eclectic relations

Recently my interest in Black Metal was revived [much due to the fellow blog Documents]. It has been a long time [if ever] since I was interested this much in it. I was into bands like Peste Noir or Meads of Asphodel, the avant/experimental side of the genre [don’t blame me on genre tagging I know there are differences in this field of unusual / experimental / avant-garde black metal but I am no expert to tell]. Anyway my entry point to Black Metal per se is the pre-mid-nineties era. Much now in the progress of discovering and rediscovering.

One of the discoveries is early Satyricon. Dark Medieval Times is a neglected masterpiece [at least in comparison with other highly praised ‘all-time-classics’] of the old times. Brilliant!

Concurrently I am going also through Burzum’s discography. A much different case. His music is tormented and far more cryptic. I made though a single observation [of no use] that struck me as interesting.

There is a phrase in Skyggedans [3rd track of Dark Medieval Times] starting slightly after 2mins [about at 2.04], on the same phrase [a little more muted perhaps] is based Stemmen Fra Tårnet the opening track of Aske EP. In Satyricon’s case it is part of a rather ‘descriptive’ song, while in Burzum’s is the very core of Stemmen.. There is, in Stemmen.., a trance-like quality, based on repetition and circulation of a slowly evolving musical part, technique we are familiar to, holding key-role to other Vikernes’ compositions as well [reaching its inimitable height in Jesus’ Tod].

The material on this two releases was composed and recorded around the same time [mid’92 to ’93] by two pioneering Norse acts with much different approaches to the genre. I, at least, was intrigued to find this immediate connection.