Underrated Black Metal Albums Pt. 1 of 2

Black metal is not one of my favorite genres, though I do like quite a bit of it. I have not done as extensive of research into the genre as I have for death and thrash metal. Therefore, my choices for this post may not be quite as unknown. And I'm probably missing quite a few good ones as well.

Anyway, here we go:

VARATHRON: GENESIS OF APOCRYPHAL DESIRE
One of the great black metal scenes that has gone largely unnoticed by those not in touch with the underground is the Greek scene. Obviously Rotting Christ has become fairly well-known, but other groups still languish there. Case in point: Varathron. This is not really an album but a collection of demos. The music is melodic with that Hellenic touch that the Greek scene is known for and that Rotting Christ has perfected and the vocals are very extreme and deep. This is a very good album from a very interesting scene.

ROOT: BLACK SEAL
Root is one of the earlier black metal bands, coming from Czechoslovakia, and yes I'm aware that it's now the Czech Republic, but that's how long ago this band formed. The music mostly falls under black metal, with some other metal genres thrown in for good measure and an overall epic feel. However, the vocals are where this band really shines. The vocals are mostly done clean with the singer possessing a powerful baritone which he uses to great effect and theatricality. It sounds like an opera singer fronting a black metal band. Very cool stuff.

RAVENCULT: TEMPLES OF TORMENT
Another Greek band, but this one is more of a standard black metal band, without the Hellenic sound that Varathron and Rotting Christ use. The music sounds more like a second wave Norwegian band with its frequent use of pounding drums and tremolo riffs. The vocals are hoarse and raspy and the overall atmosphere is dark and hostile. The album does a lot better at capturing the feel and atmosphere of the second wave of Norwegian black metal than many other bands. If I didn't know better I would swear they were one of those bands.

MICTLANTECUHTLI: WARRIORS OF THE BLACK SUN
Mictlantecuhtli sounds like a thrashier version of Dissection. Seeing as how Dissection is an all-time favorite band of mine, I obviously really like this. Where the band differs though is their subject matter. Mictlantecuhtli covers Aztec mythology, a somewhat unusual subject to cover in black metal, but they do it right and it is very interesting. The music, as I said, is Dissection with some more thrash to it and taking away the occasional acoustic interlude. This is fantastic stuff.

OBEISANCE: UNHOLY, UNWHOLESOME, AND EVIL
Texas has a very extreme black metal scene. It must be the oppressive heat that has caused its bands to uniformly have a gritty and grimy sound. Some of the best U.S. black metal bands come from Texas and Obeisance is no exception. With some thrash metal riffs buried under murky production and an aboslutely filthy sound, Obeisance is really quite a good band. Too bad I have heard very little about them from other people. They are missing out.

Strange Cover Art Pt. 4: Horror Continued Once Again

Still going on this, not too many more to go.

KING DIAMOND: GIVE ME YOUR SOUL...PLEASE

King Diamond will be discussed at some point on this blog, I promise that. This particular album, like many of the band's other albums is a concept album. The band specializes in ghost stories. I will discuss this one at a future time, but I won't get into it here. The cover is representative of the story, featuring a little girl in a bloody dress. The music is a fairly straightforward early 1980's melodic metal style, featuring King's trademark falsetto vocal style and haunting lyrics.

EVOCATION: TALES FROM THE TOMB

Evocation is an early 1990's Swedish death metal band that recently reformed in order to take advantage of the recent interest in that scene. This is the band's comeback album and it is very typical of the style, possibly one of my favorite albums from the genre. The cover art is extremely Lovecraftian, a big plus in my book. I'm not sure what we're looking at, but it's eerie.

RAVENCULT: TEMPLES OF TORMENT

Ravencult is a band from Greece playing a style of black metal mostly similar to the second wave black metal bands out of Norway with a little bit of typical Greek style added in for good measure, although the band does not sound at all like countrymen Rotting Christ or Varathron. The cover is simple, but effective, dark and intimidating.

IMMOLATION: SHADOWS IN THE LIGHT

The great Immolation of course plays occult death metal like Morbid Angel, Incantation, and others. The sound is somewhat technical, but brutally punishing and unrelenting. The cover is of an angel on fire, calling to mind such movies as The Prophecy.

CELTIC FROST: MONOTHEIST

This album is Celtic Frost's comeback album, and what a comeback it was. One of the spookiest, scariest sounding albums I have ever heard. Unfortunately, Celtic Frost has once again disbanded, making this the last album by the band at this point, unless they somehow reform again, which would be shocking. The cover is simply a profile picture of the band's singer, but is is frightening and disturbing looking. I can't describe why it is so disturbing but it is.