Here's another quick one due to my inevitable lack of time. Morgoth formed in Germany in the late-80's and was initially a pretty standard death metal band that sort of blended the American and early Swedish sounds of the genre—nothing to write home about, but decent. Of course, they ended up being some kind of weird pseudo industrial/electronic tinged death metal band before they broke up in the late-90's, but somewhere in the middle of all that relatively mediocre work they dropped one kickass record—"Odium" (1993)—that suffered only from a tinny recording. Even as a kid I can specifically remember how it always killed me how weird the guitar tone on this record was, it just lacks density and sounds kind of hollow. The record would've been an absolutely crushing slab of midpaced atmospheric death metal had they used a warmer and more natural distortion, but having become very familiar with the songs over the years I can easily get past those shortcomings these days. Regardless of the production there are some excellent songs on this disc, and the overall feel is really interesting. These two tracks definitely still hit the mark big time:
Morgoth "Submission"
Morgoth "Drowning Sun"
Like it? You can find this puppy for average used prices as well. Century Media released a "best of" collection for Morgoth this year, but I really don't understand why to be perfectly honest. They only did two EP's and three full-lengths, and "Odium" is all you need...
Comments
i think this sounds like shit. as for black metal i remember really liking nasheim.
9.22.2005 | By Anonymous
I found this disc about 5 years ago in a used CD bin. It’s pretty unique, especially for when it was released. The vocals sound like a death metal Dave Mustaine.
9.22.2005 | By gordeth
Indeed, ‘Odium’ is all you need! I remember hearing this disc for the first time at my cousins house and it blew me away. Despite of the production it still kicks ass. Century Media released a double disc ‘best of’ compilation earlier this year by the way.
9.23.2005 | By David - Asice.net
dude, i can’t imagine you being willing to pay money for shit like ondskapt, etc. i have it in mp3 if you want it (ondskapt, ofermond, nasheim), but that’s just some ultra silly satanistic bullshit about “existing through the evil one”, “self-torture” being the “true blessing of satan” and shit like that. i’m not a christian, but that shit’s just too retarded for anyone, dude, regardless of the music (which, of course, being “true” to the genre, sounds like it was recorded on a 4-channel stereo). i’d rather you went on an experimental hip-hop kick and checked out more shit from subtitle and adlib.
9.23.2005 | By chris
ofermod, my bad.
9.23.2005 | By chris
Odium is such an underrated record!
managed to catch this band once with Kreator…classic stage banter for sure.
i have to disagree with Chris.
Ondskapt, Deathspell Omega etc. are definitely where you could focus more attention especially if your main interest is to cover the ‘heavy’ music spectrum.
granted, tastes differ but honestly that world is currently in it’s prime right now!
-jxw
9.23.2005 | By jim fucking winters
i hate most black metal old and new, but i highly recommend negura bunget and taake. negura bunget is of the more sophisticated and layered variety, and they actually boast some very listenable production values considering their complexity. they’re a romanian band and embody a sountrack-ish quality to their songwriting that flirts with tons of atmospheric nuances that give their music a certain cohesive dynamic and definite melodicism. they’re like the ennio morricone of black metal and frankly, they’re one those bands that transcends the genre. file next to ulver and the last emperor album.
and i’m sure you’ve heard of taake.
i love the instrumental on “odium”.
9.23.2005 | By drew johnston
This is a great album, but “Cursed” is my favorite Morgoth album, truly an awesome record in these eyes…
Your Black Metal comments have me cracking up, I hate COF and DB as well. That shit is way too overblown and pretentious, far removed from the glory of Bathory. I don’t like too much BM of any style, but in addition to Bathory and Dawn (the best), I like Ancients Rebirth (grimy and Thrashy) and Swordmaster, though the latter ended up adding far more Thrash and Death elements into the equation in the end. Also Sadistik Exekution, who were way ahead of their time with the Blackened Death style.
And I disagree with Chris too - come on, man, not liking Satanic lyrics in Metal is like not liking pro-Black messages in Hip-Hop!! Hail Satanis…
9.23.2005 | By Scott
The things I hate the most about black metal, beyond the lyrics by all means: Corpsepaint and fake names. I mean, if you live in California or some shit and you have a black metal band, fine, but either don’t list your name or don’t put photos in your record if you don’t want to use your own persona. You are NOT fucking Ahkenzhaturzschpielen or whatever such nonsense and you look like an idiot wearing makeup and spikes in the woods out behind your local 7-11. Know what I mean? But yeah, the lyrics and all that “I love goats, satan is awesome, I’d like to pee on Jesus’ face and drink the blood of christian babies” crap is definitely way lame. I can never understand the lyrics anyway so for me it’s all about the feel of the music, and for some reason it’s hitting me lately.
Taake rules. I’ve had their first two discs for years and just ordered the other two a few days ago. I’ll look out for Negura Bunget, though.
9.24.2005 | By Andrew Aversionline
on the subject of black metal, the lyrics, dont really bother me, some of the ands with less gifted writters can be a bit too much simpilistic drivel. However some bands expression of thought through the lyrics are quite interesting. (not saying i agree with their points) Bm i feel is really a genre you either like or hate, very little middle ground. As for cheep suppliers i dont know any, i wish i did as my collections are running quite a bit of money. As for some groups not mentioned: Dusk, Bludulv, sargiest, baptism, hell militia, blut aus nord, primordial, thralldom, wold, There is something about the atsmosphere, vocals and texture of bm that makes the music inspirational to me.
9.24.2005 | By Primal Void
Nice to see some Morgoth here, a long time ago I used to have their demo, it was real fun.
I’ll second primal void’s recommedation of Blut Aus Nord, and also reccommend Spektr, Winterblut, Anaal Nathrakh, Beherit, and especially Von, a true classic from 1988.
9.25.2005 | By Anonymous
to my ears Winterblut almost sounds like Voi Vod channeling an SST recording. great!
Woods Of Infinity, Spektr, Emit, Stallagh, Joyless and numerous others are almost closer to some abstract dark ambient than much resembling “black metal” anymore.
Blut Aus Nord gets a thumbs up here as well.
9.26.2005 | By jim fucking winters
I have to agree with emit, woods of infinity as well as woods of ypres ( which i have only heard one song off and cant find the record anywhere, but they to me resemble more a opeth/agalloch/primordial type thing)for harshnoise/electronics combined with black metal Wold is definitly interesting but i am by no means an expert on power electronics. Von and Beherit are also great, blasphemy has their strong points as well. there are really alo of talented groups in all genres and subgenres of metal. just a matter of preference i guess.
9.26.2005 | By primalvoid
old school is freshing. its awesome to turn back every now and then… to listen to the music as well as the production and actual sound (as you noted about the “hollow” guitar)
cool post.
9.27.2005 | By Anonymous
Speaking of Woods of Infinity, just picked up HÃ¥lrum, by Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar (Ravenlord’s sideproject), and it is just amazing! Great stuff if you’re into dark experimental noise.
Some tracks to download on their site, if anyone’s into this sort of thing: http://nfh.dhs.org/musik/
9.27.2005 | By Anonymous
I really enjoyed Craft - “Terror Propaganda” LP. It’s new (well, like 2003 I think?) and clean without being slick and ludicrously over-produced. I think you might like it. I’m always looking for bands in this genre, too, and love Deathspell Omega.
-Oliver in Dallas TX
9.27.2005 | By Anonymous
just wanted to say host from taake took the flattering title of coming in 1st in the “top 10 most ridiculous BM picture of 2005” contest. scroll to the bottom and enjoy it in all its glory. cheers.
http://ruthlessreviews.com/top10/10blackmetal2.html
(the music’s cool, though, but…)
9.30.2005 | By chris
I’ve saw the part one of the top 10 list, but this new one seems even better
10.17.2005 | By burzum
erik from nasheim is my internet buddy:
u says:
erik is there actually any way to buy nasheim cds
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) says:
YES
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) says:
you can buy them from just about any distro you can think of
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) says:
i see them everywhere
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) says:
like 200 places
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) says:
also you can get them from me directly for cheaper than any distro in the world
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) says:
but im a lazy fuck and send them out about twice a year
11.2.2005 | By Anonymous
AVE! (In trad’ BM style!)
I’ve had a fascination with BM since I first read about Burzum back in 1994. There’s just something about good BM that rubs me the right way. My faves (hence, those I’d recommend)? Well, I don’t have anything against the more popular bands, but, the rawer and nastier the sound, the better. (Although, good song writing helps!) Hence my love of Craft, Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal (especially their first 3), Emperor (not raw, but good), Anaal Nathrakh, Marduk, Dissection, Watain, Dark Funeral (EP and ‘Secrets…’), Mayhem, Urgehal, Black Funeral, Black Witchery, Sadistik Exekution, Bestial Warlust, Abyssic Hate, Destroyer 666 (Black Thrash), Gospel of the Horns (Black Thrash), Impaled Nazarene (especially ‘Tol Cormpt…’), Beherit, Archgoat… For further recommendations, check Nathan.T.Birk’s column that occasionally appears in ‘Metal Maniacs’ mag. I usually obtain my stuff from Relapse.com but Southernlord.com, officialabyssrecords.com, blackmetal.com, metalmayhem.com.au, amazon.com can usually obtain the stuff I need. I realize that most of the stuff I’ve recommended is not really underground but I have a lot more Black Metal CD’s. These are the ones that came to mind. (Some of my stuff is also NSBM but I doubt you’d be much interested in that!).
11.3.2005 | By Anonymous