Tag Archives: New Wave of Dutch Black Metal

From the bowels of the Dutch Black Metal Scene

I keep being amazed by the unique sounds that emerge from the Dutch black metal scene. Moerasbasterdwerik, Ibex Angel Order, Nachtdwaelen and Himelvaruwe are proof of a diverse, urgent and intense sound.

This was mostly written a longer while ago, but I think these records are great and warrant a bit of notoriety if I can help it. I enjoyed them very much. 

Moerasbasterdwerik – Gebaag uit de Banmade

Self-released

The Moerasbasterdwederik is actually a cute little flower, but in this case, it’s some grisly, gruesome black metal from the heart of the Netherlands. Gebaag uit de Banmade was produced by a duo that has a love for nature and vodka, judging from their limited range of band photos. In that sense, Moerasbasterdwederik (which is a fucking nightmare to remember or write correctly) reflects some classic black metal tendencies and attitude. That’s a good thing in an overly mystified and over-intellectualized genre. Wait, was that a bird chirping in the middle of the abyssal sounds of ‘Doodsroeper, Weeklager’, a track that sounds remarkably underproduced. just right for my tastes.

Moerasbasterdzwerik likes their high-paced, whiny guitars and rattling drums. There’s something quite odd about the guitar sounds, which almost sound like a continuous flow at times, dissonant, yet pleasing. The vocals are just a wild how hard to decipher at the best of times. Most interesting is the amount of little sound-effects like snapping twigs you hear on this record, suddenly breaking your mesmerized state. Truly, you can listen to ‘Grijsbehaard, de Oude Wilg’ in a complete state of trance. I guess this is the music produced by the filthy patches of green in our inner cities. There is undeniable beauty to be found in it, but also the grim reality of defiled patches of gras by human filth. That’s how I feel about this record at least, as ‘Vliegend Onraad’ closes with some doomy black metal punk and harrowing acoustics.

Ibex Angel Order -I​.​Ô. CREATÔR / I​.​Ô. DESTRÔYER EPIbex Angel Order

Heidens Hart/Terratur Possessions/Ván Records/Fallen Temple

If anyone is putting the occult back in occult black metal, it is the Ibex Angel Order. A duo, connected through bands like Sauron, Abysmal Darkening and Funeral Goat, while singer and guitar player Herr Aids is also individually active in acts like Sekte and Verbum Verus. The vocals surge into the wavery tides of abyssal riffing with the strength of a doom speech from a prophet. ‘I.ô. Creatôr’ is declaiming the words of the end times. The music is hypnotic and feels almost hypnotic in its dense, wall of sound-like quality. There is a simple yet effective cadence to the way the music spikes out and grows. Battle horns, clean shouts and a bombastic, grand opening in the middle with fierce tremolo riffs complete the image.

The movements become grimmer on ‘I.ô. Destrôyer’. Its intro feels like a run-up, the way a wave pulls in and creates a strange calm just before it falls down with all its crushing weight. Yet the song raises itself upwards even further, as the pace quickens and the voice growls about the rotting fruits of our world. The song ever rises and keeps you on your toes till the end, which is a remarkable effort of speed and force.

Nachtdwaelen – Dodenmasker

Self-released/Zwaertgevegt

I have found relatively little information about the project Nachtdwaelen, but in 2018 the act emerged and this release came out earlier this year, following 2018 release ‘Geestenstroom’. The sound is high-paced, frantic at times with an immense amount of layered tremolo riffing and dense production. At times it all presses together into the swirling, grand movements that make it so captivating. Surprisingly, Nachtdwaeler is the sole member of this band, which only emphasizes its strength as a piece of music that for me touches upon the very essence of what I like in black metal. Speed, aggression, darkness and oppressive atmosphere as delivered on the title track and the foggy haze of guitars that is ‘Mist’

On ‘Duister’ we get a bit more dense and violent, as chanting opens up the track. Blasting through it on ferocious drums, the song rains down on the listener with vitriolic urgency. On ‘Zwerver’ we really get into the depths of darkness, that I so love about this type of metal. It feels like everything is crashing down to untold depths in this eerily atmospheric song. The gentle melody wraps itself around the cold streams of sound that keep on flowing. It is here that Nachtdwaelen, to me, truly captures something harrowingly beautiful with the sound.

Himelvaruwe – Het Ondenkbare

Independent
Himelvaruwe - Het Ondenkbare

This project by T., also active in Kaffaljidhma and Mirre, has been around for a while. This demo was released in 2019 and the style is described as mystical black metal. Notable is the white/blue cover art and the transcendental keys that waver as a backdrop to the repetitive, gritty rhythm. There’s a sense of clarity to the music, therefore, which bespells the listener easily. This Himelvaruwe release was recorded during a fever dream, and that it definitely feels like.

Yet at the heart of the sound is something primal and nihilistic, there’s only that forward motion. The eerie atmospheric music and rhythm don’t interact, they don’t converse and weave into each other, they just let you follow. As they compete, the distorted, violent side takes over and seems to pick up in urgency, but that might just be listeners’ perception here. As what seems as an angelic voice soars above, we burn away the darkness towards a crescendo with haste and then… there’s merely silence.

New Wave of Dutch Black Metal Part 2

The New Wave of Dutch Black Metal was coined by Never Mind The Hype and I was amazed by the sudden realization that we have so many good bands in the Netherlands.

This is my attempt to give you an overview of the amount of stunning bands that the Netherlands has to offer, but there is more in part 1.  I have to say though, the more I’m looking into it, the more I seem to find!

Black metal fury with Cirith Gorgor, Tarnkappe and Turia

Some bands stick to the fierce sound that characterizes the original outlets of black metal. Almost unrecognizably mutated from the Venom-roots, the sound is furious, overwhelming and battle-ready. These bands to my experience hold the fort, while adding distinct own aspects to it.

On their last album, ‘Visions of Exalted Lucifer’, the band Cirith Gorgor pretty much showed that they are one of the most esteemed black metal bands from the Netherlands, producing a sound very close in praise of the traditinol, thunderous black metal from the nineties. Their latest offering is an EP titled ‘Bi Den Dode Hant’,  a reference to the infamous ‘Bokkenrijders’ from my parts of the world in the older days. Their four track EP has two absolute gems on it, but also one of the songs from the previous album. Bummer, because I knew it already. On ‘The Luciferian Principle’ we actually get a bit of a weird atmospheric outro, which is pretty cool. It’s the title track though that completely takes the cake here, a blistering surge of hatred. A continuous abyssal assault, lead by singer Sathanael and the vicious guitar assault.

Tarnkappe was featured earlier on my blog, but this band really fits in that traditional black metal framework. Maybe a bit towards the natura-inspired sound, but the artwork and vibe is staying close to the core. The band name means something akin to ‘Wizard’s hat’ in the old tongue of these lands. Looking at the cover and the landscape depicted there, you might easily link this band to a Burzum, but their sound is much less hazy and dreamy, filled with repetition and firm waves of guitar sounds. The vocals really speak to the listener in my opinion.

When it comes to unleashing minimalist fury, the band Turia needs to be mentioned here. I’ve seen them play at Roadburn as a three piece act and there is just something completely desparate about their flow of misery that takes you to the vast desolation that only black metal can evoke. Their album ‘Dede Konde’ is a steady swirl into darkness and well worth listening to. Every sound on this record is measured, directed and controlled to evoke the maximum of feelings from the listener.

Outsider music with Iskandr, Kjeld, Folteraar and Fluisteraars

Black metal is an expression of the individual, of that which makes us distinct from others. These groups clearly have found a way to give shape to their own identity and place in the world, wether it is with language or other elements.

There are some bands that I find hard to place, though everything above is done on an overall feeling and emotion it evokes with me as a listener. A band I find harder to really put somewhere, but would not want to set apart is Iskandr, which hails from the Nijmegen area like Turia. Iskandr feels much more atmospheric, almost filmic in the tragic, impressive melodies the band uses on their album ‘Heilig Land’. Iskandr is also a one man band, with just O making the music, which is something you can sort of hear in the focussed stream of energy in the music. O also plays in Turia, Lubbert Das and Galg, some pretty great bands. The sound is so immensely tragic and harrowing, I love it.

The Netherlands has a second language, which you may or may not know, namely Frisian. One of the best bands to come out of the wood work in recent years happens to sing in that language and that band is Kjeld, who truly hit a high note on their album ‘Skym’ from back in 2015. The production of this band sounds a bit cleaner and more focussed, but remains firmly rooted in the Northern tradition. The musicianship is one of the claims to fame from this group  of four with much experience in other ensembles (like Asregen, Krocht, Kaeck, Gheestenland and many more).  Though the band has been in existence since 2003, the last few years saw them at their most productive, releasing a split with Wederganger recently.

Folteraar is another gritty project of excellent noisy, fierce black metal. It seems that this duo leans towards a bit of an industrial approach to the musical expression. With a thick layer of distortion and a gritty sound with low paced rhythms and grim barks this is some intense stuff. It seems there’s even a mild death metal influence to create the severely intense sound this duo produces. Originally the releases came out on an own label of bandmember K., namely ‘The Throat’, but now Iron Bonehead has picked up on this excellent band.

Folteraar is not for the fans of catchy melodic or atmospheric black metal, their sound is harsh, repetitive and ugly. The delivery is excellent though, offering a rather different take on the genre.

From there on, we move to Fluisteraars, who’ve done a magnificent job on their EP ‘Gelderland’ to create black metal that sometimes almost feels like indie rock. That’s how streamlined the riffs are, with a strange, playful melody in there. I wouldn’t go so far as calling them a gentle sounding band, but the strength of Fluisteraars is the use of melody and catchy hooks, while remaining loyal to the grim and black sounds. The 7″ is out on Eisenwald Tonschmiede in Germany, a label that knows how to deal with the narrative, gripping sound of bands like Agalloch. Fluisteraars fits in there somehow, though they can also unleash hell if they need to.

Into the underworld with Lubbert Das and Wederganger

Two more names that have a sound that is particularly haunting to round up this second installment, two names that are definitely worth checking out.

Lubbert Das is an odd reference to the work of Jheronymous Bosch, in which we find a painting, titled “Cutting the stone’. A text surrounds the painting in golden letters, saying: “Master cut away the stone, my name is Lubbert Das”. So, there the band found their name and a logo. The sound of these guys is really a lot of doom and gloom, with long, repetitive passages. The cavernous sounding guitarplay and drums really makes you feel that the sound is all submerged, under the earth’s crust where madness reigns. Tumultuous and unrelenting, this is some bad ass black metal.

Born out of some of the best bands in the more Folky corner that the Netherlands have on offer, namely Mondvolland, Heidevolk and more, Wederganger is one hell of an outfit. They combine theatrical swagger with dark, gloomy black metal. Clean vocals and ghoulish barks and howls work in concert to create a special eerie atmosphere. Wederganger translates as ‘one who walks again’, and their debut album is titled ‘Halfvergaan ontwaakt’ (‘Half decayed, awakened). After the succesful release of that album and numerous really cool live shows, the band has unleashed splits with LasterKjeld and Urfaust. This group definitely is part of the elite of the dutch black metal scene witgh a well thought out act.

 

 

New Wave of Dutch Black Metal Part 1

Granted, I’m not the first one to coin the phrase ‘New Wave of Dutch Black Metal’, but Dutch black metal music is definitely on the rise as was shown by the Roadburn line-up this year (2017) with many of the better bands from this country.

Though the scene is rather small, there’s a quite some high-quality output by bands like LasterNihillCirith Gorgor and many more. They represent different aspects of the black metal spectrum, so I wanted to look at some releases in that light in this article. I chose some releases that came out recently and that I would like to cover. This way I can put them in a slightly different light of the new wave of Dutch black metal, because I think there’s a lot of amazing homegrown music coming out.

Into the Out there with Dodecahedron, Laster, Terzij De Horde and Gnaw Their Tongues

Dodecahedron has recently released their second album, titled ‘Kwintessens’. A philosophical concept about the essence of things, the band moves in the footsteps of other acts for the thinking man like Laster, Nihill and Terzij De Horde. Inspired by literature and philosophy, amongst probably many other things, they deliver a type of black metal that moves beyond it’s common boundaries.

Doing this in a most effective and musical way, we find Terzij De Horde as one of the leading Dutch acts when it comes to stage performance, solid shows and captivating music. Sure, their music is not breaking the bonds of genre definitions, but definitely moves away from the traditional subject matter and has no need for frivolities. Their album ‘Self’ from 2015 showed the band shedding a former skin and for future music I expect nothing less from this band. Also, they are known for their distinctly awesome live performances, in which they surely deliver the quality that you would wish for (not a regular thing in the black metal world sadly). Bravely the band also went in the direction of literature, with a tribute release for the poet Henrik Marsman, who passed away 75 years earlier.

Laster is a band that you can find plenty of information about. Their music is a torrent of the absurd. Playful and somewhere touching upon the Carnavalesque in a Rabelaisian sense. Masked men deliver some of the most beautiful, peculiar sounding black metal in a long time. Surely the dissonance and harrowing screams are still there, but encapsulated in sounds that are pleasant, meandering and more accesible. It keeps surprising you, particularly the latest album ‘Ons Vrije Fatum’.

Grotesque at times, but also dauntingly experimental, the record of Dodecahedron incorporates various elements to create a mesmerizing display of force. Fronted by the legendary Michiel Eikenaar from Nihill, they have a confrontational and powerful live presence.  Acts like these, with elements of experimental music, postrock and even jazz really show the far extents toward which black metal can still grow. Nihill did it with noise and industrial, Terzij de Horde used screamo. Long live the experiment.

Beautifull arches and passages are painted with sound, but tormented vocals with a demented urgency draw the listener away from the splendour into blast-beat-ridden turmoil only to wash up on beaches of ambient sound later. Call it avant-gard, call it progressive, it definitely pushes the boundaries.  Fun fact is that part of Dodecahedron plays in Ulsect, a band playing a much more controlled and structured form of music. That contrast is one of the flattering things of the genre.

When we talk about acts that push the boundaries on the black metal genre, you have to talk about Gnaw Their Tongues and related projects by multi-instrumentalist Mories. If you take black metal and really distill it down to its essence, you pretty much get the music Mories produces. Eclectic, wild and horribly frightening, the use of samples, electronics and guitars becomes a very open field. The last album by Gnaw Their Tongues is a harrowing journey. ‘Hymns for the Broken, Swollen And Silent’ is the soundtrack to your nightmares. Musically this record shows the lack of boundaries for this musician. Interested? Check out his other projects Pyriphlegethon, Aderlating, Seirom and many, many more.

Sinking into the misery with Verwoed, Orewoet, Urfaust

Sometimes I like nothing better than to just sink into the layered swamp of sound that is atmospheric black metal. For me Verwoed is one of the best bands coming out of the woodwork in recent times. From the dissonant, bone-chilling opening riff onward, their album grabs you by the feels.

Amidst the whole waves of post black-metal and other deviations from the genre roots, it’s extremely comforting to have a band like Verwoed out there, playing music that is close to the wonderful original experience of black metal music (or atleast the one I had). It’s a feeling akin to much of the bands in the Cascadian corner (or whatever nice term they’ve conjured up these days for it), but lacks the focus on the natural realm. Verwoed focusses on the inwards emotions.

Another band I find is really similarly bewitching with beautifull riffs, swooping passages and an ethereal feal to the overal sound is Orewoet from the North of the Netherlands. Orewoet is  a relative new player in the Dutch scene, who released ‘Afrodisiacum der Vroomheid’ last year, an EP that is worth your listening time for sure. Waves and waves of distorted black metal fold into eachother to create dreamy soundscapes to just surf away with.

To me the masters of the atmospheric sound and not just in the Netherlands are the drunkards of gloom, the clochards of Urfaust themselves. This band might be one of the most respected ones out there. The two member formula doesn’t allow for much intensity and complex layers, but does open a path to purposeful, fervent and incandescent sound. Their live performances are a stream of music, a wallowing experience for the listener, where immersion is like sinking into a swamp of debauched despair. On their last labum ‘Empty Space Meditation’, the duo pushes that envelope even further.

More soon in part 2.