Satyricon

Metal

Billboard

As is true for all musical genres, black metal has its share of cliches.Enter stage left: the devil himself, hailed by cacophonous guitar riffs, swathed in pompous keyboard orchestrations, a grotesque pandemonium of noise and blasphemous imagery, worshipped by hordes of black-clad youths trying their hardest to be different.

The theatrical horror of many black metal bands is easy to ridicule, but behind these superficial impressions lies something deeply disturbing, a menacing presence perfectly evoked by Norway's Satyricon on their aptly titled last album Volcano. Never a band to reiterate the obvious, the Oslo-based two-piece of Frost (drums) and Satyr (vocals, all other instruments) has made a remarkable career out of shaping the true core of one of the most uncompromising and extreme genres in musical history. Their aim has always been to explore the musical logic behind the darkest emotions, to add a defined aural structure to the metaphysical darkness of human existence. The tools they use are far from extraordinary ? great musicianship, an analytical mind that doesn't shy away from discarding the old stylistic formulas and the declared will to make each work they release special in its own way. The results stand out as landmarks of extreme metal music: the early works Dark Medieval Times (1993) and The Shadowthrone (1994) that helped create the myth of Norwegian black metal, the immensely successful Nemesis Devina (1996), Rebel Extravaganza (1999) and the unstoppable force of nature that is Volcano (2002). Now one of the finest bands in black metal's history returns with an ambitious new album. And if they shout Now, Diabolical, they mean it!