See also: Dimmu Borgir,
Isengard (Nor), Darkthrone, Aura Noir, Ved Buens Ende,Old Man's Child,
Storm (Nor), Ulver, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir...
In the year 2000 they shortened their name to DHG. The band regrouped in
2002 with a completely new line-up.
DHG was originally formed in 1994 under the moniker Dødheimsgard is a
conjunction of three words: Død which means death, Heim which means
home and Gard which means (at least in this context) mansion. A natural
translation os ø into English would be "The Mansion of Death",
alternatively "The Realm of the Dead/Death".
Discography
demotape
Demo, 1995
Kronet Til Konge
Full-length, 1995
Monumental Possession
Full-length, 1996
Satanic Art
EP, 1998
666 International
Full-length, 1999
Influenced
by Darkthrone “Transilvanian” and “A Blaze…”, in that time the
Darkthrone’s drummer Fenriz were part of the band on the bass and Dodheimsgard
recorded one of the most surprising black metal release for the year 1995.
“Kronet Til Konge” (Vote 9.5) is a cold example of perfect Norwegian black
metal, a blade sharpen to kill in the icy land of the northland, in a night of
horror. The
evil feeling is the same of the Darkthrone early masterpieces, a cruel taste of
the northern wind, a hidden and mysterious danger. A raw, cold and evil
production like at it has to be to express those feelings. Dodheimsgard’s
learned perfectly the lesson of their fathers, keeping the black flame of the
true black metal alive, to burn the spirit of the weak. A misanthropic hate
emerges from an ocean of snow, lifeless, heartless. The sound of the next
Dod’s release, “Monumental Possession” (1996 Vote 7), was very different,
the ‘80 retro thrash (Slayer, Destruction, Sodom) meets a blacker inspiration,
but the result is far away from the excellence of “Kronet…”. There isn’t
the same obscure and glacial feelings, it remains an evil album without the same
kind of involvement and quality, it’s much more infernal an hellish and
sometimes a bit chaotic. Fenriz is not more part of the band and this is surely
another sign of decadence. Fortunately this bad moment went away with the coming,
in 1998, of the devastating mini-cd “Satanic Art” (Vote 8.5), a black
massacre of dark madness. A calm piano introduction opens to a total black
holocaust of total hate, three songs of infernal misanthropy, where the black
metal meets thrash-black metal and some electronic experiments on the background
and on the vocals. The drums are a dissecting machine and the vocals a totally
disturbing performance, they’re mad sons of darkness.
In
’99, with a black metal scene involved by some important changes,
Dodheimsgard came-out with the controversial album “666 International” (Vote
8.5). Some people said that it was a too nervous and incommunicable music,
others, looking with interesting in the developing post-black metal scene, saw
in that release an important addiction. I have to agree with the fact that
sometimes the songs have some daring arrangements but at the same times some
songs are really ingenious, a mix of black, industrial metal and other extreme
metal styles with an electronic madness, a voice with very much effects. In
some moments I have the sensation to listen to a futuristic version of the
traditional black metal, but all the new elements have submerged his original
spirit.
The desire of rebellion to the conservative side of the traditional metal
border it’s clear, but the more important thing is the quality of that
album, that surely I don’t suggest to the traditional metal listener,
because in that album the extremism is watched from another perspective, much
more intellectual and disturbing…so it’s your choice… surely the
darkness is still present in the future.
The
evil feeling is the same of the Darkthrone early masterpieces, a cruel taste of
the northern wind, a hidden and mysterious danger. A raw, cold and evil
production like at it has to be to express those feelings. Dodheimsgard’s
learned perfectly the lesson of their fathers, keeping the black flame of the
true black metal alive, to burn the spirit of the weak. A misanthropic hate
emerges from an ocean of snow, lifeless, heartless. The sound of the next
Dod’s release, “Monumental Possession” (1996 Vote 7), was very different,
the ‘80 retro thrash (Slayer, Destruction, Sodom) meets a blacker inspiration,
but the result is far away from the excellence of “Kronet…”. There isn’t
the same obscure and glacial feelings, it remains an evil album without the same
kind of involvement and quality, it’s much more infernal an hellish and
sometimes a bit chaotic. Fenriz is not more part of the band and this is surely
another sign of decadence. Fortunately this bad moment went away with the coming,
in 1998, of the devastating mini-cd “Satanic Art” (Vote 8.5), a black
massacre of dark madness. A calm piano introduction opens to a total black
holocaust of total hate, three songs of infernal misanthropy, where the black
metal meets thrash-black metal and some electronic experiments on the background
and on the vocals. The drums are a dissecting machine and the vocals a totally
disturbing performance, they’re mad sons of darkness.