Von (band)
Encyclopedia
Von was a First Wave black metal
band from San Francisco, California
, USA
. They are thought to be the first American black metal
band, and have strongly influenced the second wave of black metal.
Von), Snake, and Venien. After Venien (for personal reasons) departed in 1990, Goat and Snake played one gig as a duo. In early 1991 Kill joined the band and the trio recorded their first demo, Satanic Blood. During 1991-1992 Von played a couple of live gigs and recorded another demo, Blood Angel, which was never released on its own. The band disbanded shortly after the release of Satanic Blood in 1992.
In 2003 Nuclear War Now! Productions released Satanic Blood Angel, a double CD compilation
featuring the band's demos on one CD and a recording of a live show on another. Beside the Satanic Blood demo, it remains the only official Von release.
The band reformed for a one off show on June 6, 2010 at the Armageddon Fest in London, England. Watain
and The Devil's Blood opened for the band marking the first time they have played live in 20 years.
To commemorate the show the band put out a brand new 7 inch single with re-recorded versions of Satanic Blood and Veadtuck, and a brand new song titled Blood Von. The 7 inch was released on VMG Records with a limit of 500 copies.
s (occasionally accompanied by drum fills) and repetition of only from one to three riff
s, each containing only about three or four power chord
s. The vocals were performed in a guttural growling fashion more characteristic of death metal
than black metal.
Von can be seen having been ahead of their time, playing minimalistic
black metal on a time when the genre
was virtually non-existent, especially in the thrash
-oriented West Coast
.
in the black metal underground
since their disbandment and the few recordings of Von are considered classic
and pioneering black metal. Prominent black metal bands have covered Von, either on record or live (or both), including Dark Funeral
, Enthroned
, Krieg
, Taake
and Watain
(who are also named after a Von song), to mention a few examples. Also, in addition to spreading copies of the Satanic Blood demo, Varg Vikernes
of Burzum
did arguably direct promotion for Von by wearing their t-shirt in one of his murder trial sessions.
s exist, mostly containing the Satanic Blood demo, one notable example being a split compilation with Dark Funeral
entitled Devil Pigs, released by Karmageddon Media
.
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band from San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. They are thought to be the first American black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band, and have strongly influenced the second wave of black metal.
Biography
Von was formed in 1989 by Goat (then using the pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Von), Snake, and Venien. After Venien (for personal reasons) departed in 1990, Goat and Snake played one gig as a duo. In early 1991 Kill joined the band and the trio recorded their first demo, Satanic Blood. During 1991-1992 Von played a couple of live gigs and recorded another demo, Blood Angel, which was never released on its own. The band disbanded shortly after the release of Satanic Blood in 1992.
In 2003 Nuclear War Now! Productions released Satanic Blood Angel, a double CD compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
featuring the band's demos on one CD and a recording of a live show on another. Beside the Satanic Blood demo, it remains the only official Von release.
The band reformed for a one off show on June 6, 2010 at the Armageddon Fest in London, England. Watain
Watain
Watain is a Swedish black metal band from Uppsala, formed in 1998. The band's name is taken from a recording by the American black metal group Von.- History :...
and The Devil's Blood opened for the band marking the first time they have played live in 20 years.
To commemorate the show the band put out a brand new 7 inch single with re-recorded versions of Satanic Blood and Veadtuck, and a brand new song titled Blood Von. The 7 inch was released on VMG Records with a limit of 500 copies.
Style
Von played highly simplistic black metal with short songs based on almost continuous blast beatBlast beat
A blast beat is a drum beat often associated with extreme metal and grindcore, although its usage predates the genres, and is utilised by many different styles of metal...
s (occasionally accompanied by drum fills) and repetition of only from one to three riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s, each containing only about three or four power chord
Power chord
In music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth interval, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...
s. The vocals were performed in a guttural growling fashion more characteristic of death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
than black metal.
Von can be seen having been ahead of their time, playing minimalistic
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
black metal on a time when the genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
was virtually non-existent, especially in the thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
-oriented West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
.
Cult following
Von have gained a cult followingCult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
in the black metal underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
since their disbandment and the few recordings of Von are considered classic
Cult Classic
Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...
and pioneering black metal. Prominent black metal bands have covered Von, either on record or live (or both), including Dark Funeral
Dark Funeral
Dark Funeral is a black metal band from Stockholm, Sweden, founded by guitarists Blackmoon and Lord Ahriman in 1993. They are one of the bands to have emerged in Sweden during the Second wave of black metal....
, Enthroned
Enthroned
Enthroned is a black metal band formed in Charleroi in 1993 by Cernunnos. He soon recruited guitarist Tsebaoth and a vocalist from grindcore/black metal band Hecate who stayed until the end of December 1993. Then bassist/vocalist Sabathan joined. The band released a 5-track demo tape in mid-1994...
, Krieg
Krieg
Krieg is a black metal band from Somers Point, New Jersey in the United States of America. They play a low-fi, "raw" style, drawing influence from the Darkthrone-esque style of black metal and did not use synthesizers or folk instruments, in their recordings. The band formed in 1995, initially as...
, Taake
Taake
Taake, pronounced [toke], is a Norwegian black metal band whose name is the old spelling form of the Norwegian word "tåke" .-History:In 1993, Ørjan Stedjeberg, now known as Ulvhedin Høst , formed the first version of the band Taake under the name Thule, together with Svartulv, who was only twelve...
and Watain
Watain
Watain is a Swedish black metal band from Uppsala, formed in 1998. The band's name is taken from a recording by the American black metal group Von.- History :...
(who are also named after a Von song), to mention a few examples. Also, in addition to spreading copies of the Satanic Blood demo, Varg Vikernes
Varg Vikernes
Varg Vikernes is a Norwegian black metal musician, writer, philosopher, religious and political activist, arsonist and convicted murderer.Vikernes was born near Bergen, Norway. In 1991, he founded the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became popular within the early Norwegian black metal...
of Burzum
Burzum
Burzum is a musical project by Varg Vikernes . It began during 1991 in Bergen, Norway and quickly became prominent within the early Norwegian black metal scene...
did arguably direct promotion for Von by wearing their t-shirt in one of his murder trial sessions.
The band's name
The band's name is sometimes falsely thought to be an acronym for "Victory Orgasm Nazi(s)". Varg Vikernes used those words to spell the band's name during a phone interview because the interviewer apparently did not hear the name correctly. According to the band, the name stands for "nothing but images of darkness and blood." Ironically, the word von means hope in some of the Scandinavian languages, from where the band's main musical influence is originated.EPs
- Satanic Blood (2010), recorded in 2010, three-track 7" EP with tracks "Satanic Blood", "Blood Von", and "Veadtuck". All of the tracks are remixed and re-written from their original form.
Demos
- Satantic (1990)
- Satanic Blood (1992), recorded in 1991
- Blood Angel (unreleased), recorded between 1991 and 1992
Compilations
- Satanic Blood AngelSatanic Blood AngelSatanic Blood Angel is a compilation album by the American black metal band VON. It features the Satanic Blood demo released in 1992, the unreleased Blood Angel demo and a live recording of a gig played in their homecity, San Francisco, California. The compilation was released in 2003 by Nuclear...
(2CD, 2003, rereleased in 2009 on CD and Vinyl), Nuclear War Now! Productions
Bootlegs
Several bootlegBootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
s exist, mostly containing the Satanic Blood demo, one notable example being a split compilation with Dark Funeral
Dark Funeral
Dark Funeral is a black metal band from Stockholm, Sweden, founded by guitarists Blackmoon and Lord Ahriman in 1993. They are one of the bands to have emerged in Sweden during the Second wave of black metal....
entitled Devil Pigs, released by Karmageddon Media
Karmageddon Media
Karmageddon Media was a Dutch independent record label specializing in death metal, black metal, doom metal and folk metal bands from around the world...
.