#Diabolical Masquerade

[blackmetaltv]

Despite being disbanded for almost two decades, Diablical Masquerade music remains influential in modern black metal sub-genres... 

The band was founded by multi-instrumentalist Anders Nyström, and its avant-garde approach to black metal combines twisted melodies, eerie keyboards and haunting vocals. With 4 studio albums released between 1996-2004...

[rottingwaysofmisery]

Black Metal bands that Slow the Fuck Down!

The title may confuse you, honestly I’m still not sure what to title it, but I’m essentially going to be recommending a series of Black Metal bands that hardly or don’t use tremolo, are mid-paced, have an old school first-wave approach, or some sort of doom metal influence. Assuming you’re already familiar with Bathory and its slower moments I will be avoiding the more known bands.

Root

This really fucking raw and dark approach to heavy metal that sometimes borders on thrash metal with these slower grand moments, I would highly recommend their debut “Zjevení“ from 1990.

Master’s Hammer

The evil twin of Root, even though they’re both evil. Jokingly called the first “Norwegian Black Metal band” by Fenriz of Darkthrone (the joke being they’re Czech). If you give any of their albums a try I’d recommend “Ritual” from 1991.

Mortuary Drape

I’ve talked about them before on a post about the Italian metal scene, but essentially it’s this raw and primitive form of black metal that thrashes about. You may enjoy their debut “All the Witches Dance” from 1994. I feel I must clarify, my use of the word “primitive” here is more so in reference to the sound of the Old School, and not meant to imply anything that would give you the impression this is a Bestial Black Metal/War Metal or otherwise noisey band.

Barathrum

Black/Doom Metal band from Finland, their first few albums sound cavernous and yet fuzzy (God I wish they were on Spotify), but their later stuff is alright. Check out this song if you so dare.

Negative Plane

I’m not exactly sure how to describe this one, they’re definitely a unique band. I would definitely recommend them though.

Born for Burning

Specifically, the Swedish band that released “The Ritual” in 2019. Since they’re named after a Bathory song, you’d assume I’d recommend them to fans of Bathory, and you’d be right! Check this one out!!

Amen Corner

Root’s Brazilian cousin. I would recommend most highly their debut “Fall, Ascension, Domination”.

Decayed

I think this might be one of my favorite bands from the Portuguese scene, the speeds of their songs vary but I’d recommend this one.

Countess

This band is difficult to navigate through bc they have a lot of stuff that’s just eh. Surprisingly, the album I recommend most highly is not going to be their debut but their eighth album “Heilig Vuur”, I would also recommend this song.

Deinonychus

Oooo this is the juicy stuff. I would highly recommend “The Silence of December” and “The Weeping of a Thousand Years”, because texturally they’re some of the most interesting in all of extreme metal, at least in my opinion.

Samael

I’m not recommending all of this band’s discography, but particularly their albums “Worship Him” and “Blood Ritual”.

Diabolical Masquerade

The speed of their music varies and they have more traditionally second wave-esque songs, so I would recommend most highly this one.

Hades/Hades Almighty

For fans of Bathory, especially “Blood Fire Death” era. The double name is because they were formerly known as Hades but changed their name to Hades Almighty to differentiate themselves from an American band of the same name, but despite that they’re still known as “Hades” on some streaming platforms. I would recommend most their first two albums, “...Again Shall Be” and “The Dawn of the Dying Sun”.

Acheron

Sometimes closer to Death Metal, I would recommend “Rites of the Black Mass” on the warning that there’s really annoying and unnecessary intros to each song.

Ancient

While varying in speed, they don’t tend to rely on tremolos and blast beats as often as, say, Marduk. I would like to highlight their third album, “Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends” in particular, which has a flavor of vampirism and necromanticism and an excellent cover of Mercyful Fate.

Tyrannic

I would most highly recommend their sophomore release “Mortuus Decadence”, generally just some excellent black metal with influences from doom and traditional heavy metal.

Rotting Christ

Pioneers of the Greek-style of Black Metal, a style that blends more traditional heavy metal grooves with Black Metal. To recommend one album out of their discography, check out “Thy Mighty Contract”.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔇𝔦𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔩 𝔐𝔞𝔰𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔢 - 𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔷 𝔊𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔱𝔦𝔪𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔒𝔪𝔢𝔫

[triste-guillotine]

DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE “Nightwork” Full-length album 1998 (’...Darkness hiding behind those of black path of clad. Darkness standing in arches of hell fire ream. Meddles creating an end pushed rhythm of the time. Meddles spilling the blood of the burning awn...’)

1. Rider on the Bonez 2. Dreadventurouz 3. The Zkeleton Keyz to the Dead 4. Thiz Ghoultimate Omen 5. All Onboard the Perdition Hearze ! 6. The Eerie Obzidian Circuz 7. Haunted by Horror 8. Cryztalline Fiendz  (bonus track)

https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/album/nightwork

[superhardlikesteel]

Diabolical Masquerade - The Eerie Obzidian Circuz

Now this is a band I can see growing on me more and more. There's just something oddball about them. Really excellent symphonic black metal, maybe leaning a touch towards avant-garde.

[lesdeuxmuses]

Diabolical Masquerade - Death's Design: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Peaceville, 2019)

[circleofbirds]

Raise your sword! By the sentinel's battlehorde! Raise your sword! For Blackheim the ravenlord!

All the way from the highest north They came to conquer the southern seas To spill the blood of their enemies To set their lands in ruins

(And set their lands in ruins!)

[clandestine-stars]

I am the hater

The tormentor

An eye for an eye

Everyone fucking die

[danzameccanica]

Nel 1996 la febbre da blackmetal era così alta e contagiosa che infettò praticamente tutti (spesso in senso buono). Blackheim dei Katatonia evidentemente ne rimase profondamente segnato; questo lo si può capire dalle primissime foto promozionali della band, che incorporava un personalissimo mix di death, doom e black metal. Benché il loro mood fosse decadente e quasi gotico, le accordature delle chitarre erano aperte verso il blackmetal anziché gravi verso il death. Ad ogni modo sir. Blackheim nel 1993 decide di creare un progetto personale chiamato Diabolical Masquerade dove sfocia tutte le sue voglie più incontaminate di blackmetal creando una narrazione quasi teatrale, da grand-guignol; egli è il narratore di un mondo fantasy personale (un po’ alla stregua di Blashyrk degli Immortal) del quale descrive principalmente il clima freddo e invernale, le peripezie di questo viaggiatore-Sentinella, il riscatto dei mesi autunnali da regalare al mondo di Blackheim, i ricordi di battaglie svolte secoli fa ecc..

Il songwriting di tutto l’album è molto debitore delle chitarre, l’uso del tremolo quasi sempre alternato agli arpeggi ci fanno subito venire in mente i territori di Dance of December Souls ma con una decisa spinta sull’acceleratore (in tantissimi momenti è presente la doppia cassa e i blast-beat). La precisa produzione degli Unisound Studios richiama spesso i lavori del capo di casa Dan Swanö il quale, canta pure in “Under the Banner of Sentinel” prestando in modo forse un po’ goffo e decisamente 80s la voce alla Sentinella. Quindi un certo tipo di black metal fantasy e fiabesco si spoglia di qualsiasi aura satanica e violenta per assumere un tono narrativo che, grazie anche all’uso di synth, volge spesso lo sguardo all’heavy metal, ai raddoppi Maideniani di chitarra. Qualcosa di simile lo avevamo già sentito nel debutto dei Mörk Gryning e i Vittra dei Naglfar Questo è uno di quegli album che se l’avessi ascoltato più di venti anni fa probabilmente non sarebbe minimamente entrato nei miei ascolti preferiti e, forse, non lo è nemmeno ora. La mia è più una voglia di collocarlo, di dargli una giusta posizione. C’è comunque da segnalare l’evoluzione personale e schizofrenica di questo progetto, culminato con una colonna sonora di un improbabile film mai realizzato, sempre attorno alla vita del mondo dimmaginario di Blackheim.

[trueblackmetallegion]

[arealtrashact]

Have you seen house of the dragon?

No, it's missing something very vital to my interest in anything Westeros related.

[yanmuffins]

Hey there

Im actually gonna talk about your other series

I'm super curious for the yandere Batfam dynamic was they find our reader is a vampire, I kinda like the idea of reversing the typical vampire creepiness and instead of us, is the Batfam that really enjoy feeling the reader drinking their blood and each one figure out a way to convince reader.

For example let's say Cassandra manages to figure out which days your instincts are at the strongest so those days she always makes sure it's her turn to stay in the manor to keep guard and make sure you don't escape while the others are doing vigilante stuff

context.

oooooh vampire! reader ask!!! mild spoilers for future fic, gotham by night.

i'm honestly so excited to see where this story will go. this reader will not only have to deal with batfam issues, but also being introduced to a completely new world of vampires and deal with sire issues on top of daddy issues. she's having a great time (not)!

but tbh, i don't think reader would drink the batfam's blood. she would find the idea of feeding on her family extremely gross, and unnecessary, since there's other methods out there. it could be a last-resort thing, if she was starving and close to frenzy, but even then that would be something she would hate to do, as there is a risk of killing them accidentally.

and one of the main conflicts in this fic is yandere! platonic! batfam just not understanding (obviously, since they've never been exposed to it) the richness and intricacies of vampire culture, practices and social dynamics, leading to them to mishandle reader and her new condition as a vampire pretty badly. not only that, but batfam essentially kidnapping reader from her sire (who had also kidanpped her btw) messes up her self-discovery process as a vampire. oh, and a possible masquerade breach! disastrous.

but i can see the batfamily starving reader on purpose, to get her to drink their blood, saying it's safer for her to get used to drinking from her family so she doesn't feel tempted to attack innocent civilians. and she's yelling that that's not how any of this works, but they won't listen. yup, that's diabolical.

you see, this concept pretty much follows v*mpire t*e m*squ*rad* mechanics. and according to established lore, we have a variety of predator types: one of them being bagger, referring to vampires who prefer to consume blood through blood bags instead of live human bodies. this would be convenient for both reader and batfam, but mostly batfam since they could just arrange reader an endless supply of blood bags with ease.

we also have consensualists, who do not feed against their victim's free will (the lines of consent and free will might still be murky, lest they straight up admit they're a vampire looking for blood and won't you please spare some) and sirens, who seduce their victims! i'm not entirely sure which predator type vampire! reader will be, but i'm leaning heavily towards bagger, meaning she doesn't have a preference for biting necks. but who knows?

to be fair, it's a big adjusment for batfam. you were being weird before you got kidnapped (and embraced), and it takes a while and reader almost going into frenzy (aka vampiric reaction to situations of extreme stress, like starvation) for them to find out, holy shit, she's a fucking vampire now! that's what happened! and they can't just... let you go. the situation is complicated. the person who turned you is still out there, and you're unpredictable, and this wouldn't have happened if they just paid more attention to you! so let them keep you safe (captive) and provided for.

ALTERNATIVELY, deviating a bit from the original concept where reader is taken by her sire and then taken by the batfam straight back into captivity, we could have reader being so neglected and ignored in the family that they just don't notice she's been turned, and she gets time to go through a complete change in personality and confidence, and involve herself with the social and political webs of vampire society that wants to establish itself in gotham. it's not drastically different direction for this concept to go, because either way reader will be thrown in the world of darkness (ha), except here the kidnapping happens after she comes contact into it and in the paragraph above it happens before.

reader escapes them either way, cause she's a vampire ofc, and the batfam didn't have enough time and info to prepare and keep reader sufficiently trapped. they'll keep an eye on her, though.

either way, there's room for yandere madness, dark content, neglectful batfamily drama, sociopolitical vampire drama, vampire! reader being cunty, and all that in both ideas, which aren't that different, really.. i'm not sure! sorry for rambling. it's still a work in progress but i'm very excited for it.

[wretchedsums]

who: open; 1/5 where: the masquerade [part II]

He's a long ways off when the Reardon man makes his big display, gloving a man's hunter mark off and tossing him into the midst of a pack of hungry vampires. The scent of blood that fills the air afterwards is not lost on him, nor is it unwelcome, but, well, he's not about to fight his way into the middle of a moshpit like that.

Still; incredibly entertaining in the least, worth of applause, in both the literal and figurative sense, as much as he might hate to admit it.

"Fucking diabolical, that guy." He says with a clap, and leans over to whoever it is next to him. "Couldn't have done it better myself. That's how you send a message."

Maybe he's feeling all the hooch and the drugs - enough to kill a normal man, just enough for him to be blissfully carefree and detached from the horrors of it all.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔇𝔦𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔩 𝔐𝔞𝔰𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔢 - 𝔄𝔩𝔩 𝔒𝔫𝔟𝔬𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔓𝔢𝔯𝔡𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔷𝔢!

[cavegirl66]

"Is Arestes e S'urtzu Pretistu" Sorgono, Sardinia

Is Arestes and S’Urtzu Pretistu  of Sorgono

Man has always paid his attention to the events that Mother Nature decreed and decrees with cyclical rhythms that can be defined as eternal, and to which he has tied his fears but also his hopes making it a religion towards a god to whom he turned: Dionisio Mainoles, (Maimone in Sardinia) divinity of vegetation and ecstasy, to whom abundant rains were asked so that the earth would bear its fruits. The name of Maimone in Sardinia has remained linked to springs and watercourses. This God, source of life for men and beasts, was highly venerated by shepherds and farmers. In Sorgono and in other inhabited centers when the calends of January arrived, ritual manifestations were held in his honor, representing the most salient moments of his death.

The rite is very ancient, certainly pre-Christian.

The ritual representation took place on the calends of January: men dressed in skins, loaded with animal bones, with their faces blackened by burnt cork or covered with a black mask, capture and sacrifice the predestined victim, who is generally presented in the form of a goat, bull, deer, wild boar, all hypostases or manifestations of Dionysus who manifested himself in these aspects. Whatever the most remote origin of this manifestation, it is certain that in the writings of Saint Augustine (4th century AD) there is certain testimony to the existence of wild and animalistic masks: "What sensible person could believe that there are sane individuals who disguise themselves as deer, changing their clothes for those of beasts? Some wear sheep and goat skins, others put animal heads on their heads, happy and exultant, if they manage to transform themselves into bestial forms so much so that they no longer seem men" and then: "they dress in bestial clothes similar to goats and deer to make themselves in the image of God, and having made themselves similar they make a diabolical sacrifice". Around the 4th century, therefore, there existed feral or animal masks, a tenacious continuation of evident pagan manifestations. Masquerading in the guise of animals appeared to the Fathers of the Church and the representatives of the Christian cult as a sacrilege. In fact, the Council of Auxerre (585 AD) issued a provision that prohibited these ritual manifestations: non licet kalendis ianuarii vetola aut cervolo facere vel strenas diabolicus. Despite the work of evangelization by the ecclesiastical orders, ritual ceremonies were repeated over the centuries, even though many people, despite having converted to Christianity, disguised themselves in animal forms when the calends of January arrived, re-proposing the ancient propitiatory rituals even though they were aware that this ceremony came from a pagan religion.

Even in the 18th century, according to the testimonies of the Jesuit friar Bonaventura Demontis Licheri of Neoneli and the Jesuit father Giovanni Vassallo, these ancestral rites were still celebrated. In many towns in central Sardinia, propitiatory rituals with human sacrifices were practiced on the calends of January. This fact is not surprising if one considers the centuries-old isolation and the resistance of the populations of the internal areas of Sardinia to change their beliefs, as well as the agro-pastoral economy linked to the agricultural years and the spectre of drought. In his writings "Attobios a Santu Mauru d'Ennarzu" (poem in the Sardinian language) on the occasion of the celebrations in honor of San Mauro Abate in Sorgono (Santu Mauru de i Dolos) on January 15, 1767, he describes in a surprisingly clear way the representation and dynamics of the pagan ritual and of those who participate in it. The sanctuary of San Mauro, a few kilometers from Sorgono, stands at the foot of Monte Lisai in a valley rich in evidence of the Neolithic and Nuragic periods; a short distance away is the sacred complex of Bidu 'e Concas with its 200 menhirs (3000 BC) and a place of worship for the populations in the pre-Nuragic and Nuragic periods.

Licheri calls the masks “Sos Arestes” the rustic, the wild ones.

Sos Arestes, they wear a goat, sheep and cow skin, on their backs they carry animal bones, their head is covered by a cork headdress called su casiddu, completely lined with woolly skin and surmounted by goat, fallow deer, red deer and bull horns, with their faces and arms blackened by soot produced by the burnt cork. They are armed with mighty sticks, wooden clubs and pitchforks, they move with a haughty attitude, causing with little jumps the apotropaic sound of the bones tied to their shoulders, some of them are equipped with an ox horn, which they play for the entire duration of the ceremony.

They advance in a group in an apparently disorderly manner, miming clashes evoking fights or dances typical of the courtship of goats or animals present, in reality these are ancient propitiatory rites to solicit the beneficial rain. The elderly Shepherds claimed that when the goats clashed, the weather was about to change and turn to rain.

At the head of the procession one or two Arestes hold the victim destined for sacrifice tied with a chain: S'Urtzu, a man wearing an entire sheep, goat or bull skin, with the headdress surmounted by majestic bull horns but who unlike the Arestes, has no bones on his shoulders and will be beaten and prodded by all the Arestes of the group.

The ritual of sacrifice culminates with the killing of S'Urtzu, struck to death by the sticks, pitchforks and wooden clubs of the Arestes.

At the signal of the pack leader, the Arestes perform thirteen jumps around the victim, now defenseless, the number of lunar phases in a year, punctuated by the sound of the ox horn; at the new signal of the pack leader, who in the meantime holds the victim tied to the center of the circle, they remove their particular headdress, highlighting their face blackened by the soot of the burnt cork.

Under pressure from the church, the rite performed by adults has been progressively reduced to a banal masquerade whose true meaning had been lost.

In Sorgono, the last testimonies of men dressing up in animal skins and with the entire head of a bull date back to the years 1925-30.

Some old people today still remember and tell of men dressed in sheepskin who chained a man dressed in cowhide with the entire head of a bull on their head who tried to wriggle and resist.

A repetition, a continuation devoid of meaning. It is done because it is known. In the repetition of the ancient rites of the early 1900s, the deep, internal, original and truly significant reason is now missing. A tradition is maintained, a way of acting is preserved, but the way of being, the true essence has now transformed. The Church, the innovations, the changing isolation of these areas, the arrival of external elements, often even to Sardinia, in the administration, in the control of the territory, in the management of religious matters, the arrival of a more widespread culture with a slow but inexorable increase in schooling, produce a physiological and normal abandonment of what was linked to antiquity, to myth and legend. The cultural transition from rite to myth is also marked by the carnivalization (in a playful and ludic sense) of a rite. This transition occurs only when the rite has lost all contact and all meaning with the social life of the community that expresses it. Only when many of those who are part of the same community no longer recognize what was a founding segment of the common identity, and only then, that segment "falls" or "expires" at a playful level and then disappears completely.

[malevolententity]

Okay but that makes so much sense??? Like until you said it, it didn't really click just How Much Edward broke the masquerade but i think that fact has like, been itching at the back of my mind when it came to him and all the shit he pulled.

And the bit abt the Weylin twins too??? Like ohhhh so many things seem to click into place with your explanation.

And it just makes the fact that the all the participants in that game being masquerade breakers seem even more like. Manipulative on top of the fact we know he was also going to have Shilo endorse him. Like a "See? I hate masquerade breakers too. Ignore everything else I've been doing." thing.

Anyways if u have any more essays to drop on anything abt how the suckening uses or bends things relating to vtm please drop them. I crave more knowledge.

welcome to my sabbat truthing!!! i am so glad i made sense!!!

arent the camarilla all so fucked up in claiming everyone as masquerade breakers but then they do shit that is Also So Fucking Bad For The Masquerade!!!! the camarilla have always kinda been "do as i say not as i do" but charlie like truly hits the nail on the head with the complacency of the entire court. i am actually so obsessed with his world building and the implications of so many little things.

the whole entire finale is so manipulative and diabolical and i love it. edwards such a hypocrite it is so fun to watch an edward be on their high horse knowing he blatantly does worse than like oh god that one nossie that ordered uber eats Exactly One Time. but! thats how the masquerades played the higher you are in the hierarchy the less rules apply to you unless someone stages a coup. and the lower you are the worse a punishment is for a single infraction.

like the reason that gabriel is a masquerade breacher is Slightly because emizel went off the rails and anything your childe does reflects on the sire for choosing poorly. but its also very much because within the camarilla every single turning has to be sanctioned by the prince! emizel was an accident. gabriel freaks out because woah weird guy just bit me back. but also because that is a major masquerade breach according to the cams. and by letting emizel have the chance to live instead of immediately killing him gabe knew he was eventually going to die because of this choice. and just oughggh <- i genuinely cant remember if charlie ever explained this at any point

vampire the masquerade is a wonderful gothic horror ttrpg that is so so fun if you love to roleplay the complexities of personal relationships and also political intrigue. theres also video games. if you like video games you should play the video games.

i will get to writing more suckening essays in the future dont you worry 🫡