentum, with keyboard instruments occupying a prominent position and beginning to focus on the melody of the music. In 1994, their first album "In The Nightside Eclipse" has become a classic of black metal. The music is noisy and manic with a desolate melody hidden in it, and the synthesized symphony-like sound is broad and magnificent. The lead singer's singing is explosive and impactful, showing a terrifying picture that shocks the soul when darkness falls; this album has eight works in total, giving people the feeling of being completed in one go: "Falling into Endless Thoughts", "Ignite" "Shadows of Silence", "The secret of the universe that gave me creation and time", "The vast forests of distant lands", "The coming gods", "The majesty of the night sky", "I am the wizard of darkness" ” and “The Devil Within.”
Violence always seems to favor Norwegian black metal bands, and Emperor is no exception. In 1994, drummer Faust was imprisoned for murder, and the band had to reform. After experiencing various setbacks, Emperor finally established his dignity as a king. In 1997, the epic "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" (Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk) was published, which contains ten works including an overture and a finale. The overture "The Oath" begins with a cold and beautiful melody played by keyboard instruments and the faint call of night birds. It puts people in a mysterious and dark realm, and the music is like the silent dense forests of the Scandinavian mountains. The mist floating in the depths is eerie and cold, and then enters the second song "Ye Entrancemperium" without interruption amid the medieval horns and war drums. The following tracks are: "Thus Spoke the Soul of the Night", "Disrupted" "Magic", "The Loss of the Majestic Curse", "Hail of the Shackles", "I Burn with the Power", "The Lost One", "The Soul in Desire" and the finale "The Devil's Opera". The whole album gives people a sense of psychedelia and desolation, especially the drums beating at crazy speeds, which create an extremely violent effect. The content of the songs is the fantasy of ancient religions and the description of nature. The finale is like a A symphony focused on the inner world, this dark epic ends with the tolling of bells. Regarding this album, the American "Extreme Metal" magazine commented: "In their magnificent movements with explosive effects, we can feel the incongruous human sorrow." The British "Horror" magazine said it As the "King of Blood".
After "Hymn to the Evening Sky" which symbolized the pinnacle of their artistic career, Emperor began a new attempt. They published "IX Equilibrium" in 1999 , incorporating more elements of traditional metal music, such as not using a pure black metal singing method, and keyboard instruments not occupying a dominant position. It does not seem as violent as previous albums, but enhances the color of fantasy, but it is still thrilling and unstoppable. Denial, Emperor once again leads the trend of black metal music with this groundbreaking record.
Ulver is one of the most interesting metal bands in Norway. They are known for their diverse styles. They started out with a pure black metal style, and later tried various types of music such as folk, electronic, and ambient experimentalism. Now they They're not a metal band anymore.
Among its three most famous albums, only "Nattens Madrigal" has a primitive black metal style. It can be described as rough, manic, and tragic. It is a hymn dedicated to human wolves and includes eight tracks: "Wolf and Fear", "Wolf and Demon", "Wolf and Hatred", "Wolf and Man", "Wolf and Moon", "Wolf and Passion", "Wolf and Destiny" and "Wolf and Night". Another album "Bergtatt" (meaning bound by a spell) does not use black metal singing, but is sung with a clean voice. It is a Viking black metal style and consists of five chapters. The most striking feature of the Ulver band is the appropriate use of classical guitar solos. The above two albums have many outstanding guitar solo passages. In the purely folk-style album "Kveldssanger" (Kveldssanger), the guitar lead track Taking up most of the space, thirteen beautiful pieces of music exuding natural brilliance lead people into a tranquil, mysterious, cold, and dark atmosphere.