the vaporwave resource network
Welcome to the third installment of the Baltic Metal Primers. Earlier this year, I discussed Lithuanian black metal and Estonian death metal, which included brief overviews of metal in context of Baltic history and culture. These primers primarily focused on Baltic metal in the 1990s shortly after the countries’ independence following the collapse of the USSR (and subsequently ending several […]
Continue reading »Shortly after attaining their independence following the collapse of the USSR, a collection of three small states on the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea became ground zero for an exceptionally diverse and creative black metal scene that lasted from 1993 to 2002. Members of the extreme metal communities in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia launched themselves into a highly […]
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Recommendation: ✂ (“Pure Evil and Hate”) Before becoming a household name in modern death metal, Polish group Behemoth was a straight-up black metal act with volkisch tendencies. And the Forests Dream Eternally is the band’s first EP – following four demos and full-length Seventevith (Storming Near the Baltic). More so than now, Behemoth was pretty much synonymous with frontman Nergal, […]
Continue reading »Fallen Empire Records is a Portland, Oregon label that specializes in black metal. Founded on 18 June 2011 and operated pretty much entirely by just one guy, Fallen Empire has made a name for itself among message boards and in the experimental underground as a label known for harsh and raw metal in a variety of styles and geographic locations. […]
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Recommendation: 🐺🐺☁ Blasphemy, Conqueror, and Sarcófago get a lot of attention, but there’s one band in particular without whom the concept of war metal would be forever different: Order from Chaos. This Midwestern band started up in Kansas City, Missouri in 1987 and released three blistering full-lengths and a ten EPs/demos over an eight-year run. The band was fronted by […]
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Recommendation: 🐺🐺☁ Lurker of Chalice is a project by black metal artist Wrest, who is most known for making music through the depressive/suicidal death metal of Leviathan. The only extant album from Lurker of Chalice was released in 2005, although Wrest has stated that other material has been recorded. In contrast to the high-contrast, high-treble screeching tones of Leviathan albums […]
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Recommendation: 🐺🐺🐺 Released only seven years after the first Burzum album, Weakling’s Dead as Dreams pioneered a wave of American black metal bands1 that was so distinct from its Scandinavian predecessors that it even earned its own tag: “US Black Metal,” or USBM. For better or for worse – and more often the former, much to the chagrin of Weakling’s […]
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