Dark Fortress - Tales From Eternal Dusk

Dark Fortress's debut is one of the best pure melodic black metal albums ever made, combining the medieval riffing patterns of Abigor circa Nachthymnen and the mystical synth accompaniment of ITNE era Emperor...unfotrunately, this is another band that's bitten the dust cuz today they sound like modern Satyricon which ain't really to my liking, but Tales is absolutely essential.

Tales From Eternal Dusk

Heimdalls Wacht - Der Untergang Der Alten Welt

From the cover art to the production...this is just simple, earnest pagan metal excellence. The real crux of this type of music lies in the atmosphere...the riffs, yeah sure they're important...performance, yeah that's all part of it, but it is truly the honor and bleeding conviction to that undying pagan spirit that makes this album so successful and thus wholeheartedly recommended.

Der Untergang Der Alten Welt

Grabnebelfürsten - Dynastie

Noble black metal played with aristocratic/surrealistic panache.

Dynastie

Katharsis - The Red Eyes Of Wrath

Someone get Wrath some Visine, he's high as a kite for chrissake!
Orthodox and punishing German totalitarianism, about as pleasant as a knife to the grundles.

Red Eyes

Oh, and definitely check out this girl's blog for some other borderline illustrations like the one above (I might be too harsh, I definitely love the "Wrath" illustration haha)

Ingurgitating Oblivion - Voyage Towards Abhorrence

On this daze of thanx, as you ingurgitate yourself into oblivion on your fried brined roast and butter-infused giblets, feast your ears on this turkey...an overflowing cornucopia of Cryptopsy-esque slam-tech-vortexian death. Sure to put a smile on your loved ones faces' and turn them into a quivering pile of smashed pertaters.

Happy Thanksgiving Fuckers!!

Götterdämmerung

Gonna backtrack a little bit here back into German death metal land, cuz I forgot this wonderful band right here (and a few others). Götterdämmerung were a one man progressive death metal outfit that put out a string of demos in the mid 90's. The always reliable (?) metal archives say that there were other members involved, but there is most definitely drum machine mayhem at play. Fear not, this is not some kind of mindless Mortician blasting. Instead, we are treated to quirky semi-technical folkish death metal much in the style of Woodland's Edge (definitely a killer band even if waay under-produced)
Enjoy both Furor Teutonicus from '95 and Sturmgott from '97.

Furor Teutonicus

Sturmgott

Tsatthoggua - Hosanna Bizarre

Sympho-Eroticaterrorist metal with an unhealthy dose of occult black magick. Featuring guitarist of Eternal Dirge band.
Big gimpin' plinkin keys...Big gimpin' on your knees...

Hosanna Bizarre

Skeeltron - Fortress Of Darkness

Skeeltron..Skeletron...Skeleter...there is buzz and then there is this...

Fortress Of Darkness

Exorial - Totendammerung

Black metal from ze hoodz.

Death hood

Allvater's Zorn - Erbe Verpflichtet

Black metal from ze woodz.

Erbe Verpflichtet

Nihil Nocturne - Necrohell

I thought hell was Necro enough, but what the fuck...this must be Dante's 10th Circle where only the true raw war individual is allowed...and of course Nihil Nocturne is the soundtrack. Gotta love that he used an Alfred Kubin drawing for the cassette tape. If you don't know who that is, educate yoself!

Necrohell

Zarathustra - Perpetual Black Force

Sooo orthodox and soooo good. Black metal that will make you beam with pride to be a fan of such an oft-disillusioning genre.

Perpetual Black Force

Tha-Norr - Wolfenzeitalter

One of the first black metal masterpieces to come out of Deutschland. The warrior babe on the cover is a masterpiece in and of herself. Xena, warrior-bitch from hell!!

Wolfenzeitalter

Necrofrost - Blackeon Lightharvest

On their third full-length the Necroboyz pulled back the curtain and made the distinction that indeed they are musical savants, not just musical nut jobs. This album is all about variety, from stoner rock riffs to lilting piano melodies to in-the-red buzzes swathed in lunar black dementia. No stone is left unturned...no matter what is lurking b'neath (be afraid, be very afraid)

Blackeon Lightharvest

Alpha Drone - Alpha Drone

Droning random black metal about extraterrestrials, Shambhala and other such nonsense.

Alpha Drone

Dawnfall - Drei Räume

German's loooove their weird, demented black metal...and I love them for loving it!

Drei Räume

Martyrium - L.V.X. Occulta

Kult Kult Kult Kult Weird Weird Weird Weird...one of the oddest little black metal gems from the halls of a Faustian hell.

L.V.X. Occulta

Pagan Winter - Infernos

Blast beaten warring black metal that is sooooo out of it's shell nutzo that you just can't help but smile at the sheer lunacy of it all!!

Infernos

Ascension - Consolamentum

Amaaaazing. If I had found out about this album last year, it would've for sure made my Top 10 list...between this and Todtgelichter, Germany is currently pumping out the craziest and best sounding black metal hands down.

Consolamentum

The Apoplexy Twist Orchestra - Create The New

This is such a fun little romp even though it's labeled "screamo" ugh. It's got more than it's fair share of black metal elements that definitely shine through. Plus it's only 18 minutes long, so you can listen to it while you're on the can or something.

Create The New

Absurd - Facta Loquuntur

For anyone who read that Lords Of Chaos book, the band Absurd should ring a bell...they are the ones who wouldn't let a fellow classmate join their ranks, and then murdered him for good measure! Talk about adding insult to injury!! Nowadays, they would probably just leave a bunch of hate on his facebook page till he did himself in, ah the glories of the internet...but anyways, on to the music...Absurd's sound is sort of a love or hate type of deal; crudely recorded, out of tune (intentionally?), simple beyond belief, and often times more punk/folk/RAC than straight up metal. Honestly this sounds like a retarded Pogues cover band with a really grim production. But y'know what? That's exactly why I love it! These songs just have that "x" factor that elevates them from horrible to sublime (if not quite sublime, then at least enjoyable). Be it an epic vocal hook that will stay in your head for days (Eternal Winter) or a catchy riff that is pounded into oblivion. Listening to this again, I'm very much reminded of last year's excellent Misantropical Painforest album. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm sure these bastards wouldn't have it any other way.

Facta Loquuntur

Nargaroth – Rasluka Part II

Kanwulf seems to be a polarizing figure to black metal fans. I enjoy most of his work, but some of it is pretty lame (I'm especially thinking of the last few albums), but this Rasluka ep (curiously the II before the I) is his meisterpiece. The guitar tone is brilliant in the red, crumbling shards of glass raining down and shredding flesh. The riffs are everything that is depressive and melancholic and are brought home with a bullet thanks to that aggressive guitar tone. Includes a weird homage to the late great Bon Scott (Kanwulfie is all about paying homage to his heroes ie Black Metal ist Krieg)...so avant-garde it hoits.

Rasluka

Caacrinolas - A Thousand Cries Has the Night

Haunted House Black Metal

Cries In Da Night

Anael - On Wings Of Mercury

Thrashing blackness very much in the vein of compatriots Blutaufe, with more than a hint of Absu/Melechesh fervor and even a little bit of Mediterranean style riffing to spice things up! Other releases saw them going much more doom and experimental, especially on their notorious split with Canadian nut job Lust. Those releases are good, but this is their best. Highly recommended!!

On Wings Of Mercury

Bluttaufe - Mein Fleisch an Deinen Lippen

Thrashing black metal that kicks so much ass it's pathetic!!

Mein Fleisch

Fermenting Innards - Myst

Gotta love black metal bands that retain their death metal names even after they switch sides. Maniac Butcher, Dissection, Entrails...I'm probably forgetting some other good ones. Melodic/dissonant German Black Metal definitely worth a time or two.

Myst

Winterblut - Grund Gelenkkunst

So, keeping true to my word, I am delving ass deep into the insidious world of German Black metal...and without further ado, ladies and gentlemen...Winterblut's Grund.
A monumental statement put out by ol L'Hiver almost a decade ago. If the Jesus Lizards ever recorded a black metal album, this would be it my friends...grungy, mathy evilness that grooves on that enviable tin-pan alley swag. Just love that he put a cheering crowd at the end of the album...fucking brilliant!

"Grund"ge

GDM

I had more fun than you can imagine doing these German Death metal posts, and as usual I went overboard looking up excellent bands to share. Who knew there were amazing bands like Dark Millennium, Fertilizer, Eternal Dirge and Absurd Existence lurking in the ancient German scene? There are just a wealth of great old bands out there, and the great thing about doing this blog is that it gives me the incentive to seek them out...Enjoy this German DM Mix featuring the best of the best, and stay tuned for some German Black metal snooping!!!

Purgatory - Necrocannibalistical Insanity

Atrocity -  Hold Out (To the End)

Pavor - Furioso

Professor - Numerus Clausu

Eternal Dirge - Evolved Mutations

Obscura - Ocean Gateways

Ancient Wargod - Insane
Dark Millennium - Black Literature

Fleshcrawl - Phrenetic Tendencies

Incubator - Playing a Game...

Blood - Christbait

Island - Serenity

Valborg - Rain In The Forest

Fertilizer - Time Dune

Absurd Existence - Black Sun

Dark Millennium - In And For Nothing

Eternal Dirge - We Are The Dead

Atrocity - Sky Turned Red

Pavor - Imperator Of An Ashen Bane

Dark Millennium - Pandemonium 
Under Black Clouds - Signal To Noise

GDM I
GDMII

Centaurus-A - Side Effects Expected

A tech-death thrashterpiece...one of the more criminally overlooked death metal albums of the past couple of years.

Side Effects Expected

Symbiontic - Vaya

Kind of a nice German surprise right here, tech-death with some proggy-folk twists, sounding like Anata's The Conductor's Departure mixed with Bo Hansson!! Definitely unusual and pretty darn good.

Vaya

Root - Heritage Of Satan

This is hot off the presses, and is a huge huge deal. If you have read any of my other Root posts you know that they are my favorite band of all time, and any time they release a new album it's time to put all other albums aside and concentrate on Root for a good long while...so I take a little break from my Germanic posts to share the Czech legend's 9th full-length...haven't even listened to it all the way through yet, but rest assured this will be Top 10 material no doubt. Hopefully will be able to go see them at Rites Of Darkness Fest in San Antonio this Dec...still trying to finagle that one out, but so excited that they are playing on U.S. soil!! Big Boss owns ye!!!

Heritage Of Satan

Necrophagist - Requiems Of Festered Gore

Most people know Necrophagist as the ultimate twiddly-widdly-shred-your-face-off-tech-death metal band, but did you realize that they have been around since the early '90's and released this disgustingly primitive gem of a demo in 1992? Me neither, but here she be! Lo-fi, brutal and basically a gurgling mess...just how I likes it.

Requiems Of Festered Gore

Dark Millennium - Ashore The Celestial Burden

I spoke of Dark Millenniums's sophomore album at length, but barely touched on their debut opus, besides saying that it was magickal guitar heaven. It is guitar heaven....gloriouss guitar nirvana upon the celestial clouds. No burdens here (at least for the listener). As many metal bands enjoy exploring the stratosphere and beyond, DM went on one of the earlier voyages into the visceral vortex...a swirling madness of squalling riffs and surging expanse. Death Metal philosophizers transmutating the strings to express destruction, time, and the spirituality of man.

Ashore The Celestial Burden

Island - Orakel

For those of you that just can't get enough Zeitgeister musick. Island is pretty much the same peeps that are involved in Woburn House and Valborg playing pretty much the same sort of avant death metal. A more condensed version of the Monstrous Manoeuvres album with more blastbeats. Can't beat it.

Orakel

Pyogenesis - Ode To The Churning Seas Of Nar-Mataru

Subterranean gurgling doooom complete with frog vocals, phased primitive guitar and a beautiful swinging ride cymbal. This band later went pop-punk, and I actually have not checked out those albums...they don't sound too promising.

Ode To The Churning Seas Of Nar-Mataru

Woburn House - Monstrous Manoeuvres In The Mushroom Maze

Opethian prog-death from the Zeitgeister contingent...more of a dissonant sometimes Gorguts angular feel to the riffs, and sweet, sweet vox. Props for the alliterative album title too. Very nice!!

Monstrous Manoeuvres In The Mushroom Maze

Valborg - Glorification Of Pain

Part of the German Zeitgeister label contingency...Personal fav of mine, taking doom death and anagogic grunge into mystifying realms with Celtic Frost's moves and Nirvana's smooth groooves.

Glorification Of Pain

Eternal Dirge - Khaos Magick

These former Atheist loving chaps get all up in A.O. Spare's bidness and go Nocturnus on everyone's ass on their sophomore (and ultimo) '96 full length.

Khaos Magick