Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.
Borknagar is a Norwegian heavy metal band from Bergen, founded in 1995 by Øystein Garnes Brun. The band's style combines black metal and folk metal with progressive and melodic elements. Borknagar's lyrics often deal with philosophy, paganism, nature and the cosmos.
Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. It was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, who is also the only original member remaining, and the band have since released nine studio albums. Gorgoroth are a Satanic band and have drawn controversy due to some of their concerts, which have featured impaled sheep heads and mock crucifixions. The band is named after the dead plateau of darkness in the land of Mordor from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings.
The early Norwegian black metal scene of the 1990s is credited with creating the modern black metal genre and produced some of the most acclaimed and influential artists in extreme metal. It attracted massive media attention when it was revealed that its members had been responsible for two murders and a wave of church burnings in Norway.
Kristian Eivind Espedal, better known by his stage name Gaahl, is a Norwegian vocalist and painter. He is best known as the former frontman of Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. He is also the founder and lead vocalist of Trelldom and Gaahlskagg. Since leaving Gorgoroth, he has been involved with God Seed, Wardruna, and Gaahls Wyrd. He was the focus of the documentary True Norwegian Black Metal and also appeared in the film Flukt.
Roger Tiegs, better known by his stage name Infernus, is a Norwegian black metal musician and Satanist. He is the sole founding member and chief ideologist of the black metal band Gorgoroth, which was formed in 1992, as well as the founder and head of Forces of Satan Records. He is mainly a guitarist but has also participated as bassist, drummer and vocalist on several recordings released both by Gorgoroth and other bands.
Tom Cato Visnes, better known as King ov Hell or simply King, is a Norwegian musician. He is best known as the former bassist of black metal band Gorgoroth, but he is also the co-founder of Ov Hell, God Seed, Jotunspor, Audrey Horne, Sahg, I and Temple of the Black Moon.
m:A Fog is a heavy metal musician.
Tormentor is a Norwegian black metal musician who is best known for his work as guitarist with the black metal band Gorgoroth.
Espedal is a valley and hamlet in the municipality of Fjaler in Vestland county, Norway. It is located about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of the municipal center of Dale, and about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southwest of the village of Flekke. The area is owned by the Espedal family.
Apollyon is a black metal/thrash metal multi-instrumentalist, formerly associated with Dødheimsgard and Cadaver, now playing in Aura Noir and also Immortal after its reforming in 2006. He has done guest vocals on the Darkthrone albums Plaguewielder and Sardonic Wrath, and also on Audiopain's EP 1986 (2000). He was a live guitarist for Gorgoroth from 2003 to 2004, and performed at Gorgoroth's now infamous Kraków gig in February 2004. In 2004 Apollyon participated in a live tribute to Quorthon of Bathory at the Hole in the Sky festival in Bergen, Norway. Apollyon played bass on all songs, and also did the vocals on the song Equimanthorn. In addition to Apollyon, the line-up of this tribute band consisted of Bård Faust (ex-Emperor) on drums and Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) and Samoth (Emperor) on guitars, as well as guest vocalists Gaahl (Gorgoroth), Abbath (Immortal), Grutle Kjellson (Enslaved), Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone) and Satyr (Satyricon).
Black Mass Krakow 2004 is a live concert DVD by Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. It was released by Metal Mind on 9 June 2008 in Europe, and on 8 July 2008 in the US. The DVD featured the band's controversial 2004 concert that was filmed in a TV studio in Kraków, Poland. The DVD also included live footage from the Full Force Festival Leipzig 2000, band biography, discography, photo gallery, desktop images and web links, and was compatible with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
True Norwegian Black Metal – Live in Grieghallen is Gorgoroth's first full-length live album, released by Regain Records. It was recorded live in the studio at Grieghallen Lydstudio in Bergen and Threeman Recordings in Stockholm. The songs on the album represented the most commonly played songs in Gorgoroth's live set. The cover design by Magnus Wohlfart was radically different from the previous three full-length albums, being more reminiscent of the cover of the album Under the Sign of Hell (1997). Most of the album was recorded before the departure of vocalist Gaahl and bass guitarist King ov Hell, who had intended on using the band's name and assets. The bass guitar for this album was later re-recorded by guitarist and band founder Infernus. Infernus dedicated the album to the late Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection.
Thomas Kronenes, best known by the stage name Pest, is a Norwegian black metal musician, mainly known for his work in the band Gorgoroth. While a part of Gorgoroth he performed vocals, and also played guitar in the group for a very short time in 1996.
Ronny Hovland, better known as Ares, is a Norwegian metal vocalist, guitarist and bassist, and the founder of the Norwegian death metal band Aeternus.
The Gorgoroth name dispute refers to a legal dispute between musicians from Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth over who had ownership of the band's name, which was derived from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. The parties to the dispute were band founder Infernus and members Gaahl and King ov Hell. It began in October 2007, when it was announced that Gaahl and King had decided to part ways with Infernus, although the former two claimed to have "fired" the latter. The dispute was concluded in March 2009 when a court verdict recognising Infernus as the legitimate user of the name was announced, and the outcome of the dispute also established a precedent in Norway for subsequent similar disputes.
Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt is the eighth studio album by Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. It was released on 21 October 2009 by Regain Records. This album marked the return of Pest on vocals, as well as the debut of Tomas Asklund on drums and Bøddel on bass.
God Seed was a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen, Norway. Former Gorgoroth members Gaahl and King ov Hell adopted the name in March 2009 following the ending of the Gorgoroth name dispute. After performing a few gigs as God Seed, vocalist Gaahl left the band in July 2009 and it was put on hold. King finished the music for God Seed's first album, with vocalist Shagrath, and released it under the name Ov Hell. Gaahl re-joined God Seed in 2012. In January that year they released the live album Live at Wacken, and in October they released their first studio album, I Begin.
Ov Hell is a Norwegian black metal supergroup started by Shagrath and King ov Hell in 2009. The band's debut album, The Underworld Regime, was released in February 2010 by Indie Recordings.
Gaahls Wyrd is a black metal band based in Bergen, Norway, formed by the former Gorgoroth and God Seed vocalist Gaahl.
