I generally hate lists, for reasons I won't mention here. So here are 10 "black metal" albums that i still play and enjoy immensely. In no order: Belenos - Errances Oniriques Drudkh - Autumn Aurora Enslaved - Monumension Graveland - Fire Chariot of Destruction Lunar Aurora - Andacht Morrigan - Celts Nachtfalke - Hail Victory Teutonia Negura Bunget - N' Crugu Bradului Primordial - Spirit the Earth Aflame Alcest - Le Secret These should be mentioned, but i didn't want to be repetitive: Nachtfalke - Doomed to Die Graveland - Creed of Iron Morrigan - Headcult Morrigan - Enter the Sea of Flames I've never seen the big fuss about DsO, and I would hardly utter the word classic in the same sentence unless we are listing the Top 10 Albums of the 00s That People Think are Classic But Really Aren't.
I don't know many albums of the 00's, but surely some of the best ones were: Deathspell Omega - Si Monvmentvum Reqvires, Circvmspice Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells Taake - Hordalands Doedskvad Aborym - Fire Walk With Us
Primordial - Spirit the Earth Aflame Nachtfalke - Doomed to Die Deathspell Omega - Si Monvmentvum Reqvires, Circvmspice Drudkh - Autumn Aurora Dark Tribe - In jeraspunta - Die Rückkehr der tollwütigen Bestie Necros Christos - Triune Impurity Rites Inquisition - Nefarious Dismal Orations Averse Sefira- Tetragrammatical Astygmata Watain - Casus Luciferi Astriaal - Renascent Misanthropy
These three should be on anyone's list,although I'm not quite sure if Primordial can be considered as black metal.....
I don't really get why everyone's suddenly fallen out of favor with SMR,C. It's still fucking amazing, guys. Maybe it's hype-backlash, which tbh makes people excluding it who once liked it pretty pathetic (though they'll no doubt come up with excuses etc. for their reasoning).
When I talked to Omni on AIM a few weeks ago she said she doesn't think DsO "seem that cool anymore." She's also mentioned before how she thinks Averse Sefira are the better band, which I cannot agree with at all, though I do enjoy Advent Parallax. Just not quite on the same level, if you're asking me. I realize people love Engram and I do think it is a really good album, but not even half the album that SMRC is. I can't tell whether people think they're being clever or it's just the newness of it, but there's a lot of bandwagoning going on here.
Jenn's a hipster I find (what I've heard of) Averse Sefira to be pretty fucking lame and definitely not on the level of SMR,C which just has a lot more (admittedly personal) significance and a lot more of a "warm" aspect to it that I find to be pretty important to its sound. AS sound too detached and clinical to really hit me hard, not to mention all the Immolation influence (not my thing for the most part). There's a lot of "elitism" going around, by which I mean, there are people with "good taste" who like certain bands, and people in metal generally feel pressured to abandon bands that were once held on this pedestal of greatness when they start to become more popular (or some other non-factor that shouldn't affect people's enjoyment or experience of the art, but does, quite plainly). Averse Sefira, on the other hand, are an underground "underdog" whose "worth" is defined by various publications and people who have already defended them, making it really easy to make the case that "if you don't like AS, you have worse taste than me" because the canon has already been written in that they are "super special awesome and oh better than that faggy DSO band because DSO stopped being cool when people started liking them". That's my take on it, and it kind of goes off on a tangent from what I was originally thinking since I'm taking off now for a bit. Essentially, the "well-explained" and "educated" opinions of people who like the "elite" stuff are endlessly consumed and regurgitated by a pretender, new crowd of people who feel the same way in an endless quotidian cycle of opinion-regurgitating that drowns out the "personal" (i.e. inferior) reasoning of enjoying something like SMR,C. This is basically bullshit and should stop imo. Good taste is for faggots.
Also, Jenn is one of the top people on these boards who acts like this. She actually was originally just on last.fm and I brought her here through discussion. She used to be pretty cool actually, and we were buddies on last.fm. Then, she met Dodens on here and latched onto the "elitist" dogmatic bullshit and look what's become of her. A sheep. sad.
Every underground band is like that. Once the band becomes a bit popular around metalheads, the elitists start abandoning the band no matter how good the music is. I feel sorry for them.
yup. you see this with any black metal band whether it be burzum, emperor, deathspell omega, primordial, agalloch or wolves in the throne room because god forbid if our favorite bands expand their audiences and make a few more dollars off their hard work
It's usually not even directly about the money they make, but rather about a lemming-like drifting "true metal" fans often find themselves engaging in. Just to be real, Deathspell Omega are fucking amazing.
Interesting discussion guys. I certainly don't follow black metal enough to know if you're right (i.e. I rarely find the differences in quality between most BM bands I hear great enough to make a definitive statement on one vs. another), but it is clear that a lot of people here base their opinions of a band way too much on the band's popularity. I look forward to the rebuttals from the "true metal hipsters".
