– 1989 –
Blasphemy were one of the few bands making a first appearance at the close of the decade, 1989 being more of a developmental year for the scene as a whole. Blasphemy were from Vancouver of all places, which just goes to show that the early days of black metal were far more international in scope than the ensuing popularity of the Norwegian scene would have 90's metal fans believe.
Meanwhile, Master's Hammer released their first full length recording, a live album with recording quality every bit as shitty as their earlier demos, but at least there was some degree of coherence starting to come together in the execution.
Finally, Sarcófago came storming back with their second studio release, the Rotting EP. Despite a polished production more befitting a third string thrash band, "Rotting" makes a compelling argument – along with the prior I.N.R.I. album – that Sarcófago may be the greatest unheralded band from black metal's first wave.
… and so these first two installments have basically constituted deep background. Our next installment will see us getting up to our Colombian neckties in material that is unquestionably black metal regardless of who you ask. It has been interesting sorting through the inspirations for those bands in the meantime; we tend to find that new forms of music – or even influential bands – don't spring whole cloth out of the aether. There tend to be numerous obscure jigsaw pieces along the way that the average music fan is bound to overlook, which makes it look like straight up black magic when something does cross their path that they've never heard before.
Until next time.
