Worthless "Satanic" Whoreship - "Hrimthursum" Review (7%)
"Although I do not know these guys, it is pretty obvious that there is really nothing SATANIC about these guys. Who the fuck can believe in this fake theatre? Satanism is not about racist Pagan bands oppressing minorities, it's about about defending immigrants and refugees against the oppressive doctrines of fascism and sticking a middle-finger to the church and Christian society" - David "Blackmoon" Parland, when asked about "Norwegian black metal".
Such spiritual carnage. "God" just got REKT by "Satan", man, he will NEVER SURVIV- oh wait, he doesn't exist. I momentarily forgot that religion is, well, religion. That seems to be a constant and likely the self-avowed goal of Necrophobic, and other "orthodox black metal" clown acts like Gorgoroth and Dark Funeral, the latter with whom Necrophobic shares members like the aforementioned Parland's used dildos (found at his residence for some best left unexplained reason when he committed suicide in 2013).
Yes, Necrophobic is enamoured of the unholy wrath promised by THE ADVERSARY OF GOD - He is! The Bible SAYS SO! - much like a middle child taking delight in the parents' chastising of an errant elder sibling. Proof once again that the bullshit "theistic Satanist" whoreship amounts to nothing more than closet Christianity, as was even grudingly admitted by Gorgoroth frontman and likely police informant Infernus when asked, since he believed in "Satan", if he likewise believed in "God". He gave the word-for-word Christian answer taken straight from a Bible studies' group, which makes you REALLY wonder what the man does with his spare time (aside from being a police informant and making up rumours about infiltrating "Pagan Neo-Nazi" gang in prison, obviously).
In the 2,006th Year of (Y)our Lord Satan The Mighty, one "satanic" metalcore band - talentless, spiteful, confused, conflicted over the idiocy of their purported "religion" and, most of all, outraged at those "racist Pagan bands" like Enslaved and Burzum - gave birth to this musical curiosity, a dervish-borne testament to both the utter worthlessness of Necrophobic as a band and to the self-contradictory nature of theistic Christianity Satanism.
Worthless "Satanic" Whoreship
In venting what seems to me to be a veritable deluge of angsty religious frustration and confusion, Parland and his ilk chose as their channeling medium what would likely have appear one of the most "extreme" vehicles they were aware of: the Scandinavian black metal sound of the early 90s. It must have seemed appropriate to them, somehow... a "middle-finger" indeed - though not to the Church, as Parland claims, but to the Church Burners. Those "racist Pagan bands" that deserve to go to Hell for not listening to the teaching of Our Unholy Master, Lord Jesus Christ Satan The Very Evil!!!
In realizing the above concept, "Hrimthursum" - like the infamous "Bloodhymns" released before it - comes to sound like nothing so much as a tribute to the most well-known names in Norwegian black metal - Burzum, Immortal, Darkthrone, Miasma, Mayhem and a bit of Bathory, though one can also hear what I'd liken to a slight Neraines flavour on some of the more energetic tracks, such as "Eternal Winter" and "Death Immaculate". The Swedish legends Marduk were around during this period, as well, of course, but don't seem to have had much influence on Necrophobic's sound.
Indeed, the single most characteristic aspect of "Hrimthursum" is how derivative it sounds, and this becomes all the more significant when one considers its age - it was released over a decade after the Norwegian black metal scene reached its peak (with "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" and "Under a Funeral Moon", chiefly). It is almost literally nothing but a recombination of elements and approaches taken from the aforementioned bands. Even in the realm of production quality, the Necrophobic clowns go out of their way to "sound like Darkthrone".
Except they aren't Darkthrone. Remember, Darkthrone are "Pagan Nazis" and probably "not REAL SATANIC" like the retarded incel David "Blackmoon" Parland.
Black metal is an inextricably intertwined combination of aesthetic and message. Attempt to artificially excise one from the other - or, as with Necrophobic, to apply "satanic lyrics" over random metalcore single-string chugging - and whatever one ends up with will no longer be true to the spirit of black metal, and likely won't amount to much either way.
This isn't "elitism", this is common sense.
There exist a certain incompatibility between modes of Christian - "Satanist" versions included - perception/worldview and European/Pagan thought is a characteristic of all metal to at least some degree, and in none more so than in Norwegian black metal.
Necrophobic - and religious apologists of Christian/Satanic faith - tend to persist in framing the issue in terms of gross categorisations: good vs evil, "God" vs "Satan", love vs hate, etc. The theology of Satanism or Luciferianism itself - as well as, to a much lesser degree, the use of the prefix "anti-" as opposed to "un-", although that's more symbolic than significative - reveals the scam hiding behind "Lord Satan's Evil Pentagrams of Evil"... the perpetuation of the Christian worldview by "closet Christians", useful idiots to the church.
The entire gimmick of "theistic Satanism" is about conceiling the inferiority complex and "chip-on-the-shoulder" resentment of people like David "Blackmoon" Parland (who committed "satanic suicide" in 2013) under a heavy dose of faux aristocratic elitism.
But really, what "elitism" is there to be found in the Old Testament? A book which proclaims the "equality of all in the eye of God", sometimes referred to as the "first egalitarian manifesto" by scholars? What "artistocratic values" can be found in Abrahamic literature? A glorification of dogmas whose basic tenets are subservience, individualism, slave morality and prostration before an imaginary omnipotent deity?
It doesn't matter if the deity you worship is called "God" or "Satan", they are two fictional characters from the same Middle-Eastern fiction... and neither of which are welcome in black metal.
I'll even let you in on a secret. Christians and "the Church" don't consider "Satanists" as a threat. At all. Which is why even the most relatively mild Pagan bands like Enslaved, Immortal, Graveland, Satyricon, Bathory and others are constantly slandered as "Neo-Nazi white supremacist" - including, apparently, by David Parland - whereas "Satanist" bands, even those that go out of their way to be as offensive and blasphemous as possible, are never targeted by such smear campaigns.
A perfect illustration of the above point can be found in the band Behemoth. For their first two albums, mostly European Pagan/nationalist black metal of the Graveland sort (they were even called a Graveland clone), Behemoth was constantly accused of having "Hitlerian" sympathies and promoting a "fascistic" worldview. The Polish government even considered outright banning their albums. Then, overnight, Nergal stopped writing about European mythology, Paganism and the "European ethos" and fully embraced the worst and most embarrassing aspects of "theistic Satanism". And guess what, his legal worries disappeared and he started being promoted by the media - the same media that defamed him as a "Nazi aficionado" with a "Hitler fetish" - as the "new face of death metal".
The epigraph in the booklet of "Hrimthursum" as well as Christian "unblack" metal's relation to the larger black metal scene - and their attitudes to the "theistic Satanist" sub-segment particularly so - are both very revealing, but not for the reasons you think... You see, when a Satanist/Christian is looking down on another Satanist/Christian of diverging faith - ex. Parland talking about "Christian sheep", or a pastor mentioning those "devil worshiping" hard rock bands like AC/DC - they aren't talking about heretics... they are treating with schismatics. They don't "hate" the "lost lamb", they are merely trying to "show them the light". No, their true hate is reserved for the "racist Pagan bands" like Darkthrone, Burzum, Mayhem and Enslaved that completely reject Christianity.
The "Hrimthursum" album itself is Satan defecating all over "his" followers as they attempt to "out-Christian" each other, by quoting more and more obscure Biblical references that have absolutely 0 relevance in the modern extreme metal scene. Why does Necrophobic try so hard to appear "like, totally not Christian, bruh" despite the band's flagrant and unabashed Old Testament whoreship? You have 3 guesses, and the first 666 don't count.
Hrimthursum score: 7/100.
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