quote:

Originally posted by Duncan Black:
I just checked out your link to Ulver.

Is that black metal these days?

It is worthy of further inspection - It's completely different to Burzum. I wouldn't even call it metal. Weird stuff.

Precisely the point. If you check out their first few albums, completely different sound. They used to be very much in the vein of Darkthrone or early Emperor - in other words, "true" black metal. They moved way, way away from their original sound. Consequently, as usual, some folks say they sold out, others say they matured or progressed. I heard their newer material before going back to the old stuff, and I actually like what they're doing now. I'm usually one of the folks who complain about bands selling out. In this case, I think Ulver actually is changing in a way that makes them more interesting. Same goes for Alcest. They used to be more "true" - now they are essentially shoegaze.

Cradle of Filth...and to some extent Dimmu Borgir is the other band that gets lumped in with them...there are plenty of folks who do consider these bands black metal - I did once. Before I heard Burzum. That truly was an epiphany for me.

I should also add that while CoF pretty much started out as junior bm, Dimmu were actually "true" back in the day. Their first couple of albums are actually pretty great.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ezatldude,

quote:

Originally posted by Duncan Black:
I just checked out your link to Ulver.

Is that black metal these days?

It is worthy of further inspection - It's completely different to Burzum. I wouldn't even call it metal. Weird stuff.

If you like that, I'd suggest checking out the last couple Arcturus albums, too. Especially The Sham Mirrors, which was their last album with Garm (the brains behind Ulver) singing.

Blimey - You learn something new every day!

If that's selling out, I hope a few more black metal bands become cash hungry. Although I can't see Venom going through an 'ambient' phase anytime soon.

Cheers for that.

quote:

Originally posted by Duncan Black:
Although I can't see Venom going through an 'ambient' phase anytime soon.

Cheers for that.

Oh man. I definitely agree

I also really liked the last Ulver record, Shadows of the Sun. I like the earlier stuff as well though. I didn't catch Blood Inside though. Anyone care to comment on it? I remember reading somewhere that it was kind of like what they've done with Shadows of the Sun but they weren't quite there yet and some of it was a little cheesy (not that some of the stuff on Shadows wasn't from time to time).

I only have Nattens Madrigal and Shadows of the Sun, so I can't be of much help. Though, the short samples I heard on Amazon make me think you're right about Blood Inside.

I just wanted to throw out a couple more classic bm albums that haven't been mentioned yet:

Nagelfar - Strongorrth
Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times

I've just gotten my hands on what is probably going to turn out as the best black metal album in 2008: Lugubrum's Albino de Congo. What I love so much about these Belgians is that even though they don't take themselves seriously (lyrics tend to revolve around carrots and beer from what I understand), they can flat out play the music better than 95% of their peers. I also tend to biased towards metal bands that throw bits & pieces of jazz into the mix (e.g. Atheist, Disharmonic Orchestra). If you only listen to one black metal album this year, do yourself a favor and make it Albino de Congo - and not the new Levianthan, which is pretty much same'ol same'ol.