Krieg

Krieg originated in Somers Point, New Jersey, as an American black metal outfit launched in 1995 by Neill Jameson, previously the driving force behind Imperial and known under the alias Lord Imperial. From the outset Jameson, together with a rotating lineup of fellow musicians, pursued the most unrefined strain of lo-fi black metal, drawing from Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, and the earliest incarnation of Mayhem while threading “blacknoise” through the band’s late-nineties demo recordings. Their first full-length statement, Rise of the Imperial Hordes, surfaced in 1998 and inaugurated an intensely productive stretch that yielded numerous demos, EPs, split releases, and subsequent albums including Destruction Ritual in 2002, The Black House in 2004, Sono lo Scherno in 2005, and Blue Miasma in 2006. Unlike many of their influential yet largely studio-confined American contemporaries, Krieg maintained a consistent presence on the road across both the United States and Europe. Although Jameson briefly dissolved the project in 2007, the hiatus proved short-lived; the band resumed activity with the 2010 release The Isolationist.