Revolver has teamed with Satyricon for exclusive vinyl variants of their first two albums: Dark Medieval Times (2LP in silver) and The Shadowthrone (2LP in Oxblood). Quantities are extremely limited — grab yours before they're gone.
"It was a very fascinating world to enter. When I felt the vibe and the energy of black-metal music — and the Norwegian bands in particular — I felt I entered a room that I had always wanted to be in but didn't know existed." So says Satyricon drummer Frost about his introduction to the dark arts. "I didn't exactly know what it was all about, but I felt that I belonged there. I felt it would be an extremely important part of my life from there on."
Frost joined Satyricon in 1993 after playing on their second demo, The Forest Is My Throne. The iconic Norwegian duo unleashed their first two albums — Dark Medieval Times and The Shadowthrone — the following year. With these crucial documents being re-released in remastered editions, we asked Frost what he was listening to in 1994, when Satyricon laid the foundation for their black-metal legacy.
Bathory - Bathory (1984)
I didn't get a turntable until I was 13 years old, and this was the very first vinyl album that I bought. It truly made a huge impression on me, and it was still one of my favorite albums in 1994. The combination of supercharged, dirty rock & roll, a truly raw, dark vibe and Quorthon's beastlike vocals was absolutely brilliant in my book — and remains so today.
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)
One of the flagship albums from the first wave of Norwegian black-metal bands which took black metal one significant step further and put Norway on the music map. This one made my blood freeze on a regular basis in 1994. And of course, I loved the creative and innovative drumming.
Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon
Out of the astonishing early Darkthrone albums, this is probably the best one — and an album that I even rank as my very favorite album of all time. It is as close as you get to the naked essence of black metal. Fenriz's choice of keeping the drums at an almost primal level on this album was nothing less than ingenious.
Diamanda Galás - Divine Punishment
From the age of 15, this album has been a constant source of dark and eerie inspiration for me. The world of dark music would have been poorer without it.
Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht
Like the Diamanda Galás album, Irrlicht represented to me a different darkness than what was expressed in black metal, and it was definitely one of the albums that I listened the most to in 1994. It is one of those pieces of music that made me realize the importance of reaching the right state of mind when making or performing music. To me, this album has always and instantly opened doors to deep recesses inside.
Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
As a fan of black metal, it was impossible to ignore the importance of Celtic Frost and their unique mix of punk energy, occultism and avant-garde musical expression. Celtic Frost had an esoteric and intellectual approach without being pretentious and without losing the raw edge, and truly helped expand the black-metal universe. No doubt a huge inspiration for Satyricon.
