Was the polish blackmetal scene (1993 - 1998) as violent as the norwegian/swedish scenes from the same era? I was looking at the cover of Graveland's "In the Glare.." and I was curious if Darken (or anyone else from the same era) was involved with church burnings, etc. Also, can anyone suggest bands similar to Veles, Fullmoon, and Graveland that are from poland AND are from the same era? Thanks.

To answer the first part, I don't think they were. Honestly I don't know much about the polish scene beyond the music.

To answer your second question, early Behemoth may be to your liking. Darken helped them out in the early days.

I second the early Behemoth rec. I'm a huge fan of the '...From The Pagan Vastlands' demo.

I suggest you check out Nuctemeron (Pol of course!). They don't sound like Graveland but they are interesting to listen to and they predate the movement (1988 is when they were formed).

Ive been listening to lots of Fullmoon, Graveland and Behemoth recently, enjoying the early Polish sound a lot. Any other bands in this vein?

Agree with the Behemoth, Sventevith is and always will be their greatest work, amazing album.

As for other Polish bands (or bands that play that sort of vaguely folky style), I'm having trouble thinking of any. There's something lying around on the comp I'm sure, so I'll have a look later.

Sacrilegium is exactly what you are looking for. Fits every criteria.

I don't listen to old polish black metal and I can hardly stand early Graveland, so I can't recommend any folky bands from early 90's period... BUT I can recommend some other good Polish BM bands....

like early Profanum (keyboards, although amazing)

or like Slavland (started around 2001, folkraw bm ;] best release "Szepty Starych Dębów" which means The Whispers of Old Oaks)

or, cause you won't pronounce it anyway, THIS: http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=44722 (Mdłości, Further Down The Nest and Presence are the best)

Evilfeast, and to a lesser extent Fullmoon are absolutely worth a look.

Evilfeast is a tad newer, but they're brilliant. I'd say their sound is 1/3 early Emperor, 1/3 early Graveland, and 1/3 early Gehenna.

What's with the Fullmoon love? I downloaded the United Aryan Evil demo ages ago and it bored the utter crap out of me.

OP: Abs Conditus, Thirst, Marhoth



They had an assured grip on narrative songwriting at a time (93-94) most bands were still defining their riffing patterns. This approach didn't make any real rounds in the underground until the third wave, and to a lot of us Fullmoon's attempts were the most "real" and fluent, while later bands would turn the same violence and atmosphere into setpieces in a structure. Or maybe we're just kvlter than you, heh heh.

Check out Gontyna Kry's 'Welowie.'

All Gontyna Kry demos are worth a listen.

Yep, great album, although the drummer is .. well, just bad, there's no other word for it. I'd rather listen to Capricornus bash the shit out of his very real-sounding kit. However, Gontyna Kry at this time sounded somewhat like early Abigor with really intricate guitar melodies and a somewhat folkish feel.

You might also like early Arkona, although again, they sound quite different from Graveland and Fullmoon.I used to really enjoy the 'Imperium" album, which has really full-bodied and nice sounding keyboard usage..

Also check out North's "Thorns on the Black Rose" (really fast and raw from what I remember) and perhaps the early works of Thunderbolt and Kataksu.

I believe the scene in Poland did generate some violent activities, but I don't know much about them.. Something happened involving the members of Thunderbolt, anyway, and then of course there was Carcharoth, who was accused of being a police informer at one point (what he was supposed to be betraying I have no idea) and killed himself a few years ago.

Ah, good ol' Slavland. Love it. I wish the older full-lengths would be given proper releases.

As far as other bands from the mid-90's era, early Hellveto (1996) has a vaguely Graveland-ish sound. Lots of keyboards but more raw and less orchestrated than newer Hellveto.

Just love Polish BM, have a connection with the country since I visited it with school.

Check out some early Abusiveness, excellent stuff. If possible, try to find some stuff from Hornagest and Eschatos.

And Pripegal as well.

There's still some good Polish black metal going today like Infernal War.

Ohtar and War 88 might be to your liking, though I warn you that War 88 has fairly bad production (of sorts) though the music is still rather enjoyable, at least I think so.

Iuvenes is all you need.... thats if you like Bathory. (But who doesnt?)

How about polish bm is shit???? i like that one alot more

You should check out Infernum. Get 'Taur-Nu-Fuin' if you like older Graveland and also 'Farewell', which was older material finished off and released in '05 by Darken and Capricornus and still retains that excellent early 90's Polish flavour, has a really nice production, not too rough or polished.

Hah, the production is the greatest thing about War 88, aside from the vocals. Unfortunately the music isn'tt so grand. Still, how can you not love that heavy-as-hell drum attack!

It's Kataxu, you infidel!

HAHA SIGGED. Sorry, it was just a really good post.

I believe one of the members of Thunderbolt killed a priest.

Hahah...fine! Well,, I really am an infidel as I never quite got into this band.

What?! Beware the hideous cosmic wrath of the Slavonic Astral Gods coming to erase your pitiful mortal existence with fervour of a million warrior hearts! Wait, we aren't talking Bal-Sagoth here, are we?

Thunderbolt and Kataxu..wonderful

This far in and no one mentioned Holy Death? Definitely check out Triumph of Evil for supreme Polish bm.

Im surprised no-one has mentioned 'The Temple Of Fullmoon'. Its just one of those snippets of information i have retained from reading around in books/interviews/internet. Im pretty sure it was the polish equivalent of the Norwegian Black Circle, and founded by Rob Darken.

I couldn't (couldn't be fucked more so) sourcing info on this, but im pretty sure i remember there being something small about it in Lords Of Chaos, and Darken also mentioning it and its activities in older interviews.

I also second that Infernum rec.

United Aryan Evil is a bit hard to get into, I think. It was for me, but once it sunk it, I knew i had found one of the greatest demos I had ever heard. It's probably my favorite NSBM demo that I have heard.

I dont know much about the actual *scene* besides Darken running around int he forest with his LARP gear. And dont get me wrong. I damn near worship the man. No disrespect to him at all.

I agree. I respect the man and his music so much, but how could the greatest ever Black Metal album spawn the worst ever black metal photoshoot.



It boggles the mind, how such a great album like Thousand Swords can be connected to such a ridiculous photo.

Yes, I will mostly agree with this description However, there are several bands that must be respected. Thunderbolt is one of them. What concerns the new generation of Polish BM, Enclave, Furia and Massemord should be mentioned too.

Oh, come on now. That photo is nowhere near as embarrassing as most black metal photos I've seen. I prefer his more recent photos, though.

how old was he when those pictures were taken?

Anyone know?

i dont know much about polish bm but i highly recomend
thunderbolt - inhuman ritual massmurder
infernal war - terrorfront
kriegsmaschine - altered states of divinity
behemoth - grom

top quality bm here

Must've been late teens, early 20's. Personally I don't mind that photo, it looks a bit dorky on first look, but the corpse paint, pose and armour/weaponry are actually done very well. Except for the shin guards, but fuck the shin guards.

Ah yes, I forgot about this, but itt really is a phenomenal release. Doesn't sound very Polish (TM) though .. in fact, it's like a more ambiently-inclined early Samael.


Mgla is a rather excellent newer Polish band. Much better than the shitty Kriegsmachine.

Xantolol defecates on all Samael clone/worship bands. And I'm dead serious about it.