Stephen O’Malley is oft recognized as a pioneer of doom and drone metal from his participation in Khanate and Sunn O))). But before either of these incarnations, O’Malley and Greg Anderson (also of Sunn O) were creating blackest doom metal in Burning Witch and Thorr’s Hammer. Thorr’s Hammer was an incredible band with a charming female who sang in Norwegian (Runhild Gammelsæter aka Ozma, who was a 17 year old exchange student from Norway at the time). My favorite song by them is “Norge” which starts out softly, Ozma’s voice fades in, chanting in Norwegian. Then, that same female voice dives deeply into gravelly death metal vocalizations. It’s hard to believe that it’s a female singing still, she is so convincing with her delivery! ([More →])