Viking Crown

Viking Crown emerged as a side project devoted to the rawest and most unrefined strain of black metal, drawing explicit inspiration from Venom, Hellhammer, and Darkthrone. The endeavor joined Necrophagia frontman Killjoy with Anton Crowley, the pseudonym adopted by Pantera’s Phil Anselmo. United by a shared reverence for those early, primitive exponents of Satanic black metal, the pair first joined forces on the 1999 release Unorthodox Steps Of Ritual EP and the full-length Innocence From Hell, both of which also included keyboard contributions from Anselmo’s then-girlfriend Opal Enthroned, also known as Stephanie Opal. The trio mounted no tours and made minimal effort to publicize the recordings. Following a two-year return to their primary musical commitments, they reassembled to track Banished Rhythmic Hate, issued in 2001 by Season of Mist.