At The Heart Of Winter by Immortalįor those who read this column last month, you may be aware that I am a big fan of Russian solo artist OvFrost and his primary project Malist. All of this makes for a relative dearth of concept albums in the genre as we commonly describe them, and highlights the work of bands like Malist as particularly unique in this space. But many of these bands, while drawing inspiration from these figures, are not working within the confines of a particular concept throughout their albums, which makes the themes they bring in feel more like flourishes than full-blown storytelling. The latter of these authors has had an outsized influence on black metal, with Burzum, Gorgoroth, Dimmu Borgir, and others either indirectly or blatantly referencing his work. There’s obviously Immortal, whose works take place in a mythical location Blashyrkh, and there are a smattering of other artists like Caladan Brood and Summoning whose works live in the fantasy worlds created by Erickson and Tolkien respectively. Certainly the blackened anti-Christian histrionics of Nocturnus, but they belong to the death metal world more than anywhere else.
When I think about the history of the concept album in black metal, there are few albums that come immediately to mind as defining classics in this space. With that rich narrative history in mind, there are a few branches of the metal tree that have a less robust history with this type of songwriting. Metal has a penchant for telling stories, and there are few better and more robust ways to do this than through an album-length jaunt through a mythical (or all-too-real) world. Bands like Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Blind Guardian, Mercyful Fate, Edge of Sanity, Kamelot, Mastodon, Atramentus, and a veritable bounty of other bands have made names for themselves through their blending of long-form storytelling within the confines of an hour-long record, and many of these records have for decades been considered all-time classics. The concept album has been a vehicle for storytelling on a grand and powerful scale in the metal world from the genre’s inception. And no, I’m not here referring necessarily to the corpsepaint and gore and visceral musicality of metal as a whole, but more its presentation of its themes. Metal, historically, is one of the most deeply dramatic genres of music on the planet. – Scott Murphy The Frost // What a Concept: Long-form Narrative in Black Metal
#Malist karst relict review series#
After Jonathan takes a look at long-form narratives in black metal, he shares an interview with Malist about their three-part album series that takes place in the “Karst Realm.” Then, we look back at Two Hunters from Wolves In the Throne Room before diving into the best releases from April, namely a deep analysis of the equally epic Ετερόφωτος from Spectral Lore. We don’t have time to let your corpse paint dry this month there’s a LOT of kvltish activities to be done in the wilderness this month.
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