True Norwegian Blackgrass (Svart Records) is the new album from the enigmatic Twin Serpent, based in Trondheim, Norway. As the record’s name suggests, their music is something of a genre-bending fusion of Country Music and Black Metal. They also throw the influence of Punk rock into the mix for good measure. Continue reading
Darkthrone has been long associated with being “True Norweigan Black Metal” but has not made any attempt to adhere to this expectation of them since 2004’s “Sardonic Wrath”. Instead, the band has circled its wagons around crust punk and wandered off Celtic Frost worship. “It Beckons Us All…” (Peaceville Records) finds the band perfecting the traditional metal path they first embarked on with “The Underground Resistance”. Now 11 years later the duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto are done obsessing over their record collection and have focused on writing headbanging anthems that cold a touch of melody and mystery. Continue reading