Von is an American

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

band formed in 1987 in O'ahu, Hawaii; although they later relocated to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. They are thought to be the first American black metal band, and strongly influenced the second wave of black metal.

History

Von was allegedly formed in 1987 by Goat, Snake, and Venien (who left the band in 1990, before VON was chosen as the band name). The role and involvement of member "Venien" in the early days of Von have always been very unclear, as no proof that this member was active in the band during that period exists. In late 1990 or early 1991, Kill joined the band as bassist and the trio recorded their '' Satanic Blood'' demo. During 1991, Von played a couple of live gigs and recorded another demo, ''Blood Angel'', which was never released on its own. The band disbanded in 1992, shortly after the release of ''Satanic Blood''. The band's members also recorded a

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

demo under the name Sixx. The early days of Von are largely undocumented, and Venien's membership during 1987–1990 has been a matter of contention among fans. It is also unclear if the band even existed before 1990, as no proof exists. Many people believe the band was formed in late 1990 or early 1991 with the line-up of Goat (guitars, vocals), Kill (bass) and Snake (drums). Many people consider this line-up to be the only true line-up of Von and disregard the band's post-2010 material. Venien has been accused of trying to cover up facts of Von's past on various archiving and encyclopedic websites, in an attempt to further solidifying his professed involvement in Von's original formation. In 2003, Nuclear War Now! Productions released '' Satanic Blood Angel'', a double CD/triple LP

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products *Compilation thesis M ...

featuring the band's demos on one CD and a recording of a live show on another. Besides the original ''Satanic Blood'' demo, this was the only other official Von release prior to 2010. In 2009, Nuclear War Now! Productions released the Sixx recording on an LP entitled ''Sister Devil''. The band reformed with a new line-up for a one-off show on June 6, 2010, at the Armageddon Fest in London, England.

Watain Watain is a Swedish black metal band, formed in 1998.Eduardo Rivadavia: ''Watain Biography'' Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation. The band's name is taken from an early recording by the American black metal group Von.Ronald Ziegler''Merchandise w ...

and

The Devil's Blood The Devil's Blood was a Dutch occult rock band from Eindhoven, formed in 2006. Their style is hard rock in the vein of Black Widow, Coven, Black Sabbath, and a plethora of 1970s underground progressive and psychedelic rock. Their sound has be ...

opened for the band, marking the first time Von had played live in 20 years. Snake, the drummer, was replaced by Blood as a session drummer, and bassist Kill was replaced by Venien; this was the first time Venien had actively played with the band. The band was also joined by a second guitarist: J. Giblet. Goat was the only member left in the band from the original line-up of Goat, Kill, and Snake. To commemorate the show, the new line-up of the band put out a brand new 7" single with re-recorded versions of "Satanic Blood" and "Veadtuck", and a new song titled "Blood Von", a reworked version of the "Von" track from the "Satanic Blood" demo cassette. The 7" was released on VMG Records with a limit of 500 copies. After the London show, the last member of the original line-up, Goat, and new drummer Blood left the band to focus on Goat's solo-project, called Von Goat. Goat's departure left Von in the hands of Venien, who hired a slew of session musicians to start writing and rehearsing new and reworked material for two full-length records. Most of said members were with the band for only very short periods of time. On October 31, 2012, Von, with yet another new lineup headed by Venien, released their debut studio album titled '' Satanic Blood''. On March 22, 2013, a second full-length album, titled '' Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves'', was released on CD and as a download.

Style

Von plays highly simplistic black metal with short songs based on almost continuous

blast beat A blast beat is a type of drum beat that originated in hardcore punk and grindcore, and is often associated with certain styles of extreme metal, namely black metal and death metal,Adam MacGregor, ''PCP Torpedo'' by Agoraphobic Nosebleed rev ...

s (occasionally accompanied by drum fills) and repetition of only from one to three

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

s, each containing only about three or four

power chord A power chord (also fifth chord) is a colloquial name for a chord in guitar music, especially electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played on am ...

s. The vocals are performed in a guttural growling fashion more characteristic of

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

than the Scandinavian black metal style established later. In '' Lords of Chaos'', ''Satanic Blood'' was described as "one raw-sounding demo tape". Von can be seen having been ahead of their time, playing minimalistic black metal at a time when the genre was virtually non-existent, especially in the

thrash Thrash may refer to: *Thrashing (computer science), where increasing resources are used to do a decreasing amount of work *Thrash (surname) *Thrash, mascot of the Atlanta Thrashers *''Thrash Rally'', a top-down perspective rally racing video game ...

-oriented

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

metal scene of that era.

Cult following

Von has gained a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

in the black metal

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

since their disbandment and the few recordings of Von are considered

classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

and pioneering black metal. Prominent black metal bands have covered Von, either on record or live (or both), including

Dark Funeral Dark Funeral is a Swedish black metal band from Stockholm, founded by guitarists Blackmoon and Lord Ahriman in 1993. They emerged during the second wave of black metal. Their lyrical themes have traditionally pertained to Satanism and anti-Chr ...

Enthroned Enthroned is a Belgian black metal band formed in Charleroi. It is one of the premier acts of the Belgian black metal scene. History The band was founded in 1993 by drummer Cernunnos. He soon recruited guitarist Tsebaoth and a vocalist from g ...

, Krieg,

Taake Taake () is a Norway, Norwegian black metal band from Bergen, formed in 1993 and originally named Thule. The band's one continuous member is Hoest, who writes all and records most of the music. He has released seven full-length albums and several ...

and

(who are also named after a Von song).

Band's name

The band's name is sometimes falsely thought to be an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for "Victory Orgasm Nazi(s)".

Varg Vikernes Louis Cachet (born Kristian Vikernes; 11 February 1973), better known as Varg Vikernes (), is a Norwegian writer and retired musician best known for his early black metal albums and later crimes. His first five records, issued under the name Bur ...

used those words to spell the band's name during a phone interview with Michael Moynihan because Moynihan apparently did not hear the name correctly.The interview in the booklet of ''Satanic Blood Angel'', available at a Von's Myspacebr>page
/ref> According to the band, the name stands for "nothing but images of darkness and blood".

Members

;Current members * Venien (Jason Ventura) – lead vocals, bass * HangMan (Carter Grant) – guitars, backing vocals ;Former members * Goat (Shawn Calizo) – lead vocals, guitars * Snake – drums * Kill – bass * Blood – drums * Charlie Fell – drums * Hammer of Dread (Alex Bank Rollins) – guitars * Lord Giblete (JGiblete Cuervo) – lead guitar, backing vocals * Xaphan (Julian Hollowell) – rhythm guitar * Dirty FvKn! Pistols (Anthony Mainiero) – drums

Discography

Albums

* '' Satanic Blood'' (2012) * '' Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves'' (2013) * '' Dark Gods: Birth of the Architects'' (2017)

EPs

* '' Satanic Blood'' (2010), recorded in 2010, three-track 7" EP with tracks "Satanic Blood", "Blood Von", and "Veadtuck". All of the tracks are re-recorded and re-written from their original form.

Compilation albums

* '' Satanic Blood Angel'' (CD/2LP, 2003, re-released in 2009 on CD and 2LP), Nuclear War Now! Productions

Demos

* ''Satanic'' (1990), limited to three copies only * '' Satanic Blood'' (1992), recorded in 1991 * ''Blood Angel'' (1992), unreleased, recorded between 1991 and 1992. The demo was never released on its own, only as part of the ''Satanic Blood Angel'' compilation released in 2003.

DVDs

* ''Satanic Blood Ritual'' (2010), Nuclear War Now! Productions

Bootlegs

Several bootlegs exist, mostly containing the ''Satanic Blood'' demo, including releases on Hellspawn and Hammerheart Records, while one notable example was a split compilation with

entitled ''Devil Pigs'', released by Karmageddon Media.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Von American black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Musical quartets Musical groups reestablished in 2010