I know about those obvious ones; Les Lègions Noires (France), Blazebirth Hall (Russia), The Inner Circle (Does that count as a black metal-circle?) and the Austrian Black Metal Syndicate. I also know about U.B.M.R from Slovakia.

But are there more... "communties" like that?

Would really like to know if there were more groups like those.

Southern Elite Circle from Argentina: Nachtgeblut, Campo De Mayo, Permafrost, Furor, Ulfhethnar, Argentum

Far East Division Black Wolves from Russia: Forgot, Spitehowling, Evilwinged

Some golden group from Greece I don't remember anything about.

The O.A.A/Ordo Ater Anguis in Australia and the Black Circle in Portugal come to mind

The Black Twilight or whatever the group that stuff like Volahn is affiliated with is called.

Gayest thing in existence.

x2

"Circles" are just a way of saying "I don't think my music is good or relevant enough to stand on it's own, so I have to pretend to belong to a group to try and convince others of my worth."

So what is this, the tr00kvlt equivalent of the Freemasons or the university societies in the USA?

LAME *makes L-shape with hand on forehead*

Golden Dawn is a Greek extreme nationalist organisation, not a "black metal circle". Some people from (ns)bm bands probably belong to it though.

Ah, ok.

Btw, losers saying that circles are lame: the guy asked for information so we are being helpful for a change. Literally every other thread on every forum on the net already exists for you to show off your disaffected affectations.

I think its pretty badass, black metal has strayed so far from the days of kvlt- I think it can use a few more of these circles.

Whoa! What is so wrong with associating with a larger group of musicians? I see no reason to be immediately suspicious. Sure calling such an affiliation a "circle" or some other sinister name might be silly, but having a chance to freely utilize talent outside of a band sounds like a fine idea to me. Robert Fripp did the opposite thing with the "ProjeKcts" in King Crimson in order to free up each member's creativity.



Does that same exact reasoning apply to people who form bands?

I could see it both ways I guess- on one hand to "outsiders" it sounds like some elitist club, and it certainly can be that. But on the other- why not network with other like-minded musicians?

I'm sure other music scenes, not just black metal, have had similar cliques/circles that existed at various times.

Agreed. It can also be used in a way to connect with musicians in your local area who share similar tastes in music, I'd imagine. After all, musicians are fans of music too. I see nothing wrong with it myself. They can be quite handy when searching for bands of a similar style and/or for bands who have similar ideals.

I also don't think that just because one band within a "circle" may be dire, that all bands belonging to the same "circle" will suffer the same fate.

There are "collectives" in all walks of music.. personally I think it always makes the music stronger when there is a larger pool of influence and a certain level of competitiveness (in a good way... this can always go overboard and cause bands to go in terrible directions).

Would also like to add the Rossbay cult to this list.

I just find the concept of bunch of misanthropic boy scout clubs presenting themselves as some kind of elite warrior circles unintentionally hilarious, taking into account how deluded and pretentious the people involved must be.

The "associating with other musicians" part isn't ridiculous, the "I am Lord Xorxx, leader of the Elite Warrior Circle of Blackest Dawn" part is.

EDIT: and what is more ridiculous, is when people start fetishising and looking up to such circles.

*Yawn*

Whats the matter, did a black metal clique piss in your cornflakes?

Yes, and Christ pissed in the cornflakes of all black metal bands, by the same logic.

Anyone who thinks it's anything more than a mimicry of the Norwegian (and thus Polish, Russian, and French) black metal circle shit is naive as hell. Most of these little groups even use the Black Legions imagery.



lolwut

There's no logic when you whine like a crybaby.

Fuck you are dense; by your retarded internet logic, anyone expressing negativity towards something he considers moronic, is whining, ergo black metal bands are "whining like crybabies" about christianity. And you are "whining like a crybaby" about my attitude.

Yeah man, like, I'm so sick of the negativity in black metal, man. They should, like, work in collective farms in the cascades and/or play burst beats

I don't think this poster said that whatsoever. What he did do, and justly so, is call out the pretentious nature of a lot of black metal bands/groups.

What I am trying to say here, is the discrepancy between what is said and what is done, is ridiculous. If you do not do shit that is actually dangerous, then do not pretend to be some kind of elite antichristian warrior either.

The BMIA, or "Black Metal Invitta Armata" which is the "circle" from Italy, and has a very strong group of quality bands. Black Flame, Janvs, Spite Extreme Wing, Tronus Abyss etc...
Pretty good stuff.

Hail the elite. Only Denver is real.

Never mind the fact that Blazebirth Hall and Southern Elite Circle all have some incredible bands. Yup, they're all gay because a couple prominent musicians in each decided to lump some of their projects together.

I think that because of the actions that the "Inner Circle" or whatever it was called in Norway, people take these black metal circles way too seriously and think that all the bands involved in circles like Blazebirth Hall, Black Twilight and the like are super-serious and want to be part of some sort of elite cult...I don't think it's like that at all, I think it's more just a bunch of musicians from the same area that have similar visions and philosophies behind music. For example, Blazebirth Hall's eastern European nationalism or the focus on Italian culture and folklore of the Black Metal Invitta Armata.

They're not trying to make their music sound "better" than it actually is and anybody who thinks that is looking at it all wrong. Besides, Volahn, Ashdautas and Spite Extreme Wing are all incredible bands.

The Inner Circle Jerk.

FREE BRO-JOBS!

Well said.

For those eagerly planning to contribute their valuable opinions to this thread, either list more 'circles' not yet noted, discuss the ones mentioned, or find something better to do than bitch about this particular phenomena.

A prime example, thank you. Any one of these bands alone and you've got another boring USBM band. But, whisk up a scary sounding circle (which by the way is a blatant rip off of les legions noire) and people start paying attention.
What is it this circle does? Meet biannually in the local cemetery and summon the dead? Praise Satan and make tacos? Discuss the federal budget? Knit?

I imagine they probably hang out while rehearsing, making music, getting drunk and listening to metal. That's just a hunch though, I don't know those dudes.



I still haven't heard Forgot but I remember downloading Spitehowling and Evilwinged and really digging both of these bands. They manage to create a pretty traditional sounding black metal atmosphere (harsh and cold) without completely eschewing headbangable riffage. I wish this stuff was easier to find in a CD format.

Bans: Hellegion, electric sheep, Fpqxz, the_raytownian.

betch'u'wont
circle of wolves stl

Are you talking about the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn? If so, you're info is at best wrong. If not, then this Greek group is likely pulling their name from something legit and actually somewhat respectable in actual occult circles. The actual GD is the group Aleister Crowley used to belong to before he had a falling out with Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers over the usual BS (power and divulging of "arcane" secrets publicly). Another well known author who wrote many books and essays based on GD teaching was Israel Regardie. In short, I suspect this Greek GD group is either some offshoot not associated officially with the GD or they just used the name without regard to the fact there is already an organization by the name that is far more recognized and established.

^Its not the occult society, its this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Dawn_(Greece)

I'm gonna agree in regards to how stupid black metal circles are. What purposes do these circles serve? How do you become a member? Once you've become a member, what happens? Are there monthly meetings, like a book club?

And lastly, how do they come up with these ridiculous names? I cannot imagine the absolute empitness of brain that could inspire a bunch of (presumably) adults to actually think the name "Black Twilight Circle" sounds good or cool. On some of these bands MA pages, there'll be an additional note "Blah blah is a member of the Black Twilight Circle"- what does that even mean?

Its a phenomem that only seems to ocurr in black metal, and I think its really cringeworthy. Black metal already suffers from taking its self too seriously and elitist ignorance, and these circles really make that worse. If I read about a band that is a member of one of these groups, I simply won't listen to their music. I like black metal without all the pseud-intellect and the pretentious, herdlike behaviour of some meagrely talented, bedroom BM twats.

Who was it who got kicked out of LLN for doing drugs?

- Claim to be evil
- Live in a castle
- Shun society
- Be straightedge?! I'll have no part of this!

I remember buying the Martyrium demo "Arcanum de via occulta" ages ago, and if I remember it correctly they thanked what they called "The german black metal mafia". Maybe this was some kind of existing black metal-circle back in the early 90's. I don't know. Maybe its been mentioned allready, I don't know as I haven't read every answer in the thread.

That would be Willy from Mutiilation. Apparently they also got fed up with him telling (made up) stories about being buttfucked by his Dad, as well.

I don't really care about Circles, though I was disappointed when I found out that Legion of Doom wasn't some sort of supervillian-based elite supercircle, but a rather generic NSBM band.

I know! What a set of wankers.