USBM (United States Black Metal)

[daniel]

Anybody else really into what's happening with this lately? I'm sure many of us have been into Wolves In The Throne Room and Liturgy for awhile now, and the Deathwish fanboys like myself were probably tickled by Deafheaven's Roads To Judah when it surfaced, but is anyone else starting to really pry into this sub genre to see what all it has to offer?

 

If so, I could use some recommendations. Artists I'm really into lately include all three of the aforementioned groups, Mutilation Rites, Bosse-De-Nage, and Krallice. The drone stuff like Ash Borer doesn't do a lot for me, nor do the corpsepaint and/or satanic/pagan themes that accompany most European groups. Hopefully the stir that Deafheaven caused with Sunbather will bring out more great black metal influenced projects with relatable themes.

[sonsofvipers]

Don't listen to too much black metal in general, but I do really enjoy Wolves in the Throne Room and Deafheaven.

[codeine]

I'm into some black metal, but not exclusively USBM. Krallice are tops, WITTR are good and Liturgy's Aesthethica is dope. Too bad their drummer, Greg Fox, quit. I don't think they'll ever be as good as they were on that record without him. I think deafheaven are overrated (more hype than anything, love the artwork for Sunbather though) but, yeah, Sunbather is def a step up for them, due to having a more skilled drummer on that record.

I have two recommendations for you, but neither are USBM, or lame-ass corpse-paint bands. IMHO the best black metal album and band ever are: the self-titled album from The Netherlands' Dodecahedron, check that out it's a game-changer.
Celeste from France are also worth checking out and you can listen to their stuff and download their entire discography for free here: http://denovali.com/celeste/ so you really have nothing to lose.

[radiatorhums]

Woods of Desolation and Alcest would be good bands to check out if you liked Sunbather.  Alcest's main member does the spoken word piece on Please Remember on Sunbather.  Other bands off the top of my head would be Vattnet Viskar, Nachtmystium, Inter Arma and maybe Xasthur.  Pyramids, Horseback and their collaboration album might be worth checking out too.  They fall a little closer to noise/experimental/drone with elements of black metal though.  Mount Eerie has a lot of black metal elements too, but I'm not sure if that's the first genre I'd classify them under.

[weinerdog]

Not so much for black metal, but I do like this guy:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZlih4DDNg

[Guest]

False is dope.

 

http://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/untitled-2

[Guest]

Oh yeah, also WEAKLING! Dead As Dreams is my definitely my favorite black metal album.

[Guest]

Oh shit, also LUDICRA! Everything they did is AWESOME.

[amnstypls]

Not sure if it's considered black metal, and they aren't American, but I can't stop spinning the new Oathbreaker record.

[Derek™]

Daniel; you've got to give the Ash Borer S/T another visit. I feel wishy-washy about a lot of their later material, but that record is simply beast.

[Derek™]

And for the love of all things dark and trve, please tell me ya'll are familiar with Altar Of Plagues. Their last album (Teethed Glory & Injury) is simply phenomenal, and easily one of the gnarliest records of 2013.

[daniel]

I'm into some black metal, but not exclusively USBM. Krallice are tops, WITTR are good and Liturgy's Aesthethica is dope. Too bad their drummer, Greg Fox, quit. I don't think they'll ever be as good as they were on that record without him. I think deafheaven are overrated (more hype than anything, love the artwork for Sunbather though) but, yeah, Sunbather is def a step up for them, due to having a more skilled drummer on that record.

I have two recommendations for you, but neither are USBM, or lame-ass corpse-paint bands. IMHO the best black metal album and band ever are: the self-titled album from The Netherlands' Dodecahedron, check that out it's a game-changer.

Celeste from France are also worth checking out and you can listen to their stuff and download their entire discography for free here: http://denovali.com/celeste/ so you really have nothing to lose.

 

Thanks, I will check both of these out! I agree about Greg, his drumming had a lot to do with what made that album so special. 

 

Woods of Desolation and Alcest would be good bands to check out if you liked Sunbather.  Alcest's main member does the spoken word piece on Please Remember on Sunbather.  Other bands off the top of my head would be Vattnet Viskar, Nachtmystium, Inter Arma and maybe Xasthur.  Pyramids, Horseback and their collaboration album might be worth checking out too.  They fall a little closer to noise/experimental/drone with elements of black metal though.  Mount Eerie has a lot of black metal elements too, but I'm not sure if that's the first genre I'd classify them under.

 

Thanks, I'll look into all of these bands!

 

Daniel; you've got to give the Ash Borer S/T another visit. I feel wishy-washy about a lot of their later material, but that record is simply beast.

 

Haha ok, I'll give it a go. 

[radiatorhums]

Daniel; you've got to give the Ash Borer S/T another visit. I feel wishy-washy about a lot of their later material, but that record is simply beast.

 

I agree with you there, both the S/T album and the 2009 Demo release are my favorite material from them.

[codeine]

And for the love of all things dark and trve, please tell me ya'll are familiar with Altar Of Plagues. Their last album (Teethed Glory & Injury) is simply phenomenal, and easily one of the gnarliest records of 2013.

Profound Lore puts out so much top-notch heavy stuff, few things they've put out I need to get caught up on.

[RustyShackelford]

dont get me wrong, i love USBM. but norway/sweden do it so much better.

[Derek™]

dont get me wrong, i love USBM. but norway/sweden do it so much better.

 

I know opinions are entirely subjective, but I have a hard time agreeing with this.  But it could be because I have little to no interest in corpse paint, pagan themes, awful production, uninspired songwriting, or the grim and frostbitten forests of Norway.

[Derek™]

Profound Lore puts out so much top-notch heavy stuff, few things they've put out I need to get caught up on.

 

This is very true.  All of AOP's discography is pretty solid in my books, but 2013's Teethed Glory was them showcasing their originality.  It's got some dark electronic elements that faintly shimmer beneath the surface, and make the record feel like a black-metal-industrial behemoth.

[RustyShackelford]

I know opinions are entirely subjective, but I have a hard time agreeing with this.  But it could be because I have little to no interest in corpse paint, pagan themes, awful production, uninspired songwriting, or the grim and frostbitten forests of Norway.

i like the bad production, to me it adds to the intensity of the music and the way its supposed to make you feel. the corpse paint i can take or leave it, but its all about the imagery i do like the 'theatrics' of it but thats not why i like the music at all.

i tend to be a fan of the more raw black metal sound and not as much the more produced sounding stuff. although, i do like both of styles. 

but as my opinion, i would take, Darkthrone, Thy Light, Bathory, Mgla, Peste Noire, Mutilation etc over 99% of USBM. but hey, different strokes for different folks.

 

ive been pretty heavy into black metal since i was about 17, 25 now, and im in the minority that loves that black metal is getting more 'popular'. 

any music that can completely change how i feel when i hear it, whether it be for good or for bad, i love. and black metal does that for me.

 

 

although i WILL say this. Agalloch is the best band of all time ever. EVER. 

[amnstypls]

You know what band is fucking bizarre?

Botanist.

[RustyShackelford]

that just reminded me, have you guys ever heard of HateBeak (metal with a bird vocalist) or Caninus (metal with a dog vocalist)? its great! hahahaha

 

 

Hatebeak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwXKR9EWhXo

 

 

Caninus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFzKgBfroAc

[Derek™]

i like the bad production, to me it adds to the intensity of the music and the way its supposed to make you feel. the corpse paint i can take or leave it, but its all about the imagery i do like the 'theatrics' of it but thats not why i like the music at all.

i tend to be a fan of the more raw black metal sound and not as much the more produced sounding stuff. although, i do like both of styles.

but as my opinion, i would take, Darkthrone, Thy Light, Bathory, Mgla, Peste Noire, Mutilation etc over 99% of USBM. but hey, different strokes for different folks.

ive been pretty heavy into black metal since i was about 17, 25 now, and im in the minority that loves that black metal is getting more 'popular'.

any music that can completely change how i feel when i hear it, whether it be for good or for bad, i love. and black metal does that for me.

although i WILL say this. Agalloch is the best band of all time ever. EVER.

That's fair enough. I will also say that Agalloch are pretty swell as far as black-metal influenced artists go.

[RustyShackelford]

I'm glad this didn't become an argument. Thank you. Agalloch is great for folkish black metal.

Great band.

If any of you didn't know of them before, you should give them a shot.

Perfect fall/winter music

[codeine]

I concur that as far as folk black metal goes, Agalloch has it down. I'm not huge into the folk in terms of a musical style, but I am into nature so I love that aspect of black metal.

One thing I noticed and thought was cool: Krallice's logo, instead of being a typical splatter-logo totally resembles tree branches in the fall/winter. Like when you are in the woods and look up at the sky and see all the bare branches. Nothing like taking a trek through the woods with some top quality black metal in headphones. Of course, to get the full effect of nature you gotta have the serene natural soundscape with it, but excellent black metal in the woods is definitely an experience, it's wild how well they go together. (I know in many cases they are meant to, but you kinda think nature music would be more chill-out vibe type stuff, but sometimes you can really feel an impact from the intensity that certain black metal bands have.)

That's another reason why WITTR are legit, being from the pacific-northwest I'm sure there are some awesome forests out there, and I'm pretty sure those dudes live out on a farm, true to the black metal ethos. Also, I recall that for at least one album in particular they actually recorded, at least portions of the album outdoors with Randall Dunn. Possibly at night, but I'm not 100% sure.

[radiatorhums]

Glad to see some other people dig Agalloch too!  They weigh a little heavier on the folk metal scale than the black metal scale (in my mind anyway), either way it's good stuff.

 

 

That's another reason why WITTR are legit, being from the pacific-northwest I'm sure there are some awesome forests out there, and I'm pretty sure those dudes live out on a farm, true to the black metal ethos. Also, I recall that for at least one album in particular they actually recorded, at least portions of the album outdoors with Randall Dunn. Possibly at night, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

Aaron and Nathan Weaver are the two static members of WITTR and they both live on a farm outside Olympia, WA.  Every time I listen to Two Hunters, I'm still surprised by how unique and ahead of it's time it sounds.