Atmospheric Black Metal

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The most commonly played among the sub-genres of black metal, Atmospheric Black Metal artists typically draw the genre into a less aggressive direction. While much of the black metal genre as whole may be deemed as atmospheric (especially when compared to other extreme metal styles like thrash metal and death metal), atmospheric black metal acts take things a step further. Keyboard use is common in the style, though not mandatory, while the music's pace tends to be slow to mid. Well known performers include Burzum, Darkspace and Fen.

Different types of atmospheric black metal artists may incorporate elements of ambient music, folk music, post-rock or sludge metal, as well as drawing on aspects of other black metal styles, such as Summoning, whose music is both atmospheric black metal and symphonic black metal.

Alternative names for the genre include Ambient Black Metal and Post-Black Metal, the latter typically referring to those artists who draw influence from post-rock and/or sludge metal, but is sometimes also used interchangeably with atmospheric black metal.

Inclusive Atmospheric Black Metal Sub-Genres

Blackgaze is a sub-genre of atmospheric black metal so named for its resemblance to shoegaze music. It may include influences from the neoclassical darkwave and post-punk music genres.

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atmospheric black metal Music Reviews

BLUT AUS NORD Disharmonium – Nahab

Album · 2023 · Atmospheric Black Metal
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siLLy puPPy
Some thirty years into its existence, BLUT AUS NORD which stared as Vlad in 1993 has lost none of its unique charm in the world of experimental metal with its unique brand of psychedelic electronica merging seamlessly with atmospheric black metal. While starting out in the second wave black metal scene, Vindsval and his cronies have continued to ratchet up the BLUT AUS NORD experience by consistently pushing in the envelope in developing horrific soundscapes that are suitable for as soundtracks for some interdimensional hellish setting.

Following a now already established pattern of cranking out a trilogy of overarching themes, the DISHARMONIUM set that began with last year’s “Undreamable Abysses” becomes even more blood curdling with its followup NAHAB, a word that means “love” in the Arabic language but brings no warm and fuzzies to mind as it pummels with black metal brutality in tandem with suffocating atmospheric anxiety. Fueled with dissonant guitar workouts and cyclical post-rock inspired patterns of repetition, NAHAB takes things laid down on previous albums and turns up the dial a few notches.

This is one of those albums that matches the album cover art perfectly as it truly feels like an astral disaster in the making, one where you are literally paralyzed in fear as nefarious multi-dimensional entities suck out your very life force like one of those bogeys in the Harry Potter movies. Once again BLUT AUS NORD owes its terror tactics to the inspiring artistic world of H.P. Lovecraft and like the dreaded Cthulhu of Lovecraftian legend, unleashes its tentacles to ensnare its prey into a metaphysical battle for your very soul.

The secret to BLUT AUS NORD’s success is that the band never strays too far from an overall theme and the unique sound that gelled all the way back with “Memoria Vetusta I: Father’s Of The Icy Age.” Just like the subtle ratcheting up of tension that graces each and every release, these guys know how to keep the basics of what came before and change it up just enough to offer a new perspective of a true and tried vision. Through this process BLUT AUS NORD has become somewhat of a legend in what i would first and foremost refer to as horror metal, a type of psychological mind fuck metal that transcends the pigeonholed terms such as black metal, progressive metal or atmospheric black metal.

In my opinion, DISHARMONIUM - NAHAB has pretty much perfected the BLUT AUS NORD experience by maintaining its dedication to the second wave black metal wrath accompanied by knotty avant-prog styled time signature changes and experimentalism. Add to that the perfect atmospheric black ambience that does the cosmic dance with its metal counterpart. Take for example the track “The Black Vortex” where the incessant hornet sounding buzzsaw guitars, the frenetic jazzy drumming, the suffocating atmospherics and the overall doom and gloom despair Lovecrafted into an eternal source of sonic bleakness and you can’t help but be blown away.

It seems this band is in no danger of running out of steam and one that only grows better and bolder with each release. Far ahead of the competition, BLUT AUS NORD pretty had a decade’s run of albums ahead of the pack but even some three decades later still exudes a sense of mastery and mastery absent from many old timers who have rested on their laurels rather than climbing the Jacob’s ladder of inspiration. This latest offering from these French underground superstars of the extreme metal world blows away anything they’ve done in a long time. The perfect marriage of second wave black metal laid down on “Ultima Thulée” married with the atmospheric perfection of the “Memoria Vestusta” releases but adds the chaotic mind fuckery of “MoRT. In short, experimental black metal perfection.

BURZUM Filosofem

Album · 1996 · Atmospheric Black Metal
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SilentScream213
This may be a bit brash, but I expected a lauded album made by a once nazi, church burning murderer to be a bit more exciting.

I wasn’t a big fan of Burzum’s other albums, but some tracks sat very well with me, and I could see the evolution of the heavily Ambient/Dungeon Synth-leaning Atmoblack developing. The problem was, the styles weren’t being mixed very well, we’d more so get one and then the other. I was expecting Filosofem – considered Burzum’s masterpiece and one of the greatest Atmospheric Black Metal albums of all time – to finally nail that style he’d been developing.

Aaaand no, he drops the ball for me. The tracks are incredibly boring and repetitive, no riffs to speak of, the guitar fuzz being so abrasive and poorly mixed that actual notes are mostly indiscernible. The ambient part has barely been incorporated into the music, with minimal, repetitive synthed notes playing a very minor background role. Once again, the only track that fully incorporates Ambient is devoid of any Metal at all, making this another failure to truly integrate both styles full and well into a single song.

The vocals, are atrocious, in fact the mixing on every front is so bad that nothing really sounds good, and this coming from someone who can enjoy artists like Bathory with no issue. This is considered depressive, melancholic, music… doesn’t really sound that way to me, it’s mostly just droning on and on without evoking much at all.

However, that’s not to say it’s truly a bad album, it’s just immensely disappointing. The compositions are decent, and the Ambient melodies that can be heard are quite nice. The repetitiveness is not so much an issue and does work well with the atmospheric soundscapes created. It’s decent background music if the horrible production isn’t enough to ruin the experience. But that’s where my compliments end.

GRIMA Frostbitten

Album · 2022 · Atmospheric Black Metal
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siLLy puPPy
When it comes to modern black metal, i frankly have a hard time keeping up with it all so something has to stand out in some way whether that be a personal recommendation, a compelling review or in the case of FROSTBITTEN, the fifth overall studio album from the Russian noise making machine GRIMA, it was the outstanding frosty freaky album cover art that sold me!

And what a nice discovery. So much mediocrity in the world of black metal world and GRIMA is a bonafide talent for sure. While tagged atmospheric black metal, GRIMA has lost none of the second wave furor delivered long ago by likes of Darkthrone, Satyricon, Immortal and beyond. GRIMA has mastered the art of the black metal rampage as if it were just set loose from hell to terrorize humanity all the while mustering up the hypnotic perfection of a well-oiled atmospheric generator. FROSTBITTEN promises what it suggests. A frigid cold musical journey.

This two man band has been and still is the creation of Morbius (guitar, bass) and Vilhelm (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, programming) however make no bones about it: these two dudes are veritable beasts on every instrument involved. Add to that a keen sense of black metal compositional fortitude which allows soft folky passages laced with wintery sound effects to caress your should with just enough melody that once the bombastic black metal furor begins you are hopelessly hooked on like an unsuspecting fish.

GRIMA plays the black metal part all the way as well. The duo dress like Satanically possessed corpses lurking in the snow-covered vastness of the Russian forests. The authenticity and commitment rings true on the musical delivery. This is no slouch in the world of black metal for sure with the melodic touches bands like Sacramentum and Dissection with the atmospheric splendor of others such as Wolves In The Throne Room or Paysage d”Hiver. Add to that a touch of Russian folk musical sounds, a screaming from the din vocal style right out of the Summoning playbook and you have a nice recipe for an excellent atmospheric black metal experience.

There aren’t really any weak moments on FROSTBITTEN as this musical soundtrack for dying of hypothermia and then eaten by wolves is a keeper for sure. The album consists of seven tracks of perfectly paced musical processions that deliver just enough downtime to crave the black metal attacks once more. Perhaps the biggest drawback is that GRIMA doesn’t immediately come off as totally original. For those not well versed in the black metal universe, much of it can sound similar if not downright identical. Like stars in the sky, it takes some adjustment for seeing or in this case hearing in the dark which is provided by the black metal guitar distortion and other thundering effects.

For those well versed in this noisy corner of the metal universe, GRIMA won’t disappoint at all. The second wave black metal graced by the accoutrements of folky acoustic guitars, sensual yet frigid atmospheric backdrops and interesting chord progressions as well as perfectly timed thundering attacks will surely please the hardened black metalheads who have heard it all before. True not the most original of the lot but so well executed that i find this to be an outstanding modern example of well produced black metal that hasn’t jettisoned its lo-fi origins. Guess i gotta check out the earlier albums now!

SUMMONING Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame

Album · 2001 · Atmospheric Black Metal
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lukretion
Austrian duo Summoning have carved a unique path within black metal, navigating further and further away from it until they created a whole new genre, halfway between score music and metal. On their fifth full-length album, 2001’s Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame, the band were well into their metamorphosis and by then their sound had consolidated into a distinctive and immediately recognisable style. In this sense, Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame may be perceived as “more of the same”, which is to some extent true, albeit there are subtle variations that give the album its own unique identity compared to previous Summoning’s records.

The music revolves around the combination of epic keyboards and tremolo picked guitar riffs, with the former dominating over the latter. The songs are very symphonic with lots of orchestrations, creating a cinematic, film-music vibe that is further accentuated by the use of spoken samples from the radio productions of The Lord of the Rings. These samples, which are one of the innovations on Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame compared to previous albums, are intertwined with classic black metal growls (sung by both band members, Protector and Silenius) and, in the final song “Farewell”, a clean male choir (another novelty). The mood is epic and majestic, a feeling that is reinforced by the incorporation of “marching” style (sampled) drums and percussions. The songs mostly stay in the mid-tempo range and each track is based on a limited number of riffs and motifs, repeated extensively throughout their considerable length. There are suitable shifts in dynamics throughout most songs, as guitars and drums fade out to let the keyboards carry the music for a few bars. This injects some variation into the compositions and creates a satisfying sense of build and release.

Nevertheless, I feel that, for the most part, Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame works best as background music rather than for attentive, active listening. There isn’t an awful lot going on in each song and many of the tracks explore similar melodic ideas and moods. This makes it hard to retain attention throughout the 56 minutes of the record. For the same reason, it is also hard to pick favourites among the album’s 8 tracks, although “In Hollow Halls beneath the Fells” does come across as the most well-accomplished piece here.

Overall, Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame is a bit of an acquired taste. If you are into the score music / black metal hybrid that Summoning have been cooking up throughout their career, you’ll lap this up eagerly. In fact, Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame may as well be one of the best records the band have released up to this point in their career. It is certainly more assured and pleasant than its 1999’s precursor, the grim, guitar-driven Stronghold. As such, Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame may also be a suitable point of entry into Summoning’s discography for those readers who are uninitiated to the black art of the Austrian combo. Either way, this is a quality release that I may not be returning to very often, but, when I do, it will continue to provide listening pleasures, I am sure.

BLUT AUS NORD Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses

Album · 2022 · Atmospheric Black Metal
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siLLy puPPy
Having gestated in the fertile French black metal scene of the 1990s, the Mondeville based BLUT AUS NORD has been quite instrumental in bridging the gap between the worlds of atmospheric black metal and psychedelic electronica and has produced some of the most memorable experiences of surreal metal especially in the 21st century with the mind bending musical antics of “The Work That Transforms God” and beyond. While many a black metal act seems stuck on autopilot, BLUT AUS NORD is one of those rare acts that remains utterly unique in pretty every way and some 30 years on still is crafting the same styles of bestial black metal in fine form.

The power quartet of VIndsval (vocals, guitar), W.D. Feld (drums, electronics, keyboards), GhÖst (bass) and Thorns (drums) returns with its 15th powerhouse DISHARMONIUM - UNDREAMABLE ABYSSES. With an album cover that comes just in time to make one think of the new Dr Strange flick about the Multiverse, it also seems fitting that the bizarre sounds unleashed on this bizarre avant-garde display of black metal and dark ambience does indeed sound like a stroll through some strange path in between universes. Once again BLUT AUS NORD delivers the perfect ingredients of an ominous journey into a hypnotic atmospheric series of soundscapes that teeter between absolute dissonance and infernal elegance.

Like many of the modern BLUT AUS NORD releases, this one sort of oozes its way from beginning to end with a mix of heavy guitar riffs, hyperactive percussion, oscillating sound effects and buried vocals that sound just as out there as ever. While BLUT AUS NORD may not be covering any new ground, i have to say that these guys really don’t need to either. They have successfully inculcated a unique style that even decades later sounds like no other. The impeccable mix of the metal and ambient parts that swarm around like a mad swarm of hornets attacking a choir is literally intoxicating as the music is unrelenting and unsettlingly surreal!

This time around DISHARMONIUM - UNDREAMABLE ABYSSES features seven hypnosis inducing tracks that all sort of gel together fairly comfortably but as an album of this magnitude where the freakery dial is turned up to 11 and beyond, the album is merciful in that it doesn’t exceed much beyond the 46 minute mark. This is truly music that can test your very sanity and too much exposure may indeed cause some sort of mental breakdown of some sort! I happen to have thick skin so i personally love this bizarre chimeric musical display and even though BLUT AUS NORD continues to stick to its formula, it’s one that i personally never grow tired of one little bit.

Still no idea what to call this. Some sort of industrial black metal that utilizes elements from post-rock, dark ritual ambient, depressive black metal and even a bit of stoner doom metal here and there. Whatever this madness it, you cannot mistake these sounds for anything other than the inimitable BLUT AUS NORD which remains one of the French scene’s most dynamic and prolific extreme metal acts. While every album is firmly in the BLUT AUS NORD camp, the band has been clever in how it switches things up subtly from one album to the next and this 15th installment is by no means the exception. Expect elements from the “Memoria” releases as well as the “777” trilogy and beyond. As bleak and inaccessible as ever, BLUT AUS NORD remains one of my favorite extreme metal acts of all time.

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