Decibrity Playlist: Vattnet Viskar

Given that fall is about halfway over and the weather, at least on the East Coast, is getting frigid, we thought it was a good time to present our second ever season-specific playlist. While Chris Alfieri’s “Song to Burn Leaves To: A New Englander’s Fall Music Companion” compliments Torche’s “Summer Fun” playlist quite nicely, Vattnet Viskar‘s debut full-length is a pretty good record to spin during any season (and happens to be one of my favorites of the year). Plus, the guitarist’s inclusion of Russian Circles’ “Schipol” clearly shows he has impeccable taste. You can more read about these New Hampshirites in our November issue (which also happens to have a pretty sweet HOF if I may say so myself).
Feel free to listen along here and you can pick up a copy of Sky Swallower here.

Type O Negative’s “Christian Woman” (from 1993’s Bloody Kisses)
I remember the first time I heard Peter Steele’s voice. It was in the fall of 1997, also my freshman year in high school. A formidable time in my adolescent life. I purchased Bloody Kisses at my local mall’s Sam Goody, went home, and was immediately in love. A week later, my grandfather died. This was the first of many heartbreaking falls with Type O Negative.

typeo

Danzig’s “Tired Of Being Alive” (from 1990’s Danzig II: Lucifuge)
The sweet smell of apple cider mixed with Glenn’s bleak world view always makes for a good fall evening. Although his debut album is filled with the perfect soundtrack to the prequel of winter, “Tired of Being Alive” sounds bleaker than most. Cuddle up with a loved one in front of a bonfire and follow through with that suicide pact.

danzig

Neurosis’s “The Doorway” (from 1999’s Times Of Grace)
Times of Grace is arguably my favorite Neurosis album. “The Doorway” is why. It was the first time I actually understood what the term “sludge” actually meant. Although the song is perfect, it’s the riff in the middle that makes me thirst for this song every October. At about 3:18, the most evil sounding riff that has ever been created sneaks in to haunt you. Punishing and never letting up, it harkens some dark mental imagery. Just the kind that you’re craving around some hallowed evenings.

neurosis

Russian Circles’ “Schipol” (from 2011’s Empros)
To me this is THE Russian Circles song. It’s got all the necessary aspects that make them such a powerful force. This piece is one gigantic build up, and the pay off is very much worth the wait. For us New Englanders, fall is the last great buildup to winter. It’s generally the last time, for months, that the outdoors is habitable for most of us. This song symbolizes that in its movements. A soft, warm start leads to a punishing cold end.

empros

Windir’s “Svartesmeden Og Lundamyrstrollet” [“The Blacksmith And The Troll Of Lundamyri”] (from 1999’s Arntor)
Windir is the embodiment of black metal. A beautiful introduction leads way to soaring vocals and a wall of blast-beaten sound. A perfect and fitting accompaniment as fall’s daylight warmth gives way to winter’s bleak white walls. Terje “Valfar” Bakken’s musical vision was cut short when he was found frozen to death in 2004, but the cold spirit of Windir lives on year after year.

windir

*Order Sky Swallower here.

**We update one Spotify playlist for each new Decibrity entry, so feel free to subscribe to that here.

Past entries include:

Skeletonwitch
Ihsahn
Earthless
Watain
Orange Goblin
God Is An Astronaut
Primitive Man
Gorguts
Exhumed
Ulcerate
Pelican
Scale The Summit
Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity) (Part 1) (Part 2)
Mouth Of The Architect
Howl
Kings Destroy
Zozobra
Call of the Void
Saint Vitus Bar
Coliseum
Woe
Anciients
Soilwork (Dirk Verbeuren) (Björn Strid)
Intronaut
BATILLUS
Inter Arma
Helen Money
Misery Index
Ancient VVisdom
Holy Grail
Rotten Sound
Ancestors (Part 1) (Part 2)
Kowloon Walled City (Part 1) (Part 2)
Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride) (Part 1) (Part 2)
Early Graves
All That Remains
Bison B.C.
A Life Once Lost
Fight Amp
Witchcraft (Ola Henriksson) (Magnus Pelander)
Vision of Disorder
Grave
Anders Nyström (Katatonia) (Part 1) (Part 2)
“Best of” Rush (Part 1) (Part 2)
Dawnbringer
Ufomammut
Shadows Fall
Horseback
Greg Mackintosh (Paradise Lost) (Part 1) (Part 2)
Torche
“Best of” Meshuggah
Astra
Pallbearer
Barren Earth
Shane Embury (Napalm Death) (Part 1) (Part 2)