FENRIZ PRESENTS 'The Best of Old School Black Metal'
Peaceville Records(2004)
It was not more than three months ago that Lisa from Peaceville Records told me that she was on the verge of closing a deal with a very important artist - a deal that would generate great interest towards her label.
I was quite intrigued by her words, but I would never have imagined that the artist that she was referring to at the time was Fenriz from Darkthrone.
The label and the artist stopped every kind of collaboration right after the release of Darkthrone’s album “Transylvanian Hunger”, and that was exactly ten years ago.
It is also very important to mention that the artist and the label didn’t exactly part ways under the best circumstances, and it was exactly that which raised the level of my amazement.
Well, it seems like the axes of war are well buried, and both parties decided to inject all their energy into this amazing collection called “The Best of Old School Black Metal” – a collection that will be available to all the fans of the Extreme Metal music from the 20th of September.
Fenriz is without a doubt one of the most important personalities of the Black Metal scene, and his albums have been dominating the Extreme Metal scene for the last fourteen years. If there is one person that’s entitled to make a presentation of some of the most important songs in the history of this unique genre, that’s definitely him. The task was to create a collection which would contain sixteen of the most important Black Metal songs ever written. The key factor which helped Fenriz select these songs was not the fastness of the guitar riffs or the extreme presentation by the members of each band, but the feeling that derives from these unique recordings. That is exactly why I consider this collection to be extremely successful.
Black Metal has been through two major phases so far, and the songs of this collection are perfectly balanced between these two different eras.
The first period of Black Metal is represented not only by some of the most successful extreme Metal bands like Sodom, Destruction, Venom, Mercyful Fate and Celtic Frost, but also by cult outfits like Sarcofago (Brazil), Bulldozer (Italy) and Tormentor!
It was really delightful to see that Fenriz considers songs like “Evil”, “Curse the Gods”, “Burst Command Till War” and “Dawn of Megiddo” to have built the foundations on which the Black Metal scene now proudly stands.
It is also important to see which of the bands that appeared during the same era as Darkthrone are considered important enough to be added to this collection by the Norwegian noisemaker. Again the song selection will not disappoint.
The second era of Black Metal is represented by Samael, Mayhem, Aura Noire and for the first time in any Black Metal compilation, by Burzum. I fail to see how anyone other than Fenriz would be able to include songs from Mayhem and Burzum in the same collection, but it is no secret that Fenriz had quite a good relationship with both Count Grishnackh and Euronymous. Songs like “Freezing Moon”, “Ea, Lord of the Deeps” and “Into the Pentagram” will invade your CD player, and will generally dictate what is to become the soundtrack of your everyday life for the next couple of months.
Compilations like these deserve nothing less than the highest possible ranking. I hope that other labels will follow Peaceville’s example, and in case you are not yet convinced, maybe the complete track list of this compilation will change your mind.
Track list:
1. Blasphemy Winds - O 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 Of 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
*****
Review by John Stefanis
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