DISMEMBER - SKIN HER ALIVE (1991) + Dismember interview Metal Hammer 1991

7" picture disc vinyl of Dismember the 2 song single Skin Her Alive released in September of 1991 on Nuclear Blast. This was released 4 months after their debut masterpiece Like An Everflowing Stream (1991).

Also included the very first Dismember interview I ever read from Metal Hammer Extra Thrash issue 3/1991. A magazine that my older sister bought back in the day but gave it to me. I scanned it so you can read it here (see further down). Not in mint condition, was about 12 years old when I got my grubby hands on it.

Also scanned interviews with Entombed, Carcass, Tiamat, Grave, Pestilence, Cannibal Corpse, Slayer, article about the Swedish Death Metal scene at the time. Plus a bunch of more bands from the same magazine like Sepultura, Pungent Stench, Coroner, Benediction, Massacre. Gorefest, Type O Negative, Cathedral, Massacra etc. Might post them here if there's any interest?

Thanks to the stupid fucking young me it's missing 1 of the 2 pages in a Kreator interview... Have done the same thing with other magazines from around that period with articles of Dismember, Morbid Angel and Entombed. Getting posters of Death Metal bands wasn't easy at the time so one did moronic things like that.

Anyway the 2 songs on this 7” single is of course the title track Skin Her Alive and Defective Decay. Which is a song that doesn't appear on the 8 song first print vinyl release of Like An Everflowing Stream. But it's one of two bonus tracks on the original Nuclear Blast CD release.

Defective Decay is an old song that appeared way back on the first ever Dismember demo Dismembered from 1988. Dismember only had 3 members then Fred Estby (drums), David Blomqvist (guitar) and with future rhythm guitarist Robert Sennebäck on vocals. Nicke Andersson of Entombed played session bass on that demo.

About the song Skin Her Alive lyrics, they were very controversial at the time. So much that both  Dismember and their UK distributor Plastic Head ended up in court in England for “charges of obscenity” in July of 1992. It didn’t lead to anything other then Dismember getting a lot of free promotion. Even I remember reading about the fuss around it at the time thinking it was cool that this Swedish Death Metal band got this kind of attention.

The whole thing at least gave inspiration to the title for the follow-up album Indecent And Obscene (1993) because that's what a UK newspaper described Dismember as.

Vocalist Matti Kärki actually wrote the lyrics to Skin Her Alive based on an actual murder. When one of his crazy neighbor actually killed the wife/girlfriend. The lyrics are written through the eyes of the killer. Highly recommend reading the Swedish Death Metal book from 2008 by Daniel Ekeroth where he writes more about this whole mess.

Actually wrote about Dismember and the lyrics to Skin Her Alive for a English assignment in school when I was about 14 years old in 1994. Also shocked a few classmates with a Swedish translation of Life Demise by Unanimated one year later. But it was a cool teacher though and he knew I was into some "weird metal".

Really like this 7” picture disc vinyl and the cover artwork is amazing. Definitely a cool release if you're a Dismember or Death Meta fan!!

MARDUK - DARK ENDLESS (1992)

On a vinyl reissue from 2012 limited to 1500 copies released on Century Media/Blooddawn Productions. Originally released on No Fashion Records in December of 1992. Really like this reissue with a booklet of old pictures, logos and the lyrics. Not like my old CD copy from No Fashion Records that's very sparse on content in the booklet to say the least...

As you know this was the debut album by the mighty Marduk. The band started playing in 1990 and recorded their only demo the 5-song Fuck Me Jesus in June 1991 in Gorysound Studios aka. Unisound with Dan Swanö.

The lineup in the Marduk was basically the same on Dark Endless as on their demo but with a second guitar player added Devo Andersson (guitar 1992-94 and bass 2004-present). The founder of the band Morgan Håkansson (guitar) is the only remaining member of the band in its present form.

Joakim "Grave" Göthberg aka. Joakim Af Gravf played drums 1990-93 he later was their vocalist 1993-95. Vocalist on Dark Endless and Fuck Me Jesus was done by Andreas Axelsson (1990-93), at the time he was also guitarist in Edge Of Sanity and on bass they had Richard Kalm (1990-1992).

Before Dark Endless the same lineup had recorded a 3-song EP called Here's No Peace in December of 1991 at Hellspawn Studios (aka. Unisound) with Dan Swanö. I heard several reasons to why it wasn't released as a 7" vinyl at the time it didn't get a release until 1997 when Shadow Records put it out on a MCD.

During 4 days in June of 1992 Marduk for the third time went into the Hellspawn Studios to record the Dark Endless album with Dan Swanö. A total 8 songs was recorded and their first full length album clocks in at 30 minutes.

3 of the songs appears on the "Fuck Me Jesus" demo Within The Abyss; Departure From The Mortals and The Black.... The song Within The Abyss also appears on the Here's No Peace EP as does Still Fucking Dead (Here's No Peace). New for the album was 4 songs The Sun Turns Black as Night; The Funeral Seemed to Be Endless; Dark Endless and Holy Inquisition.

Dark Endless was the 4th release of Marduk that I bought after discovering the band in 1994. It was not easy to find a copy of it, but it was actually in my hometown I eventually found it at that record store who sold used CD, LP VHS etc..

The fact that I had heard Opus Nocturne (1994); Those Of The Unlight (1993) and the Fuck Me Jesus demo that Osmose Productions released on a MCD in 1994. Also other Black Metal bands too many to mention. So it made my first experience with Dark Endless was a bit underwhelming.

But DON'T get me wrong its a excellent debut album!! I just thought the production and sound on the album wasn't as raw and harsh like the one on Fuck Me Jesus had. I still to this day prefer the 3 songs on the demo of Within The Abyss; Departure From The Mortals and The Black.... over the Dark Endless versions.

Also the the version of Still Fucking Dead and the second version of Within The Abyss from the Here's No Peace EP is better then the Dark Endless ones. It might sound like I'm very critic of the debut album but like I wrote it's an excellent album. Its great throughout and not a bad moment on it.

The only minor gripe I got with it is the cover artwork. It's not terrible and it got a certain charm to it but looks like a Death Metal record. And doesn't look anything like the early Norwegian Black Metal releases like Burzum; A Blaze in the Northern Sky or Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism.

If I had discovered Black Metal and Marduk in 1992/93 and Dark Endless had been one of the first albums I bought in the scene I would have been absolutely blown away by its excellency. But then again I do think it's a excellent record now and that's what is most important not what the 15-16 year old me thought something like 23 years ago.

And as always Praise Hail Marduk!!

KREATOR x 3: TERRIBLE CERTAINTY (1987); FLAG OF HATE (1986) & OUT OF THE DARK... INTO THE LIGHT (1988) + a beginners guide

All 3 of them are German first print vinyls on Noise like all my other Kreator LP's. I've written about this before there's a few bands I only want/own first print vinyls from (and usually have it on CD) Kreator being one of those bands in my LP collection.

Terrible Certainty was the 3rd album by Kreator released in 1987 and it’s a brilliant one of course. Even if I might rank it lowest among their 5 first full length albums Kreator ain't your typical boring standard Thrash Metal band their lowest is still very high.

The Flag Of Hate EP was released 3 months before Pleasure To Kill in 1986 and have 3 songs the title track also appears on the debut album Endless Pain (1985). Also one of my favorite Kreator songs Awakening Of The Gods appears on both EP releases a studio version on Flag Of Hate and live on Out of the Dark... Into The Light.

The 5 song 1988 EP Out of the Dark... Into The Light has one new Kreator song Impossible To Cure. Also a cover of the 1981 song Lambs to the Slaughter originally by the British band Raven and 3 live songs Terrible Certainty; Riot of Violence and the already mentioned Awakening of the Gods.

Both of these EP’s are great and worth buying if you’re a Kreator fan.

I've done many Kreator posts so in this one I want to recommend a bunch of songs from my favorite period of the band 1985-1990. You can look at mainly for people that might not be into them as some "beginners guide".

Of course the best way is to start with their debut album Endless Pain (1985) and then continue chronologically album by album. But in these Spotify days it’s easy to get lost on where to begin.

A bit off-topic but the kids/youth of today are so spoiled with listening too all these albums basically for free. Okay Spotify takes a small fee. But believe me it wasn’t so bad to save money in order to afford an album you really wanted. You actually learned to appreciate music much more that way. Trust me!

Like I wrote these are songs from the 5 albums and the 2 EP's from 1985-1990, not that the band hasn't recorded amazing songs and albums after that. There's plenty of them and way too many to mention those in this post. But just like with Slayer if I was to recommend songs or albums by them I would choose songs from their 5 first albums. Much due to those being the ones I grew up on listening to when I discovered Thrash Metal in the early 90's.

In order of release. Other then that the songs aren't in any particular order, but I added some extra ones from my original Instagram post over @herr_black_metal due to text limitations there. Those songs are marked with *:

Endless Pain (1985)

Endless Pain
Tormentor

Total Death
Storm of the Beast*
Living In Fear*

Flag Of Hate (1986)

Awakening of the Gods

Flag of Hate

Pleasure To Kill (1986)

Pleasure To Kill

Under The Guillotine

Command of the Blade

Riot of Violence

Ripping Corpse*

The Pestilence*

Terrible Certainty (1987)

Storming With Menace

Terrible Certainty

Toxic Trace

Storming With Menace*

Behind The Mirror*

Out of the Dark... Into the Light (1988)

Impossible To Cure*

Awakening of the Gods (live)*

Extreme Aggression (1989)

Betrayer

Extreme Aggression

Some Pain Will Last

Love Us Or Hate Us*

Don’t Trust*

Bringer of Torture*

Coma Of Souls (1990)

People of the Lie

Agents of Brutality

When The Sun Burns Red

Coma of Souls

Terror Zone

World Beyond*

Twisted Urges*

Kreator is the best German band of all time in my opinion. In the whole Thrash Metal scene I would also put them very high, I think only that Slayer from 1983 to 1990 have done better or equally amazing albums.

Sure bands like Sodom, Destruction, Sepultura, Metallica, Testament, Megadeth, Exodus, Dark Angel etc etc... have recorded some amazing albums but looking at their entire careers Kreator and Slayer stand out in my ears.

IMMORTAL - NORTHERN CHAOS GODS (2018)

On a bi-colored black and white vinyl released on Nuclear Blast and limited to 500 copies. Holy Blashyrkh this was great!

Remember when I read on Blabbermouth that Abbath wasn't part of Immortal anymore. Another thing I also remember reading was that Immortal would still continue on with Demonaz the original and former guitarist (1991-97) on vocals. But not only that he would return playing guitar once again. Guess that everyone knows about his health issues kept him from playing with the band. He was still a key figure in Immortal after that and continued writing the lyrics.

Must admit that I was highly skeptical to this Immortal but still being very curious how they would sound like without Abbath. He was a certainly a very charismatic frontman, some might not like his antics on and off stage, but his vocals were a huge part of the Immortal sound for me.

My expectations was either it’s either amazing or utter shit. Didn’t think that I would buy the album but if I did I wanted to hear the entire Northern Chaos Gods album before buying it. I try to keep a high standard in my collection and this would have been a wildcard. Then they released the title track Northern Chaos Gods about 2 months ago on streaming services also on a 7" vinyl. It blew me away how great it sounded and immediately pre-ordered the LP because I wanted to hear the rest of this album.

They released the song Mighty Ravendark just a few days before the release day of the album. Even if I wanted to wait for the LP to arrive I held out for approx 5 hours before listening to it... Amazing song sure it’s very reminiscent of previous Immortal songs but probably my favorite on the entire album.

The new Northern Chaos Gods record sounds like an Immortal album. If you wanted it to sound like a follow up to Blizzard Beasts (1997) the last time Demonaz played guitar on a Immortal album you’re however going to be disappointed.

Sure all the old Immortal lyrical references are there throughout the entire album there's Blashyrkh, Grim, Ice, Might, Battles, Raven realms, Mountains etc. Which is of course what probably most fans want anyway and also me. But there’s a very thin line between it being too much, however they managed to pull it off without it sounding like a parody of themselves.

Great production in The Abyss Studio with longtime producer Peter Tägtgren who they worked with since At The Heart Of Winter (1999). He also play bass on the album and yes I'm aware that All Shall Fall (2009) was partly recorded at Grieghallen. The vocals by Demonaz are also great and the guitar is excellent at most times but not perfected and I would have liked some more great guitar solos. Horgh does a stellar performance as always.

8 songs in 42 min is a perfect formula and format for Immortal. A perfect number of songs and length in my opinion. The Northern Chaos Gods album is great throughout but with a few personal highlight songs like: Mighty Ravendark; Where Mountains Rise; Called To Ice; Grim And Dark and Gates To Blashyrkh.

Sure it's very early to have a real perspective on Northern Chaos Gods among the 8 other Immortal albums. Well I can say for certain it’s not a new Pure Holocaust (1993) or Battles In The North (1995) even if I don’t think anyone expected that.

In the end a very solid record that probably will make my top-9 albums of 2018.

FUNERAL MIST - DEVILRY (1998)

20 years ago Funeral Mist released their debut MCD Devilry on Shadow Records. A year later in 1999 it was also released on LP by the same record label.

Here’s all the different versions I have of this devilish brilliant release:

1998 CD Shadow Records SHADOW 003
1999 LP Shadow Records Shadow 003 with the poster
2005 LP Norma Evangelium Diaboli NED 009 with the poster
2006 CD The Ajna Offensive FLAME 38
2012 CD Season Of Mist SOM 729
2013 LP gatefold Norma Evangelium Diaboli NED 035 (from the Trisagion box comes with a poster)
2017 LP gatefold Norma Evangelium Diaboli NED 009 with the poster

1998 Shadow Records

Missing 3 CD reissues on Norma Evangelium Diaboli. Will get those eventually, but I’m in no hurry.

In the late 90's I became aware of "newer" bands like Malign, Sorhin, Ofermod, Triumphator and of course Funeral Mist. I owned the MCD Here’s No Peace (1997) by Marduk that Marcus Tena had released on his label Shadow Records.

1999 LP Shadow Records

He frequently posted amazing promo ads in a Swedish Metal magazine (see others I scanned on my Instagram @herr_black_metal) and he had a cool store in Stockholm. You can read about my only visit to that short lived store also over at my Instagram.

1999 LP Shadow Records

I became very intrigued by the new wave of bands through reading about them in fanzines. They were really into the Black Metal scene as a lifestyle, something that many other bands at the time had lost. Remember really wanting to hear Malign but I couldn’t find any of their releases and I didn't know how to neither did I dabble with MP3 bullshit. However the Devilry MCD by Funeral Mist was obtainable.

The 5-song MCD was excellent and one could hear the infernal potential Arioch possessed. And that’s how I discovered Funeral Mist.

2005 Norma Evangelium Diaboli

My absolute favorite out of these versions I own is of course the first print vinyl on Shadow Records from 1999 with the poster, insert and the sticker that was limited to 300 copies. It has a bonus song called Hellspell 2 that one was recorded in November of 1998 in the drummer Necromorbus studio. Where Arioch and him also recorded the entire Devilry CD in October 1997 and January 1998.

2006 The Ajna Offensive and 2012 Season Of Mist

All re-releases on CD and LP since 2005 of Devilry after the Shadow Records vinyl have all included 4 additional songs from their Havoc Demo II 1996 and the Hellspell 2 song. Havoc Demo II 1996 was the first Funeral Mist release to feature Arioch as guitarist, bassist and vocalist. On the former demo Darkness (1995) he was the bass player and also backing vocalist.

2013 Norma Evangelium Diaboli (from the Trisagion vinyl box set)

It’s not many other releases in my entire collection that I value as high as that Devilry on Shadow Records because Funeral Mist is my favorite band and Shadow Records have also meant so much for me. And I’m NOT talking about fucking monetary value!

Just what means most to me personally. Like the first print LP of the Dismember brilliant debut Like An Everflowing Stream (1991) that my older sister gave to me in the 90’s is probably my personally most valued. Also when my great friend for almost 25 years Adde of the amazing band Tyrant Wrath gave me his own personal copy of the excellent Pleasure To Kill (1986) by Kreator the first print German vinyl on Noise Records

2017 Norma Evangelium Diaboli 

There’s other releases that I also regard very high in my collection but that Devilry LP truly has a very special place in my collection.

Shadow Records promo ad scanned from an issue of Close-Up Magazine when Devilry was first released. On top the Marduk EP‎ Here's No Peace (1997) that was released on LP in 1998 one year after Shadow Records released the 3-song MCD.

Dawn - Nær Sólen Gar Niþer For Evogher (1994) and Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) (1998)

Two classic albums and the only full length albums by the amazing Swedish band Dawn. Their debut Nær Sólen Gar Niþer For Evogher from 1994 on a orange vinyl reissue from last year limited to 100 copies and the one on top Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) from 1998 on a red vinyl reissue from last year limited to 100 copies. Both released on Century Media but were originally released on CD by Necropolis Records there was a promo ad (see picture further down) I scanned from an old magazine I own for Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) to be released on LP in 500 copies with a poster but that never happened.

Dawn started in 1990 and recorded 3 demos before being signed. Vocalist Henke Forss and guitarist Fredrik Söderberg are probably the most notable members in the scene. Henke Forss was also in another rather known band that also was signed to Necropolis Records called Niden Div. 187 he was also a session vocalist on the only In Flames release that I can stand listening to Subterranean (1995). Both Henke and Fredrik has also been involved with a bunch of other bands. 

The debut Nær Sólen Gar Niþer For Evogher was recorded with Dan Swanö in the legendary Unisound Studio aka. Hellspawn Studios located in Finspång, Sweden.

All music was composed by Fredrik except As the Tears Fall and Everflaming that was written together with Henke and guitarist Andreas Fullmestad. 

Actually Shamaatae from the outstanding band Arckanum translated 2 of the lyrics Ginom Renande Lughier and Svarter Skiner Sólen into ancient Swedish the album title Nær Sólen Gar Niþer For Evogher is also in this language.

An amazing debut that in the mid 90’s actually didn't caught my ears. It wasn’t until a few years later I got into Dawn, despite they had so many things going for them that I appreciate like being a Swedish band, a Dan Swanö recorded album and a Necropolis Records release.

Remember listening to Nær Sólen Gar Niþer For Evogher at my local record store. I didn’t buy it then although I enjoyed their aggressive melodic Death Metal. But it was a genre where it was really hard to stand out especially in Sweden during those years. So I passed on it and none of my friends were into them.

The 15 year old me was of course totally wrong at the time I cannot believe that I didn’t buy the CD right then and there now. But being 15 years at the time and with many other amazing albums being released that year. Or the fact there was other older albums that I didn’t own so one had to prioritize on which albums to get.

During those years 1994-1999 Necropolis released so many classic albums. Many Swedish bands like Nifelheim, Dissection, Ophthalamia, Arckanum, The Black, War, Triumphator and of course Dawn just to name a few of my favorites that was released by them and I probably forgotten someone.

Between the two albums Dawn had released a 4-song EP called Sorgh på Svarte Vingar Fløgh in 1996 on CD they had really progressed more on that one.

My absolute favorite Dawn release however is their second album Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) from 1998 that one I bought the year it was released without hesitation. One can definitely hear a progression to the more aggressive and extreme.

I know it sometimes can sound like I'm dissing Peter Tägtgren but I think he has recorded so many timeless classic albums. This is one example when I do prefer a The Abyss Studio recording and production over a Dan Swanö one. Those occasions are rare but they do happen.

On the album Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) they definitely got to another level and had grown very much as songwriters since the debut. The band performances and also Henke Forss is outstanding. I wouldn’t describe Dawn as a Black Metal band but the influence is there on this album but still a melodic Death Metal feel to it.

A chronicle at Hatpastorns Likpredikan blog you can read here I highly recommend for everyone. It's in Swedish but with Google Translate you should get at least the core of the subject. It's basically about how many bands that in the 90's considered to be melodic Death Metal nowadays is seen as Black Metal. I'm guilty of it as well because at core a band like Dawn or Naglfar, Sacramentum, Unanimated etc. wasn't Black Metal in my book back in the day or now. I'm getting off-topic and sidetracked but read the text it's one of the best ones I've read in a very long time.

In my opinion both albums and the EP are essential to own. But if I could only have one my pick would be Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) for sure.

I really think that Dawn should have had a much more successful story then they got. Had they been on a bigger label like Nuclear Blast; Century Media or even Osmose Productions my believe is that they would have gotten that.

Dawn haven't released any new material since 1998 but they are still considered active. Only Henke and Fredrik remains in the lineup but with the drummer Tomas Asklund (Gorgoroth, ex. Dissection, Dark Funeral etc.) an album called The Fourfold Furnace was announced in 2003 but was never released. Then in 2008 they once again said that it would be released clearly that never happened.

There’s talk about a new album being in the works according to the Dawn official Facebook page. Let us hope so 20 years since Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) now so it’s about time!

Promo ad by Necropolis Records from 1998 that I scanned from a magazine I own. Where they mention a LP release with a poster limited to 500 copies that never got released.

DJEVEL - BLANT SVARTE GRANER (2018)

Been wanting to post this excellent Djevel album for some time now, but lots of Marduk and Funeral Mist posts lately. Blant Svarte Graner has become one of my favorite records of the year of outstanding releases that 2018 has been. Here on a gatefold vinyl limited to 400 copies on Aftermath Music. There's also another limited edition that was only released in 100 copies it's handnumered and comes with a signed art print.

For this their 5th album Blant Svarte Graner a legend in the scene you might heard about Bård “Faust” Eithun replaced Dirge Rep on drums. Mannevond replaced Erland Hjelvik on “harsh vocals”. So there's lots of notable people in the Norwegian Black Metal scene involved in Djevel but what’s even more interesting is of course the music.

Their sound is very 90’s Norwegian Black Metal. Without being some copycat band trying to sound old school and attempt to capture the essence of what’s already been done before. Djevel can definitely stand proudly on their own with what they create. Don’t want to compare their music with others or namedrop a bunch of bands. Djevel have so many different approaches on Blant Svarte Graner and is much better to experience then reading about it.

Djevel started in Oslo in 2009 with members from band like: Ljå, Koldbrann, Kvelertak, Urgehal, NettleCarrier just to name a few. Their previous record Norske Ritualer (2016) is brilliant maybe even just slightly better then Blant Svarte Graner and a must have album just like this.

The album before that one Saa Raa Og Kald (2015) is also an amazing release. The 2 records before those Dødssanger (2011) and Besatt Av Maane Og Natt (2013) are both great but Djevel have gotten better with time in my opinion.

Really wish that more people understood the greatness of Djevel. In my book the band should be one of the biggest ones in the scene right now.

Whenever I will summarize the year 2018 if I do a top list of some sorts it will huge competition from MANY other brilliant releases. They are even too many to name at this point of time and there's still upcoming albums and EP's that I have huge expectation on.

Anyway however I will present my top albums of 2018 it will definitely show just how much I really enjoy the Blant Svarte Graner album.