Black metal

Black metal is a subculture of metal that emerged in the 1980s and spread rapidly, particularly in Norway and Sweden, and subsequently throughout Northern and Central Europe.

The term was originally used for metal bands with satanic lyrics. Since the 1990s, a musical definition has also been applied that is based on the playing style of the Norwegian scene and also concerns bands with pagan, nihilistic or misanthropic content; however, some traditional followers reject these more modern forms. The musical definition usually refers to guttural vocals, which can range from very high-pitched "screaming" to low-pitched "croaking", raw production ("lo-fi"), and, unlike death metal, electric guitars that are not tuned lower. In guitar playing, monotone riffs predominate. The drums are dominated by double bass and blast beats (except in slow passages). Occasionally keyboard instruments are used to build up more orchestral moments. However, this definition does not include the respective style of numerous black metal bands; at that time, besides the Norwegian scene, among others also the Greek and Finnish scene had developed their own styles.

The scene has a reputation for being dominated by people with nationalist, national socialist, racist or at least distinctly patriotic attitudes, mainly due to some newspaper articles and statements by individual musicians, as well as the NSBM movement that emerged from parts of the scene in the 1990s. The scene is perceived by outsiders mainly because of criminal acts committed by members. For example, the convicted murderers and right-wing extremists Varg Vikernes and Hendrik Möbus, as well as numerous church arsons in Norway, are primarily associated with black metal. In addition, the scene is often accused of not distancing itself clearly enough from bands with national socialist sentiments or even tolerating them.

Development and history

Pioneer

The term black metal first appeared in 1980 in the title of the band Holy Moses' first demo recording, Black Metal Masters. However, Venom, with their 1982 album Black Metal, is considered the namesake and initiator. Venom flirted with Satanism, their style was technically simpler, the vocals and production less clear than was common in metal at the time. The band members used pseudonyms (Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon), which was also unusual for the time, but became the norm in black metal.

In the same year, the Danish band Mercyful Fate also released their eponymous first EP. Musically, the band had little in common with later black metal due to its influences from progressive rock, 1970s epic hard rock, and traditional heavy metal, as well as King Diamond's vocals in falsetto, and were copied less often than other trailblazers, "though their influence on the genre cannot be overstated". Diamond painted his face with an early form of corpsepaint and employed stage effects such as the "exploding nun" at the end of gigs or the burning cross at a gig in Amsterdam circa 1983; at one gig, the band held a Black Mass on stage using the blood of their manager Ole Bang. With their "upbeat tempo, aggressive lead guitar, gripping harmonies, rhythmically variable songwriting, and that dark atmosphere that made Demon and Witchfinder General look pale," the band made a splash with their EP "after only a year of semi-professional demo recordings together." While Diamond would later "take its Satanic lyrics to a much higher linguistic level," Nuns Have No Fun was "no less explicit than the early Venom material." Debut Melissa followed in 1983; due to its hard rock influences, "[t]he twin guitars of opener 'Evil' [...] are more reminiscent of Thin Lizzy than Iron Maiden, even the riffing still shows cross-references specifically to British institutions. The 'Into The Coven' intro flirts with classical melodies." Ringing bells, spherical keyboards, rain sounds and a church organ were also used to add atmosphere to Don't Break the Oath.

In 1984, the Swedish band Bathory released their eponymous debut album, with which the typical croaky vocals emerged and whose raw rehearsal room sound set the standard of the "dirty" sound that has been characteristic of black metal ever since. Soon this new style began to spread, especially in Scandinavia. Fenriz of Darkthrone described the guitar playing technique first used by Quorthon on the 1987 album Under the Sign of the Black Mark as pioneering what would later be called the Norwegian black metal style.

Also counted as influences of the later black metal movement are the venom-inspired works of Hellhammer and the first albums of their successor band Celtic Frost, where an early form of corpsepaint can also be found. For Martin "Ain" Stricker of Celtic Frost, corpsepaint combined with leather clothing and bandoliers was an expression of a process of self-discovery as an escape from his strict Catholic upbringing. Mirai Kawashima cites their 1987 album Into the Pandemonium, which was negatively received by many fans at the time, along with Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark, as a template for today's black metal and an important influence for his band Sigh. Also influential and, according to Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, underrated were the West German bands Sodom and Destruction. Euronymous' band Mayhem released their first demo Pure Fucking Armageddon in 1986, recorded in extremely poor sound quality and with barely audible vocals, which was considered particularly extreme and was called "the goriest demo ever" by Metalion in Slayer. This and a few other bands like Bulldozer are commonly referred to as the "first wave of black metal". However, apart from their satanic appearance and corresponding lyrics, most of these bands had little in common and did not constitute a scene or sub-scene of their own.

The Satanic references were mostly not very serious. Thomas "Warrior" Fischer and Martin Stricker of Celtic Frost had read the publications of Anton Szandor LaVey and had contacts with a subgroup of the Church of Satan called Grottoes. However, they were opposed to any form of organized religion, were very critical of LaVey's theories, and in some cases considered them ludicrous. For the musicians, the Satanic image was an expression of individualism and rebellion, without them feeling that they belonged to a particular organized current. The Satanic image of the American band Possessed had no serious background, except for singer and guitarist Ler LaLonde, all the musicians in the band had a Catholic upbringing; guitarist Jeff Becerra explained that he was not sure whether there was a God or Satan, but that he was interested in Satanism and the occult and collected books with Hell in the title. He also said that many musicians in the scene in the mid-1980s cultivated an occult image without knowing much about it. The band Venom stated in a 1985 interview that they did not proclaim "Satanism, occultism, the witchcraft or anything else" and that "rock'n'roll [...] is basically entertainment [and] nothing else". Running Wild also initially embraced a satanic image and was therefore classified as black metal; however, guitarist Gerald "Preacher" Warnecke was studying theology at the time of the band's debut album Gates to Purgatory and later became a Lutheran pastor in Cologne. Rolf "Rock 'n' Rolf" Kasparek, however, explained that he was not religious and that for the band it was more of a political symbol and the devil was not an evil figure but a rebel who questioned everything. However, he felt that playing with esoteric things was dangerous. As this was misunderstood, the lyrics on their second album Branded and Exiled became a bit clearer. With the third album Under Jolly Roger Running Wild finally picked up a new image and sang about pirates instead.

One exception was King Diamond, the lead singer of Mercyful Fate. He referred to LaVey's Satanic Bible as a source of inspiration; for him, Satanism was a lifestyle and the word Satan was of "special[r] significance". He became a member of the Church of Satan and was made a life member by LaVey.

Steve Sylvester of the Italian band Death SS is also an exception; he understands his band as a magical musical project, with the formation of which a magical ritual was performed, which the band fulfilled in 2006 with the album The Seventh Seal. He linked the 1988 reunion to a Satanic oath. Sylvester was a long time member of the Ordo Templi Orientis, over whose Italian branch he had oversight. In addition, the EP Let the Sabbath Begin features Hymn of the Satanic Empire, or The Battle Hymn of the Apocalypse, written by LaVey, as a tribute to him.

However, the scene that developed from the late 1980s onwards, especially the Norwegian scene, was decisive for today's black metal subculture.

End of the first wave

In the second half of the 1980s, the first wave of black metal became less and less important. The definitive bands changed style and image, while the newly emerging (and partly based on the same bands) death metal gained popularity. Bathory thus also established Viking Metal, which focuses on Norse mythology, in the late 1980s. Nevertheless, new bands also emerged during this period, including numerous Latin ones such as Sarcófago (which the website Metal Storm refers to as the first band with "real" corpsepaint), Parabellum, and Reencarnacion, and a few seminal records, such as Sarcófago's debut I.N.R.I. , Norwegian band Mayhem's first EP Deathcrush (both 1987), Tormentor's second demo Anno Domini (1988), and Switzerland's Samael's first EP Medieval Prophecy; some of these were also classified as death metal (thus Mayhem guitarist Euronymous described his band's music as "total death metal" at the time). For Kawir founder Therthonax, there were scenes only in Norway and Greece, with the Norwegian musicians supporting each other more; he sees these two scenes as the initiators of black metal. However, the newly emerging bands in other regions also developed regional styles of their own, although today's bands are mainly influenced by Norwegian bands that gained additional attention through their extra-musical activities.

Among the first Swedish black metal bands are Abruptum, Ophthalamia and Dissection, among the first Finnish bands Beherit, Goat Vulva and Impaled Nazarene. In Belgium, Ancient Rites was formed in 1989, and in the US, early bands included Goatlord, Nocturnal Crypt, Order from Chaos, Toten, VON, and Demoncy. In East Germany, a large underground black metal scene formed around the same time with bands like Eminenz, and in West Germany, Desaster was among the first black metal bands; however, second-wave German black metal never gained the attention that 1980s German thrash metal had achieved with bands like Destruction and Kreator. Bands like Root and Master's Hammer also emerged in Eastern European countries while the Soviet era was still in full swing. Likewise, new bands like Sigh, Abhorer and Impiety emerged in Asia and groups like Goatpenis, Impurity and Mystifier in South America.

1990 saw the release of, among others, the chaotic and minimalist debut of the Canadian group Blasphemy Fallen Angel of Doom, representing a more chaotic black metal style, Roots debut Zjevení, and the first demos of the band Abruptum, which played a kind of "anti-music" with soundscapes of guttural screams, slow guitars distorted in a metallic way, but played only conditionally in the traditional sense, and ambient noise, which can be classified only conditionally as black metal and tends to death industrial, and the first three Beherit demos. Also new bands like Archgoat, Barathrum (both Finland), Profanatica (USA), Carpathian Forest (Norway), Nifelheim and Marduk (both Sweden) were formed.

The "second wave"

Attention within the metal scene was attracted by the suicide of Mayhem singer Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin with a shotgun in 1991; his body was discovered by Euronymous, who did not immediately call the police, but first took photos of his dead friend and bandmate and picked up skull splinters lying around. These skull shards were made into pendants and sent to various friends of Dead's. The photos of Dead's corpse were to be used for the band's upcoming album; one of them later appeared on the cover of the bootleg album The Dawn of the Black Hearts - Live in Sarpsborg, NORWAY 28/2/1990. Thorns released two demos with groundbreaking guitar playing; alongside Mayhem's guitarist Euronymous, their guitarist Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch invented the typical Norwegian black metal riffing, in which Fenriz sees the real beginning of "new school black metal". Euronymous, who is considered the "father" of the movement and the initiator of the so-called "second wave of black metal", played a decisive role in shaping the ideas of black metal and founded the record store Helvete, around which the Norwegian black metal scene was formed: Varg Vikernes, also known as "Count Grishnackh", founded the one-man project Burzum; the death metal band Thou Shalt Suffer gave rise to Emperor; Darkthrone and Immortal also changed their style; the latter band released their first single Immortal in the same year, which was also one of the defining Norwegian releases. Under Euronymous' influence, they deliberately set themselves apart from death metal, which was prevalent in the metal scene at the time and was considered "trendy" and "commercial"; only a few death metal bands, such as Morbid Angel and Deicide, were also classified as black metal due to their Satanic appearance and became popular there as well. In the course of their differentiation from death metal, for example, more emphasis was placed on a more serious demeanor and typical elements of death metal were abandoned, such as the low-pitched guitars, the technically demanding playing style of many death metal bands, and the deep growls; the Norwegian bands instead relied on raw and primitive music and production with high-pitched croaks and screams, some of which were overdriven, distorted, or underlaid with reverberation, thus contributing significantly to the development of a distinct Norwegian black metal style, which, however, was only perceived as such by the musicians as well as the magazines and the scene in general over time: While some bands considered their music to be the "true" death metal and were often assigned to this genre in music magazines as well, whereas death metal bands with political lyrics in particular were pejoratively referred to as "life metal", since death metal had to be accompanied by serious death worship, others counted themselves as black metal on the basis of their lyrics or took up other designations of their own style; for example, the band Immortal referred to their music as "holocaust metal". The Swiss band Samael released their rather sluggish debut album Worship Him, Beherit the EP Dawn of Satan's Millennium and Master's Hammer the debut album Ritual; Fenriz, knowing about the band's Czech origin, nevertheless calls it the first Norwegian black metal album.

1992 saw the release of Darkthrone's album A Blaze in the Northern Sky, which was formative for Norwegian black metal and is furthermore considered the first album of the "second wave of black metal", and Vikernes' debut album Burzum, which also shaped the typical Norwegian style, featured its typical riffing and differed from the sound of other bands due to its melancholic atmosphere; Emperor released the demo Wrath of the Tyrant and Immortal the debut Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism, which still reminded a lot of Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark without thrash elements and with its guitars "a catchy and homogeneous resp. almost monotonous scratch sound carpet", "which is rhythmically occupied by a partly driving-fast partly two-tone drums", and create a garage-like echo with the drums. In addition, new bands emerged such as Gorgoroth, Ancient, Satyricon, Hades and Mysticum, Marduk released the debut Dark Endless, Mystifier Wicca, VON released the demo Satanic Blood, Samael Blood Ritual and Master's Hammer released the album The Jilemnice Occultist, described by the band as "black metal operetta in three acts" and "the world's first black metal operetta". In Germany, new bands such as Mayhemic Truth, Tsatthoggua, Tha-Norr, Drowned and Aeba emerged.

The scene at the time also attracted attention for its attacks on churches and other bands, and referred to its core as the Inner Circle, sometimes also called the Svarte Sirkel or Black Circle, which is said to have been led by Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth and included members of the Swedish black metal scene such as Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection. Most of the members later served long prison sentences for murder, grave desecration and arson. For example, the "Inner Circle" was charged with the arson of the famous Fantoft Staff Church in Bergen, which was the first to burn down on June 6, 1992. The suspect was Varg Vikernes, but the arson could not be proven. Vikernes expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Nicolae Ceaușescu and other dictators, and from 1993 onwards was conspicuous for a world view strongly influenced by racism and nationalism. He gained attention for his appearance to the press, several cases of church arson, verbal attacks against other black metal bands such as Profanatica, involvement in an attack on the guitarist of the "life metal" band Therion from Sweden, and allegedly a letter bomb addressed to the Israeli band Salem. Likewise, other Swedish "life metal" bands were threatened, the tour bus of British band Paradise Lost was attacked by black metallers in Norrköping, Sweden, the band had been warned beforehand. According to Kerrang! the band is said to have been attacked in Norway (whereas the attack in Sweden went unmentioned), but in the Rock Hard interview with the band only the attack in Norrköping is mentioned. A feud also arose between Norwegian and Finnish bands. The Finnish band Impaled Nazarene was threatened and responded by insulting the Norwegians in the booklet of their 1993 debut album Tol Cormpt Norz Norz..., which consisted of short tracks at high speed with sometimes deep, distorted screaming and short interludes. According to Bård "Faust" Eithun, the idea was for the coven to be an organization "based mainly on illegal activities - not legal ones." According to Emperor guitarist Samoth, the coven basically consisted of those around Euronymous' record store Helvete; attacks were more or less carried out on a spontaneous basis, there were "no formal meetings". After Vikernes had mentioned the Inner Circle himself in interviews, he claimed from the second half of the 1990s onwards that it was in fact a myth or vision of Euronymous built up by the media.

Corresponding crimes were then also committed by parts of the scenes in other countries. In Poland, for example, The Temple of the Fullmoon, inspired by the Norwegian "Inner Circle", was formed, whose founders included Nergal from the band Behemoth (founded in 1991), Blasphemous (Veles) and Venom (Xantotol). The order also included the bands Infernum, Mysteries, Veles, Fullmoon, Behemoth and Graveland, whose founder Rob Darken described Temple of the Fullmoon as a more idealistic copy of the Norwegian Circle. Inspired by the Norwegian style, the Polish bands created a distinct sound that combined harsh production with gloomy keyboards and nature sounds such as wind and raven croaks. Around 1995, Temple of Fullmoon broke up due to an investigation by the Polish police because of right-wing extremist content on Infernum's debut album ...Taur-Nu-Fuin.... The band Behemoth turned away from the grouping, leading to hostility from the far-right wing, while Graveland and Infernum became icons there. Most of the remaining bands disbanded over time.

Likewise, the 1992 murder of a homosexual in Lillehammer by Eithun, who played in the bands Thorns and Emperor. An interview Varg Vikernes gave to a Norwegian newspaper, in which he linked the black metal scene to the church fires, and a lurid article about the goings-on within the Norwegian black metal scene published shortly afterwards in the British magazine Kerrang! brought the scene to the attention of a wider public in 1993. Musicians from bands like Satyricon, Marduk, Emperor, Burzum, Dimmu Borgir and Darkthrone made statements glorifying violence as well as flirting with racism and right-wing extremism in interviews, which led to the boycott of black metal by numerous media outlets. However, this was also triggered by distorted interviews, such as the interview with Nocturno Culto of Darkthrone in the German Rock Hard, which the editor Frank Albrecht, as he later admitted, had "spiced up" to make the statements seem more drastic. The right-wing extremist statements of the musicians were and are interpreted differently: Vorphalack of Samael explains them as an inevitable consequence of their attempts to push extremes to the extreme and break taboos. Such a view was "fundamentally wrong", but he could "understand the way into such a hole". Accordingly, some of these statements were provocative rather than actually motivated by right-wing extremism; moreover, they were sometimes diffuse and contradictory to the anti-human and anti-life statements also made by the musicians. On the other hand, in addition to such statements in interviews, there was also hostility towards the musicians of oriental origin (e.g. towards Vicotnik of Dødheimsgard and A. Reza of Ulver) by other members of the Norwegian scene, and some of its members later stated that they had indeed harboured such attitudes in the 1990s, which were carried into the scene by Vikernes.

The scene came to an abrupt end when Vikernes murdered his one-time companion Euronymous in August 1993. The reasons for the crime remain uncertain. Vikernes turned from Satanism to Nordic paganism and became increasingly openly neo-Nazi. While his musical work, which has had considerable influence on today's black metal, is well respected, Vikernes' persona is viewed differently within the scene. He is considered an icon of the subculture and "National Socialist Black Metal" (NSBM) (originating outside of Norway) by some followers, while others see him as a traitor and a stain because of the murder of Euronymous or his ideological change. In the same month, Vikernes also released his second album Det som engang var, Satyricon debuted with Dark Medieval Times, which alternated black metal passages with those featuring acoustic guitars and flute music, Immortal released Pure Holocaust, which was more technically advanced and less extremely croaked compared to its predecessor, Darkthrone Under a Funeral Moon and Mayhem Live in Leipzig, one of the few official records of the phase with Dead on vocals and also formative of the Norwegian style. Greek bands Varathron, Necromantia and Rotting Christ, after several demos, EPs and the split releases with Monumentum from Italy and each other (The Black Arts/The Everlasting Sins, 1992), released their debut albums His Majesty at the Swamp, Crossing the Fiery Path and Thy Mighty Contract, Beherit's first official album Drawing Down the Moon, and Euronymous had released Abruptum's debut Obscuritatem advoco amplectère me through his label Deathlike Silence Productions before he was murdered; The Japanese band Sigh's thrash-heavy and symphonic debut Scorn Defeat was also released there posthumously. Dissection debuted with the death metal-influenced melodic The Somberlain, and Absu with the death metal-influenced album Barathrum V.I.T.R.I.O.L. , Marduk released Those of the Unlight and Impaled Nazarene Ugra-Karma, on which the band evolved from a chaotic sound to "somewhat clearer, more polished song structures" and "the jagged punk and grindcore chords were replaced by proper riffs in many places"; novelty on the lyrical level was "a crude gibberish of Hindu mythology, primitive devil worship and all sorts of perversities, which they intoned in English, German, Finnish and even Sanskrit (!) intones." Mystifier released Göetia and Mysticum first demos, mixing black metal and industrial metal.

A few months before Euronymous' death, there was also a murder case in the East German scene: the members of the band Absurd, formed in 1992, murdered their fellow student Sandro Beyer and were sentenced to prison terms of between six and eight years for it in 1994; while in prison, the band developed into one of the best-known representatives of NSBM, with which the German scene is often associated, although it did not play black metal but was oriented towards Oi! , RAC and horror punk oriented. The murder was luridly referred to in the media as the "Satan Murder of Sondershausen", although the perpetrators had no real connection to Satanism.

In 1994, a number of Norwegian black metal albums appeared: the first Mayhem album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, which had been awaited in the underground for years and whose release had been postponed several times, was released posthumously via Euronymous' label. On this album, Tormentor vocalist Attila Csihar employed techniques he had learned from an opera singer, in addition to somber and croaky vocals. Euronymous' label also released the Enslaved debut Vikingligr Veldi and, most recently, Abruptum's second album In umbra malitiae ambulabo, in aeternum in triumpho tenebraum. Also released were Emperor's first album In the Nightside Eclipse, whose line-up, with the exception of vocalist Vegard "Ihsahn" Tveitan, was imprisoned at the time of release, Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger, which was even more minimalist than its predecessors, Satyricon's The Shadowthrone, Gorgoroth's debut Pentagram, and Burzum's third album, which was monotonous throughout, with no tempo variations and only a few riff variations, Hvis lyset tar oss. Ulver debuted with Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler, a blending of black metal and folk, and the multinational project Diabolos Rising with a mixture of black metal, electro and industrial rock on the album 666. In Germany, a wave of other groups emerged such as Lunar Aurora, Katharsis, Dark Fortress and Andras. In Russia, the scene known as Blazebirth Hall emerged around the bands Raven Dark, Forest, Branikald and Rundagor, which attracted attention due to criminal activities and an extreme right-wing orientation.

Development from the mid-1990s

Most of the members of the early Norwegian scene had been arrested in 1994 and Mayhem disbanded after Euronymous' death, leaving the scene there without its former point of reference and many of its most important bands. Darkthrone released their last album, Panzerfaust, in 1995, which is considered a classic.

Groups like Emperor and Arcturus or newer bands like Ved Buens Ende and Dødheimsgard gave black metal progressive elements, and in the compositions, especially with Emperor, a tendency towards neoclassicism could often be detected. Many other bands also moved away from traditional black metal with new influences: Groups such as Forgotten Woods and their side project Joyless combined a depressive black metal style with influences from proto- and post-punk artists such as The Velvet Underground and Joy Division, while groups such as Moonspell and Tiamat developed into important representatives of the gothic metal that began to emerge in the early 1990s; other groups increasingly adopted influences of more traditional metal currents, electronic influences, or eschewed metal altogether, in the case of Varg Vikernes to the point of denying the existence of a Norwegian black metal scene, and henceforth released purely electronic albums. This path had already been taken by former Emperor bassist Mortiis with his eponymous solo project and Nuclear Holocausto (Beherit, Suuri Shamaani), who now released ambient and dark ambient albums respectively. Partly due to Mortiis' move to the industrial label Cold Meat Industry, where his second album Ånden som Gjorde Opprør was released in 1994, black metallers also became aware of this label, whose owner was consequently interviewed in publications such as Slayer or Nordic Vision. Blood Axis musician Michael Moynihan may also have been largely responsible for the mutual interest, as he published in Filosofem magazine, as did Varg Vikernes, Magus Wampyr Daoloth, David Myatt and Kerry Bolton, and interviewed numerous black metal musicians for his book Lords of Chaos. In 1997, a sampler called Souvenirs from Hell was released, featuring groups from both scenes such as Ulver, Blood Axis, N.A.O.S. and Diabolos Rising, among others.

Some musical developments were accompanied by the commercialization and, in the eyes of many followers, the decline of black metal by various 1990s originals who distanced themselves from earlier statements and moved closer to the magazines that had previously boycotted them. Accordingly, the subculture experienced an "invasion" by bands that were accepted in the beginning but rejected in the course of their commercial orientation, such as Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, who distanced themselves from the activities of the "Inner Circle" in the course of their success, or - in Germany - Mystic Circle. German labels such as Malicious Records, No Colours Records, Solistitium Records and Last Episode released numerous albums by Norwegian bands, which achieved high sales figures, especially due to their origins. Mayhem became active again without Euronymous and turned away from Satanism, which is why the band is accused of having turned away from black metal. Due to these developments, Norwegian black metal lost its underground reputation, and chart-compatible bands like Dimmu Borgir dominated the share of Norwegian record sales.

The black metal underground shifted more and more to other countries over the years; many of the Eastern European bands cultivate pre-Christian customs in their lyrics, which comes to a head in an increased emergence of Polish NSBM bands like Graveland or Infernum; especially Greece and Poland feature very large and openly radicalized NSBM scenes. NSBM bands can be identified from the mid-1990s onwards, with the release of Absurd's demo Thuringian Pagan Madness (Germany), Legion of Doom's debut album Kingdom of Endless Darkness (Greece), Infernum's debut ...Taur-Nu-Fuin... (Poland) and Spear of Longinus' demo Nazi Occult Metal (Australia), among others; other early representatives of this trend include Grand Belial's Key (USA), Funeral and Osculum Infame (both France). Members of this current explain their emergence as a reaction to the decline of the ideals of black metal in the early 1990s, or as a logical conclusion of the time.

Likewise, a new wave of bands emerged, such as Ofermod, Funeral Mist, and Malign, which went further than the previous generation in their lyrical engagement with Satanism as a reaction to their career; Ofermod referred to their own music as "Orthodox Black Metal", with the self-designation as Orthodox the band wanted to radically differentiate themselves from what they believed to be false black metal bands, believing that a band had to be made up of religious Satanists in order to play black metal.

In Germany, Voices Productions and Kettenhund Records released the first albums by Lunar Aurora and Nagelfar, who are among the best-known representatives and trend-setting bands of the German scene. From the environment of the now disbanded band Nagelfar and the Aachen black metal scene, the label Ván Records was founded, where among others the bands The Ruins of Beverast, Graupel, Kermania, Truppensturm, Urfaust and The Devil's Blood are signed. The first four bands mentioned are part of Wòd Ván, an association of German bands which, unlike the Norwegian circle, "does not [want to] represent an elitist brotherhood, but a loose association of individuals who share hobbies and views". German black metal, however, is often associated with the creation of legends around the Nargaroth project, whose history and environment was largely invented by the musician Kanwulf, and the NSBM scene that emerged in particular in Thuringia in the Absurd environment.

While the bands of the USA were initially little noticed and Norwegian black metal albums were initially available there almost only as expensive imports, US American bands gained attention over time. Even after the Columbine High School shooting rampage occurred in 1999, the perpetrators of which were often - and, according to Michael Moynihan, falsely - portrayed as black metal fans, Moynihan stressed that there was no black metal scene in the United States. Important to the credibility of the U.S. underground were Black Funeral, the NSBM band Grand Belial's Key, Krieg, Demoncy, Black Witchery, Thornspawn, and Absu; other well-known representatives included Judas Iscariot and Averse Sefira. Despite a community of black metal devotees in the Northeast, however, no music scene emerged there; only a few venues lent themselves to mostly foreign black metal bands, few of which played in the United States and most of which gave only sporadic performances in the larger cities. In recent years, additionally, newer U.S. bands such as Xasthur, Leviathan, Nachtmystium, Weakling, and the "all-star" project Twilight have become popular beyond the scene, and have been accused of pandering to ordinary people as a result. Also attracting attention were the black metal parody Velvet Cacoon and the group Wolves in the Throne Room, which is influenced by traditional black metal but whose musicians have their origins in punk, hold ecologically oriented and left-wing views, and incorporate influences from post-rock and shoegazing into their music. This style, known as blackgaze, achieved increased attention, particularly with Deafheaven's 2013 album Sunbather. The bands Liturgy and Krallice, formed in 2005 and 2008 respectively, also eschew scene-typical appearance and corresponding ideology. Krallice regard black metal as a purely musical form of expression, Liturgy want to expand the stylistic boundaries of the genre with the album Aesthethica according to their own statement and replace "death and atrophy" of traditional black metal with "life and hypertrophy". Brad Sanders of Liturgy sometimes referred to this development as post-black metal, which according to him describes a musical ideal that breaks away from the meaning of Scandinavian black metal as well as ideology and harnesses black metal as a stylistic element devoid of nihilistic, misanthropic and satanic references. The term has been in use for different groups and developments since the 1990s, but only established itself in the 2010s in connection with the popularity of blackgaze.

Mayhem 2008


Immortal 2007


Fenriz and Nocturno Culto by Darkthrone


Shagrath by Dimmu Borgir


Attila Csihar, singer with Tormentor and on the Mayhem debut De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas


Rotting Christ belonged to the formative bands of Greek Black Metal


The stave church Fantoft burned down completely after an arson attack. Here is the new building.


Jon Nödtveidt (in the foreground) of Dissection, was a member of the "Inner Circle", leading member of the Swedish scene and the Misanthropic Luciferian Order


Logo of the band Mayhem from Norway


The cover of Bathory's album Blood Fire Death, with which the band turned to Norse mythology.


King Diamond from Mercyful Fate with an early form of the Corpsepaint


Venom from the United Kingdom gave black metal its name


Celtic Frost from Switzerland belonged to the bands of the first generation of Black Metal

Music

Despite the widespread definition by the lyrics, followers and the media also make a declaration about the type of music; however, this usually refers to the style of Scandinavian bands and thus does not include the other varieties. Black metal is often perceived by outsiders as mere cacophony due to many intentional dissonances. Also the characterization of the music as monotonous does not necessarily apply: Dark Funeral, for example, plays at a consistently very high tempo and is often described as monotonous, but guitarist Micke "Lord Ahriman" Svanberg counters that "the devil is in the details" and that he packages the "extreme aggression in an extremely melodic way", which strengthens both elements. Burzum's Hvis lyset tar oss, on the other hand, is intentionally monotonous throughout, with no tempo variations and only a few riff variations. Unlike, for example, technical death metal or progressive metal, musical skill is less important in black metal than atmosphere.

The vocals in black metal are often used as a primary identifier. It usually consists of croaking or screaming, in contrast to the deep growls of death metal. Clear vocals are used sporadically, usually in conjunction with acoustic passages. Clear female vocals are mostly rejected, sometimes in connection with sexist statements. Women in the scene are rather rare and bands with an all-female line-up, like Ebonsight (Turkey) or Astarte (Greece), are exceptions.

For black metal, fast, extremely distorted guitar playing has been common since its invention. The guitars are hardly if at all tuned lower to differentiate them from death metal. The intentional monotony of many pieces is meant to create hypnotic atmospheres; many followers see the music as a path to deep spiritual experience. Accordingly, the view exists that black metal should be "listened to alone, in silence, without distraction, as a kind of meditation, concentration on the essential, darkening of the soul, descent and fall, madness and death".

The guitar riffs are generally relatively simple; the focus is rather on repeating them often, which is not infrequently also used to create hypnotic passages. A good example is the song Jesu død (on the German pressing of the album Jesus' Tod [sic!]) by Burzum, where the same riff is constantly repeated and accompanied by fast, also repetitive drumming. Also in bands like VON and Ildjarn or on Darkthrone's albums Under a Funeral Moon and Transilvanian Hunger, the songs are based on the constant repetition of the same, often simple, riff, sometimes varied and often accompanied by fast drumming. Unlike other metal styles, black metal not only uses power chords, but often dissonant intervals and chords. Extreme settings of the distortion of electro-acoustic guitar amplifiers create a noise that makes up the atonal guitar sound that is characteristic of the style in black metal. An example is The Loss and Curse of Reverence by Emperor, in which the melodies and chords of the guitars are often difficult to impossible to hear.

In terms of harmony, black metal bands often turn away from the classic cadence model. Very often they resort to dissonances, which are achieved by shifting the riffs to a chromatic or dissonant pitch. For example, the main riff of Marduk's song Beast of Prey consists of power chords on the chromatic notes f-sharp, g and g-sharp, whose triads have no tonal relationship to each other; Dark Funeral is similar. The main riff of Enriched by Evil consists of the chords Dm, A#m and C#m, which also have no tonal relationship, but give the music its typical dark melodic component. Overall, black metal contains very strong atonal elements, although classical models for melody and harmony are also frequently used for solo passages and keyboard arrangements; the songs on Nagelfar's Hune Grave in Autumn, for example, are composed in various minor scales. Deathspell Omega uses the chromatic scale at the beginning of the title song of their album Si monvmentvm reqvires, circvmspice, which gives the music its chaotic character, followed later by arpeggios on the chords Aadd11+, F#add11+, C7M and G#7M.

Guitar solos are a rare exception in the widespread Nordic black metal, many bands of the Norwegian scene and groups influenced by it, e.g. in Germany or Poland, did without them altogether. A short solo can be found on the song War on Burzum's debut album, among others. In the South American scenes influenced by the first wave of black metal, dissonant solos influenced by early Bathory and Celtic Frost can be found, some of which were produced with the tremolo arm of the guitar. Solos based on classical harmonies and traditional playing styles are played by Dissection or representatives from Greece, among others.

Drums and guitar are often played at very high speed, but there are also many Black Metal songs with a rather normal or even slow tempo and numerous changes; examples are Quintessence (slow tempo) or Kathaarian Life Code (frequent tempo changes) by Darkthrone.

The drums are usually played at a high tempo, with double bass and blast beats dominating; a constant rhythm is also not uncommon. An example of this is the song Transilvanian Hunger by Darkthrone, where a kind of blastbeat in ^{4/4 time,} with the bass drum played continuously and the hi-hat and snare drum alternating on each of its strokes, is maintained throughout the song.

In Nordic black metal, the bass takes a restrained role, often following the guitar run and is often hardly to not heard at all. In Greek black metal and bands like Barathrum, however, it takes a dominant role.

The often deliberately very raw production is also characteristic. Numerous classics of Norwegian black metal (by Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor, Gorgoroth, Immortal and Enslaved, among others) were created in Eirik "Pytten" Hundvin's Grieghallen Lydstudio and feature thin production.

The sound of Swedish black metal bands, on the other hand, is often clearer. Well-known Swedish producers are Tore "Necromorbus" Stjerna (Chaos Omen, Zavorash, ex-Necromorbus, ex-Funeral Mist, ex-Corpus Christii, ex-Ofermod, ex-guest musician with Watain, Averse Sefira and In Aeternum), Dan Swanö and Peter Tägtgren (The Abyss, ex-War).

While Norwegian black metal is usually clearly distinguishable from death metal, in contrast, death and Nordic black metal elements can be heard in Dissection, for example. Likewise, newer bands like Ofermod, Watain or Ondskapt combine stylistic elements from both scenes. Bands like Blasphemy, Bestial Warlust and Impiety, on the other hand, are representatives of a chaotic style influenced by grindcore, which is also referred to as "war metal" or "war black metal" by some of its representatives as well as in publications.

The bass-heavy style of the Greek bands, mainly influenced by Rotting Christ, Necromantia and Varathron, also differs greatly from the Nordic one; typically based on deep heavy metal riffs, often played slowly, combined with dark vocals (and sometimes whispered passages) and often a characteristic keyboard sound, which together are meant to create a dark atmosphere. The Greek sound has also been shaped by Sakis "Necromayhem" Tolis and Magus Wampyr Daoloth, both of whom have been involved with Rotting Christ and Thou Art Lord, among others, at Storm Studio.

Another style variation is the combination of black and doom metal. Early representatives of this style are Barathrum and Unholy; also the early works of the band Bethlehem correspond stylistically to this hybrid form, which, however, do not refer to Satanism and are thus assigned to dark metal. More recent representatives of Black Doom are the Funeral Doom influenced project Nortt from Denmark, the Norwegian group Faustcoven as well as the Swedish Head of the Demon. The forms of Black Doom range from references to early Celtic Frost and Black Sabbath by groups like Faustcoven and Head of the Deamon to adaptations of Funeral Doom and Death Industrial by artists like Nortt and Goatpsalm.

The atmospheric use of keyboards outside of intros or outros was uncommon in the 1980s; only Bathory used rare keyboard passages. Early on, discreet keyboards were used by, among others, Carpathian Forest, Burzum and Emperor (on their demo recording Wrath of the Tyrant only sporadically, more strongly from the first EP Emperor and especially on their debut In the Nightside Eclipse) from Norway, in Greek black metal as well as in Germany by the project Baxaxaxa. While especially strong keyboard use is frowned upon in the underground, it is mainly used in the "mainstream" to create and underline certain atmospheres due to its sound colours deviating from the genre-typical standard. Thus, the keyboard has a leading role in the melody of Limbonic Art. In general, the classification of symphonic and keyboard-heavy bands to black metal is a controversial topic. In the border area to Viking or Pagan Metal, traditional instruments, especially woodwinds, are occasionally added.

A steadily growing proportion of "progressive" black metallers are endeavouring to combine elements of the music with other musical styles. Emperor was followed by the project Peccatum, which meanwhile almost completely renounces black metal and uses a mixture of neo-classic and jazz with "hard" interludes, and the Italian group Ephel Duath, which mixes jazz with hard metal.

Likewise, there are overlaps with parts of the industrial scene. Early black metal albums feature instrumental intros and outros that tend towards ambient and industrial (the outro to Forest of N'Gai by Rotting Christ is even taken directly from Zero Kama), and bands like Abruptum experiment with elements of death industrial. Since the 1990s, industrial projects from the black metal environment such as Moëvöt, Aäkon Këëtrëh and Darkness Enshroud have existed. Blood Axis musician Michael Moynihan may also be largely responsible for the mutual interest, as he, like Varg Vikernes, has published in Filosofem magazine and interviewed numerous black metal musicians for his book Lords of Chaos. Some bands blend black metal with dark ambient and noise, even those that claim not to listen to industrial themselves. An early example of mixing black metal with dark ambient is represented by Burzum's album Filosofem, while others include Xasthur, Blut aus Nord, Vinterriket, Darkspace, and Striborg. These black metal/ambient "hybrids" can turn out more nature-oriented, like Vinterriket, or more "astral," like Darkspace. But the result can also fluctuate between a more disturbing, industrial-heavy sound and a more black metal-heavy orientation in the same band. Musicians like Mikko Aspa and Nordvargr, on the other hand, are active in both scenes in several well-known projects.

The introduction of ambient elements into black metal is at times attributed to influences from German electronic musicians such as Klaus Schulze or Conrad Schnitzler. For example, Mayhem used Schnitzler's composition Silvester Anfang as an intro on their demo Deathcrush; Mayhem guitarist Øystein Aarseth had previously visited Schnitzler in Berlin and received personal permission to use this piece. Another direct example is the Fenriz project Neptune Towers, which directly refers to Klaus Schulze and his former band Tangerine Dream as well as Kraftwerk as role models.

A combination of black metal and industrial rock/metal influences has existed since the early 1990s through bands like Mysticum from Norway or the multinational side project Diabolos Rising by Mika Luttinen (Impaled Nazarene) and Magus Wampyr Daoloth (Necromantia).

A more recent development is the blending of black metal and post-rock or shoegazing elements by bands like Alcest, Wolves in the Throne Room and Caïna.

In terms of foreign influences, the black metal scene shows itself to be much more rigid in its "purity" ideas than the traditional metal scene. Bands that "try[,] to seem innovative or original come hell or high water instead of just being honest" and thereby classify themselves as black metal are often rejected precisely because of this. However, there is also a debate going on within the scene in this regard. While one party storms against any deviation, the other criticizes that the rejection of development is "exactly the opposite of what black metal originally was"; albums like Mayhem's debut De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, which the scene referred to, were after all also "something [...] revolutionary and new that didn't exist before." Innovation was "even inevitable if the genre doesn't want to suffocate on itself like punk or rock'n'roll, for example." Forced by those disagreements, alternative labels such as dark metal emerged for bands that combine black metal elements with foreign influences. This includes bands such as Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Agathodaimon, Bethlehem, Eisregen, Mystic Circle, and Nocte Obducta, among others.