MetalSucks

While Anthrax, Testament, Heaven and Hell and motherfucking Motorhead are among the most anticipated bands that metal pilgrims are converging on western Germany to see, it would appear that my favored people, those crafty Norwegians, also have a few things planned for the mayhem. While Enslaved will be appearing (and hopefully represented on a good stage, because you know they fucking deserve it) some others are teaming up with foreigners in combinations that are hard to ignore.

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More often than not we’re making of fun of black metal on MetalSucks, but that’s because black metal this good don’t come ’round these parts too often. Ya see, when a press release came across my e-desk announcing that Swedish black metallers Rimfrost had signed with Season of Mist Records I just had to click through the link to listen, if only because pretty much everything Season of Mist has released in the past year has been top fucking notch (see: Cynic + all of these bands). Since that fateful click-through decision I’ve literally been listening to the 5 songs Rimfrost have on their MySpace page on repeat all week.

Without getting too involved in micro-genre labeling or band comparisons, Rimfrost’s sound can be described thusly: they’d make fine touring partners with Enslaved, Keep of Kalessin and Nachtmystium. Do with that information what you will; ridiculous photo and sub-zero butt-hole-licking band name aside, Rimfrost are really fucking good.

-VN

[Rimfrost on MySpace]

So many of you have e-mailed us this week to instruct us to post news about the fact that Opeth and Enslaved are touring together that I’m fairly certain posting news about the fact that Opeth and Enslaved are touring together is a complete waste of time; I mean, clearly, everyone and their mother is already aware of this tour.

I’m not saying this isn’t an awesome package – clearly, it is – I’m just saying, you’ve all sent us the news and the tour dates, so what can we tell you that you don’t already know? How about this: we will be at the show at the Starland Ballroom in NJ, and we will be high. Actually, you probably knew that already, too.

I’m putting tour dates after the jump, although I don’t for the life of me know why.

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In my ongoing attempt at journalistic integrity (haha!), I’ve been re-listening to the albums on my 2008 year-end short list to determine how on earth I’m going to whittle down so many awesome metal albums to just 10. During yesterday’s subway ride to and from Manhattan, my iPod pumped the sweet, sweet sounds of Enslaved’s latest opus of psychadelic blackness into my eardrums, and man… Vertebrae is one fucking solid album! (and apparently Axl agrees)

In perhaps a subtle hint from the metal Gods that Vertebrae should end up higher on the list than it otherwise might have, the band of leather-clad Norwegians dropped a new video today for the song “The Watcher;” and this shit is fucking epic. Look, it’s damn near impossible in this day and age to completely avoid some level of cliche in a metal music video, but director Patric Ullaeus has done a pretty fine job. Except for the lame-o dude in the chains.

-VN

2008 has been a fucking great year for metal, and in due time — Monday, Dec. 15, to be exact — Axl, myself and the rest of the writers of MetalSucks will all release our Top 10 year-end lists so you can incessantly argue over which great album was left off or tell us we’re assholes for ranking a certain album higher than it should’ve been.

But for now, ya’ll can argue about something else: here’s my personal short/working list for said year-end list containing all of my favorite metal releases from this year as well as a few that aren’t likely to make my own list but will surely be appearing on others’. Feel free to pipe in with your thoughts or to notify us of any egregious omissions before we put together our final, ordered lists. Regardless, it is going to be really fucking hard to pick just 10 of these and put them in order of awesomeness.

And, my favorite metal records of 2008 in no particular order are…

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Enslaved cancel North American tour.

That sound you hear is Axl and me whimpering in the corner.

-VN

The United States has a brilliant new President in Mr. Barack Obama, and here we are debating whether or not Christians can make tr00 black metal. What can I say? Here are some other things that happened this week:

• We debuted new music from The Giraffes.
• Marilyn Manson splits with young, ghostly-looking female, contemplates future life (hint: it probably involved another ghostly-looking female 20 years his junior).
• Mastodon divulge some details about their new album (hint: lots of drugs had to have been involved).
• Sammy O’Hagar interviewed Enslaved’s Grutle Kjellson and Vince went Jew on Jew with Daath’s Eyal Levi.
• Deftones bassist Chi Cheng was in a tragic car accident and remains in a coma. Godspeed.
• Stoner legends Sleep announce reunion shows; as Led Zep contemplates life without Robert Plant, we pray to God that decision doesn’t spawn a Creed reunion.

Til Monday…

Since its inception in the late ‘80s, black metal has been one of the most rigid genres in terms of evolution and change. While bands like Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, and Behemoth trumpet the genre through its larger than life, orchestral origins, black metal’s “elite” have gained their notoriety through either a) being a part of the original church-burning generation and altering their sound as little as possible or b) miming the original church-burning generation as closely as possible, right down to the tape hisses and wall of buzz saw guitars. But after nearly two decades of existence and reverence in the metal and music worlds as a whole, many bands have moved away from their restrictive lo-fi roots and come to embrace different influences, resources, and inspirations. The band that has best exemplified this move from their base to the outer limits is Enslaved, one of Norway’s longest running black metal bands. Before American upstarts Nachtmytsium made it cool to melt your Burzum and Pink Floyd records together, Enslaved were dabbling in the dark power of psychedelia on Below the Lights and ISA. Though those who take black metal seriously insist that sticking to their guns has been the key to longevity, its shifts in sounds and ideologies has been what’s kept it alive. Those shifts have been most solidly illustrated by Enslaved, and has resulted in one of the most impressively consistent discographies in metal, right up through their latest genre-bending triumph Vertebrae.

Grutle Kjellson, Enslaved’s bass player and lead vocalist, has been with the band since the beginning. In an interview he was kind enough to grant MetalSucks via phone from his home in Norway, he talks about the importance of looking forward creatively, what influenced Vertebrae, working with longtime bandmate Ivar Bjornson in Enslaved and their experimental metal side project Trinacria, the overall importance of Pink Floyd on his band’s sound, and the fans that only want to hear songs off of their early ‘90s demos at their shows.

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Is it too early to get excited about a tour that doesn’t even kick off ’til May? Not when the tour is Enslaved, Keep of Kalessin and Swallow the Sun. Truth be told, I’m not as familiar with KOK (say it aloud for a cheap giggle) as I oughta be, but Vince has been raving about them to me for months, and Enslaved and Swallow the Sun are both awesome. So, consider this the first tour of ‘09 that I’m already stoked about.

Complete itinerary after the jump, or, as the French call it, le jump:

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It’s funny to think that Enslaved’s new slab of intricate psychedelic black metal Vertebrae comes out in the U.S. today because we’ve had it, like, forever, but… apparently Enslaved’s new album Vertebrae comes out in the U.S. today. If for some reason you don’t have this record yet because you don’t have the Internet… oh wait, nevermind. This thing’s been out in the rest of the world for over a month and it leaked over the summer (thank you record labels who stick to archaic international release schedules!), so you’ve no doubt heard it already, right?

If not, you’re really missing out. We’ve blogged about its awesomeness ad nauseam and Sammy O’ Hagar even gave it a nifty-fifty four out of five horns review. So what are you waiting for? Now U.S. citizens can [legally] join in on the fun, too. At the very least, give the band a shot on their MySpace page.

-VN

How good is Enslaved’s new record Vertebrae? If Sammy O’Hagar’s glowing review or our commenters’ “album of the year” pleas didn’t sway you to at least give it a whirl, the folks at Terrorizer have made it really easy for you to decide for yourself whether the latest from Norway’s psychedelic black metal kings lives up to the hype: listen to the entire thing online for free, for a limited time.

Vertebrae drops on September 29th in Europe and October 28th in North America on Indie Recordings.

-VN

The chill of fall is in the air but the gossip mill never cools off at the MetalSucks Mansion. This week’s notables and quotables included:

• Original guitarist Peter Wichers returned to Soilwork and ex-At All Cost guitarist Mike Carrigan replaced Kris Norris in Darkest Hour; we rejoiced that great Soilwork music will once again be made and that Mike’s got a job. But the good was tempered by the bad as Christian Alvestam left Scar Symmetry and Spineshank reunited. There is no justice.
• Winds of Plague’s Kristen Randall showed the world her bewbs!
• We reviewed solid new albums by Into Eternity, Enslaved and All Shall Perish, and waxed ecstatic about Burst, Vince’s new proverbial wet dream.
• New videos from The Human Abstract and Amon Amarth are unbelievably epic.
• A scandal erupted involving the audio quality of Death Magnetic, alternate Guitar Hero mixes, and the now infamous “Better, Shorter, Cut” abridged edition.
• Vince & Axl [almost] reveal their true identities.

See ya next week.

Enslaved have arguably aged the best when considering the first wave of Norwegian black metal. The band began as a prototypical (and arguably incredibly bland) Viking-themed black metal group that, as the outfit’s members and the genre aged, evolved into what they are now: a progressive black metal band in the truest sense, pushing the boundaries of what can be black metal and why we shouldn’t care whether something is black metal or not. Though there is (ironically) some warmth in the genre’s head in the sand philosophy regarding artistic expansion (Darkthrone pleasantly comes to mind), to dismiss what so many of those initial bands have done after the church fires went out and all those scowling-faced dudes headed back to their parents’ basements would truly be a sin: Mayhem’s Ordo ad Chao was easily its most impressive album since their debut full length, and Emperor got exponentially better after the lo-fi keyboard-fest that was In the Nightside Eclipse.

Enslaved fully embody this movement and are just now hitting their stride 17 years into their existence, long after the real scene died and now that they’re all old enough to be thinking about 401K‘s (or their Norwegian equivalent). Vertebrae, their latest full length, is just another triumph from a band at their creative peak, breathing easy after realizing their contemporaries are miles behind them.

Click to read more…

So apparently Enslaved have ditched Candlelight for Indie Records. That’s not especially interesting news in and of itself, but what is interesting is that the announcement includes word that a new album, Vertebrae, will drop in September.

That means that Nachtmystium are gonna have at least one major opponent for the “Black Metal Album of the Year” title.

This news makes me so friggin’ excited, I have no choice but to post the band’s video for “Isa.”

Stay tuned for more Enslaved news, we’ll keep you updated fo’ shizz.

-AR

[The SXSW madness may be over, but we've still got reviews for you from writer Corey Mitchell. His writing makes me feel like I'm swigging back Tecate in the hot Texas sun... almost. - Ed.]

ENSLAVED / 1349 @ KENNY DORHAM’S BACKYARD – Friday, March 14, 2008 – 6:30 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.

Talk about a bizarre line-up – current electro-pop sensations The Raveonettes opening up for the gods of Norwegian Viking metal, Enslaved, and Norwegian black metallers 1349. The setting was almost as unusual, but also what makes SXSW so unique – it literally was in someone’s backyard. Throw up a stage, a barricade, cook up some BBQ, and offer up free beer and you have yourselves one hell of a party in the unforgiving 90-degree Texas heat.

Kenny Dorham’s backyard is located over on the east side of Austin – you know; the part of town they don’t include in their Chamber of Commerce pamphlets. After not quite sure how to find the “venue,” I spent some time driving around the eastside, which has truly gotten worse in the eleven years since I last lived in Austin. The area where the concert was to take place, however, seems to be a part of a mini-revitalization based around the music scene. Let’s hope this show added to the improvements in the area.

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It’s not every day that I pick up the Arts section of The New York times and find a giant half-page photo of one of my favorite  frontmen mid-growl – but there’s Enslaved’s Grutle Kjellson staring me right in the face. In a piece entitled “On the Road to Spread the Word of Good, Old-Fashioned Evil,” Kelefa Sanneh – whose work isn’t usually worth the paper it’s printed on – profiles the Norwegian black metallers, writing:

“They are rock stars, more or less, in Norway, but they are decidedly underground figures in most of the rest of the world. Still, that a hundred or so fans came out to see them at the Crocodile Rock Café, a cavernous Allentown club, says something about the tenacity of the genre and the band. The members hurtled through a typically eerie, riveting set, propelled by tricky rhythms, keyboard atmospherics, mutating guitar riffs and careful but cathartic explosions of noise and screaming.”

Since the piece comes just months after giving a favorable review to Behemoth’s The Apostasy, I’m starting to wonder if Sanneh isn’t just a massive black metal fan.

Read the entire article here.

Enslaved play B.B. King’s in Times Square tonight with Arsis and The Agonist as support. Get additional tour dates on their MySpace page.

-AR