So Nåstrond and Ancient Rites are pretty cool, and I'll listen to either one of them any day; Germany's Ungod, on the other hand, are downright godly. *Ahem*. Excuse me.
But seriously: Ungod were among the first genuinely "second-wave" (I'm starting to feel like all of these "-wave" terms are silly. I get it, I really do, but...) black metal bands to crop up in Germany along with Martyrium - who would later become Secrets of the Moon - and Dawnfall. Their 1993 debut, Circle of the Seven Infernal Pacts, while not quite as mind-blowing as your Mayhems and Darkthrones, deserves at least to be mentioned alongisde more secondary Scandinavian classics as Dark Medieval Times and Those of the Unlight. Bassist Schiekron was interviewed by Germany's Tales of the Macabre #1, 1993, and his responses were, for the most part, exceptionally lucid and straight-forward.
Schiekron (Ungod) - Tales of the Macabre # 1 - 1993
To be quite frank, and surely much to bassist Schiekron's chagrin, their debut fits in very nicely with what the Norwegians and Swedes were doing around that time: it's at once incredibly raw (no keyboards whatsoever) in the style of yep-you-guessed-it-Bathory-and-Hellhammer and insanely minimalistic in places like Transilvanian Hunger, interestingly enough a whole year before the latter was released. Melodically, the album is exceedingly simple, yet in possession of a quality that exudes in places genuine diabolism, in others overwhelming sorrow. I even hear pre-Nightside Emperor's most trudging inclinations - sans the keys - during some moments, and that in itself is a feat to behold. Bottom line: this release is fucking awesome. You can thank me later.
Ungod - Circle of the Seven Infernal Pacts - 1993
Æon
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