Mayhem - Live In Leipzig [1993]

Fortunately, notoriety isn't all that's needed to gain recognition within black metal circles. Sure, Mayhem have it in spades, due to the whole Euronymous business, and the suicide of Dead, after which band members allegedly took pieces of his skull and made them into necklaces, but it is difficult to deny that their music is some of the finest black metal art to ever grace this planet. This is the final official release done with Dead, and it is also one of the most effective live albums that this humble author has heard. It really puts across the atmosphere for those of us who, for whatever reason, never got the chance to see Mayhem in their prime, and, in addition, draws a delightful contrast between the more primitive material off Deathcrush and Pure Fucking Armageddon and the more refined, genre-defining De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Although I personally find Attila to be a more interesting vocalist (heresy, I know), this is also a vital opportunity to hear the legendary Per Ohlin.

v1 VBR (can re-upload in 320 if needs be)

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Re-upload: Ulver - Bergtatt: Et Eeventyr 5 Capitler [1994]

Ulver were always overlooked in terms of Norwegian black metal's second wave, but this album, which implemented folk element to a much greater extent than 'Nattens Madrigal...' illustrates why that shouldn't be the case.

Re-upload notes: No particular reason for re-upping this one other than the fact that it's the oldest one that I haven't received a DMCA notification for.

270kbps VBR

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Re-upload: Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss [1993]

To me, this is not quite Vikernes' best album under the Burzum moniker (that honour goes to the stupendous 'Filosofem'), but it certainly follows that. This was the first album on which Burzum began to take a more dreamy, almost ambient approach (although don't worry, this still sounds nothing like 'Dauði Baldrs').

Re-upload notes: Upon revision, I think I do prefer this to Filosofem, largely due to the fact that the ambient track on this one ('Tomhet') is interesting and not 26 fucking minutes long.

192 kbps (if anyone wants, I can re-rip this one at a higher bitrate)

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The Cumshots - A Life Less Necessary [2009]

Download this now for your own sake! This is music at its best. Rock combined with metal with gallons of emotion poured in. Catchy, interesting, complex, amazing. I can't stress how amazing this album is. Hailing from Norway you'd think with their comic name The Cumshots' music would be the same but this is not the case, it is full of profound music. If you like any rock or metal you have to listen to this, no excuse.

220+ kbps VBR

Re-upload notes: Uploaded due to request but I really do encourage everyone to download, and then buy, this brilliant rock album.


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Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky [1992]

I can't quite believe I haven't posted this one yet. Certainly Darkthrone's best in my (omniscient) opinion, and therefore among the top 5 black metal albums of all time. Although Fenriz has since stated that this album was essentially 'death metal riffs played in a black metal style' in order to meet deadlines for Peaceville, the essence of this album is black metal through and through. Each of the six tracks herein is an acknowledged Darkthrone classic - from the famous opener 'Kathaarian Life Code' via my personal favourite 'In The Shadow Of The Horns' to frosty closer 'The Pagan Winter', every single one hits hard. This is essential for anyone who claims to like metal music.

128 kbps

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Enslaved - Vertebrae [2008]

...And so skipping forward 11 years to the Enslaved album that I have spent the most time with, this is also their album with the fewest metal elements in it. Don't get me wrong, it's still clearly a metal album, especially with tracks like 'New Dawn', but its progression is stunning.

~220 kbps VBR

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Receptionist - This Is Everything [2012]

This year has been great for all sorts of -core so far (well, the good ones), and this is another fine example of why. Receptionist play a decidedly progressive take on hardcore, that falls just short of something 'mathy'. Complex yet catchy, this band from Oslo combine all the requisite elements of a solid modern hardcore album with aplomb, and it's a wonder that it was released on Bandcamp rather than a well-respected label. I usually hate to call bands the next iteration of a classic band usually as my predictions end up wrong, but if Receptionist continue along this path they could quite easily be the next Converge (or Rorschach, for those of you who might call me out for naming Converge as seminal) (they are though).

320 kbps

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Gorgoroth - Antichrist [1996]

N.B. The files are incorrectly tagged as it being a 1995 album.

Gorgoroth's Antichrist is, for me, one of the criminally underappreciated gems of the second wave of Norwegian black metal. This may seem really fucking stupid - after all, Gorgoroth were one of the better known bands of the scene, but it seems unjust to me that distinctly mediocre bands like Immortal and Satyricon gained fame above and beyond that of their more talented counterparts in Gorgoroth. Sure, the whole band name scandal of late may have put a few off anything to do with the band, but this album is so essential that one should simply not pass it up. It's my favourite Gorgoroth album, and certainly one of my favourite black metal albums.

256 kbps

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REPOST: Slayer Magazine #7 [1989]

Only recently have I personally discovered the joy of old cult metal fanzines, but I'd like to share that with you now. Slayer is the Norwegian fanzine of Metalion (written in English - albeit somewhat stiltedly so), and it's charming, both in its interviews and the way it puts itself across. The set is soon to be released in a book called Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries.

PDF format

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Elephant9 - Walk The Nile [2010]

I've got something a little different for you today. Elephant9 is a band that I only discovered recently, and one with a small discography; indeed, they only have two albums to my knowledge. However, after hearing this, I shall be looking forward to any future releases. What these Norwegians have produced is a delightfully jazzy take on prog rock - now, I know I'm not usually the one who posts prog around here, and in fact, have been known to utter the words 'prog fag shit', but this instrumental band deviates so much from the ironically tired cornerstones which formulate recent prog that even someone as grumpy and curmudgeonly as I cannot deny its quality. Whatever your usual taste is, I recommend this as objectively good music.

320 kbps

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Darkthrone - All demos [1988-1990]

The image here is simply the Darkthrone logo because I cannot find decent quality scans of artwork for what this contains: all of Darkthrone's pre-'Soulside Journey' demos - that is, the 'Land Of Frost', 'A New Dimension', 'Thulcandra' and 'Cromlech' demos. They themselves are great pieces of death metal, and most of the first album is to be found here, although some tracks are under different names (for instance, 'Cromlech' is here called 'Iconoclasm Sweeps Cappadocia'). This is a gem that you shouldn't miss out on.

Repost notes: I'm not too sure that this is as good as I originally thought it was. Cromlech is brilliant, but the rest is at times a little too amateurish.

All 320 kbps

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Isengard - Høstmørke [1995]

Perhaps Fenriz' almost nihilistic hatred for the folk metal scene of nowadays is fuelled by how ridiculous he looks on the cover for this, his attempt at the style, which is a forgotten classic? This combines elements of black metal practised in his Darkthrone endeavours with carefully controlled folk/pagan sensibilities - in other words, it adds hooks and atmosphere, but stops short of being cheesy. Just like everything else the man releases, this is well worthwhile.

320 kbps

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Burzum - Filosofem [1996]

Vikernes' final recording before his incarceration, and debatably his final classic, Filosofem finally brought the ambient influences to the front - unfortunately, this means a bloody 25 minute borefest of poorly done ambience within an otherwise excellent album. The album is nonetheless a personal favourite of mine.

320 kbps

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Burzum - Det Som Engang Var [1993]

On this, Burzum's sophomore release, Varg began to experiment a little more with other influences - one can hear strains of Bathory and Celtic Frost quite well in this. The cover's taken from Dungeons & Dragons, but we can't penalise the album too much for that, surely?

128 kbps

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Burzum - Burzum [1992]

You've probably guessed by now, but I fucking love Burzum. Although this is somewhat more conventional for the time than his later material, it's wonderfully crafted, and often very melodic black metal. The album is worth it just for stand out track 'Ea, Lord Of The Depths'.

192 kbps

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1349 - Hellfire [2005]

Although 1349 are far from being my favourite band, this is as good an example of hyperblasting black metal as you're likely to hear. Opener 'I Am Abomination' is also a semi-famous festival song. The term 'norsecore' is bandied about, but it's one I refuse to use.

~220 kbps VBR

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Enslaved - The Sleeping Gods EP [2011]

This EP, which is available for free download direct from the band, is something of a surprise. Sure, it has Enslaved written all over it (they even steal their own riff from 'Kvasir Blod' in the opener), but one could call it more experimental than openly progressive, especially with electronic, droney tracks like 'Synthesis'.

320 kbps

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Enslaved - Ruun [2006]

So, with the three albums of theirs I've already posted, you can probably gather that I'm something of an Enslaved fan. This is the first album of theirs where progressive elements began to outweigh black metal elements, although BM is still very much present. It's a little harder to get into than much of their other output, but it is therefore more rewarding.

~250 kbps VBR

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Ulver - Wars Of The Roses [2011]

This is the first album I have ever posted without hearing first, so the genre tags will be based on reviews, but Ulver have not yet released an album which is any less than excellent. Catch them at Damnation Festival in Leeds.

320 kbps

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EDIT: I've been listening to this over the past few days, and it is excellent. Well worth downloading.

Ulver - Perdition City [2000]

Despite beginning their career in the realms of black metal (raw black metal, at that), this has no metal in it whatsoever. A crazy mixture of jazz, electronic and generally experimental music, this is not for most metal fans, but may be good for many others.

160 kbps

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