Fenriz (Darkthrone) - Daemonium Aeturnus 'Zine # 1 - 1991

Soulside Journey-era group shot, probably ca. 1989-1990.  From L to R: Ivar Enger (Zephyrous), Ted Skjellum (Nocturno Culto), Hank Amarillo/Gylve Nagell (Fenriz), Dag Nilsen.

As I've been listening a lot to the Norwegian canon of late, following my presentation of the notorious Euronymous/Dead dual interview in Slayer # 8, I went and tracked down this short piece with Fenriz conducted right before the release of A Blaze in the Northern Sky, wherein he touches on the band's recent (and dramatic) transition from technical-leaning death metal to gnarled, grizzly black metal, resulting in what was, by some estimations, the first fully-fledged second-wave and/or Norwegian black metal record (I disagree, and point to Mayhem's 1987 EP Deathcrush, pretending that Pure Fucking Armageddon is ineligible given its demo status).

Fenriz (Darkthrone) - Daemonium Aeturnus 'Zine # 1 - 1991

Some notes about this: my presentation of it is in the old format, being that it's copied directly from web text and/or manually transcribed by me (the case in this instance is the former).  Please bear in mind that I've never actually seen this interview in print.  In fact, I've never even seen this issue of Daemonium Aeturnus (misspelled in the text as Dremonium Aeturnus) in print, physically, scanned, or otherwise.  I've never seen it referenced anywhere other than in the context of this Fenriz interview, which has been reproduced on a number of Darkthrone fan sites through the years.  Furthermore, I've never seen or even heard of other interviews from other bands with this issue.  Full disclosure.  However, it stands to reason that it did exist, as I have the second issue.

The text of this interview, in this case, was retrieved from http://come.to/northern_evilness/interviews/91.html, which was a great Darkthrone fansite from way back when.

The photos that I've included throughout, meanwhile, are especially fascinating, as you can see snapshots of the group's transition from death metal to black metal.  The band's adoption of corpse paint, meanwhile, may very well have begun with Fenriz, as many of the group shots below will attest.

Zephyrous, A Blaze in the Northern Sky sessions, ca. 1991

Nocturno Culto, A Blaze in the Northern Sky sessions, ca. 1991

Fenriz, ca. 1990-1991

Zephyrous, probably from the A Blaze in the Northern Sky sessions, ca. 1991

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Fenriz, ca, 1990-1991

Nocturno Culto, probably from the A Blaze in the Northern Sky sesions, ca. 1991

From L to R: Nocturno Culto, Fenriz, ca, 1990-1991

Nocturno Culto, probably from the A Blaze in the Northern Sky sessions, ca. 1991

Group shot, from L to R: Dag Nilsen, Fenriz, Zephyrous, Nocturno Culto, ca. A Blaze in the Northern Sky recordings or 1990-1991

Group shot, from L to R: Nocturno Culto, Dag Nilsen, Zephyrous, Fenriz, ca. 1990-1991

Group shot, from L to R: Dag Nilsen, Nocturno Culto, Fenriz, Zephyrous, ca. 1990-1991

Zephyrous, probably from the A Blaze in the Northern Sky sessions, ca. 1991

Æon

Euronymous and Dead (Mayhem) - Slayer 'Zine # 8 - 1991

Dead (L) and Euronymous (R), 1990 or 1991, in the Kråkstad house

The interview featured here with both Mayhem's Euronymous and Dead from Metalion's Slayer 'Zine is one of the most cited and infamous interviews of black metal's entire history.  You've likely read portions of it already, as it's been directly quoted if not outright reprinted in every tome treating the genre, not to mention in more articles on the band and black metal in general than I'm even aware of.  It is absolutely mandatory reading.

Euronymous and Dead - Slayer 'Zine # 8 - 1991

The mythology of Mayhem has, at this point, entered into canonical legend, and I won't recount it here.  Perhaps at some point I'll do a full write-up of black metal's history, but that is a different (and massive) undertaking altogether.  It is, at the very least, worth pointing out that by 1991, Dead was, erm, dead, and Euronymous followed suit in 1993.  Mayhem, while having been around longer than nearly everybody else as far as "second-wave" black metal is concerned, produced surprisingly little material from 1987 to 1994 (the primary years of concern for this blog).  "Freezing Moon" and "Carnage," a pair of tracks recorded in 1990 for the Projections of a Stained Mind compilation on the Swedish Chicken Brain Records, were the only Mayhem studio recordings to feature the "classic" lineup of Euronymous (guitars), Dead (vocals), Necrobutcher (bass), and Hellhammer (drums).  While featured on the aforementioned compilation, they were also released as a standalone demo by the band, and in 1995 as a vinyl only EP.  They are utterly essential listening, and represent a glimpse at how De Mysteriis Dom. Sathanas may have sounded had they recorded it prior to Dead's suicide.

Mayhem - Studio Tracks with Dead, 1990

It seems that, in some circles, revisionism abounds with respect to Mayhem and their influence, not to mention the quality of their music, but the facts remain that they were utterly seminal with respect to the Norwegian scene and black metal's entire second wave, and furthermore that their music was utterly ground-breaking and remains both draw-dropping and among the absolute best the genre has offered and will ever offer to this day.

Respect.

The classic lineup, probably ca. 1990 or early 1991.  From L to R: Hellhammer, Dead, Euronymous, Necrobutcher.

Dead, probably ca. 1990

Euronymous, probably ca. 1990

Euronymous, probably ca. 1990

Dead, probably ca. 1990

From L to R: Euronymous, Necrobutcher, Dead, probably ca. 1988 - 1990, potentially in the Kråkstad house

Æon

Up from the Tombs... (a Statement of Intent)

I'm back.

Again, a solid year has elapsed since last I was active.  Again, Blackened Relics will never die.

Metal, and above all black metal, was the first thing I ever truly believed in.  No religion ever really stuck, no philosophical system ever spoke to me.  Black metal did both and still does, some twenty years after first discovering it.  The first records I heard from the genre (all bona fide classics, to be sure) were like (un?)holy, spiritual tomes, the musicians the very Gods themselves.  Black metal possesses a mysticism unlike any other artistic medium/movement/concept I've ever experienced.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not absolutely delusional.  I'm well aware that the fellas who wrote and recorded my favorite albums are not deities.  Regardless of what they might at one point have had you to believe, they're people, just like you, and just like me, regular dudes with leather jackets like mine and guitars like mine and a fistful of treasured albums like mine who were in the right place at the right time.  My reverence for this music is not rooted in the personalities of those who played it.

No, my reverence for black metal, above all for the early-mid '90s stuff, above all for the Norwegian stuff, stems from what I see as its uniqueness in the annals of heavy metal and music in general.  It tapped into that primordial center, the core of what makes heavy metal heavy metal.  It ruthlessly yanked out the pure, elemental essence of everything that heavy metal was imagined/intended to make a person feel/think/experience and presented it, distilled, as a veritable, bottled elixir that mere mortals like me could taste, and subsequently could we commune with the divine.

To clarify, I do not pretend to be someone or something I'm not.  I was not around in the late '80s/early '90s when the Scandinavian thing really started to blow up; I was much too young and in the wrong country.  I have never been anything remotely resembling a "mover and shaker" in any black metal scene anywhere ever, nor have I ever associated with those who are.  Who I am, though, is someone who has listened to this music for just shy of two decades, and who has embraced it and watched it change into something else entirely than what it was when I first got wind of it, which no doubt was something else entirely than when it's makers made it.  I am someone who feels this music to his very bones, has come to something of an understanding of its true spirit, and who believes in preserving it.  Am I within my rights by claiming to be privy to some sort of guardianship necessary to perpetuate what I believe black metal was always about?  I don't really care.  I feel its spirit powerfully enough that I believe my work with Blackened Relics is true to the same.

I believe that truly dedicated archivists (yeah, I know, it sounds real fuckin' pretentious, but that's what I am) of heavy metal and any/all of its derivatives are a swiftly dying breed.  Tape-trading is all but extinct.  The 'zine is a sliver of a shadow of its glory days.  Even Internet fan sites have largely died out.  Meanwhile, physical music releases, I believe, will soon no longer be produced in any capacity.  Casual listening/exploration is the norm.  Blackened Relics is intended to preserve not only the spirit of black metal itself, but also the practice of dedication to it.  Blogspots themselves are fewer and further between every day, but this will remain.

Immerse yourself.  Dedicate and isolate.

AEon