Black Metal Characteristics History Sub genres Literature

Black metal
Stylistic origins:	Heavy metal Classical music and hardcore punk
Cultural origins:	Late 1980s Europe, especially Scandinavia
Typical instruments:	Guitar - Bass - Keyboard - Drums
Mainstream popularity:	None
Subgenres
Battle - Celtic - Folk - Forest - Mass murder - Medieval - National Socialist Black Metal - Pagan metal - Symphonic - Tolkien - Troll - Vampyric - Viking
Regional scenes
Germany - Pakistan - Scandinavia - United States
Other topics
Fashion - Musicians

The progenitors of modern black metal are bands like Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Bathory, and Venom. The movement can be seen in its mature form with the recordings of Bathory in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Black metal congealed in its current form through the influence of Norwegian bands such as Darkthrone, Enslaved , Burzum, Mayhem, Immortal and Emperor, who began with the earlier style and introduced elements from mainstream heavy metal, classical music and hardcore punkHardcore punk is an intensified version of the punk rock genre, characterized by bands who play short, loud, and angry songs with exceptionally fast chord changes on highly overdriven guitars. The lyrics are often political in nature, and typically violen and popularized the style to a growing underground audience. Their influence is most apparent in the Satanic imagery, blasphemous lyrics and occult themes.

1 Characteristics

Black metal characteristics can include:

heavy distortionIn telecommunication and signal processing, the term distortion has the following meanings: #In a system or device, any departure of the output signal waveform from that which should result from the input signal waveform's being operated on by the system'
fast, repetitive guitarnylon strings. steel strings and more guide dots on the fretboard. A guitar is a stringed musical instrument played with the fingers or a plectrum ( guitar pick). The sound is produced by vibrating strings. Guitars have a body (which is hollow for acousti playing and riffing
high- pitchedIn music, pitch refers to the perception of the frequency of a note. For example, the A above middle C is nowadays set at (often written as "A 440 Hz", and known as concert pitch , although this has not always been the case (see #Historical pitch standard screeching vocals
swift percussionPercussion instruments are played by being struck or shaken. They are perhaps the oldest form of musical instruments. Some percussion instruments play not only rhythm, but also melody and harmony. Classifications Most percussion instruments have a distinc
repetition
technical simplicity
overtly anti-religious lyrics, often taking the form of SatanicSatanism is a religious or philosophical movement centered around Satan or another entity identified with Satan, or centered around the forces of nature, particularly human nature, represented by Satan as an archetype. Unlike many religions and philosophi themes which blasphemeBlasphemy is defamation of God or gods, and by extension of gross irreverence towards any person or thing worthy of exalted esteem. In this broader sense the term is used by Sir Francis Bacon in the Advancement of Learning when he speaks of "blasphemy aga Christianity, and other occult themes

An abraded, very low fidelity recording style is common to the early albums associated with the genre. Modern black metal has incorporated atmospheric elements using ambient guitar and keyboard passages such as organ sounds or other miscellaneous instruments.

A distinct feature of the early bands' image was 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 plague victim, also hiding their identity.

2 History

The most prominent figure of the original Norwegian scene was Øystein Aarseth, better known as Euronymous, the guitarist in the band Mayhem. In many ways, he was the godfather of the Norwegian black metal scene, being its most vocal proponent and visible figure. The scene was deeply anti-Christian, and had a stated goal of removing the influence of Christianity and other non- Scandinavian religions from Norwegian culture and to effect a return to the nation's Norse roots. 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 it's (sic) most pure state."

Also around this time there was a rash of church burning s in Norway that Aarseth's circle claimed responsibility for inspiring, if not necessarily perpetrating. The most notable church was Norway's Fantoft Stave Church , which was burned by a member of Euronymous's inner circle: the man behind the one-man band Burzum, Kristian "Varg" Vikernes, aka " Count Grishnackh". 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".

The black metal scene gained some unasked-for mass media attention in 1990 when Mayhem's frontman Dead committed suicide by a shotgun blast to his head. His note simply read "Excuse all the blood". 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. 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' got even more exposure in 1993, when Vikernes murdered Aarseth in his home over some sort of interpersonal feud, stabbing him 23 times in the head and back. 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.

By the last few years of the 1990s, the black metal scene had lost much of its appeal to the underground, when recordings from commercially oriented bands such as Dimmu Borgir, using more typical sounding arrangements and prominent keyboards, began to get regular play on European airwaves. Far from the rough, DIY sounds of the early Norwegian bands, this latest wave employed polished sounds more accessible to a mass audience.

However, since the mid-90s, an Eastern European black metal scene has been developing. Bands from these former Iron Curtain lands are recording albums 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 Ukrainian band Nokturnal Mortum has achieved some 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, strove for a 'medieval' feel, much like a much 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, Negura Bunget is a prime example of traditional black metal, injecting their own indigenous mix of latin and slavic elements, along with a Scandinavian sound.

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 better-known groups are Judas Iscariot , Absu and the death metal-influenced Averse Sefira.

3 Sub-genres

- There are many smaller genres related to, or subgenres of black metal. The main ones are listed below: - -

Battle metal: ( Summoning, Bathory, Waylander) Battle metal is lyrically linked to battles. There is specifically Celtic battle metal
Celtic metal: ( Cruachan, Aes Dana , Heol Telwen , Belinus ) Most common in Ireland, Celtic metal (a kind of folk metal) is the fusion of black metal with elements, including instruments, from Celtic music and the music of Ireland. Lyrics generally focus on Celtic mythology. Ireland also features Celtic battle metal and Celtic doom metal scenes.
Folk metal: ( Skyclad, Cruachan, Waylander, Finntroll) Folk metal is a fusion of black or other kind of metal with some sort of folk tradition, as in Irish ( Celtic metal) music or Nordic ( Viking metal) music.
Forest metal: ( Ulver, Finntroll, Korpiklaani) Found mostly in Scandinavia, forest metal has lyrical themes which concern forests, and frequently advocate a return to a more primitive lifestyle.
Mesopotamian metal : ( Melechesh , Equimanthorn ) Mesopotamian metal has lyrical themes that concern mesopotamian mythology.
National Socialist black metal: ( Thor's Hammer , Kataxu , Temnozor ) Defined by its lyrical content, National Socialist black metal (Nazi metal) is concerned with neo-Nazism.
Tolkien metal: ( Isengard, Summoning) Tolkien metal has lyrical themes which concern J. R. R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings series.
Viking metal: ( Bathory, Vintersorg, Enslaved, Moonsorrow, Thyrfing, Einherjer) Viking metal is a kind of folk metal that uses elements of music and mythology from northern Europe and Scandinavia.
War metal: Defined by lyrical themes, war, battle and violence.

4 Literature

Michael Moynihan, Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground (Feral House) BooksEnthsiast.com

Heavy metal *

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