Great raw production and Eaten by Rats is my favorite tune they've done.

debating giving this 4 or 3.5 it's somewhere in the middle. It's pretty standard stuff, but it's a lot of fun to listen too.

Album Rating: 3.0

The Finnish Black Metal is pure atmosphere, this album shows it.

Album Rating: 4.0

this is pretty damn good for generic black metal.

Album Rating: 4.0

This hits me right in the kvlt

Album Rating: 4.5

Too bad he is a nazi... And don't try to defend him because it's clear as daylight that he is, no matter what he says.

As for those who doupt my word I would advice to take a look at the lyrics of "my dreams of 8", Not that it's the only sign but it's still a pretty solid proof.

The age of tragedies, my vision of a fallen empire
Like a lantern that burned out in ecstacy
Lighting the path of blood and honour into time
For eternity, forever reminding me... Forever changing time...

The man against time, in scorn against decline
One state, one folk, one leader, a true revelation
The purest essence of the cult of our blood
For infinity, flowing inside me... Forever binding me...

My dream of your empire
Fills me with joy
For it is also my fate
To end this life of strife in tragedy...

Live by the sword they say, thus I shall live
Let my words be my blade, let my songs be my spear

My dream of your empire
Fills me with joy
For it is also my fate
To end this life of strife in tragedy...
...or supremacy.


i don't really see any proof here

Album Rating: 4.0

i.e. One state, one folk, one leader is reminiscent of the NSDAP slogan "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer". the lyrics on Strenght&Honour are far more explicit though.(Wolves of Blood and Iron or Strength and Honour )

idk if he is a nazi or if it's all just provocation (shock value etc.) but the lyrics on his early releases or the split releases he did with Nsbm bands like Gestapo 666, Totenburg, Aryan Blood etc prove he has no problems to associate himself with these kinds of people.

Idc much about the bullshit ideologies of musicians... yeah well thats it basically...

Yeah man, I was being facetious, like the "pure essence of out blood" and "supremacy" at the end, not to mention the bit you pointed out is pretty undeniable etc. I find it a bit amusing how easy it is to label someone a nazi nowadays though, especially for lyrics, hence my comment. (Dude could be a full blown Nazi btw, I have like no knowledge on him besides the music). Although as far as nsbm goes, the lyrics above are pretty tame tbh.

Album Rating: 4.0

yeah the term nazi gets tossed around far too much. it has reached a point where I doubt that people actually know what it means/where it gets watered down/loses its meaning etc.

idc much about this whole discussion as stated above but I also dislike a certain naivety/ laziness to look up shit (not aimed at you).u know people who are in 2017 oblivious to the antisemitic lyrics of bands like Nokturnal Mortem (The Taste of Victory) or try to downplay the racism of Arghoslent (oh they are just bigots etc.). still good music especially Arghoslent. and preaching morals in black metal is kinda Absurd.

Oh yeah agreed, I think it's fine to enjoy the bands like that and jam their stuff, but you've gotta be honest with yourself. Liking their music doesn't mean you need to agree with or defend the band members (which some listeners seem to think is the case), similalry it doesn't mean that someone agrees with this or that sentiment just because they listen to some band either. I'm sure there are people on both extrememes that actively seek out musicians with the same political ideologies as themselves or whatever, but I kind of hate that way of viewing art. I'm probably more forgiving than most when it comes to music, like I'll give a pass to everyone from stuff like GLOSS to Gaskammer because I find it interesting to explore and I don't find art to be harmful - and trust me I don't expect everyone to be like that, but that's my choice. At the same time those people getting Marduk concerts shut down simply because they can't do 30 seconds of research to find out Warschau is not a WWII reference but the location of a live show, are just as bad in my opinion as the aforementioned Nokturnal Mortum defenders.

"and preaching morals in black metal is kinda Absurd."

Also, not sure if the capital A was intentional, but it fits the theme ;)

"Liking their music doesn't mean you need to agree with or defend the band members"
[2]

It also bugs me when others call you out for owning albums by bands whose members may hold some fucked ideals. I do own physical copies of albums by Burzum, Arghoslent, Nokturnal Mortum, Grand Belial's Key, Graveland, Taake, Drudkh, Peste Noire, Deathspell Omega, Inquisition, Destroyer 666...among others...so in short: bands who have one or more members that have been brought into connection with morally questionable behavior. There are some who have accused me of identifying with the members of those bands, because "buying their art = agreeing with their ideals" in the point of view of some people. Personally I don't think that's right at all. I don't buy music based on the politics of the people behind the music and most certainly not based on their ethnicity. Personally, I'm just a bit of a collector: I grew up seeing my father collecting music (mainly classic rock, blues, jazz, prog rock...) and I just started collecting albums from everything associated with the "greater metal genre/scene" I thought was good. I have a fondness for albums that get some kind of classic status (and the term "classic" can be used quite loosely in this case) in their respective style. So whenever I feel a certain album fits that bill in any way - and I end up liking the music on that album as well - I feel the insuppressible need to own a copy of that album.
I'm completely ok with people not wanting to listen to - leave alone buying - music made by artists whose ideals they don't agree with; but I also feel this should be a completely personal subjective choice.

Oh man same, I love collecting discs, especially tracking down those hard to find ones or completing a discog, so rewarding. I share many of those artists with you too, incidentally I recently got the final Absurd album I needed to finish their discog (Totenlieder for the record, an absolute bitch to find). I consider those dudes my favourite "bad band", like objectively their music shouldn't be any good and yet I really dig their primitive blend of folk and punk-y black metal. But I digress...

Anyway I'll never understand this: "There are some who have accused me of identifying with the members of those bands, because "buying their art = agreeing with their ideal" - like don't they knows there are easier ways to access rhetoric than buying music; is it more likely that you're a closet racist/nazi/fascist/whatever soaking up any "offensive" media you can get your hands on - or that you just like music regardless of who makes it?

I don't think someone should be accused of being "racist" just because he thinks a racist is able to write good music. For example, I think Varg is a complete dolt, but the music he made in the past borders on genius.
I mean, I've been collecting metal for years and years now. When I was a kid I aways heard classic rock stuff by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, CCR, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rush, Pink Floyd...as well as more modern rock music close to the classic stuff like Pearl Jam's Ten and Soundgarden's Superunknown...because these were some of the many albums that were in my father's collection. Through those bands I was exposed to metal when I listened to the first two Black Sabbath albums, Motorhead's Hammersmith's live show, watched the Iron Maiden Rock in Rio dvd...basically the little metal stuff my father owned. So I just started collecting stuff from the metal genre myself (because together with hardcore punk it was the one guitar based genre/scene my dad didn't own a lot of stuff by): started out with the "big" bands like Black Sabbath, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Tool, Alice in Chains, Pantera, Megadeth, Deftones...then onto Neurosis, Kyuss, Opeth...and it got progressively more "underground" from there on. I bought anything that was metal-connected and had some kind of "standing" in the genre, regardless of specific style and I never really bothered with the personal morals and politics of the people behind the music. If it sounded good to my ears, that was all that mattered.

I've listened to Absurd in the past, but they were never really a band I spent a lot of time with. I saw there's still a few copies to find of their albums on Discogs. I've seen quite a few metal albums I own getting up there in the Discogs price charts tho: Disembowelment, Maudlin of the Well, Exhorder, The Angelic Process (a cd copy of Weighing Souls... might be the most expensive album in my collection I ever bought), Gorement, Anacrusis, Coroner, Watchtower, October Tide, Evoken, Esoteric, Vinterland, Lykathea Aflame, Corrupted, Solstice...among others...

Personally I like Varg, he's a very interesting character, even though (maybe because) I disagree with a lot of what he says and does I find him quite fascinating, also he's made some of my favourite music ever, but more importantly his YouTube channel is all kinds of entertaining lol.

Also yeah most of the Absurd albums I found were relatively easy to acquire, for some reason it was only Totenlieder that presented a challenge (like way, way more than I expected). Idk what's up but I eventually found some Russian dude with a copy. I identify a lot with what you're saying about your taste changing and evolving, though we took different paths it seems (I began with nu-metal rather than classic rock/heavy metal, and i continue to jam the albums I began with to this day).

"If it sounded good to my ears, that was all that mattered."

Pretty much sums this whole convo up I think, wise words.

"I identify a lot with what you're saying about your taste changing and evolving, though we took different paths it seems (I began with nu-metal rather than classic rock/heavy metal, and i continue to jam the albums I began with to this day)."

I don't think my taste ever really changed tbh, I like to think it just "expanded". I still very much love the classic rock as well as the mainstream rock on Ten, Superunknown, Nevermind, etc...I grew up with.
Good to hear you still enjoy the stuff that got you into the genre. Many metalheads from my generation seem to be ashamed their entrance into metal was nu metal. Personally, nu metal didn't introduce me to the genre, but I think albums like Korn, System of a Down, Around the Fur, Adrenaline, Slipknot, Toxicity, L.D. 50 and Iowa are more than excellent in their own way. Their part of my metal collection, just like the tons of other albums from the other subgenres.

Album Rating: 4.0

"Also, not sure if the capital A was intentional, but it fits the theme ;)"

sometimes u just have to go for the low-hanging fruit in terms of wordplay



btw I agree basically with everything said.

Album Rating: 4.0

Can of worms opened here

@Thalassic yep, for that same reason I hate the term "guilty pleasure" when it comes to music. No need to base your taste of other people's opinions, just jam what you enjoy, y'know? Though I can understand growing away from stuff you might have enjoyed in the past, there are albums I've left behind or that have grown off me to some degree as I've found stuff I enjoy more.