Graveland are a Polish
pagan black metal
Pagan metal is a genre of heavy metal music which fuses extreme metal with " the pre-Christian traditions of a specific culture or region" through thematic concept, rustic melodies, unusual instruments or archaic languages, Wiederhorn 2009, p. ...
band which was formed in 1991 by
Rob Darken
Robert Fudali (born 13 December 1969), better known as Rob Darken, is a Polish musician and singer, best known for being the frontman for black metal band Graveland.
He has also contributed to other local bands, such as Fullmoon, Veles, Infer ...
(born Robert Fudali). They began as a
black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...
band before adopting a pagan and
Viking metal
Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consider it more a cr ...
style. The lyrics and imagery of Graveland are strongly inspired by European mythology, nature, winter and war. Their early work focused on
Celtic and
Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the Balk ...
, while their later work focuses on
Norse mythology and
Wotanism.
History
Beginning
Darken, who started Graveland as a solo project in 1991, was influenced by bands such as
Bathory and
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
. He recorded the first demos, ''Necromanteion'' and ''Drunemeton'', working alone. In 1993, drummer Maciej "Capricornus" Dąbrowski joined the band, which then recorded ''
In the Glare of Burning Churches''. In 1994 the two were joined by Grzegorz "Karcharoth" Jurgielewicz (previously of
Infernum) and recorded ''
The Celtic Winter'', which was released as an EP by the German label
No Colours Records
No Colours Records is a German mail order and record label from Mügeln specialised in black metal.
Background
No Colours Records mostly releases black metal records, but has also released records related to other extreme metal genres such as t ...
. No Colours currently releases the band's new albums.
First albums
A few months later, the band's first album, ''Carpathian Wolves'' (recorded at the Radio PRO-FM Studio,
Opole, 26 Apr – 2 May 1994), was released by Eternal Devils Records. With ''Carpathian Wolves'', the band drew the attention of several bigger metal labels and was eventually signed by the Austrian Lethal Records label, which released ''Thousand Swords''. This album was recorded in December 1994 at Tuba Studio,
Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
, "in the days of eternal winter & frozen night of full moon, at the gates of a new era". The Lethal Records release showed a progression in Graveland's sound from raw black metal to black metal with folk and Viking metal influence to it. The album is considered to be the band's best release by many fans and a classic in the black metal scene. After reportedly making several racist statements, the band was dropped by Lethal. Darken then founded his own label, Isengard (later Eastclan), and re-released an extended ''Thousand Swords'' on cassette. The album's booklet contains statements against Lethal Records and two other bigger metal labels,
Osmose
Osmose Productions is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company. They specialize mainly in death and black metal bands.
Many of the groups who began wi ...
and
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...
. In 1999, the album was re-released, again, by No Colours with another different album cover. In 2001, it was re-released for a second time by No Colours on CD and vinyl. The CD version had the logo in red and the vinyl version had a red logo. The CD and vinyl versions had different covers from each other.
Move towards folk
The band's third album, ''Following the Voice of Blood'', was recorded 25 September 1996 – 18 December 1996 and released in 1997 via No Colours. With the 1998 album, ''
Immortal Pride'' (strongly influenced by the movie soundtrack of ''
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...
''), the band took on a
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
style, while moving more into
Viking metal
Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consider it more a cr ...
. Its sound became more epic, symphonic and added more keyboards and
chorale
Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale:
* Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the th ...
s. The songs also became much longer. (For instance, ''Immortal Pride'' consists of four songs: two of them being the intro and outro; and the other ones being 24 and 17 minutes long.)
In 2000, ''Raiders of Revenge'' (a split release with the
RAC band Honor) and ''
Creed of Iron / Prawo Stali'' were released. Since Creed, Darken has worked without Capricornus on drums.
In November 2015, it was announced that Rob Darken had assembled a live lineup and Graveland would play its very first live shows in April 2016.
On 22 February 2018, the band released a re-recorded version of
''Dawn of Iron Blades
'' with new keyboards, drums, bass and female vocals. The band released the single "Possessed by Steel" on 14 April 2020. ''Hour of Ragnarok'' the band's 13th studio album of original material was released on 23 August 2021 through Inferna Profundus Records.
Ideology
Darken sees himself as a Heathen and Christianity as the worst enemy of white Europeans. He exalts the latter's return to their ancestors' heritage, and has spoken out against "race mixing". On the
Graveland
Graveland are a Polish pagan black metal band which was formed in 1991 by Rob Darken (born Robert Fudali). They began as a black metal band before adopting a pagan and Viking metal style. The lyrics and imagery of Graveland are strongly inspi ...
EP ''
Raise Your Sword!
Graveland are a Polish pagan black metal band which was formed in 1991 by Rob Darken (born Robert Fudali). They began as a black metal band before adopting a pagan and Viking metal style. The lyrics and imagery of Graveland are strongly inspir ...
'', he declares Heathendom to be the religion of white Europeans.
Darken has been accused of being a
neo-Nazi. In response to these accusations he has stated: "I do not see any point in referring to NS because I do not see any point in referring to any ideologies that lost. It is against logic and eternal law of evolution. I think that white men should search for new ideas that would be well adapted for the current reality and the problems of
hecontemporary world." and "If you are White proud of being White and proud of your forefathers faith, if you politically incorrect, if you dare to criticize the politicians and it you point at the existence of a strong powerful Jewish lobby supporting Israel – you are called Nazi and anti-Semite. And the special institution start to persecute you. I am called 'Nazi" but no one has any proof of my nazi background. They just repeat once heard someone else words having no proof of it." And "In Poland many people refer to Slavonic heritage as many refer to German. And I think that those who refer to Slavonic culture are the majority but they do not make big show of it. For me there is no difference between pagan beliefs of Vikings and Slavs. The names are different but the core is the same. Different stories but the same Gods with the same attributes. The ideologist of the Third Reich were responsible for the division between German Aryan world and Slavonic world. They distorted the historical facts in order to separate from Eastern world. Communist did the same but they of course favouritized
icSlavs."''
''Interviews''. ''The most interesting fragments of interviews with Darken''
, accessed on 30 June 2013.'' Yet, in a 2006 interview with '' Decibel'', he stated that "Graveland is regarded as a NSBM band because of my political convictions, hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
most people would call extreme right-wing National Socialist convictions," and "people I played with were Satanists and they were not interested in paganism. Due to these differences, we finally started to walk separate ways and Graveland became one-man band again. I understood that I could not support Satanism ecause itwas a part of Judeo-Christian religion. In the Third Reich, Satanists would end pin gas chambers."
Band members
Current members
* Robert "Rob Darken" Fudali – vocals, guitars, bass, drums, synthesizers (1991–present)
* Skyth – bass (2020–present)
* M. Ahrin – drums (2020–present)
Former members
* Maciej "Capricornus" Dąbrowski – drums (1993–1999)
* Grzegorz "Karcharoth" Jurgielewicz – bass (1993–1995)
* Bartosz "Bor" Boruszewski – guitars (2015–2019)
* Zbigniew "Zbych" Ropicki – guitars (2015–2016)
* Piotr "Mścisław" Bajus – bass, guitars (2015–2018)
* Mirosław "Miro" Rosiński – drums (2015–2016)
* Maciej "Draugir" Twarowski – guitars (2016–2019)
* Krzysztof "Sigrunar" Saran – drums (2016–2019)
Live members
* Arkadiusz "Aro" Jęczmionka – drums (2016–2020)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Carpathian Wolves'' (1994)
* ''Thousand Swords'' (1995)
* ''Following the Voice of Blood'' (1997)
* '' Immortal Pride'' (1998)
* '' Creed of Iron / Prawo Stali'' (2000)
* ''Memory and Destiny
''Memory and Destiny'' is the sixth full-length studio album by Polish black metal band Graveland. It was released in 2002 on No Colours Records and was limited to 2000 copies. The LP version was limited to 888 copies.
Track listing
# "Fate of W ...
'' (2002)
* ''The Fire of Awakening
''The Fire of Awakening'' is the seventh full-length studio album by Polish black metal band Graveland. It was released in 2003 on No Colours Records and was limited to 1000 copies.
Track listing
# "We Shall Prevail" - 9:53
# "Battle of Wotan's W ...
'' (2003)
* ''Dawn of Iron Blades
''Dawn of Iron Blades'' is a full-length album by the Polish black metal band Graveland. ''Dawn of Iron Blades'' was also released as A5-digibook (limited to 1500) and gatefold 2xLP. Some of the lyrics were written by Garhard III from Austrian pag ...
'' (2004)
* ''Fire Chariot of Destruction
Fire Chariot of Destruction'' is the ninth full length studio album by the Polish black metal band Graveland. It was released on No Colours Records in 2005. An LP version was also released and was limited to 1000 copies.
Track listing
# "War Wol ...
'' (2005)
* ''Will Stronger Than Death'' (2007)
* ''Spears of Heaven
''Spears of Heaven'' is the eleventh full length studio album released by the black metal band Graveland. It was released on No Colours Records in 2009.
Track listing
Personnel Additional personnel
* Christophe Szpajdel
Christophe Szpajdel ( ...
'' (2009)
* ''Thunderbolts of the Gods'' (2013)
* ''Ogień przebudzenia'' (2014)
* ''1050 Years of Pagan Cult'' (2016)
* ''Dawn of Iron Blades'' (2018)
* ''Hour of Ragnarok'' (2021)
EPs and splits
* ''The Celtic Winter'' (1994)
* ''Impaler's Wolves'' (1999)
* ''Raiders of Revenge'' (2000)
* ''Raise Your Sword!'' (2001)
* ''Blood of Heroes'' (2002)
* ''Eastern Hammer'' (2007)
* ''Wotan Mit Mir'' (2008)
* ''Cold Winter Blades'' (2010)
* ''Tribute to the King of Aquilonia'' (2010)
* ''Ogień Wilczych Serc'' (Fire of Wolfish Hearts) (2012)
* ''The Spirit Never Dies'' (2016)
Demos and promo tapes
* ''Necromanteion'' (1992)
* ''Promo June '92'' (1992)
* ''Drunemeton'' (1992)
* ''Epilogue'' (1993)
* ''In the Glare of Burning Churches'' (1993)
* ''The Celtic Winter'' (1993)
* ''Following the Voice of Blood'' (1997)
* ''Resharpening Thousand Swords'' (2014)
* ''Carpathian Wolves – Rehearsal 1993'' (2016)
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Polish heavy metal musical groups
Polish black metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1991
One-man bands
Modern paganism in Poland
Modern pagan musical groups
Black metal controversies