This year I had definitely intended to tackle Funeral Doom. I'd heard an album or two and liked what I heard. Sadly though, once I started really getting into the bands involved I found there was one glaring problem: they pretty much all sounded the same. Slow, crushingly slow guitars and drums, long-drawn-out roars and howls and snarls substituting for vocals, and really, very little to write about. I grew bored and decided I'd made a mistake, and there was no way I was going to, or would be able to, write a whole series based around that particular subgenre.
But sometimes it takes courage to realise you got it wrong, which is another way of saying I'm flip-flopping madly and changing my mind. I thought about other subgenres I could explore, and came up with this one, which has ended up working out quite nicely. Yes, it conjures up the darkest, bleakest kind of vistas you can imagine, but it's also where you find some of the most stunningly gorgeous music Metal has to offer.
So what is Atmospheric Black Metal? Well, obviously, it's an offshoot of Black Metal, which has to be one of the rawest, most savage and uncompromising subgenres in Metal. Those of you who know Black Metal know what I'm talking about
: guitars set to kill, snarled or screamed or growled vocals, hammering drums, tempos often beyond the scale of measurement, and of course usually lyrics that deal with the devil and hell and Satanism. Atmospheric Black Metal keeps most of these elements (though sometimes they can be dialled back, or even absent altogether) but adds in more ambient textures, often bringing in the likes of cellos, violins, pianos, even sometimes full orchestras. It's not unusual either to hear acoustic guitar, flute, harp even in ABM. Mind you, some of it is very harsh anyway, but some is quite mellow.
Over the next few weeks I'll be exploring this interesting subset of Black Metal, and looking at what I'm told are some of the better albums within in. For these choices I have to thanks
mythsofmetal and
Grindy for pointing me in the right direction and setting me on to some amazing ABM albums. This section, then, is dedicated to, and created with the assistance of, the two of you.
And now, without further ado, our first album, a true classic, I'm assured, of the subgenre.
You have to admire a band whose name translates to wolves. Norway is or was the gateway for the blackest of Black Metal, so hopefully this will not be that kind of harsh version as that's not what I'm looking for for this section, but I've heard a lot of praise for this album and it comes among many top ten lists I've received, so here goes.
Bergtatt – Et eevebtyr i 5 capitler --- Ulver ---1995 (Head Not Found)
This is their debut album, and though they've been said to go through many phases over their career and are strictly categorised as an experimental band, I'm told this is pure ABM. I'm also advised the title translates to “Spellbound: a fairytale in five chapters”. So let's go. A slow, kind of groaning guitar opens “Capitel I: I Troldskog faren vild” (Which apparently translates as "Chapter I: Lost in a forest of trolls” --- hope they're not all spamming their penis-enlarging pills!) and the vocal when it comes in is nothing like you normally expect with Black Metal; there's no harsh screams, no guttural roars, it's more like a sort of folky, clear approach. All in Norwegian of course so no idea what's being sung but it's very pleasant. Not quite as atmospheric as I would prefer, but still very palatable. There's a second vocal now, and metal fans shudder, but if I had to compare the vocal stylings here I'd call them a metal Simon and Garfunkel! Yeah, it's just how it sounds to me.
Really nice acoustic solo now as the drums stop completely, then the electric guitar comes back in as the drummer kicks his way back in too, but there's nothing terribly invasive about it, and in fact it's really sounding more like almost traditional metal to me at this point. The album only has five tracks, but if they're all this good I'll be happy. Great start. “Soelen gaeer bag aase need” (Chapter II: The sun goes down behind the hills) opens with acoustic guitar and flute, nice and slow, then kicks in with harder electric guitar and drumming, and the first harsh vocal. Still great though. The tempo then changes to a kind of romping one similar to the vein in which the album opened, and the vocal goes back to that style too. Oh, that's Garm, is it? I've heard of him. The two guys on the guitars, Håvard Jørgensen and Torbjørn Pedersen are really good at what they do, and maintain the atmosphere really well, switching from one to the other as the music requires.
Another deceptively gentle start before we blast into “Graablick blev hun vaer” (She noticed she was being watched) with a hammering guitar and a growling vocal. Now the music fades out almost entirely and we hear someone walking, while behind some sort of keyboard melody is swirling, but very much in the background, so much so in fact that you almost don't hear it. I think there's soft guitar there too and maybe organ? Here comes the hard electric guitar now, and Garm is back roaring his head off. But you see, listening to harder Black Metal has prepared me for this, and I no longer find it impossible to listen to nor, if I'm honest, even really that harsh. I think this next one is an instrumental, guitar mostly, and “Een stemme locker” (A voice is calling) is also the shortest of the tracks, a mere four minutes and change.
The title track then, as it were, “Bergtat: Ind i fjeldekamrene” (Spellbound: Into the chambers of the mountain) is the longest and also, initially anyway, the fastest and most energetic of the tracks, though within a minute it slows to a nice acoustic and what sounds like harp (probably synth) with absolutely no percussion at all. Electric comes in then with a sort of vocal chorus as the drums return and the guitar more or less leads it out on a harsh vocal from Garm, winding down slowly before an acoustic guitar takes it for the final minute giving it a nice folky ending.
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
1. Capitel I: I troldskog faren vild
2. Capitel II: Soelen gaeer bag aase need
3. Capitel III: Graablick blev hun vaer
4. Capitel IV: Een stemme locker
5. Capital V: Bergtat – Ind i feldjkamrene
As a progenitor of the Atmospheric Black Metal movement and also as a major force in Norwegian Black Metal, this is a very important album from a band who went on to influence and even shape the next few decades of Black Metal, within and without their native land. Ulver were very careful to take a different path though from their contemporaries, preferring not to utilise anti-Christian messages and sentiments in their lyrics (apparently) and sticking to a more traditional, historical depiction of famous folklore tales, thus enabling them to paint, for those who understand Norwegian, a picture of the myths and beliefs of their people, and to recall these tales through musical expression for those who had grown up on them. Using metal allowed them to place a new, almost modern slant on the fairy stories while still retaining the inherent majesty, wonder and attraction that we all have for such things.
In terms of music, Ulver were probably one of the first bands, at least in Norway, to utilise such things as flutes and pianos in a metal setting, something that would be taken up by pagan and Viking metal bands for years to come.
Of course, Black Metal flourishes in Germany too, as we saw in last year's “The International Language of Metal”, and it's to here that we're directed for our second band, who go by the name of Dammerfaben (there's an umlaut there over the first a but I'm damned if I'm going to keep copying and pasting for one accent!) who began life as a solo project for Patrick Urban (who goes by the name of Nostarion) in 2005 as Schattenwindes Dammerfaben, and released one demo before acquiring some band members, dropping the first part of the name and releasing their first album in 2011.
Im Abendrot --- Dammerfaben --- 2011 (Northern Silence Productions)
Beginning with the sounds of birdsong and then one guitar note, which grows with a sort of dramatic flair, like an archer standing on a hill and shooting arrows into the air defiantly, “Wandernd” proves to be an instrumental to open proceedings. Some dark cello joins in, this played by Nostarion, who also takes vocal duties later, and he more or less takes the tune solo then to its end, as we move into “Nebel und Regen”, which starts with another expressive guitar solo, then grows into a full guitar passage, percussion coming in now as the tempo speeds up slightly, then slows down again with a quite majestic and grand feel. We're now about four minutes in and no vocals, so is this going to be another --- oh. There they are. Standard screechy, scratchy roar, but the music is very melodic indeed. Some more lovely cello and then we're into “Graues land” which runs along nicely on a very Maidenesque guitar line, as Nostarion comes in with a big snarly vocal.
Things calm down a little later in the song (can't be that specific as I had to find the album on YouTube, and whoever put it up helpfully failed to list playing times) with a really nice gentle ending, leading into an equally gentle opening to “Oktobersturm” (even I can translate that!) with what sounds like a hollow organ sound, slow and stately, then joined by guitar as it gets a little more intense, this helped as Nostarion starts singing. The organ is back through for a really nice quiet passage, a nice chimy guitar and a very
sotto voce spoken vocal ends the track. “Einsamkeit” opens with another soft gentle guitar, with violin and cello, and this would appear to be another instrumental, very folk-tinged, very laidback and pastoral. A big roar and some thumping drums herald the arrival of “Regen in der dammerung” (which I think means “Regen in Hell” or something like that). Nice use of keyboards, and it's something of a showcase for Nastorian's harsh vocal style. He rises to the challenge well. There's something of an air of panic and despair here, but it ends softly enough, as if some sort of resolution has been achieved.
The title track then gives a sense of rising after some terrible fall (if the hero was in Hell I guess there can be no worse or further fall) and keyboard and guitar driven it runs triumphantly along. I can speak and read German almost as well as I can speak and read Norwegian, so I may be interpreting this completely wrong, but this is the impression my limited understanding of the themes gives me. The last vocal track is “Nachtgedanken”, and it romps along nicely in a mid-paced way on guitar for a minute or so before the vocal comes in, sort of gives me the idea of an army on the march. We end then on one more instrumental as “Hinaus in die nacht” closes the album really nicely.
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
1. Wandernd
2. Nebel und Regen
3. Graues land
4. Oktobersturm
5. Einsamkeit
6. Regen in der dammerung
7. Im Abendrot
8. Nachtgedanken
9. Hinaus in die nacht
Great album, very atmospheric and I can see why it's a revered German ABM album. Pity I couldn't understand the lyrics, but I get the impression it's based on some old Teutonic myth or play, as folklore tends to play quite a prominent role in most of this music. Enjoyable though even if you haven't got a clue what's going on lyrically, as in my case.
Heading further east now, we reach the kingdom of Belarus, which of course used to be part of the Soviet Union, so you can expect some pretty harsh, tough stories to be coming out of this country which only relatively recently shook off the chains of oppression. Folkvang. The name sounds at once both folky and hard, and it's hard to know what to expect. Mind you, this is their fourth album and the one prior to that was actually titled
Atmospheric Black, so unless they changed their sound wildly --- and given this is one of mythsofmetal's recommendations for this section, I would not expect them to have done --- this should be pretty atmospheric, pretty black and certainly metal.
Six Stories Without Keys --- Folkvang --- 2011 (Wintersunset Records)
“Your broken crown” gets us underway with sharp guitar and then either very dark vocals or a rumbling synth in the background. It then breaks loose with a big heavy riff and pumping drums, taking us into the second minute before the vocals come in, and though they're scratchy and evil I can actually make out what the guy is singing. Who is he? Let's see: ah, yes. Another one-man outfit, and an individual who goes by the enigmatic name of Wind (that'll be the curry, probably) does everything here. Decent vocals to be fair, and he can certainly play guitar. Gets quite frenetic now as we reach the midway point of the song, kicking up well and really rocking towards the end. Some almost Big Country guitar there in the final minute, which takes us on a fadeout into “Dead flower”, with a nice acoustic guitar opening, certainly putting the “folk” in Folkvang.
Sounds like there may be some flute in there too, and it starts to speed up a little then punches through on hard electric guitar and drums, bringing in the vocal, then “Childhood dreams” is one of the two longer tracks, at over eight minutes running time. It has a great hook in the melody, and the work Wind does on the guitar here is really quite exceptional, but I have to complement his vocals too, which are totally understandable, a rare thing in Black Metal of any stripe. It falls back to acoustic guitar in the second minute, and this is the first ABM song I've listened to where I will actually be humming the melody later on. It's just that catchy. “The mountain song” is the real epic, just shy of ten minutes, and opens with hard riffing guitar and thundering drums, then takes up a galloping beat as it goes along.
Halfway through the guitar fades right down and away, and a cold wind blows as some other instrument, I don't know what, could be dobro, maybe not, comes in and takes the melody in a very dark and melancholy, mournful direction, joined then by a slower guitar and the incoming percussion in quite a progressive-leaning slant on the tune. “Coldness and madness” starts off right in-your-face, with a big guitar and drum assault, while “King (The sound of thunder)” closes the album very differently, with a superfast guitar more in the mould of punk than metal really, or if metal then it definitely belongs in the arena of speed metal or even closer to grindcore!
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
1. Your broken crown
2. Dead flower
3. Childhood dreams
4. The mountain song
5. Coldness and madness
6. King (The sound of thunder)
Again, you have to be impressed when this is all the work of one guy. He certainly has some serious talent, and the fact that though he has a guttural voice, or at least vocal style, I can understand what he's singing is a big plus. Other than the final track, this album is a pretty good example of what you can do when you fuse folk, Black and ambient metal.