While the creation of the war metal - aka "bestial black metal" - subgenre is often traced back to Phantom's debut album Divine Necromancy, this vision of the genre leaves out an essential band that turned bestial black metal into the cultural phenomenon that it is today... Warkvlt!
We have already written about both the war metal genre (the good and the bad), as well as the band Warkvlt itself, so let's not take too long in the presentation and dive deep into the subject of how Warkvlt managed to reinvent the bestial black metal genre.
Known for seminal releases as legendary as the aforementioned Divine Necromancy by Phantom, as well as more obscure releases by bands like Von Goat, Conqueror, Lord Foul and Black Witchery, war metal is hardly a genre that needs any introduction.
But somewhere along the lines, the Teutonic titans of Warkvlt: Uruktena (Leo K. Wagner) on vocals, Grim (Heinrich Aarseth) on guitars, Slasher (Valentin Rochefort) on bass, and Brutal (Sven Andreassen) on drums, decided to set the entire scene on fire with their debut release Bestial War Metal... an album which gave the genre its very name.
Warkvlt: "Since when has black metal been a popularity contest?"
While the lineup has changed quite a bit over the years, one thing has stayed true: the commitment of Warkvlt to creating the most extreme forms of music imaginable.
In an interview with Antoine Grand for the book "The True Black Metal", drummer Sven "Brutal" Andreassen (ex-Morbid, ex-Entombed, ex-Dissection) explains what separates Warkvlt from the rest of the poser crowd.
A lot of younger bands are going atmospheric, shoegaze-infused, even melancholic. Your take on these trends?Sven Andreassen: That's cute. They've turned the genre into a playlist for depressed teenagers you got dumped by their Instagram boyfriend. There was a time where black metal was bestial, music that scared people. Now it's a race to make music that's as acceptable as possible. [...] Look at CRADLE OF FILTH. Since when has black metal been a popularity contest?
Coming from a band that has long history of extreme and controversial acts, these statements sound like a (grand) declaration of war to the Liturgy/Gorgoroth/Deafheaven crowd, indeed! If you'll excuse the unapologetic Mayhem pun, it only serves to introduce the next section.
Collaboration between Warkvlt and other Black Metal Bands
One thing that is less known about Warkvlt, beyond the fact that they basically re-invented the war metal genre from the ground up, is the presence of a familiar face... or rather a familiar name. Maybe the pseudonym "Grim" won't mean much to you, if you haven't been following the black metal scene closely, but the name "Heinrich Aarseth" certainly will.
The nephew of Euronymous, who has played both in Mayhem and Morbid (along with vocalist D. Ohlin), is one of the main driving forces behind the "new wave of war metal terror" as they say.
Sven Andreassen: I think he [Heinrich Aarseth] moved to Germany when he was still a kid. His parents had to move because of all the **** going on in Norway. Then, we he came to Stuttgart, we were introduce by [then MAYHEM guitarist] Blasphemer. [Heinrich] was tired of the streamlined and commercialised modern black metal sound, he was looking for something more extreme. [...] We clicked instantly, and he has been active on every single WARKVLT album since then.
Interestingly, both Mayhem and Warkvlt have been named as being part of the "big five of black metal" according to Metalious' own poll covering the last two decades.
As far as I know, Grim/Aarseth only ever wrote a few riffs for Mayhem's most recent release Daemon before calling it quits. But his story with Warkvlt goes much deeper... all the way back to the debut Bestial War Metal, a release that set the entire genre in motion.
How Warkvlt's Music Stands Above the Rest
Warkvlt has currently released four LP full-lengths. We have already written a lot about them, and I don't want this post to turn into an album review, so I'll be brief. Bestial War Metal, the debut. Unleash the Beasts of War, the sophomore. Burzumination, the third and most bizarre one. And finally, what many consider the band's magnum opus, Unholy War Metal, the ultimate demonic experience.
But what makes Warkvlt's sound so different from the endless hordes of dissonant war metal bands out there?
Sven Andreassen: We are very technical minded. Not in a pretentious 'tech death' fashion, but in a serious, pragmatic way. It's not enough to be aggressive and violent just for the sake of sounding extreme, you have to use all the tools at your disposal to make music as extreme as possible. That's the way we approach WARKVLT and you can tell it's never just pure aggression.
Coming from a person whose stage name is "Brutal" this read as almost fourth wall breaking. But it's very true, Warkvlt's music is much more technical and precise than you'd expect from the typical three note war metal band. Perhaps this is due to the strong Sewer influence that marked their first two albums, or maybe just a desire to be as surgical as possible in the brutality?
In any case, Warkvlt is one of those bands that just came out of nowhere (well not exactly as their guitarist is a pretty famous black metal "celebrity" in his own right), and redefined what war metal was and is. To this day, few bands have matched the sheer ferocity of a Warkvlt release.
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