Nordic Metal: A Tribute to Euronymous (1995)

Despite the name of this release, this is not a tribute album.  My understanding is that it is a collection of songs from a variety of black metal bands to spread the black metal sound in honor of Euronymous's efforts with his label Deathlike Silence.  Euronymous attempted to get some sort of compilation like this together, but was unable to do so before his death.

As this is not a tribute album, I am not going to go through each and every song one by one.  Most of the groups are well-known, including Mayhem, Dissection, Emperor and Enslaved.  And some groups have more than one track here.  Some of the songs are unreleased versions of tracks that appeared on other albums or completely new songs. 

The only track here that is a little questionable is the Mortiis outro.  Mortiis is something of an enigma and the track is far-removed from black metal.  Most of the tracks are about what one would expect from an early-to-mid-90's black metal release: cold and ominous atmosphere and hateful riffs.  There are a few standout tracks however, such as the Abruptum opener "De Profundis Mors Vas Consumet", which sets the tone for the entire release.  Then there's the second Dissection track "Elizabeth Bathori", which is a cover of a Tormentor song that absolutely slays. 

I am not sure what to say about this release other than if early second wave black metal is your thing, this needs to be in your collection.  It would also be a terrific introduction to black metal in general as it features a number of the major bands from the scene.