If Dead Moon were devilworshippers

Heretic - I bring chaos (mp3)
Flaming hellfire! Heretic is a duo from Netherlands and they make totally possessed black garage rock! The most evil rock'n'roll I've ever heard. As Dead Moon with the narrowminded murderous hatred of Nattefrost playing early Venom. I wonder how would the fans of dirty psychobilly (as The Mummies, for example) accept it. Probably too much to take. I have heard only few that type of bands (Coldness from Portugal has a bit similar sound and old school twist, but there are probably much more of them than I can expect), the only one I can compare it with is Japanese black thrash legend Abigail. But Heretic is way down on much more primitive level. It's so sincerely primitive, that it becomes almost grotesque. As those medieval woodcuts, where devils are drawn with heads lurking between their legs and such.
So, what is it, that makes Heretic so powerful for me?
Firstly, they have this special prehistoric old school essence. I mean, it's not that Darkthrone or Viking Crown type of oldschool. Ignoring all the influences of thrash, death or grind, it goes somewhere deep down to the point of The Stooges.
Secondly, the sound is raw as hell! As told before, the music itself ins't some kind of hyperfast extremity, it's as easily followable as AC/DC, but the sound - it makes the ears bleed. It reminds the old days, when provincial beat bands couldm't afford to buy real electric guitars and they had to build ones themself. The most monstrous part is the vocal. The vocalist doesn't scream, it's more like talking with a bad throat, but it's soooooooo loud, compared to other instruments. It sounds like a chant of some giant hellbastard.

Messenger of unearthly horror

Emit - Cold fire (mp3)
Interview
I have had really controversial oppinions about this one-man-band of Unknown I from UK. First thing I heard was Emit's 2005 album "A sword of death for the prince". I got quite a negative impression about it. But that was a mistake - I had not heard the previous releases. It's not that Emit has changed much during the time, his music has been uncompromising black noise from the beginning, but the demos seem to be somehow more interesting from my point of view.
I will post two reviews about this, the first is written after listening "A sword of death..." album, and the second is written when I had heard most of the previous material also.
No. 1
Emit is pure black-noise. This is total deconstruction of everything that is worth listening in music. "A sword of death for the prince" is a full length album with a number of free improvised "songs", but it's almost impossible to take it as a piece of music. When I got this album I was able to listen only two tracks maximum. One minute of it can be fun - like a shock therapy. But there just is nothing to listen to. The operatic vocal sample in the beginning of the first track is the only interesting thing worth mentioning during the whole album. I enjoy dirty sounds a lot, but this is like some idiot masturbating with distorted guitar. Playing an instrument with absolutely no idea about rhythm or melody and having nothing to say. But still playing and playing and playing.... . It's BORING beyond human understanding. But I don't know, maybe people who can enjoy serialism and Luciano Berio find it interesting.
On the other hand I think that it's really great achievement. I take black-noise as a very manipulative form of music. It's not about telling a story with concrete words and putting it into musical arrangement as in pop or rock . Like in improvised music, it's about finding a musical expression to all kind of feelings and experiences (all kind of negative feelings, that is). Improvised music is good when it can create those visions in the mind of the listener. Obviously black-noise is ment to be the most evil and nihilistic form of music. It's not that Hannibal Lecter's evil genius stuff (although, if you have a really high IQ and you happen to love this music, may be it'll take you there), it's like pointless evilness with no excuse on the gut level of primitive mind. Emit makes me almost angry with being such a disturbing nonsense. It just sucks your brain out and leaves you catatonically staring at the time counter on the CD player : when will this torture end? I think that's the exact meaning of it. And what about that name? I wish it would mean just TIME backwards. Why not make things even better by adding a dose of absurd mysticism (I'm just too excited about my kaos magik theory here).
No.2
Contrary to first impression, I have to say that Emit's music is actually deep and sensitive. When I have settled down and realized, that there's no point in expecting groovy riffs and catchy themes, that there is almost no connection with black metal as a form of rock music, the picture slowly starts to fold out. With that type of music, it's impossible not to see the influences of Abruptum, but Emit seems to be much more mature. You see, there are no drums, which are sort of rudimentary thing (drums add immediately that rock music connection) and the guitar has dirty blackmetal sound, but there are never riffs played - only dissonant "melodies" played on open strings. "The sword..." album left me very monotonous impression, but as in this track from "The dark gods", there are a lot of things happening on demos. Obscure sound collages, acoustic guitar parts, church organ, chanting voices, morbid moans. It's the ugliest guitar torture of Abruptum with the disturbed haunting atmosphere of Moevot (I'll be writing soon about this extraordinary french phenomenon).
The music is so full of mysticism, that it never let's you understand the whole meaning. Or you can use it just as a soundtrack for your personal horror fantasies. For some inspiration, look at the picture above the article - that's so called Belmez face.This and some other similar images are appearing on the cement floor of some old house in Andalusia since the beginning of the seventies. I find it one of the creepiest real life haunting tales. And this picture is also on the cover of one of Emit's demos.
Some of the song titles give a clue, as if there were a story behind the music ("Behind the manor house, amongst the weeds", "A lunatic hermit dies in his woodland home"), but there are no explanations given.

Eclectic world of Tjolgtjar

Tjolgtjar - The first key Belphegor (mp3)
Tjolgtjar - Caroline & Sue (mp3)
Tjolgtjar on MySpace
And here, next to Blood Cult, is another black metal oddity from Illinois. Tjolgtjar - one-man-band of The Reverend, who has also participated in Blood Cult, Enbilulugugal, Raw Hatred (review coming soon) and some other fine examples of American evil freakscene.
My first encounter with Tjolgtjar was a song with probably the most demented intro in BM history. It was that famous Wagner melody, I guess it's from "Valkyries", you know, that one which sounds like a battle tune. But no, it was not an orchestra version. It was a stupid monophonic Nintendo computer game version. That's shows perfectly how eclectic things might get with Tjolgtjar.
Now, don't let this misguide you. Tjolgtjar is not some black metal clown. At least that's not the main thing. He is seriously talking about his personal Tjolgtjarian religion. I'm not into occultism, not in this level anyway, so for me it's a little disappointing, when I find out, that here's another new age prophet, this time preaching about Vruguum, Skuulkuun etc. But that doesn't matter, because the music is inventive and fresh.
When I listened to Mercyful Fate track, next to Mayhem and Sarcofago on the great old school black metal compilation made by Fenriz, I was quite surprised. Of course, King Diamond is like a trademark for occultism in metal, but the music itself is very far from what I consider to be genuine BM. I have had even unpleasant thoughts, that bands like Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir are the unwanted bastard children of Mercyful Fate.
And then came Tjolgtjar, who resurrected that eighties infernal speedmetal with his own nice homerecording feeling. Until that I never really saw any connection, but now it all makes sense. He uses those same falsetto chorus vocals and groovy complexed riffs, all kind of wah-pedals and stuff, but the sound is dirty, so it doesn't sound as some kitschy sterile black pop. And that's only one part in the caleidoscopic music of Tjolgtjar.
Tjolgtjar has released split album with Blood Cult, which consists only covers. I don't know why, but I have always liked all kind of strange cover versions. This one here, "Caroline & Sue" of G.G. Allin is one of the coolest black metal coversongs I've heard. After all, as another great American patriot, he has said that he is dreaming about having a live show with Hank Williams Jr. And as it always is with Tjolgtjar - things have to groove and rock. Because there's one thing that you should not expect from Tjolgtjar - it's suicidal depressive whining.

Redneck black metal

Blood Cult - Goatriders in the sky (mp3)
Blood Cult on MySpace
Next to sinister occultism and devil worshiping very popular topics in black metal are grim places which refer to the pagan roots of those mighty bands. For scandinavians it's easy - they had vikings and they have bad weather. But most of the european bands have something to tell about their barbaric ancestors and it sort of antichritian thing, because most of those ancestors had to fight with christian conquerors. As far as this is not a 3rd grade history lesson here, I'm not planning to go too deep on this issue. Anyway, my point is, that America, as a New World doesn't fit in this picture. There ain't much American BM groups who are real patriots of their country. At least they don't want to mention it.
Then again, Blood Cult, an Illinoisian trio declare on their website, that they play redneck black metal. This means that they are proud of being true rough smalltown truckdriving-beerdrinking dudes, who are not messing with corpsepaint and other questionable artifacts of black metal. Instead they wear common local uniform - cowboy hats and boots.
Blood Cult has existed more than a decade and in this time they have released over dozens of demos, splits and D.I.Y albums, but only one official full length. So, it means that all these years they have kept their obscure underground fame. The music is raw and has a lot of rock twist with fiery guitars playing unison solos and stuff like that. It doesn't go as far as being Monster Magnet black metal, but a little maybe like dirty garage BM with a touch of early Xysma. But it isn't some weird satanic hippie metal. They are too genuine narrowminded rednecks for that. More like Venom or Motörhead played in the vein of Profanatica.

Possessed children in the middle of hurricane

Wold - Lug-dunum (mp3)
This band is as strange as their logo. Wold is a trio from Canada. I have their full length "L.O.T.M.P." and it's quite hard to take the music on it as songs. These are more like sound patterns or simple themes, which can become songs if there would be some progression. But it's all about repeating one motif again and again for five minutes. It consists various entwining synthesizer lines, a lot of distorted noise which may be bass guitar, constant guitar solo catharsis, fast droning artificial computer rhythm and some typical shrieking thrown on top of it. The music sounds like this - it's fullmoon, a secret sect of evil possessed children are performing a voodoo ritual in their backyard treehouse with strange hypnotic music played on tiny Casio synthesizers. And the quality is of a fieldrecording made in the middle of a hurricane. When compared with other bands, it would be the spaced out sound of Striborg or the most tortured shoegaze noise of My Bloody Valentine mixed with the absurdic strangeness of Bakbakwalanooksiwae. Wold is a very intensive psychedelic mass with freaky cosmic atmosphere. And it isn't so aggressive in a typical way. It's too autistic for that. Wold has some sort of ideological background. When it comes to all kind of abstract philosophical theories, I know about it as much as I know about sports. In university I used to get headache during all the lectures about Heidegger and such. But it's part of the whole weird Wold picture - weird music, weird logo, weird pseudonyms (Fortress Crookedjaw) and weird conception.

Champions of bad quality recordings

Antikriist - Goatfucking ritual (mp3)
Sometimes, during my constant search for obscure black metal groups, I have found those special bands, which make me wonder - how is it possible to get so unbelievably bad sound. Once I thought that Ildjarn is radically lo-fi. How naive of me. If there were a recording made with a really cheap kids cassette deck it would beat those bands any time.There must be some special tricks that they use in achieving such gut level.
Strange thing is that a lot of those bands like goats, in a very naughty way, of course. There are bands like Goat Vulva, Goat Penis, Goat Semen, Archgoat etc. When grind or death metal bands want to be really shocking, they fantasize about all kind of sadistic sexual perversions, so the black metal bands are fantasizing about zoophilia, especially goats.
Musically it's quite boring. I listen those bands the same way as I listen to industrial noise. There is no compositions worth mentioning, I'm not even talking about finding any melodies. So the only thing left are the frequencies. Listening this stuff is mostly about comparing different frequrncies.
This song of a Canadian one-man-band Antikriist (I guess it's the same guy who's behind Bakbakwalanooksiwae) is a little bit more interesting, than the rest of those one dimensional home recordings. It has a melody! A retardedly primitive one, but still a melody. The only thing recognizable in this song is some sort of bass or guitar line. I can't tell if there are any other instruments, because if there are, they are buried deep beneath that low rumbling sound.

Campfire songs

Circle of Ouroborus - Mouldering leaves (mp3)
Circle of Ouroborus - Dimicatio (mp3)
Circle of Ouroborus is a new (formed one year ago) one-man-band from Finland. Now, here's a band that's something new in black metal. Seriously. Nice acoustic boyscout campfire songs with mystic, yet still positive feeling. I've heard the demo and full length, but the best tracks are on the split with Urfaust Without the image and raw production this wouldn't be called black metal. As I try to find something similar to compare with, I can come up with all kind of names, but none of them is a metal band. Circle of Ouroborus has a lot of dark folk touch a'la Current 93 (in one song there is even harmonica). Most of the songs on this split are acoustic and have primitive homerecording production. But as there a rock drums (most of the dark folk bands don't use them, you know), it also reminds Joy Division or some early punk/dark wave bands as Crisis for eample.
But the weirdest part is the vocal. It even might beat Urfaust. CoO uses only clean vocals and it's all delivered in very unique style. I don't know if this guy is able to sing in key, but he certainly is not doing it here. He doesn't follow the same notes as guitar, it seems that he wants to find some different harmony, but it all ends up in a strange dissonant melody.