Top Whatever Albums I Remembered From 2015 In No Particular Order (Or, Blimey That’s a Lot of Black Metal Albums Mate)

It’s that time of the year again, well it was a month ago, when it’s time to make an arbitrary list of albums released last year that you liked the most. I don’t really care about these kinds of lists, but for your enjoyment, here is an arbitrary list of albums what I liked! Get on with it!

Shrine of the Northern Blood, Epitome VIII: Blut Aus Nord – The Mystical Beast of Rebellion

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I bid you welcome to another glimpse into the unfathomable darkness and majesty of the masters of the black arts! The pernicious virulence of Blut Aus Nord’s unholy raw gospel of the old ways shines ever brightest with the rise of The Mystical Beast of Rebellion! A force of vile hatred not be heard again ’till the creation and revelation of Liber I. 

Top 12 of 2012

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Time to list the releases from last year and 2012 was a great year for new and interesting music! 2012 was a quite slow year for me, I really slacked of on scavenging after obsucre and interesting albums/artist, but fortunately I did manage to find some gems. Listed below is my picks of some of the best albums of 2012, some more challenging than others.

 12. Horseback – Half Blood

Horseback are absolutely great at what they are doing, and what they do is chilling doom/drone metal chock full with atmosphere. And when coupled with their equivalent, Pyramids, pure untrammeled greatness happens!(See A Throne Without a King) Though they did not work together on this record, they still made one of the greatest songs of the year, namely Arjuna. It’s just such a shame that the last three songs on Half Blood keeps it from being on of the best albums of the year. Hallucigenia I, II, III, just meander around and feel out of place on the record and I just can’t enjoy their sound… Sometimes the journey is better than the destination, which is true with Half Blood.

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 11. Hexvessel – No Holier Temple

No Holier Temple is the follow up to Hexvessel’s debut album, Dawnbearer, and it is a wonderful trip through pagan forests filled with witches covens and rituals for ancient and forgotten deities  Lovely neo-folk with pleasant and calm melodies and interesting songs and it is a must for all lovers of new and inspired neo-folk! No Holier Temple is much more mellow and not as striking as Dawnbearer and suffers partly, since they could have stepped it up a bit with their second record. It appears so low on the list just because there were so many great albums this year and many more impressive albums.

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Shrine of the Northern Blood, Epitome VI: The Eye – Supremacy

Time once more to bask in the glory of Vindsval and dream of what once was…

Supremacy is Vindsval’s second and last release as The Eye and perhaps one of his last “traditional” sounding black metal albums before he returned to the sound with What Once Was… and Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars. Supremacy is heavy on machine drums and synthesized sounds and have a quite mellow overall feel to it.

Shrine of the Northern Blood, Epitome IV: Blut Aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Ages

This is it. This is the album that made med fall in love with black metal for ever! This is the greatest record there is, and will always be. Ever since that faithful day I stumbled upon it on my hard drive, my preception of black metal, and all music, was forever changed. I saw the dark light of the majesty of Vindsval.

It was released 1996 and it would take 13 years for Blut Aus Nord to perfect the sequel, and wise Odin, did the live up to it!

The fantastic drumming from W.D. Feld, which already on this album shows the unique syle of his, is absolutely sublime. The otherworldly melodies from the keyboards and guitars plays a much lager role than in other BM bands. Fucking awesome riffs and the way the guitar and drums flows together is nothing short of genial. And not to mention the brutal growls and choir, prefect!

This is also the only release from Blut Aus Nord to have the lyrics published. Fully packed with slaughter, talking ravens, dwarfs and revenge most glorious!

Memoria Vetusta I is my benchmark for all old style/true black metal, and to this day some bands have come close to the majesty of this album but no one have surpassed it, and I think no one ever will.

If you call yourself a black metal fan and have not listened to this album, you are a hypocrite and should be punished! If you don’t like it and it makes your ears hurt, you can just shuffle back to your fucking manufactured pop drivel and Biber fags, and leave the real music to the real people!

1. Slaughterday (The Heathen Blood of Ours)
2. On the Path of Wolf… Towards Dwarfhill
3. Sons of Wisdom, Master of Elements
4. The Forsaken Voices of the Ghostwood’s Shadowy Realm
5. The Territory of Witches/Guardians of the Dark Lake
6. Day of Revenge (The Impure Blood of Theirs)
7. Fathers of the Icy Age

Label/Encyclopaedia Metallum 

Shrine of the Northern Blood, Epitome III: Blut Aus Nord – Ultima Thulée

The first album released after the name change from Vlad. It is very much in the vein of the works released during Vlad and he has recruted W.D. Feld on the drums and keyboard.

Before we get to the album itself, we have to take a short history lesson to better understand some of the possible controversy surrounding certain themes that may be brought up while talking about BM and the frozen north. The name of the album is a term originated from old European literature and maps and is used to describe a region to the far north. Modern interpretations identify Ultima Thule as Norway, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Scandinavia. While the term used to stand for the northernmost region on the map, the Nazi occultists believed in a historical Thule/Hyperborea as the origin of the “Aryan race”. This belief originates from the thoroughly discredited Oera Linda Book “found” by Cornelis Over de Linden during the 19th Century. Since then the term has been associated with Neo-Nazis and National-socialists even though it has nothing to do with those horrendous values.
Here in Sweden the term Ultima Thule is quite controversial because of a band named after it and the band’s supposedly racist themes and lyrics. They gained a following from right-extremists and considered by the public to be racist because their frequent use of Swedish patriotism(every Swede knows it is wrong to be proud of our land). But the band themselves denounce that they are racist and to have a neo-nazi affiliation.

But enough attention the the hateful spewing mongrels and back to the wonderful music of Blut Aus Nord.

Any fan of old and true black metal will love this release; the pounding drums, the sweeping melodies and excellent vocals makes the album one of the finest examples from the french wave of black metal.
The Son of Hoarfrost starts of the album and immediately they start of with some notes from a mystical keyboard, and that will be the thing that sets the album far above mediocrity. The song itself is solid and incorporates all the elements to show in the album.
The Plain of Ida is immensely beautiful with a almost church like organ playing wondrous melodies of vast landscapes of esoteric beauty, while Vindsval sings of tales long lost. This is one of the highlights of the voyage and a must listen!
My Prayer Beyond Ginnungagap is a ambient piece, filled only with the harmonics of a forlorn prayer and by Odin, is it soulful! It is also the only song to have the lyrics printed.

Every respectful black metal fan must own this album and it is a good start to get in to the masterful works of Vindsval!

I. The Son of Hoarfrost
II. The Plain of Ida
III. From Hlidskjalf
IV. My Prayer Beyond Ginnungagap
V. Till I Perceive Bifrost
VI. On the Way to Vigrid
VII. Rigstula
VIII. The Last Journey of Ringhorn

Buy/Label/Encyclopaedia Metallum