Before the equinox...

My hibernation shall cease, and this blog will return.


Many things have changed in my life, and the blogger world. So there are many adjustments to be made, even before I can really imagine to resume this.


All the issues with filehosts, etc is of course the main issue, but of course my own disappointment to not live up to the blog entries I owe people.


At the same time, I have never perpetuated any illusions that this world of the internet is a place to give any sanctity, and my endeavours in the real world, with nature, will always take precedent to this.

So read and listen away, again, if still, or ever, you have shared in this expression of mine.

Back online

Yep, time for me to get off my arse and back into the cyber world. My life's still hectic, and I'm sure there may well be better things for me to do with my time, but fuck, I'm obsessed with BM.


So yeah, I'll try to catch up a little bit with some of the rad releases from the last few months or so, and I'll try to have a steady flow of posts in the next few months.

Sorry I wasn't back sooner!

Temporary hiatus

Technology sucks.

My computer died a while back, my general access to the internet is limited at best, and life overall seems to drags me in directions at the moment that are not this blog.

So basically this blog will be a bit slow in the next few months, but I'll still try to get a few posts up.

Apologies to all, but I hope to make this blog more active in the coming months.

Thanks for reading, and listening.

Some words on this blog...

So I have really been enjoying doing this blog for the last few months and hope a few people out there appreciate what I share. And of course I thank those who I find out about some of the amazing music out there.

I would also like to apologise for the dropping frequency of posts here. I guess I was excited and had alot of access to the internet when I began, and now I have to put more effort in to do the posts I do. Having the nature politics I do, I really shouldn't spend too much time on the internet, but this indeed is a primary reason for me being on the internet fairly regularly. Though of course I have a permaculture internship that I'm about to start to concentrate on. I will try to keep this blog going as much as I can though, so it's all good.

In regards to the music I post on here, and their politics, I would like to apologise for pretty much not talking much about given band's politics unlike I did towards the beginning of the blog. My justification is simply that many bands that might have really good lyrical themes, often express them in not so overt ways. So if I don't really mention politics, than such lyrics are not so obvious or overt. Whereas if it is, of course I'll mention it. And on top of that, I try to cover as much information as I can about given bands from other sources that I quote, thus making too much more talk on such matter less necessary.

Lastly, something I keep on close eye on while posting on here are the counters (flags and popular posts respectively). It's interesting to see the changes within these, and it's nice to see Corubo is still holding out on all the American bands for the most popular post. However, the flag counter I examine more. I find there is obviously some correlation between the countries of the bands I post, and the countries of the people who most regularly frequent this blog. And of course there's the correlation of this blog being in English and English speaking countries dominating. But what I am really interested in, is the countries that rate high on this flag counter that I'm not aware of having distinct radical environmentalist movements, or even bands that express thus.

Bulgaria anyone (at this rate, they will probably overtake my own country on the flag counter!)?

So of course, anyone from nations (this should be obvious, but I am anti-state and anti-borders) that are not represented here, I'd love you to tell me about projects from your countries that would be good to share here, perhaps even your own.

Okay, I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and listening of course.


If you haven't spend any time in the forest lately, maybe you should. It's REAL black metal you know.

Cascadian Black Metal

From last.fm:

Cascadian black metal introduce artists from the Pacific Northwest region of North America also known as the Cascade Range. The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California.

What follows is more of a diatribe than anything else, so do not continue if you don't want to read a genre rant. You have been warned.

So I basically think the aboved referenced quote is indeed a good definition of the term. At the very least, if you are more open in your interpretation, it is where the genre started. I also think it is comprised of both a style, musically (a type of atmospheric BM), but also ideologically (eg deep green ecology). Though a band is not neccessarily both, I find most bands from the region have strong tendencies towards both.

Basically, I am just wondering what the definitive definition is. Or what people think it means. The bands that are from their, sound like that, and represent thus, and of course, it. What I wonder more, is of the bands not from the region that are described thus. A really good example is Altar Of Plagues (of Ireland). This band, in being described as some variation of Cascadian BM goes even beyond bands from the US that are outside of Cascadia, but infact outside the USBM scene altogether (geographically). At the very least, on last.fm Altar of Plagues is described in this way.

The best I can do, before exploring this more deeply, is simply to call it Cascadian inspired BM.

The other angle I wonder about with the genre, is the ideology. Of course references of Anarchist BM and RABM come up, but I feel they do not express the particular of the ecological ideas. Eco-BM and hippie BM (though not very desirable, I use it as a simple way to describe radical ecological politics + BM) are terms I have thrown around. GA (Green Anarchist) or Primitivist/Primmie BM are possibilities, and infact the latter is sometimes used for the band Leech (and at least one other band I can't think of at this moment). However, it may be that Leech very particularly identify with that ideological term, whereas other bands, though have somewhat similar ideas, do not identify with that term. So then that at least does not seem to fit.

Maybe somebody will make the point about how alot of BM, irrespective of geography, has strong elements of nature appreciation. That may be true, but I feel there is a great distinction here. This is perhaps linked with a strong tendency within North America (eg Cascadian in particular) of radical ecological politics. And there is a marked absence of the racism or nationalism apparently in certain other BM scenes. That said...

I'm very much open to ideas, and of course to the organic progression of the language of genres... So give me some ideas if have any.

But for now, I'll stick with the definition at the top, Cascadian-inspired, and Eco-BM, depending on the context.

An Introduction...

So this is my humble blog. At this moment in it's infant stages, far from perfection. So please forgive me if it does not quite reach the mark of a good (metal/mp3) blog.

If you are here, I trust you must either like some variation of black metal, and/or have some appreciation of the natural world. And this blog searches for the conflation of those things.

This is primarily a black metal blog, musically speaking. However, as mentioned in the "ABOUT BLOG" section, I will present folk (metal) that is of a similar spirit, and perhaps other related music, but not limited to.

I should note that I do not share wholly original material here, and infact have many sources that I give my many thanks. There are countless blogs and other websites I have attained much wonderful information, and have no small piece in influencing the creation of this blog. Though numerous, the one blog at this time I feel most obliged to give thanks is the RABM (r-a-b-m.blogspot.com). I highly recommend it.

So without starting a diatribe, that's what this is about, and now I'm going to start this blog.

PS This blog will comprise of music I already know, and so in a way I may have vague ideas of mapping out what I present, but along side it I will endeavour to share any music I discover along the way. And please, by all means, share what you know, give me advice, and even just drop me a line.