Red & Anarchist Black Metal [and much more!]: viking metal

Showing posts with label viking metal. Show all posts

Monday, January 31, 2011

Wolves Under Sail - "Grave Before Slave" (2010)

WOLVES UNDER SAIL "Grave Before Slave"

Year: 2010
Genre: Viking Metal, "Outlaw-Epic-Folk-Metal"
Country: USA

Track List:

Mofar, Son Of Mofar
Cheers For The Victorious Dead
Dominion Burning
Stand Sure
Return To The Mjolner

DOWNLOAD

Composer: JP Anderson
Producer: JP Anderson
Publisher: Hardclash (ASCAP) 2010
Released as FREE mp3 download w/ art and lyrics under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License in association with Calm Before The Swarm Records. Feel free to share, host, burn. Please attribute credit to JP Anderson and/or Wolves Under Sail. For more information on the liberation of intellectual property, please visit www.creativecommons.org. Thank you for your support. Yar!

Wolves Under Sail is a metal project by J.P. Anderson, an anarchist musician from Seattle, whose other projects are The Shizit / The Named (digital hardcore in the vein of Atari Teenage Riot), Rabbit Junk (digital hardcore / industrial rock) and Fighting Ice With Iron ("steamcore"). "Grave Before Slave" is an amazing debut, no worse than Sorgsvart's last album! It's viking folk metal, but I think tags like "pirate metal" are applicable too. Thanks to Miro for pointing me to this really good EP! Pirates, vikings, anarchy!

myspace

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Trelleborg

When I gathered information for my previous post, I found one more band that deserves your attention. Meet Trelleborg, a viking/humppa/folk metal band from SPb, Russia, whose music is inspired mainly by Finnish metal scene. However, they also made cover versions some old Soviet songs. Here's their version of "Katyusha", check it out if you find Mrakobesie's version of it too harsh!

According to their myspace, they're an apolitical band, and most importantly - they doesn't promote any kind of fascist ideology (you know how much the eastern European metal scene is involved in that shit...) And finally - one of the tracks from their 2006 demo, again a cover version of an old Soviet song:
Trelleborg - Песня о тревожной молодости

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Oakhelm - "Betwixt And Between" (2007)

OAKHELM "Betwixt And Between"

Year: 2007
Genre: Folk/Pagan Metal, Cascadian Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: Forest Moon

Track List:

Of Wood and Blood
Skaal Shanty
As the Murder Flies
Maybon Shore
These Boundaries Crossed
Immram

DOWNLOAD

I've already introduced this Portland-based band to you, and here's their full-length album. If you like their 2006 demo and "Vikingtid og Anarki" by Sorgsvart, you would like "Betwixt And Between". More stuff by their previous band (Fall Of The Bastards) is coming soon.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Oakhelm - demo (2006)

OAKHELM "demo"

Year: 2006
Genre: Folk/Pagan Metal, Cascadian Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: Forest Moon

Track List:

Immram
Of Wood And Blood

DOWNLOAD

Oakhelm is a pagan folk/black metal project by Pete Jay (a former member of a well-known anarchist grindcore band Assück), and the members of now split-up blackened death metal band Fall Of The Bastards (who're regarded as one of the first anarcho-friendly black metal bands from Cascadia). This release was recommended to me by 7inchcrust too, and it's very good for a first demo. I haven't listened to their subsequent full-length album "Betwixt and Between" yet, but I hope it'll be comparable with Sorgsvart's albums.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sorgsvart - "Vikingtid Og Anarki" (2008)

SORGSVART "Vikingtid Og Anarki"

Year: 2008
Genre: Folk/Black/Viking Metal
Country: Norway
Label: Einheit Prod.

Track List:

Vikingtid Og Anarki
Vikingtid Og Anarki (instrumental)
Hedersmann
Trøst
Bleivikmæn ein Haglandsfæn
Opp Kamerat!
Kråkaviso
Underligt Vidunderligt

DOWNLOAD

I think it's safe to say that "Vikingtid Og Anarki" would become one of the milestones in the history of not only anarchist black metal, but of folk/viking metal as well. It's the first folk/viking metal release ever with such explicit anarchist lyrics and symbolism, and the quality of production is just amazing. A definitely must-listen album to anyone! Hope the future works by Sorg would be even better...

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Sorgsvart - "Fortapt Fra Verden I Vakkert Selvmord (demo)" (2004)

SORGSVART "Fortapt Fra Verden I Vakkert Selvmord (demo)"

Year: 2004
Genre: Folk/Viking Metal
Country: Norway
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

Høst del I
Høst del II
Skog og Mark, en Frelse fra Falskhet
Entertainment
Kill the King
Hagland mitt Land
En Nasjon Står Ilag
Fortapt fra Verden i Vakkert Selvmord

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It's one of the early demos by Sorgsvart, later re-recorded and released as an album. It also contains some unreleased tracks. Even it's a demo, it has fairly decent sound, but anyway I'd recommend to listen to the '06 album first.

Sorgsvart - "Fortapt Fra Verden I Vakkert Selvmord" (2006)

SORGSVART "Fortapt Fra Verden I Vakkert Selvmord"

Year: 2006
Genre: Folk/Viking Metal
Country: Norway
Label: Einheit Prod.

Track List:

Høst - Paradokser i Menneskesinn og Kosmisk Natur - Et Oppgjør med Falske Mann Del I
Høst Del II
Skog og Mark - En Frelse fra Falskhet
Hagland Mitt Land
Fortapt fra Verden i Vakkert Selvmord

DOWNLOAD

So... if you don't like Borgazur because of their religious views or whatever, here comes another folk/viking metal release - "Fortapt Fra Verden I Vakkert Selvmord" by Sorgsvart. It's a debut album, and it's not as good as the most well-known release by Sorgsvart - "Vikingtid og Anarki" - but anyway it sounds fucking great! Especially the track "Hagland Mitt Land". Strongly recommended for all fans of melodic folk/pagan/viking metal!

About the blog

After many years of activity, this blog is now put on hold since the majority of contributors have a lot of other important stuff going on in their lives. New music submissions should go to /r/RABM/ (note that the mods of /r/RABM/ don't have anything to do with this blog).

Most of the uploads here are band sanctioned. Anyway, if you for some reason don't want to see your music here, contact us using rabm (AT) gmx (DOT) com, and we'll consider taking it down.

Bottom note: there's probably a lot of broken English on this blog, since English isn't the first language for many of the contributors.

FAQ

Q.: Which kinds of music are featured on this blog?

A.: - (primarily) RABM or Red & Anarchist Black Metal: all kinds of black metal-related music charged with radical leftist (anarchist, libertarian socialist, eco-anarchist, etc.) political views. Some of the bands featured here may be not openly political, but all of them are RABM-friendly;

- blackened crust/hardcore/punk (only if it's openly RABM-friendly, or if it's just very good music; we have no intention to collect here all the blackened punk in existence);

- other kinds of political (anarchist, socialist, etc.) metal - death, thrash, post-metal, etc.;

- dark ambient, neofolk, industrial, dark electro, etc. - but only if it has some RABM-friendly ideology;

- regular punk/hardcore/crust, post-rock, conscious hip-hop, etc. - but only as a rare exception (so if you want to send us a demo in one of these genres, you're probably in the wrong place).

Q.: What are some RABM/blackened crust bands to start listening from?

A.: Here's an old compilation which I (B.K.) made in late 2009. Doesn't include a lot of good RABM bands that I didn't know of back then, but still recommended if you're new to RABM:

Check out this list as well, or this one.

Q.: How can I support a particular RABM band with my money?

A.: Most bands nowadays have a bandcamp page, where you can but their stuff online (usually for an arbitrary price). It's the most convinient way to support the band. If your favourite band don't have a bandcamp or bigcartel page, try to find out in which distro you can find their albums/merch. Of course, go to concerts if you have such opportunity.

Q.: How can I offer my financial support to this blog, or the RABM movement in general?

A.: Unfortunately right we don't have an opportunity to accept donations, but we hope we'll be able to set it up soon.

Q.: What is the connection between black metal and hardcore/punk/crust?

A.: It's a well-established fact that the connection between black metal and punk scenes existed since the early days of BM (think Venom, early Bathory, early Mayhem and early Sodom on one side, and Amebix, Discharge and Axegrinder on another). Recently this mix of BM and hardcore punk got a new life in the form of blackened crust (thanks to Black Kronstadt / Iskra in first place). And don't forget about Cascadian black metal bands with their radical environmentalist ideology, often to the extent of radical eco-anarchism or "pro-nature/anti-humanity" ideas.

Q.: What's your main ideology?

A.: This blog is generally written from a position of anarchism without adjectives; however, the RABM scene is very diverse ideologically. Let us end on this, as this blog isn't quite a right place for purely political debates; if you want to learn or argue about anarchism/other ideologies, there's a lot of specialized FAQs/blogs/forums for you.

Q.: Isn't black metal supposed to be apolitical?

A.: Supposed by whom? I personally don't think so, but if you think that political awareness should have no place in "true" black metal, you can feel free to call the bands featured on here "blackened punk" or whatever you want. It should be noted, though, that a lot of these bands doesn't openly talk about politics in their lyrics, exactly because they think it wouldn't be suitable for black metal. - B.K.

Q.: Isn't RABM just an "answer" to NSBM?

A.: While RABM is definitely against NSBM and any other kind of far-right crap in metal scene, it's most emphatically a self-sufficient movement and not any kind of "answer to NSBM". Similarly, while RABM is 100% pro liberation from any kinds of religious tyranny, it isn't a movement against any particular religion (Christianity, Islam, or any other).

Q.: What's your opinion on Satanism?

A.: The so-called "Hollywood Satanism", which is often found in black metal, is, in our opinion, nothing more than inverted Christianity, so we aren't big on it. Many of us are simply atheists, pagans of all kinds, gnostics, etc. We also don't share the notion that only genuine theistic Satanists / Devil-worshippers can play "real" black metal (this would exclude such bands as Venom, Bathory, Immortal, Summoning, and many many others). Additionally, the very term "Satanism" is quite vague, and can't be narrowed down to LaVeyan Satanism (which is heavily disliked by many black metallers), or whatever else. LaVey had some good points, but in general his philosophy can be described just as "Ayn Rand with some occult tinge".

Q.: What about misanthropy and nihilism?

A.: To put it in short: we don't hate everyone and everything (and we don't think there's anyone who truly does). We just hate these traits of humanity which make true anarchist society most likely infeasible in the foreseeable future.

Q.: Collectivism or individualism?

A.: There actually is no "hard" contradiction between these two terms. Individualism is simply an outlook emphasizes the moral worth of the individual and its right not to be oppressed by the state or some social group. It doesn't contradict at all with standing up for your rights along with a group of like-minded individuals. It also worth noting that the early black metal scene didn't promote individualism that much (see "black metal circles").

Q.: Who coined the term "RABM"?

A.: Hard to say, but there's an apparent similarity to RASH ("Red & Anarchist Skinheads"). Here's the very first mention of "RABM" we could find (August 2005). The term was popularized by our last.fm group (and later - by this blog) since 2009.

Q.: Do you know the ideology of the band X? It isn't obvious if they're NSBM or not...

A.: Sorry, we don't know, do your own research. It's often hard to say anything certain about a band's views, if the members themselves aren't open about it. We also don't advice using various "lists of nazi bands" etc. as a reference, as most of them are full of bullshit. Similarly, forum posts or blog comments (especially anonymous ones) generally aren't a reliable source for anything. In one particular case, we had an anonymous comment claiming that the members of Timebomb are now playing in a fascist band called SPQR. Later it turned out that it were members of a completely other Italian band with a similar name (Timebombs). Hopefully that'd be a good example of how important fact-checking is.

Q.: I've seen some of the albums posted here in the same distro with some albums by right-leaning bands...

A.: Unfortunately it's often the case with distros and labels that distribute stuff regardless of its political affiliation. Even Austin Lunn of Panopticon complained about Pagan Flames (the label which released his "Collapse" and "Social Disservices" LPs) having NSBM in their distro, so things like these are just unavoidable.

Q.: Some bands on this blog have Burzum on their list on influences. Isn't Varg Vikernes a nazi?

A.: See a good comment on this matter here.

Q.: Can I use some materials from this blog on my site?

A.: Of course you're welcome to do so (unless otherwise is specified), as we're against copyrights.

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Monday, January 31, 2011

Wolves Under Sail - "Grave Before Slave" (2010)