Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms

In the midst of the 100º heat wave, I thought it'd be nice to cool off with some grim and frostbitten black metal. One of the most iconic bands of the Norwegian black metal scene, Immortal took a direction different than the Satan-inspired themes dominant in the genre. Rather, the spiked-leather-and-corpsepaint-wearing, battleaxe-and-warhammer-weilding trio conjured the fictional realm of Blashyrkh, an icy and dark kingdom ruled by the evil Mighty Ravendark. Silliness aside, as their music evolved from a thrashy, low-fi black metal assault to its current incarnation, Immortal created one of the most instantly recognizable, undeniably headbanging sounds of the black metal scene.

A double dose of Garm

Introducing Kristoffer Rygg, otherwise known as Garm. Since practically everything the man touches is incredible, I couldn't decide on just one clip.

First up is Arcturus. The symphonic-carnival-music-meets-spacey-prog-metal power outfit (also featuring legendary skinsman Hellhammer, among others) drew on a vast array of influences to develop their one of a kind sound.



But what discussion of Garm would be complete without Ulver? Far from the raw black metal style of their earliest days, Ulver's more recent work is impossible to describe. From grammy-winning (well, Norwegian Grammy-winning) film scores to the layered electronic-meets-analog compositions on "Blinded By Blood", Ulver has everything to offer. Don't miss the electronic homage (electromage?) to J.S. Bach at the 3-minute mark.



P.S. I highly recommend checking out Arcturus' entire catalog, along with Ulver's groundbreaking "Nattens Madrigal" just to see how far the band has come.

Sonic Mastery

There's not much I can say about these guys that isn't spoken for with their music. Rooted in the technical death metal scene of the early 1990's and infused with jazz tendencies, Cynic reside in a genre all their own.

On the horizon, a mighty band appears!

Maybe not entirely novel, White Wizzard bring a killer dose of traditional heavy metal back from the dead. As an added bonus, that thrash-tinged verse gets my blood flowing every time!

Welcome to my blargh.

First and foremost, the subheading to this blog is clearly in jest. I don't hate blogs, I don't hate bloggers, and I don't hate blogging. I do hate the way blogging has allowed every schmuck with an opinion become an unrefereed expert on any given subject, however. So allow me to state here that I don't consider myself an expert on all things heavy metal. It would be a lie of me to say I don't think I have great taste in music, but I recognize that this blargh is a reflection of my opinion more than my expertise.

Heavy metal is something that's provided me a great deal of joy over the years, and with this effort I hope to be able to promote new or previously unheard music to its (admittedly few) reader(s).

So with that...