Burzum is a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a staple of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black metal's history. Vikernes has also released five dark ambient and neofolk albums. The word "burzum" means "darkness" in the Black Speech, a fictional language crafted by The Lord of the Rings writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Burzum's lyrics and imagery are often inspired by fantasy and Norse mythology.
Gylve Fenris Nagell, known professionally as Fenriz, is a Norwegian musician, part-time music journalist and online radio host who is best known as being one half of the black metal duo Darkthrone, alongside Nocturno Culto. Although primarily a drummer and songwriter, he has also played bass and guitar and performed vocals for Darkthrone and several other metal bands. Fenriz is famed for his encyclopedic knowledge of metal music, his eager promotion of underground bands and the DIY ethic, and his rejection of the "showbiz side of the music industry". Fenriz was also the studio drummer for doom metal band Valhall, and has had several solo projects, including the folk black metal project Isengard and the dark ambient project Neptune Towers.
Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. It was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, who is the sole original member remaining, and has 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.
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the first studio album by Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. Songwriting began in 1987, but due to the suicide of vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin and the murder of guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, the album's release was delayed until May 1994. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is widely considered one of the most influential black metal albums of all time. It is the band's only studio album to feature Aarseth and Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes.
Isengard is a solo project of Fenriz, the drummer of Darkthrone, created in 1989.
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, formed in 1992, in addition to being the founder and head of Forces of Satan Records. While mainly a guitarist, Infernus 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, and as a member of Audrey Horne, Sahg, I, Ov Hell, God Seed, Abbath, Jotunspor and Temple of the Black Moon.
A Sorcery Written in Blood was the first demo released by Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. The title of the demo was taken from the lyrics of the song "The Return of Darkness and Evil" by the band Bathory. The demo was released in 1993 as a limited edition hand-numbered cassette. A 7" vinyl bootleg also existed; however, there were no official reissues. Due to the Satanic imagery used on the demo cover, the newspaper Firda in Førde in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, ran a front-page story on the demo and Gorgoroth on 7 January 1994. The demo led to the band landing a record deal with French record label Embassy Productions. The track "Sexual Bloodgargling" was an early version of the song "Ritual", re-recorded for Gorgoroth's first album Pentagram.
Frank Watkins was an American heavy metal musician best known as a former, long-time bass player for the death metal band Obituary; he played with them from 1989 to 1997 and then from 2003 until 2010. He had been the bass player of the Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth at the time of his death, where he had been known as Bøddel.
Tormentor is a Norwegian black metal musician who is best known for his work as guitarist with the black metal band Gorgoroth.
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 infamous Kraków show in February 2004 and later released on the video album Black Mass Krakow 2004.
Demo 2002 was the first release by the Norwegian black metal band Orcustus, founded by Taipan and with Infernus and Tormentor of Gorgoroth and Dirge Rep of Enslaved and Gehenna. It was limited to 1,000 copies on CD. This demo led to the band being signed to the US record label Southern Lord Records.
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.
David Vincent Parland was a Swedish metal guitarist, best known for his work in the bands Dark Funeral, Necrophobic and Infernal, all of which he was one of the founding members.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, and to the south of Mirkwood. Mount Doom, a volcano in Mordor, was the goal of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to destroy the One Ring. Mordor was surrounded by three mountain ranges, to the north, the west, and the south. These both protected the land from invasion and kept those living in Mordor from escaping.
Thulcandra is a German black metal band from Munich. They have released five full-length studio albums. Their latest album Hail the Abyss was released in 2023 through Napalm Records. The band's style is described as melodic black metal and inspired by bands such as Dissection, Sacramentum, and Unanimated.
Instinctus Bestialis is the ninth full-length studio album by Norwegian black metal act Gorgoroth. It was released on 8 June 2015 by Soulseller Records. It was also released digitally, as well as on digipak CD in a limited first pressing, limited black vinyl LP and limited picture vinyl LP. It is the first album to feature vocalist Atterigner and was the last to feature bassist Bøddel, who died from cancer four months after the album's release. The album cover is taken from a painting called Christ in Limbo.
Morten Bergeton Iversen, better known by his stage name Teloch, is a Norwegian musician and composer. He is currently guitarist for black metal bands Mayhem and Nidingr, and fronts the eponymous electronic solo project Bergeton. Iversen is a former touring and session member of Gorgoroth, God Seed and 1349.
