Black Metal

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Origin: Mid 1980’s to early 1990’s Europe, particularly Scandinavia

Characteristics: Tremolo-picked guitar riffs; blast-beat drumming; shrieked or howled vocals, usually higher in pitch than those of death metal; dark and occult lyrical and artistic themes; usually raw production quality

Typical Live Hand Gesture:

What is the appeal?: Dark, chilling atmospheres; extreme emotional catharsis of dark, aggressive, or melancholic feelings

The darkest and most misunderstood subgenre of metal is black metal. The genre’s origins predate the extreme musical style that would come to be known as black metal; the “first wave” of black metal was a small movement of heavy, speed, and thrash metal bands with occult themes and raw production value, and the name “black metal” came from an album by English band Venom. Other bands in this proto-black metal movement included Bathory, Hellhammer (later Celtic Frost), and Mercyful Fate, all of whom contributed to the aesthetic and themes of black metal while setting the bare foundation for the musical style itself.

The “first wave of black metal” had more in common with speed, thrash and “heavy” metal than the sound that would be associated with later black metal. Hellhammer’s sound bordered on punkish, adorned with double-bass drumming and dark lyrical themes.
Responsible for the “black metal” name, Venom’s sound was absolutely sinister for an early-80’s band.
Out of the first wave of black metal, Bathory had the most “blackened” sound, with higher-pitched harsh vocals, fast riffs, breakneck drumming, and a raw production value.
Musically, Mercyful Fate were straight up riffy heavy metal. However, their occult imagery and lyrics, and King Diamond’s famous “corpse-paint” would be hugely influential to black metal as a whole.

The musical style of black metal would originate with the “second wave” of black metal, centered largely in Norway and including bands such as Mayhem, Emperor, Darkthrone, and Burzum, among others. This wave of black metal was as much a musical movement as a cultural one; young artists involved in the Norwegian black metal scene would adopt an anti-Christian mentality, rebelling against the Christian culture that had invaded their homeland generations beforehand.

Musically, this second wave of black metal is where the genre would finally find its own musical identity. Defining traits of black metal came to be recognized: tremolo-picked riffs and chord progressions, and blast-beat drumming, along with the raw production values and dark, occult themes that had been used in the first wave of black metal. The second wave of black metal also saw a number of controversial events happen in Norway, including church-burnings and the murder of Mayhem’s Euronymous at the hands of Burzum’s Varg Vikernes.

Darkthrone’s sound would be definitive of what black metal would come to mean, after the second wave. Their riffs were tremolo-picked throughout while drummer Fenriz played straight blast beats, all with a raw, “kvlt” production value.
Though they would later play progressive black metal, Enslaved’s early, second-wave sound was cold, frozen and raw.

The second wave of black metal would also lead to the creation of several new sub-subgenres. Emperor infused their epic black metal compositions with orchestral instruments to create symphonic black metal, invoking grandiose imagery of haunted castles at night.

Emperor famously infused their black metal with orchestral instrumentation and grandiose atmospheres to create symphonic black metal. In The Nightside Eclipse and Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk are both masterful classics of this subgenre.

Although black metal is a more passionate and emotional school of art than cerebral and progressive, a few bands would create progressive black metal anyway, most notably second-wave veterans Enslaved. Enslaved started out creating raw and aggressive black metal, true to the second-wave Norway style, but by 2000’s Mardraum: Beyond the Within, they had incorporated a number of progressive influences in their music. By 2012’s RIITIIR, they would be soundly categorized as a progressive metal band, utilizing mellotrons and a larger variety of timbres.

While bands like Emperor and Enslaved created elaborate, grandiose styles of black metal, their contemporary Burzum took a completely different approach, particularly on the albums Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Filosofem. Burzum’s infamous Varg Vikernes wrote a minimalist style of black metal, with droning, repetitive riffs, ambient synthesizers, and an absolutely bleak, harrowing atmosphere. This style would be known as atmospheric black metal, carving a distinctive niche in the metal underground.

Burzum took a minimalist approach to black metal that would be hugely influential to atmospheric black metal years later. The atmosphere of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss is bleak and harrowing.

Atmospheric black metal would prove to be a surprisingly versatile genre. While Burzum conjured imagery of solitude and bleak, wistful landscapes, Austria’s Summoning have a pure fantasy theme, akin to Lord of the Rings or Warcraft, and a number of artists produce what could be called cosmic black metal, with artists such as Darkspace and Mare Cognitum invoking the grand, majestic imagery of outer space itself.

Summoning have a grandiose take on atmospheric black metal themed around fantasy.
Bands like Mare Cognitum perform black metal with themes of the cosmos. Mare Cognitum are particularly melodic.
Darkspace take a darker, colder approach to cosmic black metal. While Mare Cognitum could be described as the majesty and grandeur of space, Darkspace are the coldness and emptiness of space.

Decades after Burzum essentially defined atmospheric black metal, a number of bands from Europe and, surprisingly, the American west coast would take the genre farther still, adapting the crescendo and layer-based songwriting style of post-rock to modernized black metal to create what would be widely known as post-black metal. Attracting a new, younger audience, post-black metal would be nicknamed “hipster black metal” and would also introduce many of those fans to the older atmospheric black metal that inspired this new wave.

One of the most aggressive subgenres of metal overall would be a fusion of black and death metal, known simply as blackened death metal. Bands like Behemoth, Akercocke, and newer bands such as Black Curse and Esoctrilihum would combine the aggression, riffing, and production value of death metal with the blast beats, tremolo-picked riffs, and infernal, evil atmosphere of black metal, to create some of the most radical and occult metal known yet.

Akercocke’s lyrics were full of occult themes and direct references to Satan. Their later work would become uniquely progressive, as much influenced by Rush as by thrash, death, and black metal.
As with most subgenres of black metal, blackened death metal is still going strong today, with bands like Black Curse creating absolutely infernal music.

As black metal is one of the most emotional and cathartic subgenres of metal, a number of artists would use the style as a basis of experimentation in their music. Norway’s Arcturus created left-field black metal, strangely combining spacey timbres with a “haunted carnival” vibe. Some years later, Hungarian/Scottish artist Thy Catafalque would combine aspects of black and doom metal with electronic instrumentation and a sense of melody inspired by traditional Hungarian music, creating a unique style of avant-garde metal.

“Collapse Generation” is one of the more extreme songs on Arcturus’ The Sham Mirrors, which has a distinct “haunted carnival” atmosphere.
Thy Catafalque is one of the most interesting metal projects I’ve come across. Dark and heavy riffing is combined with an industrial drum machine and a beautiful, traditional Hungarian sense of melody.

Black metal is one of the deepest niches of metal to explore, between the various subgenres and the impressive level of activity in the present day. Bands like Mgla continue to produce bleak and nihilistic black metal, while Enslaved are deep into progressive territory, and a number of underground bands perform aggressive and infernal blackened death metal. Bands like Deafheaven even show that a subgenre of black metal can obtain mainstream recognition, as they did with 2013’s Sunbather, an uplifting, shoegaze-influenced “blackgaze” album that got the Californian group noticed by publications such as Pitchfork.

One of the most well-renowned black metal bands of the past few years, Mgla perform dark and nihilistic black metal. Drummer Darkside is fantastic behind the kit.
Bands like Ireland’s Altar of Plagues perform post-black metal, influenced by post-rock’s crescendo-oriented songwriting. The climaxes of songs like “As A Womb” and “Neptune is Dead” hit especially hard after 10+ minutes of buildup.
This is Enslaved circa 2012, using mellotrons, progressive songwriting, and explosive changes in timbre.
Deafheaven were arguably the first black metal-influenced band to break into the mainstream, with 2013’s blackgaze album Sunbather gaining recognition from publications such as Pitchfork.
Spectral Wound are one of many underground black metal bands performing classic, aggressive black metal.

Works Cited

Sholihyn, Ilyas. “Shades Of Black: The History and Evolution of Black Metal.” Medium, Social Club, 26 Nov. 2017, medium.com/social-club/shades-of-black-the-history-and-evolution-of-black-metal-ef916e8e35b7.

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