This month in Black Metal: October 1995

October is upon us and it’s time to journey back 20 years and enjoy some releases in Black Metal. The list is comprised of the main releases in order that my personal tastes enjoyed; I might have missed some releases, but I am going off of the best internet sleuthing that I can dig up for this list.

Topping the list is Summoning’s second full-length release Minas Morgul; earlier in the year Summoning released Lugburz. This release has to top as my personal favorite of theirs, mostly because it was the first album that I listened to by Summoning, and secondly this is the first we hear of the formula that we know as Summoning, with the slow-tremolo guitars, and rhythmic drums that pull you into the Tolkien landscapes. Next on the list is Gehenna’s Seen Through the Veils of Darkness (The Second Spell), yet again another band’s second release that stands out as being their best album for me personally. The ripping guitar to transcending guitar parts mixed with eerie keyboards and blasting drums, very much on the same level as Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse from the year previous. Now onto Burzum’s Burzum/Aske, which is a compilation release of two older releases from 92 and 93, these releases on their own are staples of second wave Black Metal, but having them on one release is a testament for many that followed. Absu’s 7″ vinyl release of …and Shineth unto the Cold Cometh… is next on the list. The intro for the song is so great, you are transported to the ancient times of the Sumerian civilizations, but then blasted by Absu’s ripping, raw, fist-pumping song structures that makes Absu so amazing, still today. And last on my top five list would be Ved Buens Ende Written in Waters. Dødheimsgard, Virus, Aura Noir and Arcturus veterans coming together in 1995 to produce this strange iconic Avant-garde/Black Metal.

Feel like my top five isn’t correct? Comment below and discuss. Until next month… Hail and Kill!

Summoning – Minas Morgul

Gehenna – Seen Through the Veils of Darkness (The Second Spell)

Absu – …and Shineth unto the Cold Cometh…

Ved Buens Ende – Written in Waters

Bathory – Octagon

Accursed – Meditations Among the Tombs

Usurper – Diabolosis

Parnassus – In Doloriam Gloria

Wintermoon – The Mightiest Stand Above

Sigh – Infidel Art

Axamenta – Echoes

Infierno – Invocando al Diablo

Persophone – The Past of the Nightside

Necromancy – Into Apocalipsis

Verbimus – The Stone Is Grit…