Sworn……criminally unknown

Sworn, from Bergen, Norway (where else??) play some of the most melodic, brutal, crushing Black Metal to ever grace my ears…aside from that they have one of the coolest logo known to mankind:

Now, Sworn have two albums and one ep, I haven’t heard the ep so I can’t comment on that but I have heard numerous times their two albums The Alleviation and Bastards and Conquerors.
The Alleviation absolutely stunned me when I first heard it and to be honest I was not expecting anything great at all.  Was I glad I gave them a listen, the opening song “Alleviation” just floored me, I had to play it again just to believe what I was hearing, so Melodic yet a nice atmosphere coming out as well.  Sworn aren’t like your normal Black Metal band, rather than creating this frosty, grim atmosphere it is quite the opposite, very warm and relaxing.  Saying that though the brutality is just below the surface.

Here is a couple of videos of my favourite song from The Alleviation “The Beauty of My Funeral” the live video is a bit crap as far as quality goes but what can you expect from a camera phone video?



The second one is just of the artwork playing the studio version




Sworn’s second album “Conquerors and Bastards” continues the Melodic Black Metal Goodness but has upped the brutality and the band have added a few spoken word or should I say yelled word passages.
I need a few more listens to the new one and I will post more on it later, undoubtedly. I suggest everyone who reads this to purchase at least one Sworn album, you won’t be disappointed.

Some Naglfar Goodness

The Decision has been made

Being May and with me being a bit of an Enslaved fan I have decided that May is now International Day of Enslaved. So dress up in your favourite Viking outfit, put on your favourite Enslaved album and terrorise the neighbourhood.

Fucking Finally

Immortal are finally recording a new album, read on:

We’ve just found out that Norway’s mighty Immortal have begun recording their new album, their first since 2002’s Sons of Northern Darkness. Here’s the (brief) word from their management:
“The band has started to record the upcoming album! They will be working in both Grieghallen and Abyss studios this time.”



Cheers to metalkult.com for the pic and news.

Valfar of Windir

I'm a bit late for his anniversary which is the 15th of January but since I was listening to Windir I thought I would post a bit about him.

Terje "Valfar" Bakken was the lead singer of the Folk\Black Metal band Windir, he started the band as a one man project but it eventually grew in to a proper band. Most of his lyrics were based on his home region of Sogndal and sung in the local language Sognamål.

Windir released five albums in their career, the last being Likferd, before Valfar was tragically killed in a sudden snow storm from hypothermia. I was thinking while listening to Likferd what must have been going through his head when the storm struck and being so far from home, I wonder if he knew it was the end??

R.I.P Valfar

Warriors Of Metal

Just thought I'd post one of my now all time favourite songs by Norwegian Heavy Metal/Black n' Roll/Blackened Thrash metal whatever you want to call them, band I. With Abbath and Demonaz masterminding things you know it's going to kick ass. Here's one of their best songs Warriors (audio only):



"It's a great day for fire, it's a great day for wrath, man's fate is his own, the world's at an end!!!!!!!!.....YEAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Carpathian Forest

Carpathian Forest are a Black Metal band from Norway (where else?), to me Carpathian Forest are one of the most varied Black Metal bands out there, every album is a complete joy to listen to. Nattefrost from, obviously, Nattefrost, sings and the mighty Tchort (a personal legend of mine) plays guitar, there are other members of course but those two are the main standouts. Check out Black Shining Leather and Fuck You All!!!! in particular.

Black Shining Leather (1998)



Strange Old Brew (2000)



Morbid Fascination Of Death (2001)



Defending The Throne Of Evil (2003)



Fuck You All!!!! (2006)



Carpathian Forest supposedly have a new album that was due out December last year but so far nothing has appeared. They also have a fair amount of EP's, I'm just too lazy to post them all.

All hail Carpathian Forest \m/

Until the light takes us

For those interested, the time is drawing near for the latest black metal documentary
revolving around the famous incidents concerning Mayhem, Burzum and the "Black Circle".

The documentary entitled Untill the Light takes us features words from the following people:

Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell, Varg Vikernes, Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg, Kjetil "Frost" Haraldstad, Ivar Bjornson, Abbath and Demonaz Doom Occulta, Kris "Garm" Rygg, Bjarne Melgaard, Harmony Korine, and more.



The film, shot on 35 mm and dv, is directed and produced by Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites.
The film will premier at the Gothe​nburg​ Film Festi​val in Swede​n this month.

for more information visit:

UTLTU Myspace

Interview with Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites (taken from Burzum.org) :

HERE