The shadowthrone --- Satyricon --- 1994 (Moonfrog)
We've had the primary Swedish black metal band in Bathory, now let's cross over the fjord and head to the darker lands. Satyricon are acknowledged as one of the driving forces behind the early black metal movement in Norway, and this is accepted generally as one of their finest albums. It's their second, and again my first introduction to the band. I think I got lucky with Bathory; I don't expect to be let off so lightly with a second black metal band. But as they sort of said in Futurama, you gotta do what you gotta do...
Well there's a gutteral growl which doesn't do anything to assuage my fears, then "Hvite Krists død" (which apparently translates as "White Christ's death") gets going, with hammering guitar, pounding drums and that black metal sound I love so much!
Yeah, this is going to be a blast, I can tell! Well now let's not be too hasty. Things settle down for a nice keyboard passage and soft bass, over which Satyr speaks in I assume Norwegian for a few moments, but that doesn't last --- hoenstly, did we expect it to? --- and we're back chasing the devil with a guitar. Yeah well it's not the worst black metal I've ever heard this month. Hey, there's even some rather nice piano! Then a big gong sounds and sharp guitar takes us out.
Much faster then is "In the mist by the hills", with more gravelly, scratchy singing from Satyr and pound-you-into-submission guitar from Samoth and Satyr himself, who also plays the odd bit of keyboards for good measure. Frost, on the drums, goes total overkill here near the end, and keeps going into "Woods to eternity", with the guitar almost restrained in comparison. Almost. But then they surprise me again, smacking me upside the head with a really nice soft acoustic guitar passage which leads into a harder electric one but is still quite --- can I say this? --- pastoral? Certainly sounds like it. The fact that Satyr keeps his gob shut while it's playing is a plus too.
"Vikingland" has an interesting chorus and warrior-style backing vocals with I must admit a very sharp guitar that I really like. On the minus side, Satyr's back. "Dominions of Satyricon" then is the epic, a nine-minute track that goes through many changes over its length, opening as a sort of marching anthem and then changing to heads-down headbanger with shredding a-plenty before returning to a slightly sped-up anthem, and all this in the first two minutes! A triphammer drumbeat takes us into the fourth minute with, I'm glad to say, a minimum of singing from old Satyr. Sure he'll be back though: ah yes, here he is! "The king of the shadowthrone" keeps the energy pumping high with rattling guitar and thundering drums and then, just as it's trundling along nicely they pull out the old acoustic, send the drummer to make the tea and just chill, for a few seconds. Mind you, it's not any time before Satyr is pounding on the electric and then he does another one of those dark voiceovers that crack me up so much.
Oh. And that's the end. Of that song. And almost the album. There's a kind of horn intro and some rather nice piano --- played I believe by the devilish one --- to close out on "I en svart kiste", which Wiki tells me is Norwegian for "in a black coffin". Tore, if you're reading you can tell me if they're right. It's a nice symphonic/gothic piece, with deep bassoon or summat, probably synthesised I guess but it sounds well. Just hoping it may be instrumental, as we're about halfway in and no vocals yet. Well, choral vocals on the keys yes, but no singing. Not yet. Yeah, it's an instrumental, and a nice one to finish on too.
TRACKLISTING
1. Hvite Krists død
2. In the mist by the hills
3. Woods to eternity
4. Vikinglands
5. Dominions of Satyricon
6. The king of the shadowthrone
7. I en kvist svarte
Musically I can really dig these guys. I get where they're coming from. It's my old bugbear again, death vocals, that's turning me a little from listening to more of their music. Satyr has the kind of voice that makes you think of nails scraping down a blackboard, but he can certainly play the guitar and he does a fine job on the keyboards on the last track. This was not nearly as bad as I had led myself to believe, and given that it's an early album and very clearly black metal I think I did ok with it. Nevertheless, this subgenre is never going to be my thing, but I wanted to make sure that there was something for everyone across the wide wonderful spread of heavy metal, so there's some black metal for yaz. Next up, it's System of a Down.
Read more here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyricon_%28band%29