Black Metal
Stay Clean with Corpse-Paint Bar Soap in the Likeness of King Diamond, Abbath, Mayhem, and More
We all want heavy metal concerts to return, and the best way for that to happen is if we stay clean and wash our hands. Etsy shop CorpsePaintSoaps is making that all the more enticing with their bar soaps that look like legendary metal musicians. It’s not quite what you think. The minimal two-tone bars are subtlety ingenious and even kinda cute, depicting the iconic corpse paint of King Diamond and black-metal luminaries like Abbath, Mayhem, and more. You can also get a pentagram shaped dish on which to rest your corpse-paint bar soap. “This is one of the best things I’ve ever bought,” reads a customer review of the Euronymous soap, “they make the best gifts!” Even Cradle of Filth’s Dani Filth has endorsed the soap, calling it “the filthiest soap bar there is.” The soaps are hand...
Black-Metal Legend Ihsahn Calls Out Taylor Swift Over Album Artwork
Ihsahn (courtesy of Spinefarm Records), Taylor Swift (courtesy of Republic Records) The cover artwork of Taylor Swift’s surprise new album folklore immediately caused a stir on social media, thanks to the decidedly metal look of the gloomy black & white forest scene. Now, an actual black-metal legend, Ihsahn, is calling out the pop superstar for the folklore cover’s uncanny resemblance to the artwork for his “Stridig” single, released earlier this year. The woods and black metal have had a longstanding relationship over the decades. Many a time, our favorite corpse-painted musicians have found themselves stuck in the middle of a desolate forest, with their only way out a combination of shrieking vocals and heavily distorted guitars. Now, Taylor Swift has found herself in the same predi...
The Internet Has Spoken: Taylor Swift’s Folklore Album Cover Is Actually Very Metal
Remember when pop star Justin Timberlake retreated into the forest to get his “folk” on and became a bonafide Man of the Woods? It looks like Taylor Swift spent her quarantine attempting to take that same earthy path, and the result is a new album literally called folklore. What’s more, she put it together with help from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, himself A Wisconsin Man of the Woods, and Aaron and Bryce Dessner, members of quintessential indie outfit The National. As Fluxblog founder Matthew Perpetua so succinctly put it, “I guess Taylor Swift finally went out in the woods with the National and Bon Iver boys to actually make ‘some indie record that’s much cooler than mine,’” plucking choice lyrics from Swift’s 2012 hit single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”. So I guess...
Ihsahn Announces Pharos EP, Shares New Song “Spectre at the Feast”: Stream
Black metal legend Ihsahn has set a September release for Pharos, the second of two companion EPs. In advance of the EP, he has shared the music video for lead single “Spectre at the Feast”. Pharos, due September 11th, concludes the two-part EP concept dedicated to Ihsahn’s home country of Norway. Following the February’s five-song Telemark EP, Pharos is billed as a “reverse image” of its counterpart. The EPs see Ihsahn drawing inspiration from the black metal he helped proliferate in his influential band Emperor, as well as other styles and genres. According to Ihsahn, this second EP is the “aesthetic and musical counterpart, wherein I can distill all those more progressive, experimental and mellow elements of my music.” The press release refers to it as “the light to Telemark‘s dark.” Th...
Liturgy and LEYA Collaborate on New Song “Antigone”: Stream
Hunter Hunt-Hendrix (Liturgy), courtesy of Promo Jukebox / Marilu Donovn & Adam Markiewicz (LEYA), photo by Erin Krimian Brooklyn black metal group Liturgy and NYC avant-pop duo LEYA have joined forces for a new collaborative single, “Antigone”. The track showcases the ambitious experimentation of both projects. The genre-blending black metal present on Liturgy’s 2019 album H.A.Q.Q. returns to provide a backdrop, accentuating the yearning vocals of LEYA’s Adam Markiewicz. “Originally its purpose was as a single to promote a tour we were going to do together last April that ended up getting cancelled,” Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix told Paper magazine of the song’s origins. “The track had a different name originally, and we would have put it out in early April, but held off, because we ...
Behemoth Share New EP A Forest, Unveil Trailer for Nergal Documentary: Stream
Behemoth have just released their new EP, A Forest, which includes two different covers of The Cure’s song by the same name, as well as two new original tracks. Previously, Behemoth shared the studio version of “A Forest”, which puts an extreme-metal spin on the goth classic and features guest vocals from Shining’s Niklas Kvarforth. The EP also boasts a live version of the Cure song that was recorded at a December 2018 gig in Poland. Along with the EP’s release, Behemoth have unveiled a visualizer for the song “Evoe”, one of two previously unreleased original tracks on the EP that were recorded during the sessions for 2018’s I Loved You at Your Darkest album. In other news, a trailer has been revealed for an upcoming documentary about Behemoth frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski. The film, ...
Behemoth Add Brutality to The Cure’s “A Forest” on Newly Announced EP: Stream
Behemoth have unveiled a cover of The Cure classic “A Forest” that will appear on an upcoming EP of the same name. The extreme metal band’s crushing take on the gothic track features guest vocals by Shining’s Niklas Kvarforth. The EP, A Forest, arrives on May 29th and features the studio cover of the Cure song, as well as a live version recorded during a December 2018 show in Behemoth’s home country of Poland. In addition, the EP contains two new original Behemoth songs — “Shadows ov Ea Cast Upon Golgotha” and “Evoerecording” — that are described by frontman Nergal as a continuation of the band’s 2018 album I Loved You at Your Darkest. The rendition of “A Forest” features Kvarforth delivering the verses while Nergal chimes in with guttural screams, adding brutality to what is one of ...
Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix Comes Out Publicly as Transgender
Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, the leader of the acclaimed experimental black metal group Liturgy, has come out publicly as transgender, writing, “I am a woman.” In an Instagram post, Hunt-Hendrix discussed her previous hesitance in making a statement, remarking, “I could have done this before Liturgy started, but I didn’t, out of fear. I knew I was female and not male, emotionally and in my experience of my body. But I was afraid – of social rejection, romantic rejection, career rejection, rejection by my family, failure.” Hunt-Hendrix’s statement reads in full: “I am a woman. I’ve always been one. The love I have to give is a woman’s love, if only because it is mine. To varying degrees many already understand this, but I’d like to make a clear statement about my actual gender. I could have done th...
