MARDUK - PANZER DIVISION MARDUK (1999)

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BURZUM - DET SOM ENGANG VAR (1993)

This legendary masterpiece of an album with the great title Det Som Engang Var is 25 years old now. Here’s my old digipack CD release from Misanthropy Records/Cymophane Productions of October 1994. This LP is a reissue from 2008 on Black On Black actually one of the first Black Metal vinyls that I ever bought. I started buying vinyl records in 2007/08 just my favorites and I had a bunch that I got from my older sister. Didn't even have a record player 10 years ago I just thought they looked cool.

Can't believe it today but I didn’t like Det Som Engang Var or Burzum whenever I heard them the first time probably in 1995. It wasn’t until I had bought and figured out the excellency of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (1994) in late 1995 or early 96 and revisited Det Som Engang Var that I liked it, but still wasn’t blown away with it. Nowadays I rank it as the 2nd best Burzum album ever and my favorite Filosofem (1996) is just slightly better, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss is my number 3 that one was number 2 for a very long time for me.

To give you an idea of how much I like the masterpiece Det Som Engang Var is. I use Spotify at work because my job lets me listen to music (or podcasts; books; radio documentaries) all day long. Although I almost proclaim to be Herr Physical Media it's more convenient then to bring CD's. How does Spotify get into this? Well of course I sort my playlists band by band and the 3 furthest up are first Funeral Mist, followed by Marduk then Burzum (then Dissection, Emperor, Bathory & Darkthrone).

Usually don’t like to say that any band is my favorite, but Burzum is probably my top band from the Norwegian Black Metal scene. They are a go to band whenever I cannot figure out what I’m in the mood to listen to of the day (or the other mentioned bands). I never get tired of listening to Det Som Engang Var because of its variation.

The instrumental ambient opening song Den Onde Kysten sets a great dark mood immediately, then into the amazing Key To The Gate and En Ring Til Aa Herske. Then Lost Wisdom with that amazing opening guitar riff, that's how Black Metal should sound! It was composed in June 91. Pure amazing ambient magic performed on Han Som Reiste a great break it add much to the feeling of Det Som Engang Var. One of my favorite ambient Varg Vikernes composed songs and that was written in April 92.

Followed by another instrumental that was written as early as February 1989 but this time with guitar, bass and drums Naar Himmelen Klarner. Then the longest song on the album the 9.5 minute Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn it was written in March 92, and I'm repeating myself, another amazing one. The last one Svarte Troner was written in April 92 and this instrumental song kind of remind me of Sweden's Abruptum and is probably the weakest moment of the Det Som Engang Var.

Everyone knows the story about when this was released! After Euronymous death/murder (don't want to get into that discussion it was enough babbling about that in the 90's) and after Varg's arrest. It was recorded as early as April 1992 before the Aske (1993) EP but released after that. Earache was interested in releasing Burzum and yada yada yada...

Have two vinyls that I’m searching for a good deal on (well there’s probably 666+ LP’s more I want) but in the top-2 is the Det Som Engang Var first print LP released in 1994 by Misanthropy Records/Cymophane Productions. Kim my great old friend of Tyrant Wrath sell me yours!?

It’s not a crazy expensive LP but I want it complete with poster so it's about 300 Euro or more for a nice copy. Believe me or not but I haven’t actually paid more then 1000 SEK (approx €100/$110) for many vinyls in my entire collection, there's a few exceptions of course. But I got a pretty good collection at least I think that and usually wait for a deal.

Anyway Det Som Engang Var is a perfect Black Metal album and a must have one in any extreme metal collection!

UNANIMATED - ANNIHILATION (2018) EP

On Friday the 10th of August Unanimated released their new 4-song EP called Annihilation that's 9 years and 4 months after the previous album In The Light Of Darkness (2009). I bought the silver 12" vinyl version of the EP limited to 100 copies released on Century Media.

The LP is single sided so on the B-side there's a etched motive. It's the same as the one on the white page that says Black & Death Metal  kind of hard to see on my crappy iPhone 6S photos (will upgrade soon). I really appreciate the A4 even if it's printed on some cheap paper it's a nice thing to get with the LP release not just for the image but also bassist Richard Cabeza written words. More bands should do this.

Kind of a late post on this one got it a few days ago, but I’ve been extremely busy with working and other things. But wasn’t late to pre-ordering this version of Annihilation though, 5 min after I got the newsletter e-mail from the Century Media webstore when it was announced for pre-order I directly picked out this one.

This 4-song EP was probably my second most anticipated release (behind Funeral Mist) in the year of excellent Metal releases that 2018 truly has been. Never usually keep any my LP’s in the shrink wrapper but for this release I’ll be that guy with a partially “sealed copy” might remove it eventually.

Really nice design altogether on the Annihilation release. The title is kind of boring, just one word, not like the debut album with all its very long title. But who cares? It's the music that I'm after and about that:

Adversarial Fire is a great opening song of the EP. I had heard it when they played it live (on YouTube) earlier this year in Stockholm. It’s in the same vein as their previous album In The Light Of Darkness. On the second song From A Throne Below the tempo slows down and it’s another great one. Of Fire And Obliteration starts with an acoustic guitar when the vocals and electric guitar comes into the song I get goosebumps. Pure Black/Death Metal excellency! Last out is the title track Annihilation really great and I’m left wanting more after approx 21 min of Unanimated greatness.

Unanimated has grown musically since the 9 years that passed since their last release, there's more hints of Black Metal then the melodic Blackened Death Metal of Ancient God Of Evil (1995). Actually I would say that they took a very small inspiration from their debut In The Forest Of The Dreaming Dead (1993). But mostly it's a continuation on what they started with on In The Light Of Darkness

They recorded the EP in the Chrome Studios with Fredrik Folkare as producer he's also Unleashed guitarist and it sounds great. I do believe they will record the upcoming album in the same studio. Even if it sounds amazing I would've preferred if they had recorded in my favorite Swedish studios: Necromorbus Studio with Tore Stjerna like on the previous album or if they had chosen to work with Devo Andersson of Marduk in his Endarker Studio.

The result of working with Devo would've been very interesting in my book even if music is only as good as its written. So maybe on any of the 2 other albums they will release on Century Media?

Even if former original longtime drummer Peter Stjärnvind was replaced as early as 2011 on drums by Anders Schultz from Unleashed and Peter don't play the drums anymore because of an injury he's missed. At least for me because he was apart of all those great albums (and demos) then again Anders does a great job also. Peter now plays guitar in Merciless.

Recently read a 4-paged interview with Richard Cabeza  (or 2,5 because of pictures) from the Swedish metal magazine Close-Up Magazine and Unanimated chose not to do a tour together with Rotting Christ and Watain they got offered. Instead they wanted to focus on the recording of the upcoming album.

In my mind Watain is still a new band even if they played since 1998, but do know that I’m a 38 years old guy. I do believe they’ve got a lot of younger fans (of course older also) but it probably would’ve been some great promotion for Unanimated. They did just play a gig at Party San Metal Over Air in Germany last weekend. There's a great live clip of the band performing one of my favorites the classic Die Alone from Ancient God Of Evil  on YouTube I highly recommend checking out.

Extremely pleased with the Annihilation EP and to summarize best releases of 2018 just got even more harder but I don't mind that at all. The future of Unanimated looks extremely promising!

MARDUK - BLACKCROWNED (2002)

Both these Marduk vinyls was released on Regain Records in 2002. Not sure how many copies of them were released. I know that the 2 picture disc releases also from 2002 was limited to 500 copies each.

A Marduk compilation box set limited to 10 000 copies called Blackcrowned was released 2002 it included a live-VHS, 2-CD & lyrics booklet with rare photos. Already in 2002 the VHS format was beginning to become obsolete, at least for me, so I thought that it was kind of strange they included it back then. They eventually released it on a standalone DVD in 2005. I'll do a post on my 3 Marduk DVD’s one day.

The 2 LP’s has all songs from the 2-CD in the box set. It has all sorts of miscellaneous assortment of songs like covers of Hellchild by Venom; Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones; Earth A.D. by Misfits; Macabre and Samhain by Samhain. The covers are alright, except for the butchering of the amazing timeless song Paint It Black. There's also live recordings of Baptism By Fire; Funeral Bitch and Dracole Wayda from July 2000 at Waldrock Open Air in the Netherlands. The sound was not professionally recorded it almost sounds like a bootleg recording, then again the Blackcrowned VHS/DVD has a a bunch of that... I don't mind the quality because I was used to old live bootleg VHS copies of Dissection, Dismember, Marduk etc. from the 90's.

Something I really appreciate is the 4 studio rehearsal songs from April of 1994. Amazing to hear the song Opus Nocturne performed by Marduk! Even if that one is just instrumental on Blackcrowned release. The 3 others from that Opus Nocturne (1994) rehearsal recording are Materialized In Stone; Sulphur Souls and Autumnal Reaper they at least have vocals on them.

Have no clue why they did re-recordings in 2001 of old classic songs like: The Sun Turns Black As Night; The Funeral Seemed To Be Endless; Darkness Breeds Immortality; A Sculpture of the Night; Untrodden Paths (Wolves Part II) & The Sun Has Failed. Don’t know why these were re-recorded? I usually hate re-recordings of old classic songs. These ones are alright but the originals are of course at least 100 times better!!

Another amazing thing on this release is the 4-track recordings from June 1995 of 4 songs that ended up on the 1996 album Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered a year later. Those songs are: Beyond The Grace Of God; Glorification (instrumental): Black Tormentor / Shadow Of Our Infernal King and Infernal Eternal / Towards The Land Of The Damned these were clearly working titles of the songs was finally on the Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered album.

The song Bloodletting was recorded in January of 2001 and was supposed to be included in some horror movie that never got released. Marduk finished the song a couple of months later that year in September and included it on the Blackcrowned release. The song is also on the World Funeral (2003) album. It's a few seconds shorter there and doesn't sound much different from this version.

Deathride is a medley of riffs from the Panzer Division Marduk (1999) album that was used on some Metal Mulisha stuntvideo soundtrack (whatever the fuck that is?). Another highlight for me is the song Todeskessel Kurland from the 1999 Panzer Division Marduk session. The band didn't finish it until 2 years later. Both these songs appears on reissued versions of Panzer Division Marduk like my picture disc vinyl.

Only small gripe I got with these two vinyls is that they have the exact same artwork on the back sleeve. Doesn't effect the music of course so it's not a big deal, still it would be nice with a design on each. The box set however was a bit overkill though, to print as many as 10 000 copies, the use VHS and CD's. I much rather would've it come in a box with 2 LP's + a DVD and maybe 1500 - 3000 copies that could be a really cool collectors piece. Even if I got the LP's and the DVD I still don't own the Blackcrowned box set, but I'll get it some day. It's not expensive or hard to find these days.

I really enjoy both Blackcrowned albums but I cannot recommend them to any casual Marduk fans. These releases are clearly meant for die-hard fans like me. And as always...

Praise Hail Marduk!!

WARDRUNA LIVE at DALHALLA in SWEDEN August 9th 2018

Me and my old friend Kim from the great band Tyrant Wrath witnessed Wardruna live at Dalhalla located North of Rättvik, Sweden this Thursday. It was the 2nd time I saw them live since the release of the Ragnarok (2016) album.

Took a few pictures and I only filmed 2 songs live Jara and Helvegen (with support act vocalist Eivør Pálsdóttir guesting) because I wanted to focus on the concert. Great setlist a bit unusual for what they normally play.

I don't remember every song they played and I didn't want to take notes during their performance because I wanted to focus on the show. But some of the songs were: Tyr; Rotlaust Tre Fell; Odal; Fehu; Algir - Stien Klarnar and the closing solo performance by Einar Selvik of the song Völuspá.

As always Wardruna were amazing and we had seats on row 5 so it was a great view. With the great surrounding that Dalhalla brings it made the gig even more special.

CARCASS - NECROTICISM - DESCANTING THE INSALUBRIOUS (1991)

This classic Death Metal gem on a Full Dynamic Range vinyl reissue from 2017 on Earache. Bought this last year don't know if every copy has switched A and B-labels of this LP? Because mine have that.

Back in the early 90’s whenever Headbanger’s Ball would show the videos for the songs Incarnated Solvent Abuse and Corporal Jigsore Quandary I really liked them. So much that I recorded both those 2 songs on a VHS-tape along with other Death and Thrash Metal bands at the time. But whenever I listened to the Necroticism album at one of my local record stores, on numerous occasions also, it never convinced me to buy it.

Carcass weren’t like the other Death Metal bands I enjoyed at the time Dismember, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Unleashed etc. Actually it wasn’t probably until late 90’s/early 2000 that I picked up Necroticism on CD and finally understood what everyone else already knew years ago.

Carcass added a second guitarist next to Bill Steer during the 2nd part of the 1990 tour for their previous album Symphonies Of Sickness (1989). That guy was Michael Amott from the amazing Swedish Death Metal band Carnage. He was involved in the music writing of both Incarnated Solvent Abuse and Corporal Jigsore Quandary the later one a collaboration with Bill Steer and drummer Ken Owen.

However their main music writer for the album was Bill Steer, even if drummer Ken Owen also wrote contributed music to 3 songs and vocalist/bassist Jeff Walker wrote all the lyrics. They recorded the album with producer Colin Richardson (Bolt Thrower, Gorefest, Fear Factory etc).

The first album by Carcass I bought was Heartwork (1993) although how brilliant that one is and I’ve listened to it literary to death. I find myself leaning more and more nowadays towards Necroticism whenever I need my Carcass fix.

Witnessed them live about 3 weeks ago at a festival and they were great. For my taste there were a bit to many songs from Surgical Steel (2013). There’s so many songs from Necroticism I wanted them to play like: Carneous Cacoffiny; Symposium of Sickness; Inpropagation etc. but I was still pleased with their performance.

Anyway Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious is a timeless classic Death Metal album that everyone should own!

R.I.P. ARCKANUM 1993 - 2018...

Had no idea that Shamaatae aka. Johan Lahger had put down Arckanum to rest after 25 years. I was just going to check some fact on Shamaatae at Metal Archives while doing research for another post and saw that Arckanum was no more.

Didn't know anything about this... But apparently it was already announced in February this year. So it came as quite the shock, Shamaatae will continue writing books and focus on his spiritual ventures. I wish him all the best with that, but for my own selfish reasons I really wished he continued on with Arckanum.

Very sad news for me because the band has meant so much for me. I've been a fan since the mid 90's when I found the debut Fran Marder (1995) at a record store in my hometown that sold used CD, LP, VHS etc. in 1995/96 (?).

My curiosity for the band was much thanks to the fact they were signed to Necropolis Records. The North American record label where many bands released many timeless classic albums like: Nifelheim; The Black, Dawn, Triumphator, War, Niden Div. 187, Vondur just to name a few. Also great essential compilations albums by Dissection; Ophthalamia also the Nordic Metal A Tribute To Euronymous one.

The 3 first Arckanum albums were released on Necropolis Records. Next 2 records were released on the French label Debemur Morti Productions, then they released albums on Regain Records, Season Of Mist Underground Activists and Folter Records.

Shamaatae also has his own label Carnal Records on where Arckanum released some 7" singles, EP's, split releases and the compilation The 11 Year Anniversary Album (2004). Also amazing albums by great bands like Craft, Grá, Svartsyn etc. just to mention a few.

Anyway let's celebrate what Arckanum accomplished during their 25 years. I have all 9 full length albums, really wish that I have more of them on vinyl. Eventually I'll get my favorite Arckanum records on LP. As far I only got 2 of them Antikosmos and ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ the ones that were released on amazing vinyl boxes in 2016. They came with a bunch of cool extra stuff like t-shirt, poster, longsleeve, vinyl slipmat etc. you can see them in this post.

Actually Fran Marder, Kostogher and Kampen wasn't released on vinyl until 2003-04. I'm also extremely glad that I bought all 3 Arckanum CD releases on Necropolis Records in the 90's. Because they are ridiculously priced nowadays. Especially Fran Marder just like many other early records on Necropolis Records.

FRAN MARDER (1995)

The classic debut album! Don't be fooled by the cheesy promo video to the song Gava Fran Trulen, sure it's a great song but, the Fran Marder album has so much more to offer. Brilliant songs I want to mention like Hvila Pa Tronan Min; Svinna; Bærghet; Kununger Af þæn Diupeste Natur etc. just to name a few. It was recorded at Abyss Studio in just 4 days of February 95.

Fran Marder is probably my favorite Arckanum record. Sure nostalgia plays huge a part but it was amazing back then and still is today. I know it's a cliche... But I find new stuff on it every time I listen too the album. A must have record in any serious Black Metal collection.

KOSTOGHER (1997)

In the same vein as the debut, but still a progress of the music and almost as amazing. A bit more polished then Fran Marder there's many highlights on this album and those are very strong. I would probably put either Kostogher or Antikosmos as my 3rd favorite record by them, but this isn't about ranking Arckanum albums.

Just some of the songs I recommend from this one: Skoghens Minnen Vækks; Yvir Min Diupe Marder; Et Sorghetog; Gamall Uvermark and Bedrøvelse. I could mention even more but if you're unfamiliar with Arckanum I don't want to mention every song from every album.

KAMPEN (1998)

Much music on a 2-CD release, 73 min 16 sec to be exact. It became the last Arckanum album on Necropolis Records it's my least favorite of those 3. That's not saying it's bad! Because in fact I do really enjoy listening to this one 20 years later.

However they made one mistake with this first Necropolis Records release and it's not a print error. The album got 11 songs but they are spread out on only 4 tracks, for instance the first song on CD 1 contains 3 songs in one: Kamps Tekn; Frana and Tronan Yvir þusand Landskaps Mark. As far as I know they fixed that on reissues of Kampen. The intent was to release it on one CD because the music can fit on one CD, but Necropolis screwed that up...

Some recommendation: Frana; Pa Gruvstiigher Vandrum; Minir Natz Fughlir and Skipu Vidit Dunkel but it's best like all great albums to listen to this one from start to finish. I probably even like it more nowadays then in the 90's even. Definitely an album that fans of the band should own. Hell even people not into Arckanum should also get this album!

ANTIKOSMOS (2008)

It took 10 years until Arckanum released another full length album. It was completely worth the wait! There were some EP, splits and the compilation album releases in between Kampen and Antikosmos but I never bought any of them. It's almost like a "comeback" and a reincarnation of the band musically the style had evolved during that time. Not like there's another band it still sounds like Arckanum should.

They actually recorded Antikosmos in the Sunlight Studio with Tomas Skogsberg. One always think about the early Swedish Death Metal scene with brilliant albums by Dismember, Entombed, At The Gates, Carnage etc. when his name comes up. But this sounds amazing and shows what an amazing engineer and producer he is, not that one needed more "evidence" with a track record like his. The album was mastered at Necromorbus Studio though.

Like I stated earlier Antikosmos or Kostogher is my 3rd favorite Arckanum album and some of highlights for me are: Svarti; Dauðmellin; Nákjeptir; Eksortna; Røkulfargnýr etc. 8 songs in 38 minutes is a great formula for a great Arckanum record!

ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ (2009)

I would rank ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ my 2nd favorite album by Arckanum but it's actually not far behind the debut Fran Marder. They are so far from each other musically so whenever I listen to this one I'm just blown away by it every time. Don't know why they didn't continue with Tomas Skogsberg at the Sunlight Studio but nevertheless the result is astonishing. Just like the previous record Shamaatae had guitarist Set Teitan (ex. Dissection etc.) as a session guest performer on ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ.

11 songs in approx 50 min and it's very hard to pick out recommendation songs but here's some anyway: Þórhati; Þann Svartís; Þyrpas Ulfar; Þursvitnir; Þjóbaugvittr; Þá Kómu Niflstormum; Þrúðkyn almost mentioned every song there but that's just a testament how brilliant this album is.

SVIGA LÆ (2010)

The 3rd album in 3 years and Arckanum is in great form. The band also had signed with Swedish record label Regain Records, this was however the only album to be released on that company. It's also the only Arckanum album never to have been released on vinyl.

Sviga Læ is in the same vein as the two previous masterpieces it almost feels like a trilogy. The album have 8 songs and clocks in about 38 min. The album doesn't have as great songs as Antikosmos and ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ nevertheless a really solid record that any Arckanum fan should enjoy. Some of the highlights are in my opinion: Læ Elr; Gylðir Algørir; Goðin Eru Blekkt and Andskoti Ferr Austan.

HELVÍTISMYRKR (2011)

Shamaatae still had enormous inspiration and released a 4th album during a 4 year period. I like this album but one can hear a decline in the songs, not saying that Helvítismyrkr is a bad album because it's definitely NOT.

The production and the songs sound amazing. The tracks Myrkrin Vinna Hefnt and Nifldreki are both excellent and could have easily fit among the best songs on the ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ album. Other great ones are In Svarta and Svartr Ok Þursligr. But as a whole album experience I feel that its very uneven.

For this album and the next one Arckanum had signed with the Season Of Mist Underground Activists record label.

FENRIS KINDIR (2013)

Out of the 9 Arckanum albums Fenris Kindir is in opinion the weakest one among them all by far even. It's still Arckanum but it just feels so very average. It's not until the 5th song that the album delivers a great track Hamrami. A folk music inspired instrumental song. Also the next one Fenris Gangr is one of the better songs. 

There's not much to get excited about before those two or after. I got no complaints about the sound or production but the songs just isn't there.

DEN FÖRSTFÖDDE (2017)

This became the last Arckanum record ever. New for this one is that Shamaatae uses for the most part regular Swedish in the lyrics and song titles instead for the "Arckanum trademark" written in ancient Swedish. 

It has familiar sound to it but without sounding predictable. If you are a fan of Arckanum you’re going to like this album for sure. When it was released last year I really liked and praised it over at my Instagram account. I still like Den Förstfödde but might have overrated it at the time and saying it was among my top-5 Arckanum albums. 

I think it's much better then both Helvítismyrkr and Fenris Kindir but I would probably put this or Sviga Læ as their 6th or 7th best album. I highly recommend anyone to give Den Förstfödde a chance, it's a very unusual and unique Arckanum album. Even if the 4 last Arckanum albums were their weakest in the entire discography I'm still glad he released them all.

And that folks was my post about Arckanum! Who knows what the future will bring? Shamaatae is only 44 years old and that's not an age that prevents him from once again bring back Arckanum.

Either if he does or don't his career has been amazing and in my opinion he's a legend in the Swedish Black Metal scene that deserves much respect for what he accomplished with his music.