Metal Reunions That Should Be On Your Radar

There are some really cool heavy metal reunions going on right now, and I thought this week would be a great time to discuss some of them. These are the top five heavy metal reunions that you should be paying attention to:

1       Emperor 
Emperor is one of the most important black metal bands of all time. Formed in 1991, these guys defined symphonic black metal, and helped pioneer black metal in Norway. They were very much a part of the church burning movement in Norway in the 1990s, with a few of the band’s seminal members being a arrested and sent to jail for various crimes, including murder.

Emperor has recently reformed in order to commemorate the release of its classic debut album, In the Nightside Eclipse. The band will be performing the album in its entirety at several festival shows. Though the band leader, Ihsahn, seems to be more focused on his highly successful solo career, there is still a chance the band might continue to release new material. Even if they don’t, these shows will go down as a part of heavy metal history, and may possibly be the last chance for metalheads to witness Emperor’s glory.

2      The Haunted
Everyone is always raving about how important At the Gates was, but the other baby of the Bjorler brothers has always been a powerful force in heavy metal as well. The Haunted formed in 1996 after the demise of At the Gates, and the band put out several thrash metal albums that were very successful throughout Europe, though the band always maintained a small following in the US as well. The band's lineup has shifted constantly throughout the years, but Anders Bjorler, Jonas Bjorler and Patrik Jensen have appeared on all of the band’s records…until now.

In 2012, Anders left the group following the departures of the band’s vocalist and drummer. Jonas and Jensen remained committed to the band’s future even though fans couldn’t see one with the band having already lost so many members all within the same year. This year, after a period of inactivity, Jensen announced the band’s return with a new guitarist, alongside Adrian Erlandson, who founded the band and was the drummer on the band’s debut album, and Marco Aro, who was the band’s most acclaimed vocalist and played on their second and third records. With such a great new lineup, and with the departure of Anders, who may have been behind the disaster that was Unseen, the band’s future looks brighter than it has in a long, long time.

3        Sanctuary
No one expected Sanctuary to reform. Warrel Dane and Jim Sheppard were so preoccupied with Nevermore, and received such acclaim with the band, that no one ever demanded a Sanctuary reunion. But now that Nevermore is gone, Sanctuary’s reunion has grown ever more exciting.

Sanctuary formed in 1985 and disbanded in 1992, only to reunite 18 years later in 2010. Sanctuary put out two legendary heavy metal records during its career that combined thrash metal and power metal. The band is currently working on its third record that will serve as the comeback. With Nevermore gone, fans are dying to hear what Dane and his crew have up their sleeves. The new album should be out sometime in late 2013 or early 2014.

4       Dog Fashion Disco
Majorly influenced by Mike Patton’s Mr. Bungle, Dog Fashion Disco appeared on the scene in 1995 and quickly established a cult following (including yours truly). The band put out six albums during its initial run--the first three were released independently, and the last three were released on major labels. The group never quite got as popular as it should have, despite the band’s unique style of music, which was a form of avant-garde metal that involved combining heavy metal with psychedelic rock, jazz, lounge music and circus music. Dog Fashion Disco broke up in 2007, with band members going on to form obscure groups such as Polkadot Cadaver, Knives Out!, El Creepo and Celebrity Sex Scandal.

After reuniting in its hometown to do some reunion shows for a few consecutive years, the band officially announced that it were back together for good only a couple of weeks ago. The band plans to release irs comeback record, Sweet Nothings, in the spring of 2014. Back in the day, Dog Fashion Disco was known for one song, which featured Serj Tankian, and for touring with some of metal’s most successful contemporary acts. Now that the group is back together, hopefully it can gain even a bigger fanbase, for the band's unusual style of music certainly deserves to be heard. 

5       System of a Down
Everyone knows System of a Down. The band released very famous metal songs including “Chop Suey!,” “Toxicity,” “B.Y.O.B.” and “Lonely Day,” and was nominated for several Grammy awards (and they even won one) during their initial run. The band reunited in 2011 to the excitement of many fans. So why am I bringing them up now?

The band has not released an album since its reunion and fans are getting anxious. This year most of the band members have shown their excitement to put out new music as well, but they are being held up by vocalist Serj Tankian. Tankian has had a successful solo career, and after releasing two albums this year, one can only hope that System has big plans for 2014. The world needs System of a Down, and hopefully they will blow us all away with album number six!

Black Metal (Part 2)

This week we are going to discuss a particularly dark subject--the second wave of black metal. This musical and cultural shift occurred during the early 1990s: a time of chaos and destruction in Norway.

Before we begin to discuss the time period, it’s important to talk about the new style of black metal music that was being developed. The style can essentially be traced to the band Mayhem and their guitarist, Euronymous. Euronymous developed a new style of black metal guitar-playing that was replicated and further expanded upon by many Norwegian bands. This raw and menacing style was derived from that of Bathory.

This type of black metal was about being more evil than anyone else, but no band was darker and more sinister than Mayhem. Bands such as Burzum, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Immortal, and Emperor were also prominent in the Norwegian black metal scene.

At this point, black metal performances started to become controversial. Most black metal shows were fairly intimate and they often involved musicians inflicting harm upon themselves, as well as numerous different gross-out stunts like having animal carcasses on stage. Pentagrams and other satanic symbols and rituals were also not uncommon during these shows. Wearing corpse paint also became very traditional for black metal performers at this point in time. Black metal bands' motive was to make their shows feel as cold and as lifeless as possible, and were willing to do anything to achieve that.

At the time of this new wave, the vast majority of Norway was composed of Protestants, and the black metal scene served as a rebellion against those religious beliefs. This music was performed by the youth who rejected the beliefs and wanted to change the religious opinions of the majority through drastic measures. Therefore, church-burnings became a huge problem associated with the scene. Fans and musicians burnt down over fifty churches during this time in Norway, and several musicians were convicted and imprisoned because of it.

Many of the musicians and fans around this time also claimed to practice Satanism. These musicians preached Satanism through their music and some made their beliefs known through the church burnings. There were some Satanists who chose not to act on their beliefs though, such as Ihsahn of Emperor, who has actually recently had a change in his religious views and now no longer identifies himself as a Satanist.

As mentioned earlier, the biggest band of this scene was Mayhem. Mayhem was known for the extreme amount of controversy the actions of its members caused. The first very significant event in the band’s history was when their singer, Dead, committed suicide. Dead killed himself in a house owned by the band and was found by Euronymous. Dead had left a suicide note, apologized for killing himself indoors and for the bloody mess that he knew would result from shooting himself in the head with a shotgun. Euronymous took a photo of Dead's corpse and used it for Mayhem's bootleg live album, Dawn of the Black Hearts. It was rumored that Euronymous had also taken bits of Dead’s brain and made a stew with it; however, that has since been proven false. It is supposedly true, though, that he took pieces of Dead’s skull and made necklaces out of them, which he gave to musicians who had earned his utmost respect.

Even though Euronymous was a fairly disturbed man, he was also respected musically. In addition to having pioneered the second wave of black metal, he created a record label called Deathlike Silence Productions, which released numerous famous black metal albums.

After Dead’s death, Mayhem began to work on their first real full-length album. At this point, they recruited Atilla Csihar as their vocalist. Csihar was an unusual choice considering his voice was more operatic than most of the other black metal vocalists'.

Mayhem also recruited a new bass player, known within the band as Count Grishnackh. The bassist’s real name though was Varg Vikernes. Vikernes already had a reputation within the Norwegian black metal scene. He had experienced much success with his one-man project, Burzum, and he had committed several church burnings. Vikernes was a great musician and a perfect fit for Mayhem.

Nevertheless, just before the release of Mayhem first full length debut album, Vikernes murdered Euronymous. Vikernes claimed that his actions were in self defense, and that could very well have been true. Vikernes had heard from a few friends that Euronymous had been planning to attack him that night, and videotape himself torturing Vikernes to death. Euronymous had simply asked Vikernes to come over to sign a contract, but Vikernes believed that there was an ulterior motive. By the end of the night, however, all that is clear is that Euronymous ended up dead from a fatal stab wound as well as many other smaller cuts, which Vikernes claims were from Euronymous falling on broken glass.

Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the murder as well as for the various church burnings that he was convicted of committing. Recently, Vikernes has been released from prison early and has since continued recording under the Burzum moniker. Mayhem has also since been revived by their drummer, Hellhammer, and continues to perform today. Mayhem’s first album, the only one that featured Vikernes on bass, is called De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, and is considered a classic in the black metal genre.

After Euronymous’ murder, the second wave of black metal began to die down in Norway. However, the legacy of the scene remains intact today. Many notorious black metal releases were put out during that time, and many of the greatest black metal bands of all time were formed during that period. Since then, black metal has developed and progressed further, branching off into different styles, which we will discuss more in later blog entries.

Until then, there are a lot of documentaries and interviews that can shed more light on the Norwegian black metal scene. I recommend the documentary, Until the Light Takes Us, or the book, Lords of Chaos.

This scene is the most notoriously grim part of metal history, and it helped the genre of music gain its evil reputation.