Silver Medals

Fifteen black metal recordings from bands on the list that almost made the cut.

Thesis here is a simple: I mentioned that there were records that almost beat out the ones I’d posted, but didn’t. But it was so close that I felt like taking a moment to have a nice cup of tea on a 95 degree day and go through them. Just to over-explain it a bit: these are all recordings from bands who’d made my Top 100 where I had some difficulty choosing between what actually was on the list and what might have been.

So, bands who made the list but different recordings that I almost used instead. I just realized how fucking bad I am at explaining this idea.

No order.

Svartsyn “The True Legend” (both the original and re-recording)

Generally, unless it’s a song here or there, re-recordings tend to feel like empty cash grabs or do the whole George Lucas thing and create a new product that is deeply flawed and adds nothing anyone asked for. So, when it’s done right it’s like a fucking unicorn. Svartsyn reworked their debut “The True Legend” in 2012, keeping some of the original tracks while adding new vocals, a heavier production and more guitar. And it’s fucking great. It gives the old songs a really visceral feeling, much more of a punch and I tend to go back to this over the original.

That said, I still remember picking up the original at the 2000 “Under the Black Sun” fest, based on how much I was obsessed with their “Tormentor” 7 inch (which did make it into my top 20) and was pretty surprised by how different it was. The original has more of an etheral production to it, with distant vocals in a different cadence from how Ornias would sound on later recordings. It’s absolutely great and I wish they would allow the original version to be released on vinyl one day.

This is a rare case where both versions add something entirely different to the music and are very much both worth listening to at different moods.

Thy Serpent “Death”

“Forests of Witchery” barely edged this one out, but “Death” might be the most underrated record in their catalog. The production is the best they had during their original run, both dense and open enough to hear the nuance in the songs. The clarity of the bass also really adds to the overall atmosphere. Admittedly, I didn’t even hear this until around 2013, but it became a favorite upon first listen.

Verloren “In Zalvand Onmin”

Babylon Doom Cult Records did a great service to the underground by giving this album a proper vinyl reissue a few years ago. Verloren continue the road they began on their 2004 demo, perhaps a bit more focused, and created one of the finest black metal records ever, in my opinion. Intense, self-despising black metal, with memorable riffs and very fucking powerful vocals. A perfect album.

Gorgoroth “Under the Sign of Hell” & “Under the Sign of Hell 2011”

Like Svartsyn above, there was really no reason to re-record “Under the Sign of Hell” and I’ve caught endless strays for having this opinion but both of them are, to me, equally great and different experiences. I’m sure I’ll hear about this but, fuck you, as an adult I’m allowed to decide what I listen to.

“Under the Sign of Hell” was a huge deal for me when it was released, because it took the formula of the previous two and threw a few shovel fulls of grave dirt on it. The filthier production combined with Pest’s strange vocals just gave it a feeling of a night time burial.

The 2011 re-recording sounds like shit. The drums have an overly emphasized click to them, the guitars are very monochromatic in depth and the vocals are hoarse and dry. This is exactly why I love this record: because it truly feels like a rotting version of the original, with a body mostly made of bones and some sinew. If this was a different band, say members of the LLN, people would have a very different opinion on it I’m sure.

Judas Iscariot “Thy Dying Light”

I got this and “Of Great Eternity” in the mail the same day (the day I got my wisdom teeth pulled out in case you needed a fun fact for your next Tinder date) and gravitated towards “Of Great Eternity” initially, but some time later the long, drawn out nature of “Thy Dying Light” really grew on me. It was more of a meditation on solitude than music, the journey instead of the destination etc. It isn’t an album you just randomly throw on in the background, but one that demands deeper listening. While “The Cold Earth Slept Below” was a great debut, this one felt like the moment Andrew found and leaned into his creative voice outside of the work he’d done with Sarcophagus etc.

And if that Tinder date is going well, tell them that this is the song I played in the car over and over during my mother’s funeral procession. That will seal it for you, I promise.

Lugubrum “De Totem”

“De Totem” was the moment I realized that I could solve the problem of being unable to find a copy of a record by asking the band if I could reissue it. It started off a three release collaboration which made Lugubrum, to me, the house band on the label. While I love all three, “De Totem” is my favorite because of how it takes the “Under a Funeral Moon” sound and absolutely perverts it while keeping it as dark as possible. A twisted, weird record (not like any of their others aren’t deeply fucked up) that barely missed the slot that “De Zuivering” occupies.

Warloghe “Unlighted”

As I’ve said before, I got this, Azaghal’s “Harmageddon” and Pest’s “Hail the Black Imperial Hornsign” all at once, which was one of those experiences that stay with you your whole life, if you’re lucky. Warloghe would sound a bit different going forward, as this is more of a straight forward sort of record, which isn’t to take anything away from it because what Warloghe do on “Unlighted” they do very fucking well. One of the best examples of the foundations of the Finnish sound.

Ildjarn -their side of the split with Hate Forest

Or the “Norse” 7 inch, so another close one, but the Ildjarn side of this split-which is a pretty murky story overall on who is actually playing on it-but because it sounds so much like the Nidhogg solo stuff it earns it’s place here. I know some journalists did digging about it a few years ago but the whole story reads like a seizure. Regardless, it’s minimalism that flows beautifully into itself, with the usual Ildjarn/Nidhogg stomp and some well placed synth. I could have honestly gone with any of the non-”Landscapes” Ildjarn material, so you have that. I didn’t include the Hate Forest side since they weren’t in the initial Top 100 but their side is great, though I prefer the newer material. Perfect split. The Devil’s Elixirs and NWN! did a great job with the repress.

Vlad Tepes “War Funeral March”

The split with Belketre has more of a personal story as to why it placed above “War Funeral March” but this was a very tight one. I remember getting this tape from FMP and watching it just sort of sit in their catalog until Thorns started blowing them out at a dollar-which would have been a pretty good retirement plan to just buy the stock. “War Funeral March” is a crazed, raw experience which, at least now, is to be expected, but to be able to get another Vlad Tepes release that wasn’t an 8th gen bootleg (no eBay at the time) was great and it’s probably my favorite overall of their work.

Swordmaster “Postmortem Tales”

Vastly different from “Wraths of Time”, this one leaned more into the thrash revival that was happening at the time, while maintaining enough of their identity to keep my (very judgemental, at the time) self pleased. This is a fucking ripper of an album, earworm after earworm, and the heavier production really suited them well. Honestly, every Swordmaster record is great but their first two are the strongest.

Circle of Ouroborus “Autuala”

Another band I could have put a few up for, but “Autuala” came the closest. My album of 2022, this defines this particular era of the band in such a way that it would definitely be one of the first records I reccomended to someone brave enough to try to tackle their massive catalog. Especially side 2 of the record, every song is simply perfect.

Blut Aus Nord “Hallucinogen”

Another choice which might raise eyebrows but “Hallucinogen” is such a special album to me that it beats out everything except “Odinist.” I wrote in Decibel’s year end edition that this was the kind of record that made me jealous as a musician because it has so many ideas I wish I would have thought of. A perfect fit in between his harsher, more industrial and dark works and his “Memoria Vetusta” albums, “Hallucinogen” is a masterpiece. The first time I heard it was while driving to an overnight shift at work, around 2am with nearly zero people on the road, the perfect atmosphere to take in an album like this.

Drudkh “Handful of Stars”

It’s an act of artistic courage to go from a formula that has created some of the greatest albums of the genre and completely shift into something else without care for the consequences. “Handful of Stars” takes more from post-punk and the sort of records that shoegaze bands would create while transitioning out of the genre than the pagan black metal that Drudkh had been known for. While “Microcosmos” shifted enough to make some fans uncomfortable, “Handful of Stars” blows past that threshold entirely. It’s a beautiful album, as all Drudkh records are, with the same penchant for amazing moments that I would find myself rewinding to hear over and over again. This would be the only album they would do in this style and it doesn’t need repeated because it’s a perfect expression.

Satanic Warmaster “Strength and Honour”

The first time I heard this record was when I was staying with Andrew Harris, maybe for “The Black House” session, I don’t entirely remember the timeline. We would end up listening to it a few times a day, sometimes on repeat. My first impression was that it was the first record to capture the whole “Carpathian Wolves” sound and feel out of the dozens who’d tried. Finding out that it was one of the guys behind Pest solidified the whole thing for me and I went back to the States with a copy. An incredible debut, though he’d find more of his own voice in later releases, this still stands as one of the best records from Finland at a time when nearly everything the country produced was of high quality.

Maniac Butcher “Lučan-antikrist”

The first trade I ever did for Imperial demos to Europe was with Pussygod Records, I think like 5 copies for this album, which also came with a note from Barbarud informing me that there was another “Imperial” and I should consider a name change to stand out. I doubt he remembers any of that (or cares) but it was one of those pivotal moments (the second being an e-mail from a supposed “representative” on said band to cease and desist) that helps keep a record’s memory alive for you. I’d enjoyed “Barbarians” but this record took everything that was great there and truly pushed it forward. Stronger songwriting, a production that better suited the songs, a masterwork of Czech black metal.

So, there’s that. 15 albums (17 I guess if you’re pedantic) that came close to being on my top 100. I doubt anything here is much of a new discovery for anyone, but these are all records that deserve attention.