Hellig Usvart
| Hellig Usvart | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Horde | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Recorded | July 11–15, 1994 | |||
| Genre | Unblack metal | |||
| Length | 40:40 | |||
| Label |
Nuclear Blast Records Soundmass Metal Mind Productions |
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| Producer | Jayson Sherlock | |||
| Horde chronology | ||||
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Hellig Usvart is the debut album by Australian unblack metal band Horde, released in 1994 on Nuclear Blast Records. Upon its release in 1994, the album created a controversy among the black metal fans; death threats were sent to Nuclear Blast demanding the label to drop the album from its catalogue because the album contains Christian, anti-satanic lyrics that counteract the usual black metal thematics at the time. Because of the strong lyrical contradiction, the album was thought to be a parody of the Norwegian black metal movement by magazines such as Morgenbladet in 1995.
The sole member of the band, Jayson Sherlock who used the pseudonym Anonymous, has later stated in interviews that the album was intended to bring "some hope, some light to the bleak black metal subculture."Rowe Productions and Metal Mind Productions have re-issued the album since, as Hellig Usvart achieved a respected landmark status in the Christian metal movement, and it is regarded as the first and most groundbreaking Christian black metal album.
In 1993, drummer Jayson Sherlock had just parted ways with the death metal band Mortification and joined the band Paramaecium. During this time, Sherlock was charmed by Northern European black metal music but did not like the malicious lyrical approach of the movement. He decided to record similar music with a Christian message, with intent to bring hope to the bleak black metal subculture. Sherlock ended up forming a solo project, as he could play guitar, bass and keyboards aside with drums, his main instrument. In 1994 he formed a solo project under the name Beheadoth and recorded the song "Mine Heart Doth Beseech Thee (O Master)" for a compilation album by Rowe Productions. Later, Sherlock changed the name Beheadoth to "Horde." He took advantage of his former band Mortification's relationship to Nuclear Blast Records, and talked to the label owner Markus Staiger about releasing Horde's album. Staiger became interested in the project and decided to release the album.
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