Black Metal

Black metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal, which

properly started in the early 1980's, though its
inspirations were formed in the early 1980's.
There are two views on the genre. One views black
metal as a very specific form of music that must
adhere to a particular 'style' in order for it to be a
part of the genre; while the second considers the
lyrical and philosophical/political ideology of the
music to take more precedence in defining the
genre itself, rather than 'style,'.
The First Wave
The seeds of black metal were planted in the early
1980s, known as the "First Wave", the earliest
inspiration being that of the British band Venom.
Their debut full-length album, "Welcome To Hell"
was released in 1981, and is a huge inspiration for
the future black metal scene (not to emerge for
around a decade later), along with their 1982
follow-up, aptly titled Black Metal (then a pun on
the phrase Black Magic). The music was in many
ways similar to the future black metal music; the
under-production, harsh music, and the vocals were
relatively growly, similar to the future rasp of black
metal vocalists, though it must be stated that
Venom were not actually black metal, they took on
a NWOBHM/Thrash metal style. Venom's clothing
style was also similar to that of the future black
metal bands; leather trousers, spiked wrist
accessories etc. Venom's members also adopted
pseudonyms, the original lineup being Cronos,
Mantas and Abaddon.
Though a more direct insipiration would be that of
the Swedish one-man band Bathory, lead by
Quorthon (real name Thomas Forsberg). Early
Bathory was pure black metal, with under-
production, fast tempos, sketchy playing and a
rasped vocal style. Bathory seemingly performed
this completely out of the blue, the debut self-titled
album and the second album The Return are perfect
examples. Though Bathory later evolved into a
very artistic black metal band round the late-1980's,
with black metal music scattered with acoustic
parts and Norse melodies, with Norse mythology-
based lyrics. At this time, such classic songs as A
Fine Day To Die were recorded, a song later to be
covered by symphonic black metal legends
Emperor. Quorthon's fine day to die was June 7,
2004. He is sorely missed by legions of longtime
fans and supporters.
Other big influences include the Danish band
Mercyful Fate and Swiss band Celtic Frost, the
latter of which featured heavily occult themes, a
huge factor of future black metal. King Diamond,
Mercyful Fate's vocalist, however, provided the
first corpsepaint-esque look, which would be used
by nearly every single future black metal band.
Mercyful Fate also provided a blasphemous image,
with such album titles as Nuns Have No Fun,
which was also a very huge factor of future black
metal.
[edit]
The Second Wave
Black metal congealed in its current form (known
as the second wave of black metal, which is rooted
much more heavily in classical musical theory)
through the influence of Norwegian bands such as
Darkthrone, Enslaved, Burzum, Satyricon,
Mayhem, Immortal, and Emperor, who began with
the earlier style and introduced elements from
mainstream heavy metal, classical music and
popularised the style to a growing underground
audience. Their influence is most apparent in the
Satanic or pagan imagery, anti-Christian lyrics and
occult themes.
[edit]
Characteristics
Black metal may, but is not obligated to, have the
following characteristics:
 Fast guitars with tremolo picking
 Lyrics that take the form of pessimistic,
Satanic, Pagan, or occult themes which
blaspheme Christianity. Bands such as Slayer,
Venom, Deicide, and Immolation overlap
lyrically with black metal somewhat but are
musically defined as death metal (Deicide,
Immolation) or thrash metal (Slayer, Venom),
however, Venom coined the term "Black
Metal" and laid the foundations for later Black
Metal alongsides Bathory and Celtic Frost.
 Relatively thin guitar sound or relatively thick
guitar sound, usually not in the middle.
 Limited production used intentionally as a
statement against mainstream music and/or to
reflect the mood of the music, to create
atmosphere. This 'underproduced' effect is
often achieved by cutting out low and high
frequencies, leaving just the mid frequency
range. Very few of the black metal pioneers
still do this, since their original limited
production only was due to a minimal budget.
This production style is often considered an
essential element of "true" Black Metal.
 Fast, repetitive, aggressive drums, often with
blast beats. At other times, the drums can take
a slower role usually accompanied by a very
dry and empty tone —especially for the effect
of the atmosphere of the music.
 Occasional electronic keyboard use. The
harpsichord, violin, organ, and choir settings
 are most common, which gives the music an
orchestral feel or a cathedral-like setting. Some
bands tend to use keyboards very frequently,
whether it be as an instrument or even as the
basis of their entire sound. They are generally
placed under the symphonic black metal label.
 High-pitched/distorted screeching vocals (One
of the most well-known high pitched
screechers in Black Metal being Dani Filth
from Cradle Of Filth). Contrary to popular
belief, these are not essential as there have
been many black metal bands old and new
employing different vocal styles.
 Swift percussion.
 Cold, dark, sad, melancholy, or gloomy
atmosphere.
 Less focus on dynamic rhythm than death
metal. Very few black metal bands exhibit the
rhythmic complexity inherent in death metal,
and even if they do, they usually exhibit at
least a few of the above-listed criteria if they
are still generally classified as black metal.
Cover of "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" by
Mayhem
An abraded, very low fidelity recording style is
common in most black metal. Modern evolution of
many of the older 'genre leading' bands have had a
vast change in sound, and by many - and most of
the times, even the band - are no longer considered
black metal. Such examples include Mayhem's
career that began mostly in the death/black roots,
moved to almost pure black, then towards death
again in their later career. Also, Satyricon who
started off as black metal but now play a very
industrial heavy hybrid of the music. Modern
offshoots of this original black metal sound have
incorporated atmospheric elements using ambient
guitar and keyboard passages such as organ sounds
or other miscellaneous instruments.
A distinct (but not intrinsic) feature of the black
metal is the use of corpse paint, a special kind of
black and white make-up which was used to make
the wearer look like a decomposing corpse or
plague victim. It should be noted that Immortal
referred to their make-up as "war paint", not
carrying the same connotation as corpse paint.
Another distinct feature of black metal is the use of
dark, Nordic or Satanic monikers pioneered by
Venom (the original line up being Cronos, Mantas
& Abbadon). Examples of this include Quorthon
(Bathory), Euronymous (Mayhem) and Samoth
(Emperor), to name a few.
Earlier bands tended to dwell on themes of fantasy,
mythology, and folklore in their songs, as well as
Satanism, darkness, evil, and so on as many of their
direct musical and cultural roots included these
topics.
[edit]
History
One of the major influences, if not very musically
similar, on the first black metal bands were the
English band Venom. Although Venom cannot be
credited as the sole founders or even as the first
true black metal band they were a major influence
and one of the first bands in to use Satanist and
very dark lyrical themes in their music. So whilst
Venom's musical style had more in common with
thrash metal or NWOBHM it must be shown that
they had a great influence on the first black metal
bands of the late 80's/early 90's.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, one of the most
prominent figures of the Norwegian scene was
Øystein Aarseth, better known as Euronymous, the
guitarist in Mayhem. Bands such as the previously
mentioned Venom and Nyscene 911 became more
into the Satanic vibes of the genre.
The scene was deeply anti-Christian: it had a stated
goal of removing the influence of Christianity and
other non-Scandinavian religions from Norwegian
culture and effecting a return to the nation's Norse
roots. One minority current, associated with
NSBM, included an element of unashamed anti-
Semitism. The movement was largely directed by
an 'Inner Circle', made up of Aarseth and a few
close friends, from the basement of Aarseth's
record store, Helvete (Hell). That location also
housed a recording studio, where records were
made by Mayhem and a number of other bands that
were signed to Aarseth's independent label,
Deathlike Silence Productions. Deathlike Silence's
stated goal was to release records by bands "that
incarnated evil in its most pure state."
Also around this time, there was a rash of arsons
directed at Christian churches in Norway—many of
the buildings were hundreds of years old, and
widely regarded as important historical landmarks
—that Aarseth's circle claimed responsibility for
inspiring, if not necessarily perpetrating. The most
notable church was Norway's Fantoft stave church,
which the police believed was burned by a member
of Euronymous's inner circle; the man behind the
one-man band Burzum, Varg Vikernes, aka "Count
Grishnackh", but he was abstained by the jury.
Vikernes also played bass guitar for Mayhem.
Black metal enthusiasts also started to terrorize
other notable "death metal" bands that were touring
their country or in neighboring countries, on the
basis of their lack of apparent "evilness". Many
recall a strong Swedish death metal and Norwegian
black metal rivalry.
The black metal scene gained some unsought mass
media attention in 1991 when Mayhem's frontman
Dead committed suicide by a shotgun blast to his
head. His note simply read "Excuse all the blood".
The ammunition was supplied by Varg Vikernes.
His body was discovered by Aarseth who, instead
of calling the police, ran to a nearby convenience
store and bought a disposable camera which he
used to photograph the corpse for a future Mayhem
album cover (Dawn of the Black Hearts).
Apocryphal reports also claim that he then took
some pieces of Dead's splattered brains and made a
stew out of them and/or members of the band took
bone fragments from their friend's skull and made
necklaces out of them.
The 'Inner Circle' received even more exposure in
1993, when Vikernes killed Aarseth in Aarseth's
home, stabbing him 23 times, although Vikernes
claims that Aarseth fell on broken glass while
running from him and that he really stabbed him
only 4 or 5 times. The circumstances surrounding
the reason for the murder are not entirely clear, but
have mainly been attributed to ideological
differences and a power struggle between Vikernes
and Aarseth. Vikernes claimed that Aarseth had
plotted to kill him and that the killing was
committed in partial self-defence. Vikernes also
claimed that there was a financial dispute over the
profits from Burzum's first two full-length records
(Burzum and Det Som Engang Var) as well as the
first Burzum EP (Aske) that were released through
Aarseth's record label, Deathlike Silence Records.
Some sources say that Aarseth intentionally
delayed the release of Burzum's records, because
Burzum was getting more attention than Mayhem.
Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison and
has since distanced himself from the black metal
movement, becoming involved in the Neo-Nazi
movement and writing extensively on the subject.
Many credit Vikernes' professed beliefs as
contributing to the rise of National Socialist black
metal, a variant that employs the genre's typically
Nordic, Pagan, and anti-Christian themes as an
expression of White Power ideology. While in
prison, Vikernes has released two albums of a
much more ambient and electronic kind of music,
Dauði Baldrs in 1997 and Hliðskjálf in 1999,
although he implied in a recent interview that he
would write material similar to his older works
upon his release from prison.
By the last few years of the 1990s, the black metal
scene had lost much of the violence that seemed to
be attached to it in the early days of the scene.
Also, bands begun to make records with higher
production-quality.
However, since the mid-1990s, an Eastern
European black metal scene has been developing.
Bands from the former Communist Bloc are
recording material more in keeping with the
primitive nature of the early Norwegian artists.
Many of these bands' lyrics glorify the pagan roots
of their home countries, occasionally injecting
elements of indigenous folk music into their
arrangements. The Latvian band Skyforger is a
prime example of this new aesthetic. The black
metal scene in Russia and Ukraine has produced
many bands more in keeping with the carefully
arranged sounds coming from Scandinavia, but
with more appreciation for the low fidelity
aesthetic of early black metal. The Czech band
Trollech are a perfect example of the "old-school"
Pagan black metal band. The Ukrainian neo-Nazi
Nokturnal Mortum has achieved very large
recognition in the west; their earlier albums relied
heavily on synthesizers, but their current work has
a grimmer, more abrasive feel flavored with Slavic
folk instruments. Poland's neo-Nazi band
Graveland has, in recent albums, striven for a
'medieval' feel, resembling a more developed
version of later 'viking' Bathory albums, but in the
past made much rawer music which still held a
certain intangible folk flavor. From Romania,
Negură Bunget is a prime example of traditional
black metal, injecting their own indigenous mix of
Dacian and Latin elements, along with a
Scandinavian sound. Also notable are Serbian
bands The Stone and May Result.
There is also a growing number of American bands
playing black metal (sometimes called USBM
bands). This movement has not taken a particularly
clear form, but notable groups are Black Funeral,
Judas Iscariot, Absu, Krieg, Grand Belial's Key,
Goatwhore, Kult ov Azazel, Unchrist, Choronzon
(Music project), Xasthur, Leviathan, Blackheart
Destruction, and the death metal-influenced
Acheron and Averse Sefira.
Bands such as Dark Funeral and extreme metal
magazines such as Terrorizer believe that a third
wave of influential black metal bands is emerging,
this time from France and Sweden. These include
Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Arkhon
Infaustus, Antaeus, Funeral
Mist,Ofermod,Ondskapt and Watain. These bands
all claim to be much more interested in Satanism
and/or Occultism than previous artists and
generally play a very raw extreme style. However,
just as with the earlier second wave Norwegian
bands they have started to experiment, Deathspell
Omega are influenced by Gregorian chant and Blut
Aus Nord now incorporate elements of ambient
techno.
Coming into the 21st century, some Black Metal
bands have actually been able to stay in the "well-
known" status. Two of the most well-known Black
Metal bands today being Cradle Of Filth and
Dimmu Borgir. Cradle Of Filth is the most well-
known, having been signed to a major label.
[edit]
Subforms
[edit]
National Socialist black metal
Black metal movement that deals with Neo-Nazi
ideologies, often mixed in with topics pertaining to
European pagan religions. NSBM is more
interpreted as an ideology than a sub-genre as there
is not any developed "style" to play black metal in
a National Socialist way, however NSBM bands
actually often tend to have crystal clear production,
something very unlike the regular bands. However,
the term has stuck around not only because there
are traceable movements and labels that sell NSBM
exclusively, but also because it is such a hotly
debated topic; giving rise to questions like whether
it does or does not coincide with traditional black
metal characteristics, or whether it should even be a
subform as most black metal bands do not adhere
to the ideology. It should be noted also that some
bands have been wrongly labelled NSBM, as there
is little to no evidence