So before I take a nostalgic trip along impossible romance avenue, I'll admit that my biggest crush ever has been Christina Ricci. Her appearance in movies like The Adams Family and Monster haunted my romantic daydreams. Then again, I think she was every dark soul's wet dream. But, like I mentioned, this list is for the musical crushes, equally unreachable, obviously.

I was fifteen years old when this song was released. Back then we had a video recorder which I used to record my favorite video clips. This song and 'Heaven Is A Place One Earth' were on all of those tapes. I was a young rocker so I loved the guitars on these tunes, but - obviously - I loved to look at Belinda Carlisle even more.

Two years earlier, my preference towards redheads was being born. When Tiffany released a rework of the 1967 Tommy James & The Shondells hit 'I Think We're Alone Now', my pubes started growing, for real!!! Later on I started to despise everything electronic and artificial, so no Samantha Fox, Sabrina or Kylie for me.

Prince knew to pick the women for his backing band. I was thirteen when 'Waterfall' came out so the ladies were above the legal age limit, but that didn't stop me from shaking my behind on this fine piece of music.

What's better than one woman? Yes, four women. Four women who can shred their guitars, bang their drums and sing their lungs out. I guess early nineties is where I truly decided to become a rock fan. I quickly lost interest in the hair metal style but these girls did inspire me to look back in time, to rockers before the eighties.

Ok ok, I admit, Tia Carrere is an actress but look at this, swinging the bass and The Sweet's 'Ballroom Blitz' in every rocker's favorite movie (before School Of Rock), Wayne's World. Sweet.

Who, you might ask? Well, since we're on the topic of both Asian women ànd female bass players, this girl stole my heart somewhere in the nineties or so. She and her band Melt Banana also stole my eardrums and my knowledge that music has boundaries.

When 'Barracuda' was released I was merely three years old, but thanks to the magic of MTV and the record collection of the local library, I eventually got acquainted with rock legends Heart. I was a massive fan of their 'Alone' hit, but 'Barracuda' is simply a stunning rock song.

Around my eighteenth birthday, 'Human Behavior' by Icelandic sirene Björk came out. Gone was my disregard towards electronic music. Of course, I knew her for her work with Sugarcubes. Oh well, yeey, Björk.

During my metal and goth phase the girls in the audience became more important than the ones on stage. Although Siouxsie, Sharon Den Adel and Elizabeth Fraser were talented women in their own right, I chased the goth girls. That changed when Arch Enemy put Angela Gossow behind the microphone. Suddenly death metal was sexy again, without losing the balls. Awesome.

However, in all my metallic history, my upper-crush has been Anneke Van Giersbergen and her breathtaking work with The Gathering. In my opinion, Anneke embodied not only the enchanting vocals of what we called gothic metal, but also the "naturel" and maturity of a seasoned artist. Today, she is married to one of the drummers of my all-time favorite band, Rob Snijders of Kong. That's one fine musical marriage in The Netherlands.

Right, those were some of my teens & twenties crushes. You can comment yours below, or not, I don't mind. 

​Serge

Black metal is one of my favorite musical genres, and always will be. I really can’t recollect precisely when I became an enthusiast of the genre, but it was decades ago. I was introduced to it when I was a teenager – in the mid-nineties – but back then, my favorite genre was death metal. Nevertheless, I grew to be deeply appreciative of black metal, as well as all of its subgenres. So much so, that here you will find everything, from raw black metal, atmospheric black metal and melodic black metal to epic black metal and DSBM. 

For many reasons, I’ve deliberately included on this list of my favorite BM albums only very underground bands, that aren’t really well known, even to the most ardent enthusiasts of the genre. You will notice that I haven’t included on this list albums of “mainstream” bands and artists, like Emperor, Burzum, Gorgoroth, Darkthrone or Mayhem. I have done that deliberately. For many reasons, I’ve became tired of notorious “mainstream” acts of the genre, and I also don’t think they need to be highlighted nor publicized, because everybody that are into the genre knows them. 

But the strongest motive comes from the fact that I developed for a long time now a passion for discovering “new” bands and acts that I refer to as “the underground of the underground”, so to speak – literally, bands and artists that are exceedingly marvelous, but aren’t well known outside a very restricted fan base. Since a lot of them really has formidable albums released, I think it’s always useful to give these bands and artists more visibility. Also, I became a little tired of the “mainstream”, since the vast majority of the groups cited above has completely fallen into a latent sonorous predictability: the bands that are still active keep releasing the same albums time after time, over and over again. In the underground, on the other hand, you can always find something new and interesting, even if it’s an old album, from a band that is no longer active, but fall into the category of a relatively unknown group. Additionally, there are always new, refreshing bands and artists coming out every day, and a lot of them are competent enough to deserve a chance on the spotlight. And new albums from old, veteran bands – that are relatively obscure – that are releasing new material with more or less frequency. 

So, I sincerely hope you find my selection interesting. Be free to emphasize or criticize! The important thing is to maintain black metal – one of the most beautiful genres ever conceived – in constant evidence, ever. 

It’s important to reiterate that the albums selected here are in no particular order. Just because Minas Morgul, by Summoning, is in the first place, and Unbound, by Sargeist, is the last, doesn’t mean that I prefer the first album. Just because I, by Fuath, comes before Arousal, by Donarhall, doesn’t mean that I prefer the Fuath album. The albums are in this order because they just are. I haven’t selected them in order of preference. I love all these albums equally.  

Minas Morgul is a formidable and highly original epic black metal album, with brightly circumspect atmospheric elements, as well as – to a minor degree – neo-folk arrangements, released in 1995, by Austrian band Summoning, which is active since 1993.  

With eleven tracks – Soul Wandering, Lugburz, The Passing of the Grey Company, Morthond, Marching Homewards, Orthanc, Ungolianth, Dagor Bragollach, Through the Forest of Dol Guldur, The Legend of the Master-Ring and Dor Daedeloth –, Minas Morgul is an aggrandizing, genuine and wonderful album, with a splendorous sound reminiscent of epic battles, medieval times, chivalry, loyalty, deposed kings and lost realms. The sensible, elusive guitar lines, the dream-like nostalgia harmonies, the glorious melodies evocative of once iridescent kingdoms forgotten in the dust of time, are precisely combined altogether to deliver a work of incomparable sonorous artistry, that deserves to be appreciated for decades to come, and to be passed away to the younger generations fond of the subgenre. This album is exceedingly marvelous, being amazingly excellent from the beginning until the end. Song after song after song, this awesome masterpiece delivers one of the best exemplars of epic black metal you will ever be able to appreciate in your life!    

While at the beginning, this work can sound rough and harsh, being an exponentially virulent, indulgent, aggressive, obscure and sinister album – that flirts discreetly with DSBM –, progressively, the record reveals more soft and versatile nuances, that gradually reveals a more complex and ambitious pattern of artistry. 

Anti is a band from Germany, that was active from 2003 to 2014, and regrouped in 2018. The Insignificance of Life was originally released in 2006, with six tracks: Nothing, Landscape in Minor, Invocation, Farewell (Escape into Beyond), Zero Point and Mourning Soul. A posterior re-issue had the additional tracks: Perished, Death into Life and Longing for the End. Despite the lugubrious atmosphere of the album, the musical framework also carries on a beautiful poetic density, reflexive melodies and intonations, and at certain times, very philosophic and sensible undertones. As an album that begins aggressively, but slowly becomes more humane, deeply existential and melancholic, The Insignificance of Life is in no rush to reveal itself as an imponderable and unexpected masterpiece to its audience. On the contrary, its latent, but patient atmosphere proves to be another one of its many qualities. 

Despite being relatively unknown, Fleurety is a veteran Norwegian black metal act, active since the early nineties (so it is a reminiscent of the classic Norwegian scene). Although their sound evolved along the years to be more progressive and avant-garde – with some brief stints of power metal discreetly placed onto their musical atmosphere as well – they started playing traditional black metal. This marvelous album was originally released in 1995, and already displays the group flirting with more melodic, versatile and flexible musical elements, although maintaining its creative nucleus ostensibly engraved on lunar BM ferocity. 

Almost forty-five minutes long, the record has five relatively extensive tracks: Fragmenter av en fortid, En skikkelse i horisonten, Hvileløs?, Englers piler har ingen brodd and Fragmenter av en fremtid. With the predominance of poetic, though somber and melancholic harmonies, Min Tid Skal Komme is a beautiful and graceful work of art, that definitely has on the apex of its consecrated virtuosity a lucid and proverbial sense of originality, that enabled this fantastic and gracefully consistent BM act to conceive a very singular and precious work of art.

…Medieval Art, originally released in 1998, is the only album by French black metal band Azerlath. A splendorous, vivid and fantastic work – with perfect guitar lines sustaining a graceful horizon of versatile and vivaciously resonant harmonies – the record has eleven tracks: The March of the Lost Souls, Nightside Aura, The Leaf, Melody of the Forest, Snow Covered Land, Svart, Northward, After the Rain, The Stream and the Lake, An Ode for a Frozen Night and When All Will End. 

Flirting with virtuous melodies and ascendant rhapsodies of graceful cohesion, the general style displayed by the band are a colorful and proverbial convergence of organic elements, exploding on floating waves of synchronic cosmic dissonances, that perfectly revolves around a lucid conjuncture of preponderant qualities, consistently inserted as a sensitive layout to mostly beautiful and poetic songs. 

Largely drawing its magnificent tonalities from the expansive grace of its creative vortex, …Medieval Art is a proficient, mature and fabulous record, that definitely has consecrated the genre to a more vigorous, robust and genuine sense of artistry, elevating the standards of black metal to a splendidly dynamic, elegant and sophisticated scale.

To Lay Like Old Ashes was the last album released by Austere, an Australian black metal act active for approximately five years, between 2005 and 2010. A formidable, elegant and versatile record, this work has passionate and consistent melodies, that flirts extensively with DSBM, which explains it’s graciously melancholic, macabre and depressive nature. Exceedingly exceptional at some points, the record, almost fifty-five minutes long, has six relatively extensive tracks: Down, To Fade With The Dusk, This Dreadful Emptiness, To Lay Like Old Ashes, Just For A Moment... and Coma II. 

The first song, To Fade With The Dusk – Down is just a brief intro – is absolutely marvelous, and embodies the fragile and fractured, but renitent and sagacious essence that drove the band’s astute, lucid and creative musicality, for the entirety of its short career, but more prominently on this album. With precise guitar lines, and a sensible perception of the spectral void that surrounds the human race, the song revitalize with sincere and flexible splendor the tempestuous dissonances and the tragic abysses that are inherent to our existential disgrace. The last song, the monumental and epic Coma II, features derisive and depressant guitar lines, that obliterates the emptiness that beholds its complacent serenity, with the hyperbolic consecration of a fatalist calmness, that revolves around a despondent perception of reality.  

With abundant and dilated virtues, that converges to a highly concentrated and energized – but dark – musical atmosphere, Austere displays a pungent, yet profoundly humane style, which makes this record to be a gracefully unique work of art, that definitely standardizes its singularity by the elegant proclivities and unexpected versatility displayed all the way through. 

Under The Moonlight Rising is an album released recently, on November 11. Work of an atmospheric black metal act named Koldissey – personal project of an Australian musician better known by the alias of Baelathvan, which is the creative force behind another BM endeavors like Ascensions Fall and Farrore –, this record is relatively concise. Only thirty-six minutes long, it has seven tracks: Equipoise, Under the Moonlight Rising, Dream Scars, Koldyssey (interlude), Lights Vestige, Night Shades and Ascent of the Black Moon. 

A singular record, whose melodies rely primarily on extensive, diluted and somber atmospheres, Under The Moonlight Rising is almost a collection of melancholic serenades, whose impulsive and primordial daydreams conducts into the everlasting fog of a delusional existence an indulgent and desperate search for lost forgotten realms – whose glorious past was filled by the solicitude of heroic and brave virtues –, that were unmercifully reduced to nothing, by the indifferent dust of history. In Under The Moonlight Rising, the artist somehow seems predisposed to revitalize in the rapture of its monumental harmonies the fugacious splendor that is no longer present. Since the world has fallen on the dubious darkness of lugubrious shadows, all that we have is harmonies that maybe the only reminiscent of those splendorous times. 

Atmospheric black metal from Hungary, Witcher is active since 2010, and Boszorkánytánc was released the following year, in 2011. With a great emphasis on atmosphere – conceived in subtle, though masterly slower, nefarious and somber tonalities – the vocals are grounded on traditional black metal, while instrumentally the duo explores more dense, gratuitous and perceptive melodies, with post-classical influences. While their musical layout can be inarguably defined as very simple, the songs are beautiful and consistent, and their method is ostensibly shaped in a coherent, versatile and graceful style. 

If you are into atmospheric black metal, you may not be impressed at all by this work, but undoubtedly, their qualities cannot be denied. They know how to elaborate, sustain and expand dispersive, but at the same time allegorical, diluted and elegant dark symphonies, that are much more grounded on melancholy and sentimental poetry, than generic sinister despondencies. This work have soul and sensibility, and Witcher deals with the general limitations of the genre with flexible virtuosity. Originally conceived as a demo, Boszorkánytánc is forty-two minutes long, so it can be defined – taking the extension into consideration – as a full length album.  

An exciting, splendorous and marvelous work, Nature Stays Silent is an album released this year, in March 30, by Swiss epic and melodic black metal act Cân Bardd. A very extensive record – seventy minutes long – the work has eight tracks: Introduction, My Ancestors, An Evolving Painting, Méditation Glaciale, Underwater, Océan, Abîme and A Gift for Nature. 

With formidable melodies, and amazingly overwhelming epic elements, exceedingly grounded in mythology and folklore, the style of Cân Bardd is indebted to an intuitive sense of musical grandeur, stylish majesty and rapture, that makes each of its masterful symphonies a monumental tale of everlasting realms of splendor, full of sensibility and grandiloquent artistry. With kings being deposed, chevaliers rescuing the honor of lost dynasties, and ancient Celtic tribes being remembered by the vitality of its salutary resistance against exterior enemies, the music of Cân Bardd – abundant on Viking and folk metal elements as well – is a vivid story of passionate and sentimental nostalgia, whose horizon contemplates the graceful eternity of splendid lost times. 

With a poetic and noble sound, the virtuosity of Cân Bardd is everywhere on this album. Consecrating to the subgenres of epic and melodic black metal a monumental quality that becomes its most valuable triumph, whose sound reverberates the intensity of its grace by the ethereal dimensions of its marvelous, poetic and lucid harmonies, Nature Stays Silent is a wonderful sonorous journey throughout a marvelous world of bards, hereditary kingdoms, heroic tradition and sincere grace, completely devoid of unnecessary superficialities and vanities. Definitely, it’s a majestic album, that aggregates fantastic perspectives into these wonderful subgenres.     

Released in 2011, The Light That Dwells In Rotten Wood is the second full-length album by American melodic black metal band Falls of Rauros, active since 2005. A graceful and very interesting work of art, that explores the subtlety of melancholic and depressant harmonies with a severely lugubrious atmosphere – despite the dynamic virtues of their vivacious sonorous layout –, the music of the group is characterized primarily by a dense and virtuous cosmogony of everlasting, but crucially humane despondency. 

With sensational, abrasive, pungent and creative guitar lines, the general pace of the music is calm, mature and serene, but has a profound, dissonant and fatalist glory, reminiscent of indefinite and fantastic landscapes full of gray haze and lost emotional conflicts. All songs on this album are gracefully elegant and imaginative, full of qualitative elements that embrace a consistent and fabulous virtuosity, that easily expands its exceptionally vibrant sensibilities to all the potentialities upon which its vast and intuitive melodies were conceived. Falls of Rauros has on this album a marvelous triumph, that easily manages the strength of its genuine style, full of originality, splendor and furious vitality.  

I, released on February 1st, 2016, is the debut – and so long, only – album by Fuath, an atmospheric black metal project conceived by Scottish musician Andy Marshall. Forty-one minutes long, the record has four extensive tracks: In the Halls of the Hunter, Blood, The Oracle and Spirit of the North. 

With vast, cohesive and exceedingly rapid melodies, highly suggestive of dramatic imagery – like everlasting anthems that echoes in the night, perfunctorily revolving around the conflagration of sinister flames that mysteriously burns surrounded by the infinite darkness of a forest conceived by the drastic loneliness of an unknown isolationist conscience –, the general harmonies of this work were elaborated in objective elegance, consistence and splendor, despite the fact that its passionate subjectivity also consecrates to the imagination a realm of possibilities that wanders around the imperative solitude of a universe lost in the glorious storms of all human despondencies. The guitar lines are exceedingly dynamic, and gives to the listener an impressionistic repertoire of poetic symphonies, that definitely filters the solitary emptiness upon which our ordinary sensibilities are confined. 

Displaying a visceral artistic grandiosity all the way through, I, by Fuath, is a formidable and genuine work, that engraves the singular style of the artist in the listener’s mind with evasive strength. While its pungent and abrasive guitar lines creates a nefarious world of unknown demise, the melodies are crystallized with a gracious beauty, that definitely qualifies this album as a fundamental milestone of the subgenre.     

An album that starts with pungent and aggressive, but moderately restrained and dynamic melodies, driven by torrid and cohesive guitar lines, Arousal was released on September 8, by Donarhall, a melodic and profoundly authorial black metal project by a German musician, known only by the alias of Gnev. 

A very graceful and consistent work – full of melancholic and splendid melodies –, its impressive how Donarhall evolved musically, since the time Gnev released the project’s first album, Misanthrope (that I’ve personally evaluated, as you can read here), in January 2017, which was, indeed, a tasteless and ordinary work, almost to the point of mediocrity, pervasively marked by sameness, generic passages and sonorous commonalities. 

Forty minutes long, Arousal is more concise and dynamic – though more stylistically ambitious and mature –, despite the fact that has only four long tracks: Drowsiness, Incubus, Apathy and Lethargy. Although the titles are incredibly suggestive, and they do transmit the respective feelings upon which each song is named – except, of course, for Incubus – this Donarhall album is anything but tedious, conventional or homogeneous. Despite the fact that the melodies sounds mostly evasive, cynic, diluted and somber, there is an organic vitality hidden in the harmonies, that makes the sound exceedingly beautiful and fascinating. With a robust creative strength and a genuinely elegant audacity, this album really sounds as a virtuous and relevant artistic triumph. It’s an indication that Gnev is evolving as a musician, and definitely has potential to surprise his audience with more excellent work in the future, the way he did on this magnificent album.  

The Eternal Darkness I Adore is the third album by Italian black metal band Kult, released in September 14, by German label Folter Records. Forty-four minutes long, the record has nine tracks: Intro, The Eternal Darkness I Adore, Pandemonium, Black Drapes, Reaping The Flock, Canticle Of Thorns, Hopestrangler, Gruesome Portrait and Devourer Of The Night.

A marvelously good, raw, traditional black metal album – though with a high fidelity production of superior quality, that makes the sound more clear and defined –, The Eternal Darkness I Adore is an intelligent, audacious and impeccable work, that very subtlety, plays with crust punk elements in a few select passages, but always with latent mordacity, never losing sight of its profoundly sinister, excruciating and lancinating BM stylish grandiloquence. 

With a brutal and aggressive sound – abundant on abrasive and tempestuous guitar lines –, that concomitantly remains precisely elegant and rapturous, the music developed by Kult is thoroughly expansive and consistent. Definitely, this album can be qualified as mature, sensible and sophisticated traditional black metal, conceived by the strongest virtues of an authorial, genuine and punctual creativity.  

Atmospheric black metal from Ukraine, Severoth is a project active for more than a decade now – since 2007 –, and When The Night Falls…, released this year, is the most recent work from this marvelous one man musical endeavor. 

With incisive, but soft and poetic harmonies, When The Night Falls… is a group of beautiful symphonies, aligned altogether in a mosaic of insurgent magnificence. Despite being a little less versatile than other acts in the genre, Severoth has a remarkable style, and a gracious and cohesive musicality. With a delicate splendor, that flirts discreetly with the most somber conflagrations of human nature, this work features prominently dissonant and almost folkloric keyboards, that masterly conceives colorful worlds of melancholic and petrified solitude, whose terribly ancient, but visceral disappointment towards existence drives despair to an ultimate darkness, that will be forever lost in the sands of time. 

A truly poetic and profound work, When The Night Falls is a glorious enchantment, that every enthusiast of atmospheric BM will enormously enjoy and appreciate.  

Despite the name, Utstøtt is an American black metal project, from the state of Oregon. Another album released this year – this one very recently, on October 15 –, Járnviðr is sixty-five minutes long, and has six extensive tracks: Járnviðr, Sköll og Hati, Dunkelheit (Burzum Cover), Angrboða, Fenrir and Frykt. With an interesting style, displaying an aggressive, lugubrious and more traditional black metal – though intelligently, but discreetly, without excesses, blended with epic and Viking metal elements – the music of Utstøtt is a formidable reinvigoration of the genre’s old school qualities, adorned with more lucid, singular and elegant harmonies. 

The aggressiveness and the rapid pace of the songs are outstanding qualities on this work. The fluid and dynamic features of the melodies – beautifully consecrated by refined, but pervasively abrasive guitar lines – creates an organic structure within the songs that makes them exceedingly vivacious, cohesive and alive, as a colorful diagram of planetary symphonies receiving the elementary conditions of reality in a more proverbial and distinct configuration of sensibilities. With a formidably original outlook, and a quintessential creative visionary disposition, the general style of Utstøtt in Járnviðr is simply sensational, splendorous, and filled with an inimitable grandiosity. 

The cover of Burzum, Dunkelheit, deserves to be highlighted. Although too similar to the original, this version is spectacularly beautiful, and comes charged with a sentiment of nostalgia that definitely will remind you the glorious days of the genre. Displaying a vastly genuine and inventive ordeal, Járnviðr, by Utstøtt, is a magnificent, consistent and very peculiar album, that proves all the way through – in every minute of it – why deserves to be recognized as one of the best black metal records ever released. 

Last, but not least, Unbound is another relatively recent album. Released by W.T.C.Productions on October 11 – the fifth work by Finnish legendary black metal act Sargeist –, Unbound is a furious and lancinating musical effort, with ten tracks: Psychosis Incarnate, To Wander the Night's Eternal Path, The Bosom of Wisdom and Madness, Death's Empath, Hunting Eyes, Her Mouth is an Open Grave, Unbound, Blessing of the Fire-Bearer, Wake of the Compassionate and Grail of the Pilgrim. 

With a wrathful and ravenous style, in the best raw old school traditional layer – despite the high quality production values –, the heavy and dense atmosphere, the nefarious melodies and the vociferating, but abrasive, meticulous and harmonious guitar lines conceives a panorama of digressive musical stability that perfectly delivers its sonorous cosmogony as a continuous conjuncture of sinister symphonies, compromised with the drastic execution of an everlasting doom. With songs greatly configured in a simple, but dynamic layout that explores the melodic possibilities of its lugubrious tonalities, Unbound not only honors the genre in all of its somber perspectives, but definitely establishes a new horizon of creative and spectacular splendor into the stylistic diagram of its expansive, majestic and grandiose realm of lost anger. Despite its dark and impenitent fury, the songs are marvelously refined, and displays a consistent essence that summarily revolves around the legacy of its own artistic principles. The album sounds impeccably conceived in the afflictive abysses of the human conscience, and with all the vitality of its colossal and mordacious strength, is perfectly sensational, from the beginning until the end.   

With exceedingly rapid and aggressive harmonies, definitely, devoted BM enthusiasts will enjoy the implacable and hazardous fury of Unbound, that abundantly dilacerates with insidious devastation each dissonant dimension of its brutal conception of a universe where chaos, darkness and glory rules indistinctly, for the complete demise of the human race. 

Well, this is it – at least for now! I hope you have enjoyed my personal selection of favorite black metal albums. You may not have liked everything that is here, but remember, it’s my list. Nevertheless, I will definitely love to read your opinions – positive or negative – about it. Thank you for your attention, and see you soon in the next list!  

​Wagner

Kammarheit is an ambient music project by Swedish sound artist Pär Boström, active for almost twenty years now, since the year 2000. A superb master in profoundly sculpting tense and dreadful, but very discreet and subtle afflictive dark sounds, his music is simple, but is able to conceive the most fearful, macabre and sinister atmospheres, that keeps the sense of an everlasting darkness lurking over you indefinitely, as if an impeding fatalist doom will inevitably take you over with sardonic horror. 

This amazing artist gracefully conceives sonorous labyrinths of impious malevolence, that feels reminiscent of a hostile and unknown force, as you feel yourself trapped in an endless place where everything that is evil and potentially harmful is waiting for you somewhere, and you feel you will be taken by this impious force when you least expect – a terrible and sadistic dark force from the underworld, disposed to inflict such a tremendous amount of atrocities over you that you will wish you had never been born. So, in other words, Kammarheit is the perfect soundtrack for reading authors like H.P. Lovecraft, or for playing macabre games like Quake. 

The first of his albums that I want to highlight is The Northern Hymn, released in 2002; an apparently unofficial record, that doesn’t feature on his discography. Forty-four minutes long, here you have the following tracks: Absconding the Physical (The Inner Hymn), Crystalline, Dreaming of the Forgotten Land, Semblance, Overview and Presence Within the Park. 

On this album, you will notice the formidable layouts that punctuate his music: a very tense paradigm of monumental afflictions, that gets over its superficial graveyard of emotions, doesn’t matter how or where you feel the corrosion invading the autonomy of your struggling imperative senses. You feel yourself being slowly dragged to a parallel dimension of ambiguous vertigos, as a latent and virulent sinister melody imprisons the conscience of your soul inside a lugubrious journey of fading realities, beyond an infinite realm of darkness that will sadistically arrest the universe in a somnolent and sensitive lethargic existence. 

As you sink in the nightmare, the delusions dispersed throughout the everlasting disparities of your weak sensibilities gets heavier and heavier, and you eventually fall desperately apathetic into a perpetual dark abyss, to a tragically unknown fate.  

Another album that deserves to be highlighted is the beautiful and equally sinister Somewhere Concealed. Apparently, this almost one hour long record was also released in 2002, like The Northern Hymn, and it’s also an unofficial album. Somewhere Concealed has the following tracks: Arriving, Making The First Flower, Underneath The Ravine, Frigid, The Fossilised Structures, Back To Where The Trees Spoke, In Silence Of The Plague and The Renewal. Like the previous album, this record also features afflictive, dense and heavy atmospheres, that make you feel yourself suffocated, imprisoned, lost in a very dreadful, large and empty dark house, all alone by yourself, without being able to find an exit.  

The claustrophobic feeling here is very latent. You feel yourself trapped – somewhere in the vastness of a darkness that never ends –, without being able to find a decent closure to a desperate situation. The tension, despite the fact that it is softer to a degree, is also afflictive and permanent. You feel a grizzly darkness consuming your soul slowly, cynically; as you drown in desperation completely surrounded by a devouring emptiness, your life easily disappears, as a brutal nothingness surrounds you, and you eventually feel entirely dematerialized, forever lost in a vacuum continuum, that will extend itself infinitely, over a lugubrious perpetual darkness, destined to never fade, but to seek new victims. 

As the album approaches the end, you can hear the sound of crows croaking – which is a remote fear grounded in the lore of human folklore and superstition –, and adds to the sinister element of a hostile and unknown place, that is inherently aggressive to the human presence. 

The third album that I want to comment here is the fantastic and splendorous The Starwheel, released in 2005. With a more calm and serene atmosphere – a little less deprived of elements of anguish and sardonic doom –, though featuring invasive ecstatic components of nefarious apathy more prominently, that inserts its sinister qualities very subtlety, this album is also a major starlight for the genre of dark ambient. An eminently ardent and spectral world that is subdued by a sensitive, but tense serenity, this formidable masterpiece is abundant in peripheral and abstract densities, that discreetly and vaguely corrode your sense of reality, to allow you to enter into a depressive dimension of lunar gravity, as the floatingly favorable ascendant harmonies present on this album make you feel a little more confident, knowing that you have to expect the unexpected on this journey of pervasively unprecedented darkness.  

The Starwheel definitely make you undergo a nefarious journey, though with a more cautious and clear conscience, despite the fact that, after some time, it’s impossible not to fall in the elusive dark precipice, upon which you have been inadvertently walking. Not as frightening as The Northern Hymn – at least in my opinion –, nevertheless, on this album, the image that comes to my mind is a man walking in an endless journey throughout a snowy landscape. The sky is gray, there is no clouds, and nobody can be seen nearby. Your solitude is absolute, and you feel yourself compelled to keep walking towards the horizon, never to finally arrive anywhere. And you walk endlessly, but the journey never ends. The landscape is always the same, the wind is hostile and whistles a mysterious horrendous sound, that will eventually resort to a perpetual darkness, falling over the superficial placidity of your delusional dreams.  

On this album, we can hear the characteristic style of the artist. The atmosphere resonates a fatalist doom that will eventually come, but it’s impossible to know precisely when. As this sensation of imminent demise gets near, but never comes – although you know it’s just a matter of time – you become more and more tense, anxious and afflicted. The landscape seems frozen, you are lost in the middle of a white desert, with some dry dead trees around you. You feel death is near, but there is nothing you can do to stop this horrendous sensation of misery, despair insecurity and nervousness. So you just sit and wait for the fatalist doom to befall over you, as you can’t do anything to avoid it, anyway. 

Of course, I don’t want you to think that the music of Kammarheit is destitute of calmer or serene qualities, that would be positively untrue. On the contrary, some tracks are full of those, and it’s impossible not to feel marvelously ecstatic and relaxed while listening to it, at least in certain passages. There are different graduations and textures in his music that definitely allows a varied scale of suggestive perceptions to be felt throughout its infinite expansion of sonorous horizons. The music of Kammarheit has definitely a vivacious and distinctive versatility, that is mostly varnished by discreet and somber tonalities, which makes the music in a general basis intrinsically able to explore in each layer of sound a movable variation of possibilities, that reaches high standards on the human sensibility. 

The final album that I want to comment here is a more recent one. Kollektionen was released in 2016. Seventy-seven minutes long, this record is a selection of Kammarheit tracks, featured in other albums and compilations. They are the following:  The Hierophant, Tundra, Kosmos, The Excavation Site, I Found It Weeping In The Field, Landfall, Dreams And Seracs, Adrift, Ruina, Provenience and Arch. 

Featuring prominently all the qualities described above, although with a more dreadful virulence, the sound on this album is undoubtedly more homogeneous, but also appears to be more clean and sober, which makes me think that it was better produced. With nefarious sounds, a dispersive tension and a lugubrious layout – graciously defined by a cohesive sense of abrasive, drastic and pungent continuity, more prominent than his other albums – that genuinely inspires fear and despair, the unknown element is very latent here. You definitely feel yourself trapped in a world of permanent darkness; severely impotent, you feel there is nothing you can do to escape the terrible and drastic fate that will eventually befall over you.

Last, but not least, I should point it out the marvelous video of a live performance by Kammarheit, recorded in 2015. Concealed in the darkness with amazingly suggestive images in the background, on this performance, you can see with a more surreal prominence the strongest aspects of Pär Boström’s musicianship. He is very technical and methodical – a skilled engineer of sound –, that knows exactly how silence, quietness and calmness can work beautifully as marvelous extensions of sound. He definitely has conscience about where and when to integrate the most precise elements and the most fundamental vitalities of his creative intuition, to perfectly work altogether, to create the sinister soundscapes he masterfully exposes on this ecstatic performance.    

 While there isn’t any movements – and he is tiny at the center of the stage – you can definitely perceive the cinematic and sensitive elements of the genre, as dark ambient really is about suggestive sounds and atmospheric perceptions. You can listen to his dense and somber tunes while accompanying the slow, but ever changing images, that definitely captures marvelously all the fantastic and ominous sensibilities driven by the sound.    

Kammarheit is simply one of the most fantastic, splendorous and formidable dark ambient acts ever conceived. Exploring wisely the possibilities, working altogether marvelously all the fundamental qualities of the genre – a sinister musical layout, anxious and afflictive harmonies, agonizing fearful undulations, lugubrious atmospheres, horrendous suggestive tonalities, gradual fatalist uprisings, dark discreet melodies, indefinite macabre resonances, nefarious unexpected disturbances – the artist definitely has proved himself quintessential to the development of the genre. With a sensible discretion and a proverbially dense subtlety that aggregates tension and fear to fatalist sonorous dissonances that evolve gradually, the atmosphere of his songs are pervasively sinister and morbidly tense. Certainly, your nightmares will be suggestively fuelled by these gruesome sounds, that concomitantly serves as the best soundtracks ever created to nightmarish sensations. 

As the eternal night advances, you can be certain that Kammarheit will continue to create and to produce the best frightening sounds and the most sinister albums ever created in the history of dark ambient music. This is a splendid, creative and very lucid artist, certainly one of the greatest in the annals of the genre. 



​Wagner

A selection by Wagner Hertzog 

There are a lot of albums, in several distinct genres, from several different categories, periods and places, that are enormously underrated and overtly unappreciated, never achieving the level of recognition and fame they certainly deserve. This mainly occurs for one reason: most of them come from underground bands and artists, that are – in the vast majority of the cases –, virtually unknown, being appreciated only by a handful of enthusiasts or by a loyal cult following. Other artists, like some Japanese musicians that integrate this list, are relatively well-known, but only in their country of origin, being strange to audiences abroad. 

Regardless of the motives about why these albums haven’t achieved the degree of notoriety they deserve, I’ve selected here twelve records in no particular order or genre whatsoever – on the contrary, here you will find a good diversity, from atmospheric black metal and dark ambient, to neo-folk and new age symbolic symphonies, to minimalist piano pieces and post-classic Japanese music – that, at least in my opinion, deserves a higher level of evaluation and appreciation from the critical musical establishment, and mostly, from the general public; at least, a lot more appreciation of what they initially had amassed, giving them the opportunity to reach audiences that aren’t familiar or haven’t being introduced to their respective works. I hope you enjoy at least some of them, and spread the ones you like the most to your musical friends. Let’s make music – these albums included – to be dispersed, publicized and heard everywhere!

Forty minutes long, with seven tracks – Ecstasy, Calmness At Stress, Confounded,Pt.1, Confounded,Pt.2, Prowl In Reverie, Life Era and Regret –, this acoustic neo-folk ambient work is strongly suggestive of calmer abysses, low temperatures and digressive disdains over the painful, but sincere vicissitudes of life. It’s easy to imagine a reflexive and distant existence terraforming over the planetary solitude of infinite eras, while you dream peacefully over the sonorous contemplative ordeal that will come to your mind. A salutary nostalgia flirts with the end of a melancholic afternoon, that anticipates in a soft rain all the inspiring timeless sagacity of an energy that slowly dissipates itself from within. Certainly, you will find this album relaxing, tranquil and overtly peaceful. Impossible not to like it!  

A curiously efficient and dense black metal work – with predominantly slow harmonies – that instills in the listener an efficiently intrusive, but patient emotional exhilaration, this group from Sweden to this day is vastly unknown. This album is apparently from 2009, and I sincerely don’t know if the band is still in activity. Nevertheless, their music is amazingly skilled, their exceedingly powerful creativity ostensibly breaks the ordinary standards of the genre, and their harmonies are well-crafted and original, but at the same time loyal to the most profound references of underground black metal. With vastly lugubrious intonations and a sinister sonority that drives the melodies to a dark horizon of distinctive frivolities, I think you can say Into the Darkness of My Soul is an excellent contemporary exemplar of true-to-the-roots black metal, with no imperfections at all to be highlighted.  

Melodic black metal that seems to flirt with the epic and atmospheric subgenres at some extent. Vibrant, dense and conspicuously sinister – although at the same time kind, familiar and gentle –, the sound of Dying Stars’ Walking Across The World is a superb, indefinite and infinite stream of ghostly demise, spreading its monumental, serene, minimalized and diverse artistry throughout a panorama of primordial lancinating beauty. Forty four minutes long, the record has nine tracks: Madness Of Nuclear World, Where Eternal Silence, Dying Star, In Captive Oblivion, Ghost Of Karpaty, From Endless Space, Downpour and The Mist. Its fantastic harmonies flows directly into the eventful kingdoms of an imaginary existence, where eternity waits for the shadows of your soul to merge into the twilights of a magnificent horizon, that has on the conscience of an everlasting splendor the fatalist answer for all enigmas of life. Its poetic and reflexive undertones gives a glorious philosophic color to this beautiful record.  

Amazingly sinister, unexpected and anxiously dark ambient from Norway, Svartsinn – a relatively well-known name in this vastly infamous underground genre, with several albums released – is the creative vehicle for Jan Roger Pettersen. Fifty-one minutes long, Traces of Nothingness has eight tracks: Traces Of Nothingness, No Passage to the Innermost..., Lost in Reveries, Misanthropic Odyssey, Through Apathetic Eyes, All The Colours Are Fading, ...But The Fire Burns No More and Emptiness Is Form. Empirically dwelling throughout the dark vastness of a very personal universe of agonizing emptiness, this album, despite having the sonority somewhat typical for the genre, has a lucid degree of creativity, that displays an excellent degree of originality. With an exceedingly somber atmosphere, and a nervous placidity that anticipates the everlasting shadows of something unknown lurking in the density of lugubrious immortal fears, Traces of Nothingness is a delightful, but dreadful work of art, that masterly exhibits in impeccable form the most fundamental and extraordinary qualities of the genre, elevated in an exponential scale. 

Effervescent, delirious, glamorous, poetically rapturous and violently conspicuous black metal with exceedingly perfect harmonies, Dråpsnatt is a group from Sweden that it’s difficult to know if it’s still active or not. Hymner till undergången was apparently released in 2014, and has nine tracks: En Ensam Sol Går ner, Arvssynd, Dråpsnatt, Mannen I Min Spegel, Somna In, Ve Er, Tonerna De Klinga, En Besvuren Plats and Gästen. With a sinister, but splendorous sound that comes from the shadows, spectral guitar lines resounds the fury of an eternity of tormented wrath and suffering. The virulent creative and energetic sagacity of this marvelous BM act certainly eviscerates a sonorous compendium of miraculous artistry, whose sensitive level of originality deserves to be highlighted as a fundamental cornerstone of the genre. Undoubtedly, this will be one of the best BM albums that you will ever have the pleasure to hear in your life. 

Drinking Songs, by Matt Elliot, is a simple, but beautiful album. Calm, serene, relaxing, circumspect – eager to understand the introspective subtleties upon which its harmonies devour the plenitude of an intrusive conscience – with melodies that drives the sentimental gravities of the abundant frivolities of the heart to a distant, but definite melancholic paradise, this graceful album reiterates its deceptive quest for a silent anxiety, reverberating the latitudes of its own quietness. While a little slow, the album definitely has a charming, dense and proverbial quintessential mood, that invites the listener to dive deep into the creative elements of its own sorrow; with a finishing hour cabaret vibe that converges to a distinctive nostalgia, where you remember everything you want to forget, Drinking Songs is an album that has an atmosphere of its own, comparable to the fragrant alcoholic vapors of an early Sunday morning, that will never end until someone bargains his own soul to be able to buy more drinks. 

With all its versatile virtuosity, but deeply concentrated style, Scenery is an album of lucid piano sonatas and quasi-ballads, strongly conceived with solid improvisations and magical short notes, designed to inspire happiness. With six tracks – It Could Happen To You, I Want To Talk About You, Early Summer, Willow Weep For Me, Autumn Leaves and Scenery – the album is reminiscent of piano bars with a lot of cigarette smoke, fulfilled from top to bottom by an atmosphere immersed in sweet nostalgia, and ingratiates itself in the jazz and blues aura upon which its music was seemingly influenced.

A very melodic, delicate and serene album, Mist, by Thom Brennan, is a very dispersive atmospheric piece, whose sound seems shrouded in mist and secrecy: an imponderable and enigmatic sonorous journey towards the graveyard of a restless conscience, this record is an elegant and dense ambient accomplishment, that delivers an enthusiastic, but smoothly diluted calmness to the embrace of existence. A very consistent and dramatic album, with long interludes and vast dynamic sequences whose discreet expansion resonates over the cosmic infinity of its gracious and lucid, but somewhat solitary sensibilities, Mist, by Thom Brennan, is a deep dive into the horizon of an everlasting wakefulness, whose proverbial grace elaborates in the density of its sensational premises the resolution for a symphony that contains a majestic element of eternity at the core of its notes.  

Another album that envisions and delivers a formidable sense of splendorous calmness, Sunday Morning Peace, by Jonn Serrie, is a virtuous and systematic dive into the infinity of a glorious and affable eternity, involved by a dense and sober sonorous tenacity. With a serenity that seems spectacularly vivid, but at the same time crystallized by the sensibilities of its flexible atmosphere of melodic profoundness, this almost one hour long album has only five very extensive tracks: the title track Sunday Morning Peace, Maiden Voyage, The Enlightened Path,
Breath of the Valley and Sea Mist. While its laborious virtuosity really encapsulates the surreal world that ingratiates itself in the vicinities of an harmonious realm of marvelous relaxation, the expansive dimensional tones that disperse its atoms through the vastness of its musical cadences are astonishingly effective. With a gracious mobility that enables its gradual rhythmic flow to surpass its own extemporal fluidity, Sunday Morning Peace, by Jonn Serrie, is definitely a wonderful artistic ordeal, that anticipates in the genuine possibilities of its own intrinsic elements the glorious musical narrative of the conception of a personal, but familiar universe.    

A discreet, minimalist and very organic new age album, whose main vitality relies on the happier, fluid and vivid tonalities of its sensible and gracious sonorous anatomy, the simple, yet reverberating sense of continuity present on this record – filled with nature-inspired sounds and overflowing colorful melodies delivered in waves of subtle harmonious fragrances, Green is one of those very distinct and peculiar authorial works, whose creative audacities really conceive a somewhat experimental, eccentric and original set of standards. At the highlight of its imperative synergy, Green certainly can be considered a proverbial piece of lucid and insightful grace, whose slow, but symmetric balance definitely conceives a dense, introspective and carefully elaborated universe of its own.   

A more proverbial and melancholic sinister piece, Piano Nights, by Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, is a delightful minimalist experience, that recognizes in the lugubrious atmosphere of its slow monumental cadences the lucid and dramatic possibilities of its somber serenades. With the insightful cholera of despondency, the music seems to departure from a world of infinite midnight, eager to extend the agony of its melodies over all dimensional waves of existence. With a cohesive use of silence and space between notes, the style of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore reflects a solitary, erudite and sensible musical arrangement, that also impresses by the virtue of its simplicity. With the silent grace of its lurid, but somewhat hyperbolic notes, this album reinstates over the sagacity of its latent premise the slow acerbic rhythm of life, as the rain falls somewhere, inside the scenery of a conformist doom.  

With beautiful harmonies, restrained to a modest, but elegant layer of space and time, In the Mood for love already explains in the title the grandiosity of its purpose. This formidable, eloquent, suggestive and delicate masterpiece is a sentimental symphony that reads in the cosmogony of its own discreet expansive omniscience the iridescent structure of its ascendant patterns. A melancholic serenade that evades the request for a modest ocean of incisively tempestuous calmness, this album has a sophisticated and expressively dense musical ambition, whose strength lies objectively in the dense diagram of its passionately intricate serenity, projecting the anatomic balance of the sound towards a sensitive spectacle of marvelous infinity. 

Believe it or not, most of the songs on those Spotify playlists weren't even Belgian, and the ones that were, weren't very victorious. Besides, the songs some artists are presenting as their 'World Championship Anthem' sound like farts in a bottle. So, as happens quite often, I think I can do better than just throwing some Stromae, Blur and Psy into a list and name it "Belgian Red Devils Playlist". This list is 100% Belgian and 100% awesome. Go Devils!

Born in 1910, Django Reinhardt grew to become one of the most significant jazz guitarists in Europe. During his short but impressive career Django (born Jean) brought his gypsy jazz to all corners of the world and even today whole festivals are dedicated to him. Out of his huge catalogue I selected the uplifting song 'Shine' because that's what we all want the Red Devils to do in Russia, right?

Here in Belgium we have a rich tradition of folk music, named either 'Kleinkunst' of 'Levensliederen'. Zjef Vanuytsel is one of the most influential artists in Flemish folk history. His songs 'Het Dorp' or 'De Zotte Morgen' are (or should be) known by everyone who has ever attended a campfire. I selected his ode to this little weird country, in which he tells us it's better to live here than in some of our possible opponents' countries. 

The Belgian new beat scene has turned this country into a frenzy of beats and basslines. In the late eighties, new beat acts grew like mushrooms, only to soon fade away again. I selected a song by BX-8017 (Jack Mauer & Marc Neuttiens) because a. new beat rules and b. it's Russia related. Now dance!!!

Although very much alive in some local scenes, Belgian hip hop usually isn't very top of the bill. However, this French rapping act managed to score bigtime in Belgium and in France. With this track I'd like to raise the pressure on our Devils a bit, and perhaps publish something at least one of those Red Devils will actually like.

With Luc De Vos, kleinkunst gained a massive level of rock 'n roll. This tune represent Luc's love for the ball game. Heaps of football fans on this side of the language border know this song and let's face it, every time Gorki can appear on one of our lists, he should. This one goes out to the fans, sing it loud there in Russia. 

Look, we all know that chances of Belgium becoming world champion are rather slim but we can all dream, right? So for the next few weeks, this legendary song by The Wallace Collection will be about football, deal?

Ok, enough with the goodie goodie stuff, time to get serious and dominating. And what better way to be all powerful and scary than by throwing our extremists into the scene. This is what we want on the football field, fighting hordes, breaking limbs, tearing flesh. Let's fill that champions cup with the blood of our opponents...

The will, or desire, to win must obviously be present in our football gods, otherwise they will get absolutely nowhere. So this track by Marc Verhaeghen' industrial EBM act The Klinik fit quite well in this list. 

But then again, you can have all the will and desire in the world, you still need to get out there and kick that leather ball. So here is Antwerp breakcore legend Sickboy and his forward pushing track 'Time To Play'.

Natacha Atlas was born in Schaerbeek and is as multicultural as this country itself. That  ethnic versatility also appears in our national football team, which, as Natacha claims so beautifully in this cover, is also a man's world. 

Post rock also seems to thrive here in Belgium. I selected this piece by Motek because after all, those 23 dudes over in Russia are mostly just trying to get their hands on the cup. They are all tryers, just like all of us, I guess.

Indie rockers School Is Cool have a pretty neat idea. Let's finally put something in our national trophy wall. Fun thing is, these guys have some other nice tips too, like 'Run Run Run' and their Radja-inspired 'Bad Behaviour'. Well, I don't think that's really about Nainggolan but you know, I have to mention him at least once. 

Stoner rockers Hypnos 69 has been clearing the path since 1994. With piercing, fuzz-loaded riffs this tune will undoubtedly push the Red Devils forward. I mean, look at the press. Even the BBC is claiming that Belgium will become world champions. Talking about a burning ambition...

Also coming from the glorious nineties, Wizards Of Ooze delivered some butt shaking jazz funk. Now let's just hope that our millionaires in shorts bring back that championship cup, preferably in a big red balloon. That would be pretty cool, no?

And we finish this list with some booms, courtesy of trance pioneer Marco Bailey. It took me a while to find something football related but in the end my fantasy told me that the moment we win that world championship would certainly be a dreamday. So there you have it...

This holiday was started in 1972 by sisters Ellen Stanley and Mary Lynne Rave. According to Rave the purpose of National Pig Day is "to accord the pig its rightful, though generally unrecognized, place as one of man's most intellectual and domesticated animals."

Funny side note: It is an open question whether the holiday is a time to honor pigs by "giving them a break" or to appreciate their offerings (spare ribs, bacon and ham).

And of course we kick of with this hard rocking classic by comedy band Green Jelly. I actually wanted to start with a song by Mucky Pup which sounds very, very, very, very alike. Mucky Pup was a lot earlier with it than Green Jelly so the credit is theirs but still, this is a fun tune, right?

1970, most of our readers' parents still had to meet each other. But Ozzy and his band of jolly blues rockers was already creating thousands, if not millions, of metalheads. 'War Pigs' is undoubtedly one of their most famous songs. I know it's not actually about pigs but you know, it's Black Sabbath. 

Speaking about legendary musicians, here is Trent Reznor and his industrial project Nine Inch Nails. I suspect that Trent is talking about the same sort of pigs that Ozzy was in the previous video. Come to think of it, this entire list is getting quite political all of a sudden.

I mean, fellow industrial masterminds Ministry also deliver a guitars and electronics driven stomper to make your ears bleed. Al Jourgensen is well known for his outspoken political views. Some people even claim that Ministry made their best records when a Bush was president. Perhaps...

Well well, what do I find here in my ridiculously varied music collection? A track by illustrious noise act Nicole 12. Formed by Mikko Aspa, also known from harsh noise act Grunt, Nicole 12 delivers a controversial and somewhat shocking theme. Perhaps this track is not really suited for the sensitive ones among our readers. I promise, I'll select a fun tune next...

See, something more fun. This comes from The Simpsons Movie and was composed by Hans Zimmer. I wonder how he felt while writing this, certainly considering other musical masterpieces from this man. It must have been a lot of fun, that's for sure...

Time for drugged-out rappers Cypress Hill to be added to one of our weird lists. Blasted into superstardom with their 'Insane In the Brain' smash hit, this act is said to be one of hip hop last raw talents. Once again, I don't think they're rapping about the dirt crawling mammals in this song. I'm also not sure if the police appreciates this one.

This uplifted tune by the Beatles actually contains real pig sounds. The Fab Four used heaps of animal sounds throughout their career, sometimes real, sometimes imitated by one of the band members. 

Equally legendary and equally talented in creating innovative musical ideas, Pink Floyd also liked to work with or around animals.  This track comes from the album 'Animals', released in 1977. 

And in the category "what if we check the psytrance scene?", we selected this groovy tune by Nemrac. It's a psytrance tune and it's got the word "pig" in the title, so shut up and dance.

Ooh, I found some jazz, and what kind of jazz!!! Please sit down, relax and enjoy almost ten minutes of pure jazz bliss while we browse some other genres... 

Unexpectedly, we couldn't find any Rammstein song with "schwein" in the title. You would have expected these industrial metalers to use that awesome sounding word at least once, no? Oh well, on to the next best thing: German EBM. Here is Angstfabrikk and their mouthwatering industrial stomper.

I couldn't find this one on YouTube so for once we'll share a tune from bandcamp. This is one of the many brilliant tracks from ambient English duo O Yuki Conjugate. They recently started touring again after almost twenty years and I couldn't be happier. Well, I could but that would involve things outside of O Yuki Conjugate's control. Nevermind that. Enjoy....

This is probably one of Cocteau Twins' biggest hits. However, the band was dissatisfied with the results. Robin Guthrie described the EP as "shit" in a 1983 interview, claiming it was "a bad mixture—bad song, bad producer, bad band". Elizabeth Fraser simply described the material as "all we had at the time".

And we end with Belgian metal combo Fleddy Melculy. "Varken" means "pig", but after reading this list you should have already figured that out. This is a song about Belgian weekends, and the sweet and fun things we Belgians do during that short period of time: get pissed on booze. 

Today is Anosmia Awareness Day and I bet you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. Anosmia is the loss of sense of smell. People with this condition will never "smell what the Rock is cooking", or anything else for that matter. 

Although it sounds rather funny, and certainly less inconvenient than being blind or deaf, people with Anosmia have no way to tell if their food is still fresh. They can't detect a gas leak or smoke. They have no idea about their own body odor, making them insecure and anti-social. 


And for us, it's a perfect opportunity to dig into our musical knowledge and pick out a few tunes about smelling. Enjoy.

Found out more about Anosmia on Wikipedia

American comedy-core band Mucky Pup delivered this tune as opener for their 'A Boy In A Man's World' album back in 1989. The album also contained some other brilliant tracks, such as the original version of 'Little Pigs'.

Back then, it was almost as if you could actually smell the sweat, smoke, beer and piss coming off this video. Popular music had never been this raunchy, gritty and vile before. Today, Nirvana is still the favorite band for girls who only care about the bandshirts...

The world of extreme metal is a festering cesspool of unholy smells and there is plenty of stink to choose from. Here is a band named Stech, doing something blackened with metal. I think this song is about morning breath or something...

English grind gods Carcass definitely know a thing or two about unpleasant odors. You could almost smell the vile stench of rotting meat coming off their album 'Reek Of Putrefaction'. They also showed that banning certain cover art really helps selling an album. Hah.

Hardcore legends Pro-Pain also know a thing or two about raunchy fluids and backdoor alleys where men pee freely after a few too many beers. 

Probably the most famous song ever coming from the sitcom Friends. This thing reeks of the nineties, not necessarily the good parts...

Industrial masterminds Die Krupps delivered this smelly tune in 1995. For me, that's reason enough to add these Germans to another fifteen songs playlist.

Time for some good old fashioned blues rock with Lynyrd Skynyrd and their songs about substance abuse. 

Hey look, it's goth's favorite troll, delivering an industrial stomper about witches. What is not to like about Mortiis? The ex-Emperor member has been creating illustrious sounds over the years, from dark ambient to industrial metal. This is probably one of his best known tracks.

Well, ok. I just wanted something non-metal but this is just too fucked up for words. Oh well, it got the word "smell" and it might be defined as music I guess. Anyway, Riskay released this in 2009 which probably makes this better than any hip hop track today, right?

Nah, then I'd prefer this dubby track from "mysteronics" act Enigma. Released in 2004, this track seems to build further one the well known sounds of "Mea Culpa" and "Sadness".

For most men, there will probably no better smell than the scent of a woman. Jim Morrison knew that and wrote this uplifting tune about one of the most pleasurable odors ever. 

Then I looked up the word "Aroma" and found this warm, sunlit tune by reggae kings Tribal Seeds. If you ever need some beautiful "island music", give these guys a go. 

It took us a while to find an electronic dance tune that had anything to do with smell. Eventually we found this punding tune by Marco Bailey. To be honest, "sniff" can also have something to do with cocaine but I have no idea. I just found this gem and gave up looking in that scene.

And our city-mates from Katastroof once again finish off a fifteen songs list. The entire world stinks, but people with Anosmia will never be affected by that, unless they suddenly die in a gas explosion or eat rotten meat. Oh well, smell you later...

We kick off with a track from from that 'No Comment' EP by genre pioneers Front 242. Their main influences were Throbbing Gristle and Kraftwerk, hence the heavy electronic sound. In 1984 'No Comment' was released. Since then, dark dancefloors all over the world embraced the pounding industrial sound of Front 242. International EBM Day is a tribute to this band, inspired by the 242 is their name. The front part of the name comes from the idea of an organized popular uprising; the number "242" was chosen because it's "just sort of a design work", like Therapy?'s question mark. 

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, Kraftwerk coined the term when they released 'The Man Machine'. This album, with megahits like 'Die Roboter' and 'Das Model' (or their English counterparts) is a classic and an absolute must-have in every EBM fan's collection. Although Kraftwerk invented the term, the genre quickly evolved into something harsh and intense, far away from the calm sound of these Germans. Yet, we have to respect the classics...

DAF, or Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, is a German electropunk/Neue Deutsche Welle band from Düsseldorf. They formed in 1978 and became one of the main influences for later synthpop duos like Pet Shop Boys and Soft Cell. DAF's sound was meant to be as non-American as possible, far away from rock 'n roll which was popular in those days. They used the word 'Körpermusik" to describe their style.

Another easily recognizable sound comes from Die Krupps, who started out as an EBM act before adopting distorted guitars and joining the harsh word of industrial metal. Their name comes from the Krupp dynasty, one of Germany's main industrial families before and during World War II. Along with Einsturzende Neubauten, Die Krupps inspired heaps of acts that would eventually create this vast EBM scene. 

Quickly EBM began spreading over the rest of the world. In 1982, somewhere in Essex, England, Nitzer Ebb was born. Influenced by that early EBM sound, they released a heap of singles which seem to spark other genres. This one, 'Join In The Chant' ​became part of the Balearic scene that influenced the UK acid house scene. In recent years vocalist Douglas John McCarthy has released material in collaboration with DJ Terence Fixmer as Fixmer/McCarthy.

Of course, EBM also reached other continents. In Canada, also in 1982, Skinny Puppy formed, a band that immediately set the tone for a whole new range of EBM inspired music. With their theatrical, horror themed live shows and their energetic live performances, Skinny Puppy inspired everything from Ministry to Nine Inch Nails to Marilyn Manson to Linkin Park. Suddenly, EBM rocked again.

In 1986, Belgian duo A Split Second arrived on the scene. Their music was heavily influenced by Front 242 and colleagues but a typical Belgian mistake suddenly catapulted A Split Second into superstardom. DJ Marc Grouls played the single on 33 rpm instead of the usual 45 rpm, perhaps inspired by DJ Freddy Cousaer who years earlier had played soul and ska singles on 33 rpm, thus inventing the popcorn style. Grouls and legendary DJ Fat Ronnie invented the new beat style, which in its turn lead to countless of variations of electronic dance music.

Formed by Skinny Puppy's Bill Leeb Canadian act Front Line Assembly came to live in 1986. They quickly established themselves as one of the headliners in the scene. Their influences are as varied as the sea is deep, which sparked plenty of side projects too. Some of them include Conjure One (ambient), Decree (noise ambient) and Delirium (dance, techno, known best from their smash hit 'Silence').

German act Liaisons Dangereuses was founded by Beate Bartel and Chrislo Haas together with vocalist Krishna Goineau in 1981. They actually released only one album but that one has been immensely influential in the electronic dance music scene. According to many of the early Chicago and Detroit techno DJs, this single has been the number one reference to their entire scene.

Together with Front 242, Belgian innovators Neon Judgement have been seen as the inventors of EBM. Formed in Leuven in 1981, this duo has been incredibly popular with new wavers and goths all over the globe. They had numerous hit singles, including this classic 'TV Treated'.

Somewhere in the early to mid-eighties, Marc Verhaeghen formed The Klinik, inspired by the many EBM acts. Soon after, he started cooperating with Dirk Ivens and Eric Van Wonterghem (Absolute Body Control, Dive, Sonar, Insekt, Monolith) and Sandy Nys (The Maniacs). With EBM as their foundation, Verhaeghen and Ivens soon started expanding their sound, evolving into the dark industrial act which in its turn kickstarted a whole new underground scene. 

EBM quickly sparked spin-offs, like dark industrial, hellectro or aggrotech. In 1986, Johan Van Roy recorded a first cassette under the moniker Suicide Commando. With his heavy, pummeling EBM style, he in his turn influenced a whole generation of aggrotech acts. Suicide Commando is still going strong today, regularly being one of the headliners at so-called gothic festivals.

In the nineties EBM started to influence acts in every corner of the world. In 1993 Erk Aicrag (Erik Garcia - Vocals) and Racso Agroyam (Oscar Mayorga - programming) formed Hocico. The cousins had been experimenting with electronic music since they were fifteen years old but with Hocico their preferences towards heavy EBM and industrial became clear. 

American aggrotech band Combichrist formed in 2003 but as a relatively young band EBM and industrial fans immediately embraced them. The band was formed by Norwegian Andy LaPlegua, who also founded the bands Icon of Coil, Panzer AG, Scandinavian Cock and Scandy. Perhaps most remarkable, Combichrist is one of the first electronic acts that managed to play on metal festivals like Wacken Open Air. 

Whaaat? LA Style? Well, yeah. In the nineties, new beat literally became the precursor for hardcore techno. Since new beat is a direct derivative of EBM, hardcore, darkcore, gabbercore and breakcore have become its descendants. What started with Front 242, Neon Judgement and Kraftwerk gradually exploded into a massive range of dance music. The Prodigy claim to have been influenced by EBM. Human Resource have been influenced by EBM. Die Antwoord have been influenced by EBM. There is absolutely no denying that Electronic Body Music is directly responsible for many of your favorite dance songs...

But of course, this is just a short list and there is many more EBM related goodness  to enjoy. Now it's time for you to abuse our comment section and tell us your favorite EBM related tunes. 

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but here in Belgium Tournée Minérale kicked off yesterday. Tournée Minérale is one of those awareness-months initiatives, such as 30 Days Without Meat, Music For Life and many more. It's organised by the foundation against cancer and challenges people to not drink alcohol for a whole month.

Many people join in on the fun so I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to abuse the system and promote ourselves with another selection of applicable tunes. After all, that is what we do best. So go grab a glass of water, snort some cocaine or eat a handful of mushrooms, as long as you do not drink alcohol this month. Or better, get yourself a nice cup of coffee and chew some celery. 

I'm kidding, do whatever you want but always ensure safety for you and those around you. I just wanted to make a list with Tool's 'Sober' in it, that's all. 

There we go. Admit it, this is a brilliant piece of music by a tremendously talented band. This was the first song that came to mind when I heard about Tournée Minérale. The stop-motion animation still gives me the chills. 

Originally recorded in 1999 and re-recorded to close his latest album 'Alcohology', 'Erosion' handles "The thoughtful statements of the gain and dangers of the consumption of alcohol (),  the impact fluids have, not only on the human body but also on Mother Earth itself." 

Today, he's probably best known for his long-living stint as Clement Peerens Explosition but Hugo Matthysen has been playing sweet and funny rock tunes since the late seventies. On 'Alcohol' he gives a few examples about people's behaviour while drunk.

If there is any good reason not to get too drunk, it's this one. I mean, imagine: somehow after a wild party you end up in bed with a beautiful young blonde, willing to satisfy your every need. You get naked and you look down. There you see that your little friend is not cooperating. Your willie is already passed out cold. Not a fun evening if you ask me.

This song appeared on Lamb Of God's album 'As The Palaces Burn'. It is about the struggle of vocalist Randy Blythe with alcohol addiction. ​"Sweetly she draws me into her arms, a liquid embrace to chase the day away. Sedate numb deaf and dumb, stumbling into solitude".

During Underworld gigs, many fans would raise their beer while Karl Hyde sang the words 'Lager Lager Lager Lager'. Actually, this horrified him because this song is a cry for help. He wrote it after a night of heavy drinking in a Soho club during his battle with alcoholism.

Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy wrote his "Twelve-step Suite", a set of songs which represent the Twelve Step program used by Alcoholics Anonymous. The songs were spread across five albums and dedicated to Bill Wilson, the founder of AA.

One day while recording 'Born Again', then Black Sabbath vocalist Ian Gillan got wasted and decided to race a few laps on a nearby race track. Their management had bought them these cars to have a little fun in between recording sessions but Gillan's took the wrong one (Bill Ward's) and eventually flipped it over, totally thrashing the vehicle. 

Many people might see Blink 182 as a fun punk rock band but they do have some messages to spread. This song for example is about finally giving up on a friend with a severe alcohol problem. 

Metal has always been associated with alcohol abuse with many songs about the substance. This one by proto-doomers Saint Vitus describes the vicious cycle of heavy drinking, feeling horrible and getting drunk to ease the pain.

I wonder if that friend Blink 182 was talking about also strongly denied his alcohol addiction. Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in 2011. 'Rehab' is possible her greatest hit, dealing with denial. Apparently, she went into rehab for 15 minutes just to be able to tell her label that she went to rehab. Perhaps Amy Winehouse is today's perfect example about how not to deal with addiction.

Blues legend Muddy Waters was no stranger to the bottle. Then again, blues is usually rather whiskey soaked. "Whiskey you ain't no good I declare I'm thru with you. Whiskey you ain't no good I declare I'm thru with you. You have taken all my money. You have taken my baby too".

Dave Gahan has been battling alcoholism for years. This song deals with the idea one of "just one glass" before everything goes wrong again. 

In this skit from 1977, Waits imitates a drunkard, spouting nonsense phrases. ​The song was performed on the short-lived US television show, Fernwood 2 Night in 1977.

And we finish this list with a Nederhop tune by legendary rappers Osdorp Posse. This song handles the ups and down of alcohol consumption and addiction.

There you go, fifteen songs that should help you through this Tournée Minérale month. On March first, we might publish a list of drinking songs to help you celebrate a month of not-drinking but maybe by then I'd find that a little hypocritical. Anyway, whatever you do, take good care of yourself and remember to enjoy in moderation...


​Serge

Let's begin with the original. Ralph, Dag & Sebastien bring their version of the immensely popular 'Driekoningen' song.

In 2013 Mediaeval Baebes released an album of Christmas songs adaptations. This video was filmed with an octocopter with Roger Warman being the pilot. I don't know why I mention this. Just enjoy.

Power metal legends Kamelot also seem to know that song and obviously they turned it into an over-the-top power metal tune. No pilot was used in the making of this video.

And look who also made a version, nobody else than the heavy metal god himself, Rob Halford. That face singing that song seems like a weird combination but somehow he pulled if off.

Here are some people who know how to work with autotune and make typical modern day stuff with it. I don't care, let's talk about pilots a little more...

Or better, let's throw some ferocious death/black metal into the mix. I don't know the band but they made a song called 'Three Kings'. Tsss, the things people do to end up on Merchants Of Air.

Obviously, there are probably a bunch of 'Three Kings' tunes in the hip hop scene as well. We found a pretty neat one by someone named Ratatat. Isn't that a Pokémon?

But let's go way back to the seventies where we find this bass heavy dub version by Clive Hunt, Joe Aksumite & Mikey Lang. Their version was released in 1977.

Ok, we're tired of that song now so before we finish this list, let's hear one more version, simply because Ella Fitzgerald is a queen.

And of course, we all know that there is only one King Of Kings. Some people might know this one from being one of the entrance songs for WWE Superstar Triple H. Lemmy, we miss you!!!