UMUR "Rebel Extravaganza" is the 4th full-length studio album by Norwegian black metal act Satyricon. The album was released through Moonfog Productions in September 1999. It´s the successor to "Nemesis Divina" from 1996, which was a very successful release for Satyricon, considerably heightening their profile on the international black metal scene.

Following up a successful release is always a difficult task, and Satyricon chose to do the only right thing, which was to write and record a totally different sounding release to "Nemesis Divina (1996)". A "Nemesis Divina" number 2, would probably have pleased some fans of the band, but a release like that would always have been measured aganst its predecessor and would probably have been regarded the lesser release. With "Rebel Extravaganza", Satyricon have created a bleak, harsh, and cold sounding black metal release which is pretty unique sounding in their discography. Some people hear an industrial influence, but I suspect it´s the harshness and coldness of the sound production, which make people hear that, because the actual music does not feature industrial influences. This is dark, aggressive, and raw sounding black metal through and through. Definitely the band´s most harsh release up until then.

Most songs on the 10 track, 60:38 minutes long album are pretty long (two even exceeding the 10 minutes mark) and they are generally not easily accessible although all feature recognisable vers/chorus structures, but they also feature many other sections, which make most of them relatively challenging listening material. The word progressive will probably be misunderstood if used here, but I´ll risk it and call some of the material on "Rebel Extravaganza" progressive inclined. The almost 11 minutes long "Tied in Bronze Chains" which opens the album is for example quite the elaborate song, featuring many different sections.

Upon conclusion "Rebel Extravaganza" is a bold and quite adventurous black metal release by Satyricon and it´s overall a high quality album. It´s not through and through the most consistent release, and a few more memorable moments and tighter song structures could pretty surely have made for a more accessible and catchy listen. Satyricon went in the other direction on "Rebel Extravaganza", which is pretty much as uncompromising as they get, and there is a great charm to the harshness and savagery on display here, which can´t be denied. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Nemesis Divina" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Norwegian black metal act Satyricon. The album was released through Moonfog Productions in April 1996. It´s the successor to "The Shadowthrone" from 1994 and there has been one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Samoth has been replaced by Kveldulv. The core part of the lineup remains in drummer Frost and lead vocalist/guitarist/bassist/keyboard player Satyr. "Nemesis Divina" considerably heightened Satyricon´s profile and the promotional video for "Mother North" was one of the tools the band successfully utilized to spread their music to a wider audience. "Nemesis Divina" quickly became one of the seminal black metal releases of the 90s.

Stylistically Satyricon have upped most elements of their music on "Nemesis Divina" compared to the preceding releases. The musicianship is stronger, the sound production more professional and intense, and the songwriting has in particular increased in quality. "Mother North" is the most famous track off the album, and it is indeed an absolutely brilliant track featuring both furious blasting sections, epic atmospheric keyboars/choirs, and crushingly doomy sections. But it´s not the only track worth mentioning from "Nemesis Divina", as it´s a strong album throughout. Other highlights include album opener "The Dawn of a New Age", and the raw and aggressive "Du som hater Gud" (translates into "You, Who Hates God").

Satyricon are a well playing act, who deliver their music with precision but also with a raw organic touch, which is important for the authenticity of the music. Satyr´s vocals deserve a special mention, as they are some of the most easily recognisable black metal snarls on the scene. He has a commanding and passionate delivery not many other black metal vocalists can equal. He understands the importance of phrasing and the power of delivering lyrics for impact (in both English and Norwegian). When he sings the first lines of "Du som hater Gud", you are not in doubt that he means what he sings. We can safely establish that there is no love for God and the Christian religion from Satyricon.

Upon conclusion "Nemesis Divina" is a high quality black metal release through and through. There´s good compositional variation and a near perfect balance between the authentic rawness of old school black metal and a more sophisticated adventurous songwriting approach. Satyricon successfully use keyboards, choirs, acoustic guitars, and the occasional ethnic Scandinavian folk element, to spice up their core black metal style, but it´s always just a spice, and never the elements which carry the tracks. The strong riffs, intriguing song structures, and overall clever compositional ideas are what carry the tracks, in addition to the high level musicianship and raw and intense sound production. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "The Shadowthrone" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Norwegian black metal act Satyricon. The album was released through Moonfog Productions in September 1994. It´s the successor to "Dark Medieval Times" from 1993 and features the core duo lineup of Satyr (vocals, guitars, synths) and Frost (drums) plus new bassist/guitarist Samoth.

"The Shadowthrone" is kicked off with an angry sounding Satyr snarling "Kampen mot Gud og hvitekrist er igang!" a capella in the opening seconds of "Hvite Krists død" ("The Death of White Christ"). The English translation from the original Norwegian lyrics is "The Fight against God and White Christ has begun!", and seldom have I heard a more powerful and intense statement of intent or a more effectful opening to an album. You can agree or disagree with the statement, but it´s arguably a damn effective way of opening an album.

Stylistically the material on "The Shadowthrone" is a heavy epic type of black metal, with both slow, mid-paced, and blasting sections. Satyricon often use keyboards to create atmosphere, but the keyboards aren´t dominant in the soundscape. "The Shadowthrone" features 7 tracks and a total playing time of 49:04 minutes and it´s a relatively varied release. There are both lyrics in Norwegian and in English, and although Satyr predominantly snarls his way through the album with his raspy black metal style vocals, there are also choirs and chanting clean vocals on the album. Stylistically a few tracks stand out as different from the rest and that´s "Vikingland" ("Land of the Vikings") and the closing track "I en svart kiste". The former is a viking metal track and the latter is an ambient synth dominated track. Variation is often important on an album, but a track like "Vikingland" disrupts the flow of the album, and doesn´t really fit the atmosphere of the rest of the material. "I en svart kiste" doesn´t disrupt the album flow and works alright as a closing track, but it´s honestly a bit tedious.

"The Shadowthrone" features a time typical black metal sound production, where the bass is seldom audible in the mix and the guitars are noisy and searing. As far as 1990s black metal productions go it´s a decent sounding release. Upon conclusion "The Shadowthrone" is a good quality album by Satyricon. After the powerful opening to the album I expected a bit more though and the "Vikingland" track isn´t exactly a plus either, but a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.

UMUR "Deep Calleth upon Deep" is the 9th full-length studio album by Norwegian extreme metal act Satyricon. The album was released through Napalm Records in September 2017. It´s the successor to the self-titled album from 2013.

Stylistically the material on the 8 track, 45:25 minutes long album is a natural progression from the material featured on the predecessor...or maybe more correctly, there´s been only little stylistic progression, and "Deep Calleth upon Deep" therefore feels like a natural successor to "Satyricon (2013)". Starting with "Volcano (2002)", Satyricon have gradually moved further and further away from their black metal roots, and have incorporated more traditional heavy metal elements, death- and doom metal elements, and even some hard rock (I swear I hear the odd Led Zeppelin influence here and there) and progressive rock elements. The aggression and pitch black darkness of their early releases are still a part of their sound, so although this isn´t black metal as such, it´s still gloomy and extreme music. Just another and more diverse type of extreme metal.

The unmistakable raw and raspy vocals and commanding delivery by Satyr are at the front of the soundscape and underneath the listener is met by heavy intriguing riffs, guitar harmonies, organic bass playing, and the inventive drumming by Frost. The latter reaches new adventurous heights with his playing on this album and I don´t hesitate to call him one of the most creative drummers on the scene. So again little has changed since the last album, but it still needs to be emphazised how well playing the band are and how convincing the delivery of the music is. Satyricon deserve that praise.

The material on the album is also well written, relatively diverse for the genre, and while it´s not Satyricon´s most innovative release, the quality is high throughout and there are several really strong compositions featured on the album. I´d mention "To Your Brethren In The Dark" and the title track as some of the highlights, but there are no sub par tracks on the album, which is entertaining throughout.

"Deep Calleth upon Deep" features an organic and powerful sounding production too, and upon conclusion it´s another strong album release by Satyricon. Black metal purists will probably wrinkle their noses and cry sell-out, but at this point it´s doubtful that there are many of those left in the Satyricon fanbase. "Deep Calleth upon Deep" is recommended to the listener who enjoys dark, clever, and heavy music with raw vocals and an above standard level of sophistication in the songwriting department. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

adg211288 Often overlooked in favour of the later Nemesis Divina (1996), Dark Medieval Times (1993) is the debut studio album by Norwegian black metal act Satyricon. Some sources insist that the album was actually released in 1994, but evidence, including the band's official website, suggests against this. On this album the long time duo of Satyr (vocals, guitars, bass) and Frost (drums) were joined by Lemarchand (guitars), albeit uncredited due to parting ways with the band and Torden (session keyboards).

I mentioned Nemesis Divina, the group's third album, right off the bat because it's often credited as their best release, but I'd like to refute that notion on behalf of Dark Medieval Times, which actually is the only Satyricon release that's ever really grabbed me as being something special. Of course I will advise to take that statement with a pinch of salt because there are a good number of Satyricon albums that I haven't tried yet. So far though, Dark Medieval Times is the first and only one that's caught my attention instantly.

Albums are made up of many things. First and most important is the music, of course, but the complete package of an album also includes it's title and artwork. Satyricon's Dark Medieval Times is an example of where the artwork, title and music contained within all fit together into one big picture. Rather than a straight black metal album of its time period, we find Satyr and Frost combining the genre's traditional aspects of raw, unpolished guitar and raspy vocals with heavy influences of dark/medieval folk, and even a touch of ambient.

They are sounds from two completely different walks of music, that somehow have always gone very much hand in hand with each other, this album no doubt being an early example. This symbiosis is likely what has resulted in many black metal musicians producing side projects in the ambient, dark/neofolk and neoclassical darkwave styles, including Satyr's own Wongraven album Fjelltronen (1995), an album whose roots are easily heard during Dark Medieval Times seven tracks.

I digress, the combination of the two creates an atmosphere that just fits the title so well. It's dark and it's medieval. And the album as a whole is an excellent experience to take the time to enjoy. Things are achieved no better than during the album's 8:12 minute long title track, where the band trade off sections of black metal and dark medieval folksy atmospheres for a lengthy instrumental closure.

Speaking of atmosphere there are some places where Dark Medieval Times almost becomes an actual atmospheric black metal album. Its black metal parts tend to be a bit too traditionally structures for that to really be the case but when it does have those moments, such as the opener Walk the Path of Sorrow, Satyricon actually do a better job of realising the sound than Burzum ever did.

Satyricon haven't yet managed to become one of my favourite black metal acts but Dark Medieval Times is a different matter. This album is one I'd count among the essentials of the genre, one that everyone who claims to be a fan should be paying attention to and hopefully adding to their collection. Those who prefer their black metal guitar to have a bit more gloss on the production may find it a bit raw of course, but even a little more spit and polish would have resulted in part of the album's special atmosphere being lost, and special atmosphere's like this are usually what makes a true gem of black metal come to life. It certainly does here, not only capturing it's title and artwork but also the sound of the early 90's Norwegian black metal scene. To my ears, Dark Medieval Times is one of the most creative releases to come out of that scene, light-years ahead of what groups like Mayhem, Darkthrone and even Immortal were doing on their first albums.