VARIOUS ARTISTS „FENRIZ Presents… The Best of Old School Black Metal”

Everyone one of us has put together his or her own best-of compilation, whatever the genre. Based purely on individual taste, and put together to please no one but you, the D.I.Y Best-of compilation will never die. I’d love some of my ‘best of’ discs to be released commercially, but hey, I’m just a metal review hack.

You’ve got to have credibility in the scene to get away with your ‘very own’ best of compilation. Fenriz – Lord of all things Black Metal (and that’s old school too folks!) is one of the rare individuals that is able to get away with putting his name to his own compilation without the accusations of appearing arrogant or self-important. So, you think you know Black Metal? Well according to Fenriz – one of the most pre-eminent mouthpieces and influential BM artists – you probably don’t know shit.

‘The Best of Old School Black Metal’ is the first in a series of Fenriz ‘best of’ compilations that he is putting out with the backing of Peaceville. It features 16 tracks-all individually hand picked by Fenriz, serving as a representation of the type of music and bands that he and his close knit friends were listening to and were influenced by back in the day. The most important aspect about this disc is the ‘old-school’ tag. What we are talking about here folks is pretty much the ‘first-wave’ of Black Metal that appeared. If you want an even more concise description – this, from the man himself:

“Old-school is attitude and feeling. Old-school is not overproduced and commercially abused. Old-school does not depend on sales, nor finely tuned musical skills, old-school is the basic elements, the pure drug – or dirty drug. Capice? Old-school does not have to be draped in sorrow and melancholic synth lines, with female opera vocals and twin guitar solos. Primitive, ugly and raw is what I crave”.

Having digested that, I’m sure you’ll agree that the track list for this release is very interesting and furthermore, probably not what you were expecting. You have to remember that these bands were what Fenriz was listening to while forming his own ideas on what Black Metal should be. So, therefore it is not surprising to see such revered acts like Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Sodom and Destruction included here. Man, I too was listening to these bands when they first appeared – long before I’d even heard of the term ‘black metal’. Sodom and Destruction was German Thrash/speed metal to me; Mercyful Fate – classic metal; Frost- dark avantgarde. However, there is no denying that at the time these bands represented some of the darkest, evilest and ugliest metal bands in existence. They were considered underground extreme metal bands. They 100% personified the description Fenriz outlined above.

Closer to the Black Metal bone, the inclusion of acts such as Canada’s Blasphemy, Sarcogfago, Nattefrost, Tormentor, Aura Noir, Hellhammer, Burzum and Mayhem probably makes a bit more sense to most people. Furthermore, Fenriz hasn’t ignored the classic influences such as Venom and Bathory who he so cleverly leaves until the final two tracks just to emphasise what this form of music is all about. In light of the recent passing of Quorthon, the appearance of Bathory’s classic ‘Dies Irae’ just about says it all.

Two of the more surprising tracks for me come in the form of Bulldozer’s ‘Whiskey Time’ and Samael’s ‘Into The Pentagram’ – both were never overly appealing to me and perhaps I need to revisit them sometime soon. And that’s the thing with commercially released compilations – the track selection will never satisfy everyone 100% -What appeals to some, is derided by others. However for the majority, it’s pretty hard to argue with what has been included here.

Apparently there were some bands who missed out here – Possessed qualified no question according to Fenriz, but former guitarist Larry LaLonde (Primus) is skeptical about spreading the old vibes of Possessed to the black metal crowd, so Fenriz had to let that one go (True!). No Slayer? – Surely one of the evilest bands on the planet around ‘Hell Awaits’ era. Well, stay tuned for their appearance on Fenriz’s ‘Best of old-school ‘THRASH METAL’, coming your way soon.

One could complain that this compilation features no unreleased/rare material. But, I’d suggest that this is not the place for such material. This is about a personal celebration of the classic old school BM that Fenriz was listening too at the time. I’m sure he’s got a best of ‘unreleased’ old-school BM in the pipeline anyway. Ha!

If you’re new to the ‘first wave’ of Black Metal, you could do worse that start with this compilation by way of introduction. If you’re currently absorbed by the likes of Dimmu Borgir and were wondering where all this extreme BM shit started, check into Fenriz’s world…he’ll set you straight.

http://www.peaceville.com

note: 8.5/10

Tracklist

1 BLASPHEMY – Winds Of The Black Godz
2 SARCOFAGO – Satanic Lust
3 CELTIC FROST – Dawn Of Megiddo
4 NATTEFROST – Sluts Of Hell
5 MERCYFUL FATE – Evil
6 SODOM – Burst Command Til War
7 TORMENTOR – Elisabeth Bathory
8 AURA NOIR – Blood Unity
9 DESTRUCTION – Curse The Gods
10 SAMAEL – Into The Pentagram
11 BULLDOZER – Whisky Time
12 MAYHEM – The Freezing Moon
13 HELLHAMMER – The Third Of The Storms
14 BURZUM – Ea, Lord Of The Deeps
15 VENOM – Warhead
16 BATHORY – Dies Irae