In 2004 we lost one of the most innovative Black Metal musicians to have ever breathed... And I am not saying this lightly. Terje "Valfar" Bakken, the founder of Norwegian band Windir spawned an entirely new sub-genre of BM known as Sognametal. Today would have been Valfar's 39th birthday, and in his honour I've put… Continue reading Wyrd Words & Effigies Playlist 2 : In Memory Of Valfar
I had a request from a reader the other week. They asked if I could make a Spotify playlist...and they asked so kindly that I really couldn't refuse. This will be a weekly thing now. You can find it here. You will probably recognise several of the artists on there, i.e. Buzum, Wardruna and Agalloch,… Continue reading Wyrd Words & Effigies Spotify Playlist I
My man, who usually has his head stuck in the early 80's when it comes to music, today decided he wanted to uncover some new BM by the female of the species. Naturally Gallhammer came up when he asked for recommendations on Facebook...and I was sent on a nostalgia trip back to 2007 or whenever… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : Gallhammer
Have I been living in a cave for the past several months or was Darkthrone's 16th album Arctic Thunder something of a monumental flop? (Though I have to admit I'm a sucker for the album title which was, for the record, the name of a Norwegian heavy metal band who were active from the mid… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : Darkthrone
I have just spent the past hour on Metal Archives with the intention of finding myself some new black metal - bands I've never encountered before - to indulge my senses in and to treat you to, but found myself at a horrible fucking loss after investigating several projects and being disappointed by every. single.… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : Elysian Fields
I went in search of the origins of the Atmospheric BM band Sadness after I'd been swept up by Tundra, the 18th release since the birth of the project in 2014. I was expecting to see a wealth of names attached to the Sadness Metal Archives page, and nearly spat out my tea to see… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : Sadness
It's been a while since I've given some of my time to USBM project Ash Borer, but yesterday I listened to their latest album The Irrepassable Gate in its entirety and relished every moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu4Gzzd3ZOM
Swedish black metal outfit Grift can do no wrong in my world, and his Samhain Celebration is another addition to his already exquisite discography. I have my muse Mlle Ghoul to thank for alerting me to this beautiful release. Enjoy.
Going through some of the predominant lists of the best black metal from 2016 has led me to make some exciting discoveries, including Lascar, a band hailing from Chili. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rgB94jWvgY
I've had a love/hate relationship with Ihsahn's solo work for years, yet despite this, I wanted to give his 2016 full-length album Arktis a chance. However, instead of throwing myself in at the deep end and streaming the full album, I decided to pick a song at random and see if it did something...thankfully I… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : Ihsahn
Celebrating the strange and the shadowy, the damned and unseen 