The leading representative of Swedish industry around the world, Ikea, sells furniture of styles from a dozen nations. It has a housewares section, a full-service cafeteria, a donut shop and a grocery store. You can pick up electric lights, tools, houseplants and home decor there.
But conspicuously absent are the most important items from Sweden in recent memory: Swedish death metal and black metal.
16 CommentsTags: ikea, Sweden, Swedish Black Metal, Swedish Death Metal
Article by Johan P.
This text is a continuation of the previously published article, The Difficulties of Folk Metal. As stated in Part I, the threefold aim of this multi-part article is, in rough terms, to: 1. Give a short introduction to the subject, 2. Point out some of the difficulties connected with integrating folk music into metal and finally, 3. Provide alternative methods of integration. Part II will be dedicated to the second part of this quest.
Naturally, there are limits regarding the scope of my endeavor – the most obvious demarcation being that the article primarily focuses on Swedish folk music. In my view, the critique of folk metal is an ongoing project, and this article should not be seen as an exhaustive treatment of the subject at hand.
So, if someone else out there finds the subject interesting, you are more than welcome to make contributions. It could be in the form of additional material (metal or folk related) and complementary ideas to enhance the project. For example, the depth and applicability of the arguments presented below would surely benefit if the scope could be expanded to include other forms of traditional music.
42 CommentsTags: folk, folk metal, genre, Heavy Metal, Månegarm, music analysis, musical analysis, neofolk, nokturnal mortum, Sweden, The Voice of Steel, Vredens Tid
Dismember are currently in the process of reissuing their merchandise and back catalog to combat rampant poor-quality bootlegs. Brett Stevens reached out to the band for an email interview and drummer Fred Estby most graciously agreed to answer our staff’s questions:
18 CommentsTags: carnage, death metal, Dismember, Fred Estby, Heavy Metal, interview, Sweden
Article by Johan P.
I’ve never been overly impressed by the folk metal phenomenon, which emerged in the middle of the 1990s and began to gain popularity some years later. I do not mean to imply that there isn’t any good folk music out there. On the contrary, there’s a lot of rewarding traditional music to discover. Many musicians – metallers included – have realized that their respective countries’ folk music reservoir is a gold mine for potential ideas to integrate into more modern forms of music. It was on these premises that folk metal was born. However, if the source material is to be successfully re-animated and be brought into metal or any other genre, it requires some serious work from the composer and performer. Most folk metal bands fail at this point for a variety of reasons, with the end-result often sounding like bad heavy metal adorned with folk-melodies that have been stripped of all subtlety to fit into a rock-based harmonic and structural environment.
34 CommentsTags: folk, folk metal, genre, hipster bullshit, modern metal, music analysis, musical analysis, Sweden
Article by Johan P continuing Death Metal Underground’s progressive rock coverage.
Morte Macabre is a collaboration between members of the Swedish prog revivalist groups Landberk and Anekdoten, who joined forces to create progressive rock that is equal parts beautiful and disturbing. Their only album – Symphonic Holocaust – is a real treat for those who enjoy creepy music in general, especially 1970s Italian horror movie soundtracks. It is a tribute to the darker side of 70s progressive rock, with reference to Italian groups and composers like Celeste, Goblin, Museo Rosenbach, Fabio Frizzi and Riz Ortolani. An explicit Red-era King Crimson influence permeates the album as well.
14 CommentsTags: 1998, covers, hard rock, Horror, horror film, horror films, horror movie soundtracks, keyboards, mellotron, Morte Macabre, movie soundtracks, prog rock, progressive, progressive rock, review, Sweden, Symphonic Holocaust
Dismember announced on their Facebook page that their first official shirts in almost a decade will be available for purchase Sunday on their BigCartel store that seemingly hasn’t been made yet. The shirt design is brand new and features the cover of their 1988 Dismembered demo.
5 CommentsTags: death metal, Dismember, merch, merchandise, Sweden, tshirts
More mass murder of the unworthy.
7 CommentsTags: 2016, al-namrood, Black Metal, Centinex, Darkestrah, deathcore, diamond head, Forteresse, gothenburg metal, hard rock, metalcore, novelty metal, pseudo-progressive, quebec, Québécois, random, sadistic metal reviews, saudi arabia, sludge, stinking shit, Sweden, War Metal
Swedish blackened death metal band Vanhelgd announced the release of their fourth album, Temple of Phobos
6 CommentsTags: Black Metal, blackened death metal, dark descent, dark descent records, death metal, Pulverised Records, Sweden, Temple of Phobos, Vanhelgd
Dismember‘s Like an Ever Flowing Stream turned twenty-five this weekend. Like an Ever Flowing Stream upped the intensity from Carnage‘s Dark Recollections in the same way that Legion would do from Deicide‘s debut. Like an Ever Flowing Stream was faster, heavier, and more distorted. Dismember drenched themselves in blood and plugged dimed Boss Heavy Metal 2 pedals into dimed Marshall JCM 900 stacks, generating a ridiculously fat, high-gain rhythm guitar tone to trample and mangle all others.
12 CommentsTags: 1991, anniversary, carnage, death metal, Dismember, Like an Ever Flowing Stream, Nicke Andersson, Sweden
Dismember have started their own imprint, Sickening Arts.
7 CommentsTags: carnage, death metal, Dismember, news, Sickening Arts, Swedeath, Sweden, Swedish Death Metal
