2023 has now come and gone — a year which brought us a number of incredible metal albums — and many of us surveyed the heavy music landscape to put together our albums of the year. Not content with just that, I decided to go back further and reflect on some of the formative albums of my favorite genre: black metal. As we all know the genre had roots in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until the ’90s that it really came into its own and started to become the genre we love (or hate) today. Since 2023 was my first full year as a part of the 9C crew and most grim and frostbitten season has been in full swing, there was no better time to reflect on some black metal albums that celebrated their 30th anniversary last year.

My exposure to black metal as a burgeoning trv kvlt fan was mostly limited to the Scandinavian scene of the ’90s, and I begrudgingly have to admit that there’s a number of genre classics that I missed out on while I had likely opted to listen to Bergtatt or Frost for the hundredth time instead. So in looking back 30 years to what 1993 had to offer, I’ll be taking a more global look at the genre than I had done in my younger days. Some of these albums I’ll be listening to for the very first time (blasphemy for a supposed black metal fan, I know — also, Blasphemy isn’t on this list), so we’ll see if they hold up in 2023. The genre has grown and transformed into so many incredible forms since then, but that doesn’t mean these kvlt klassics won’t be worth another look.

To address the potential elephants in the room, no, I will not be revisiting Burzum or Dissection. As formative as these bands were for many (myself included), enough words are still wasted on these acts when they just simply aren’t worth the time both on an artistic and moral level as a listener in 2023. So without further ado, let’s take a chronological look at some of what 1993 had to offer.

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A Blaze in the Northern Sky might have been Darkthrone’s first foray into black metal, but Fenriz wasn’t exaggerating when describing the album as “death metal riffs played in a black metal style” (and will forever be their best release, of course) — Under a Funeral Moon was when they truly began to exemplify what black metal was, and what the genre would remain on some level to this very day. The classic buzzsaw guitars and nearly nonstop blast beats, all wrapped in the the thinnest, most trebly blanket of a production job. Sure it’s rough, but I love the way all the instruments (especially the bass) still come through. As much as some black metal fans would hate to admit it, the bass-introduced middle section of “Summer of the Diabolical Holocaust” absolutely counts as a breakdown, and is a killer one at that. You’re now obligated to crowdkill to it the next time Darkthrone rolls through your town. The slower pace and more drawn-out nature of “To Walk the Infernal Fields” makes this track another highlight, and there’s no way the band weren’t inspired by Bathory’s early epic “Enter the Eternal Fire.” Even with simplistic songwriting and instrumentation, Darkthrone absolutely knew how to nail a dark, cold, and truly evil atmosphere. A black metal classic, and still a very enjoyable album to revisit.

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Sure, these EPs weren’t released together as a split until a few weeks after each had come out individually, but how can I pass on talking about both Emperor and Enslaved? Emperor is bookended by two songs that would be featured the following year on the band’s debut opus, “I Am the Black Wizards” and “Cosmic Keys to My Creations and Times”; pretty wild that Ihsahn had already written what is arguably the most iconic black metal song of all time at the ripe age of 17, eh? These tracks are pretty much the same songs that would appear on In the Nightside Eclipse, just rawer and without the full symphonic feel that would appear on that landmark album. The middle tracks “Wrath of the Tyrant” and “Night of the Graveless Souls” are re-recorded versions of songs that had appeared on the former’s eponymous 1992 demo, and aren’t anything to write home about aside from being raw, but still less raw versions of that earlier material. Bigger things would soon be coming from Emperor; it’s the Enslaved half that really stands out here.

Hordanes Land is one of several classic ’90s black metal releases that have had the honor of being remastered in the last decade (and not the only one on this list), so that’s the version I’ll be discussing here. What these remasters have done is retain the raw, primal qualities of the original recordings while also cleaning up the sound enough so that you can experience every little intricacy on display, and it’s something I absolutely support. So far Hordanes Land is the only Enslaved album to receive this treatment aside from a vinyl-only remaster of Vikingligr veldi; I’d love to see the rest of their ’90s material remastered in the same fashion. So what makes this EP so special?

Despite the youth of the trio (15 – 19 years old at the time of recording) and only being Enslaved’s third-ever release after demos in ’91 and ’92, it showcases a band both confident and willing to expand their own horizons. The deliciously simple keyboards that are present right from the beginning of “Slaget i skogen bortenfor (Epilog / Slaget),” the layering of acoustic guitars where appropriate, the effortless transitions from fast to mid-tempo riffs; these songs are certainly drawn-out and repetitive, but it’s a repetition well-earned. “Allfǫðr Oðinn” is still a staple of Enslaved live sets over thirty years later, and for good reason: it’s a fucking banger. “Balfǫr (Andi fara / Prologr)” has a great mournful atmosphere to it throughout — with Grutle Kjellson’s early bass lines and the closing piano — that just goes to show how great a songwriter Ivar Bjørnson already was at age 15. The manner in which the viking metal style (yes, I do consider that to be a thing even if it’s often used incorrectly) established by Quorthon on Hammerheart and Twilight of the Gods is fused with what was brewing in 1990s Norway is nothing short of magical. If the original three songs on Hordanes Land are too soft for you, fear not; the remaster features the band’s self-titled song, a furious piece of classic Norwegian black metal. A fantastic early release by my favorite band of all time, who are still releasing incredible music and kicking ass thirty years later.

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The Hellenic black metal scene is one that has regrettably never been on my radar, save for the works of the criminally underrated Transcending Bizarre? (RIP) and the many projects of Ayloss. My more recent delving into melodic black metal and the purported influences behind Predatory Light’s phenomenal Death and the Twilight Hours has often pointed in the direction of ’90s Greek black metal, which I understand often took a more traditional heavy metal approach to its riffage. Seems like no better place to start than Varathron’s debut album, His Majesty at the Swamp.

After a spooky intro track, “Son of the Moon (Act II)” oozes classic heavy metal tone and lead playing right from the get-go before hitting doom and something akin to speed metal, all within the first three minutes! This really sets the pace for the rest of the album. If it weren’t for the vocals I’d almost be hesitant to even consider this black metal, at least until highlight “Lustful Father;” this one sounds like the most evil Judas Priest song never made, and it finally introduces some blast beats. The drums on this album are programmed, yet it’s pretty astounding that they sound better than many bedroom black metal projects today. In stark contrast to the Norwegian albums I’ve revisited so far there’s a lot of open space in the sound; no all-enveloping static to be found here. Given the obvious influences from trad heavy/doom, it makes sense why Varathron would go that route. Funnily enough, closer “The Tressrising of Nyarlathothep (Act I)” was recorded years before the rest of the album with real drums (and two brothers who might make an appearance later in this list), yet sounds more full and is more interesting compositionally than the rest of the album. Nevertheless, there’s still some great throwback riffage and melodies going on here. His Majesty at the Swamp may not be the sharpest tool in the shed — Varathron isn’t love, Varathron isn’t life — but this is still a solid debut that just goes to show how varied black metal was already becoming in its relative infancy.

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Despite being introduced to black metal mostly through Norwegian bands, Satyricon has largely slipped under my radar until more recently. Their debut Dark Medieval Times also received a pretty solid remaster just a couple years ago, and has more of what you’d expect from Norway at the time: that classic buzzsaw guitar tone, but this time with a healthy dose of keyboards and pleasant acoustic guitar interludes. Opener “Walk the Path of Sorrow” almost feels like proto-atmospheric black metal with its repetition and immaculate keys, but unfortunately the riffs aren’t interesting enough to make it very special; thankfully the title track kicks things into gear with multilayered electric/acoustic guitars and rapid shifts in dynamics.

I’ll cut Satyricon some slack given when Dark Medieval Times appeared in the black metal canon but it tries to do too many things and none of them particularly well, largely in part to the lack of interesting riffs through most of the album. Repetitive atmospherics, symphonic elements, folk segments; all these would soon be done much better on releases like Vikingligr veldi, In the Nightside Eclipse, and Bergtatt. I’ll again chalk this up to age, but Frost’s drum performance isn’t anything to write home about (despite the impression I’ve gotten about him through cultural osmosis) aside from the pounding intro to “Into the Mighty Forest”; this sets a much more interesting tone than what was on the album up until this point. The final tracks “The Dark Castle in the Deep Forest” and “Taakeslottet” do feature some interesting melodies — just dissonant enough to where it almost feels like they could fall apart at any moment, this sense aided greatly by the crunchy guitar tone. It’s like these riffs aren’t really meant to be played with such a sound but they went ahead anyways… this is black metal after all! Ulver’s Haavard contributed guest guitars on this album so I wonder if he had anything to do with this, or if he just played the acoustic segments. Overall not a bad album, but a bit too disjointed and certainly overshadowed by what would be coming within the next few years.

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Believe it or not, these next five albums all came out in the last two months of 1993! In contrast to the previous album, Immortal’s sophomore album Pure Holocaust is 33 minutes of pure riffs. The buzzsaw guitar remains, but the production courtesy of Trve Norwegian Black Metal legend Pytten ensures everything is just clear enough to come through; most notably of course, the layers of icy cold riffs from Demonaz. Pure Holocaust is fast, intense, and — in the first four tracks at least — very concise. The final four tracks solely written by Abbath are a bit longer and more adventurous compositionally (perhaps a hint of what was to come once he took over guitar duties on At the Heart of Winter), but rest assured there’s not a hint of more expansive or epic black metal at play — things only take a break from constant trem picking and blast beats during “The Sun No Longer Rises” and “As the Eternity Opens.” Abbath’s croaking frog vocals may be off-putting to some, but I’ve always loved them. Pretty well-enunciated compared to others in the scene too! His drumming here is solid as well, I’ve always been surprised at how much a downgrade his performance is on the following album Battles in the North. Despite their somewhat goofy and less evil reputation compared to their peers, Pure Holocaust showcases how Immortal were truly the unsung riff masters of the Norwegian black metal scene — they never needed anything but their guitars and good instincts to create some of the coldest black metal possible.

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We return once again to Greece with the debut full-length from the most well-known band in the scene, Rotting Christ’s Thy Mighty Contract. Right away I find the sound much more interesting than Varathron; keys aren’t a constant feature, but they sound great and fill out the sonic space without making the album feel like full-on symphonic black metal. Continuing in the vein of what was cooking in Greece at this time the riffs here are highly melodic and catchy in a traditional heavy metal sense, but there’s more black metal elements at play throughout — the ebb and flow between these two styles are very well done, and serve to give great forward momentum. The faster riffs have tendency to use single notes as opposed to a wall of chords like, for instance, a Norwegian band at this time would; when these types of riffs do appear (such as in “Dive the Deepest Abyss”) they have that much more impact. “Fgmenth, Thy Gift” is probably the best example of what the album has to offer — great melodies, a cool keyboard break, and just all around well-written. “The Coronation of the Serpent” also features some more prominent keyboards (I for one would’ve liked more songs to feature them). The electronic drums used by Themis Tolis have a pretty repetitive sound (understandably), but there is a hypnotic quality to them; just like the riffs there isn’t a huge amount of variety, but it all feels precise.

Thy Mighty Contract and His Majesty at the Swamp may not be the most intense or high-energy black metal albums, but they’re still solid releases that proved the Hellenic scene was highly capable of distinguishing itself from the peers elsewhere in Europe and abroad. It may have taken me too long to check the early work from these bands out, but I’m glad I finally did — my preferred tastes in melodic black metal lie elsewhere, but it’s nice to have some more context into some of the early work of that subgenre.

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Of all the albums I chose for this list, Beherit’s debut full-length Drawing Down the Moon is probably the one I was most dreading listening to. I had never even heard of this album until I was surprised to see it come in at #10 on Decibel Magazine’s Top 100 Black Metal Albums of All Time issue back in 2013 — I don’t think I even made it through the first song before turning it off. How has such a weird and poorly performed album garnered such a reputation in the black metal underground? I guess that’s a question that answers itself. The vocals instantly remind me of Seth Putnam’s parody black metal project Impaled Northern Moonforest, the guitar “riffs” aren’t memorable, and the drums feel like they can’t keep up with the rest of the band. Considering how simple this music is, that’s really saying something. This basically sounds like a band’s first ever practice to me. Obviously there has to be a “so bad it’s good” element at play here (which I guess I can appreciate), but this just isn’t for me. Perhaps it’d grow on me with enough listens, but it’s so off-putting I don’t think I’d be able to stomach it. The ambient songs like “Nuclear Girl” and “Summerlands” are a bit more interesting, but they don’t do anything to redeem the rest of the album. Closer “Lord of Shadows and Golden Wood” is the only track that seems to really embrace the pseudo-industrial vibe that is merely hinted at on the rest of the album. It’s a bummer that such a foreboding album cover about the emptiness of space gets almost no reflection in the music! Cue Joker’s “you wouldn’t get it,” but he’s wearing corpsepaint.

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We’re in the home stretch now, still with me? My journey now leaves Europe behind for good as we cross the Atlantic over to Brazil. Perhaps the most primitive album on this list — at least in terms of similarity to the first wave of black metal — is Mystifier’s sophomore album Göetia. This album takes us back a few years from 1993 to a time when the line between black and death metal was blurred, with both crunchy trem-picked riffs and a good amount of slow, doomier ones. The drumming on this is a standout, if not for any other reason than the fact that Lucifuge Rofocale absolutely did not want to use kick drums at all during the blast beats! Instead he goes to town on the cymbals. There’s dive-bomb shred guitar solos, quick keyboard flourishes that give it a more occult atmosphere in line with its themes, and brief spurts of odd-time drum patterns, but ultimately this isn’t a terribly complex or varied album. Some song transitions are so seamless I probably wouldn’t have noticed, a fact not helped by their long lengths — Göetia clocks in at a whopping 56 minutes. I found few standouts here aside from “Caerimonia Sanguilentu (Göetia)” with a nice sense of groove and closer “The Baphometic Goat of Knights Templar in the 12th Century” and it’s impressive bass playing. Wish the rest of the album sounded as good as these tracks and stayed under six minutes like they do! There’s an undeniable charm here, but since I’m not a fan of much first wave black metal in the first place Göetia just isn’t really for me either.

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The final entry in this list takes us across the world to Japan and the debut album from future avant-garde masters Sigh, Scorn Defeat. Aside from listening to Imaginary Soniscape a while back I’m not too familiar with the band, but after enjoying the couple songs I heard from 2022’s Shiki I should probably dig into the rest of their discography ASAP. Like Enslaved, Euronymous had signed the band to his label Deathlike Silence Productions after they had released just some demos and an EP — clearly he had an sense for bands that would go on to release not only great black metal, but have the guts to move above and beyond the genre. Although Scorn Defeat is rooted in a lot of first wave speed/thrash-influenced riffage, the prominent keys, piano, and sharp transitions to doom metal give it a much different sound than anything I’ve listened to on this journey so far. Nine-minute epic “Ready for the Final War” is a great example of this, going from devastating chugs to blistering tremolo riffs before a finale of soaring leads and bright piano. “Gundali” is another highlight and unlike anything else on the album, opting instead to be a keys-led funerary dirge that turns into more solo piano. Sigh were obviously looking to experiment right from the get go, and this makes Scorn Defeat a definite highlight to close out my trip back to 1993.

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I’m not gonna say this journey back 30 years was without any bumps in the road — and I didn’t necessarily pick up any newfound favorites — but it was still a worthwhile experience. 1993 was clearly a huge year for black metal worldwide, with a number of debuts from bands still making music and touring to this very day. The genre was still in its relative infancy but many different styles within were already being established, and future classics had already been released. 1993 wasn’t chock full of my personal favorites, but the following year was absolutely going to change that. From here black metal had nowhere to go but up, and boy it did.

— Colin