New Format

At the outset of this project, I insisted on manually transcribing every interview I posted: this was the way it was done on the fan sites of old, and in the interest of maintaining a thematic appearance - all black background, all white text - this was how I was going to it.  I made a big stink about maintaining spacing and punctuation and grammatical errors and all that noise.  However, as I thought about the reasons behind such anal retention - accuracy, preservation, etc. - it dawned on me that it doesn't get any more accurate than a copy of the source itself. 

From now on, all interview .pdfs will include scans from the 'zines where formerly there were just text transcriptions.  However, I'm still going to make them black with white text, because that's how I want to read things and that's how I think black metal-oriented things should look.  Other than that, they'll all be exactly as they originally appeared in their respective 'zines of publication.  You'll also notice a sort of introductory cover page with band logo, publication information, and any relevant notes from me: this, as I see it, is at once a necessity and also part of the bigger picture of where I want this project to go, which will be revealed in time.

I should note that interviews with no scanned source on my end, like the Emperor (Mortiis) interview from Transylvanian Damnation or the Darkthrone (Fenriz) interview from Daemonium Aeturnus that's coming up real soon, won't be changed.  This is because they are copied from old, long-dead fan sites, and I have yet to come across them in any other format, neither physically nor electronically.  Therefore, they're going to remain exactly as they are and you'll just have to take my word that their content is as close to the original source - which will always be cited - as I can make it.

While I convert all of the old interviews that are already posted to the new format, those of you who frequent this place - I know you're out there, because I consistently rack up pageviews - may find that a link to a file temporarily doesn't work.  Don't worry: it's only because I'm in the middle of removing the old one and replacing it with the new.


Æon

Kolgrim (Unpure) - Tales of the Macabre # 1 - 1993

 
Unpure are (Encyclopedia Metallum says they're still active) an early(ish) group from Sweden whose earlier efforts have been largely overlooked, no doubt due to their relatively late arrival on the scene.  (The fact that the most enduringly influential second-wave black metal bands all "officially" debuted by 1994 at the very latest cannot be denied, regardless of how good those that followed may have been).  They released a trio of demos during 1993 and 1994 before finally signing with the now-famed Austrian label Napalm for a pair of full-lengths in 1995 (Unpure) and 1996 (Coldland), consisting solely of core duo Kolgrim (bass, vocals) and Hräsvelg (guitars, drums, vocals) for all of the previous save the first demo and second LP.  In 2001, likely coinciding with the revival of interest in Swedish black metal thanks to new groups like Watain and Funeral Mist, the band released an album - Trinity in Black - through the then-cult French Drakkar label famous for its insanely limited Black Legions material.  A final full-length followed in 2004 via the Polish Agonia label, World Collapse, after which, as far as I can tell, the band fell off the face of the planet.

This piece, from the ever-reliable Tales of the Macabre # 1 from Germany, 1993, is almost more of a write-up interspersed with a brief interview with Kolgrim, but I've transcribed it despite the brevity of the interview proper for both posterity and because I think Unpure's early releases have never gotten the accolades they deserve.

Kolgrim - Tales of the Macabre # 1 - 1993

The record is great.

Unpure - Unpure - 1995

Ultra-primitive, almost pre-Norwegian second wave in its sensibilities, Unpure alternates between blasting, interweaving streams of sinister tremolo melody and trudging, morphing, ever-evolving power-chord dirges with subtle, sparing use of harmonic accents to particular effect.  It brings to my mind Samael's debut with respect to the latter, the speed/death/black metal of groups like countrymen Merciless or Rotting Christ for the former.

More to come here...


Æon

AC Wild (Bulldozer) - FETU # 7 - 1989

When my laptop bit the dust back in March or April or whenever the Hell of last year, I was working on a transcription of a piece on Italian kinda-black metallers Bulldozer from issue # 7 of the famed, primarily thrash- and hardcore-oriented Japanese 'zine FETU (Fatal Execrable Transmaniacon Undertakers - I'm pretty sure they were Napalm Death fans), published in 1989.  It's easily the most nonsensical transcription I've ever done: I genuinely have no idea what AC Wild is talking about half the time.  Granted, the interviewer had his work cut out for him given that he was trying to translate responses into English via Japanese from a fellow who thinks in Italian; the results are often hilarious.  Still, it's nonetheless an enlightening read, particularly the details Wild divulges regarding his friend's suicide.  Also, the very last line reads, in reference to the momentousness of a live Bulldozer performance in Japan, "Who needs Exodus or Testament?"  Well said, well said.

AC Wild (Bulldozer) - FETU # 7 - 1989

In reading the interview, you'll no doubt notice that the album being promoted is 1989's Neurodeliri.  However, by my reckoning, the essential Bulldozer release is without contention the debut, 1985's The Day of Wrath, and it's for that album that I'm including them on Blackened Relics.  It's a motherfucker of a record, throwing the first Bathory LP, Show No Mercy and the first couple Venom albums into a blender, dousing the mess with liquor, and then incinerating the whole unholy cocktail.  I simply cannot recommend it enough; talk about raw.  To my ears, it's just as seminal in the lineage of black metal as the prior Bathory and Sodom's In the Sign of Evil.

Bulldozer - The Day of Wrath - 1985

 

 I'd also like to take this moment to assure you all that this album cover is one of the only times that pink will ever appear in this project.

Æon

The (Emperor's) Return...

A new laptop means - at last - access to all of my materials, which furthermore means giant updates.

I'm seriously itching to work on this; be on the lookout for more albums/demos added to the older sections, not to mention photos where available.  Also, I'll be posting brand new, classic transcriptions along with - you guessed it - accompanying photos and "files".

As a teaser, I'll say this: I'm pretty sure that I was in the middle of working on an old, out-of-the-way piece on Bulldozer when the laptop went to Hell (Heaven?).  Beyond that, in the last year I've been listening to a lot of old, crusty stuff like Mutilated (France), Protector (Germany), Merciless (Sweden), Poison (Germany), and Imperator (Poland); maybe not all strictly black metal, but I think they all deserve mentions because A) they were all hugely influential on many of our favorites, and; B) they're all seriously fucking awesome.  I plan to give them all the full treatment - if you know what I mean - as well as devote plenty of space to the canonical classics.

It's good to be back.

Æon