Written by:	Demigod
Published:	October 09, 2004

I was asked to write on this topic, and I've decided to go ahead and give it a shot. The haze of controversial categorization confusion to which Black Metal is often treated, was recently cleared up for me by a couple of genre purists on a metal website, so I'd pretty much be repeating, or rewriting, the same essential information. However, I'll try to make this as "individualistic", for lack of a better word, as possible; I'm tired.

The vast expanse of this illustrious genre leaves an excess to explore no matter how deeply I try to get into it. There are truckloads to imbibe, but you could say that I'm burning lazily at the start, oblivious, yet confident. The search will always continue; there is no clear end to an education. Go ahead and handle this with care and discretion, but to me these aren't opinions, they're concise droplets of fact.

I'm not going to indulge in too many examples or thick explanation; this is primarily meant for the person who this is being written for, but anyone else can be nice and read it too.

Black Metal - No real reason to whine about the misuse of this fragile, strict term, so let me first sprinkle it with a few attributes. I can't possibly be struck by bolts of originality on this topic; primitive, raw, hateful, minimalist, nihilistic, corrosive, basic, elemental ~ infinitely beautiful, lustful, transcendental, cultured, nocturnal, and at frequent times, musically irrational. Just as all higher music does, Black Metal too drives to reach beyond the confines of the eardrums; seeking reality, intended not to be grasped by the mundane, and alternative to the same, it strives on a privileged realm of insight and non-conformity and the destruction of organized implements that disturb all that is indispensable to the freedom of spirit, mind and life; not to mention, the ignorance towards the transcendental nature of true art. Unfathomable to many, it is extreme and underground to the core, delving in honest music and root influences. Much like pure death metal, it gives an equal importance to music and a strong ideology. Most importantly, it stands against the values of the Judeo-Christianity, as it is most directly linked to that form of organized disillusion.

The First Wave - The initial moulding and formation of Black Metal peaked during the early 1980s, on up till the later stages of the decade. Some rebellious vibe (as was punk music) of darkness reflected in the mind of a few, creating a genre of simple, extreme, straight-forward music, which was as serious about freedom and non-conformity as it was about having fun and living it up, with attitude and instinct. Left-hand tradition ran circles around its rough borders, but it was always closer to a connection with olden pagan, nature-centric beliefs. With a wild approach, "fuck-exploitative-organization" stance and image, and rightfully constricted musical tendencies, it offended many and pushed itself to a dark, murky corner of the metal underground. In the mid-80s, the advent of thrash (especially non-American) also sparked up a similar mindset that followed through to the music as well, creating an important extension. A lot of early thrash material ranging from Sodom to Sarcofago, also partly included itself to the backbone of the genre, churning out a lot of influence to the second and third wave bands. The first wave of Black Metal has the quality of individual continuance, as unlike the latter two waves that have exceptionally severe similarities, the first wave was outwardly different in a purely musical sense and the classic bands still play the old style. However, the style has never been as strong in the 1990s or later.

Musical highlights: Simple, straight-forward rhythm structure, mostly mid-paced though occasionally blasting and always corrosive. Punk-like, in-your-face guitar playing (also, the beginning of the tremelostrum style) and harsh, gruff though often coherent vocal delivery. Venom (Cronos) and Celtic Frost/Hellhammer (Tom Warrior) had the deeper, gruff howls, while Bathory (Quorthon) introduced the blood-curdling shriek predominantly used during the later waves. Mercyful Fate (King Diamond) and the high-pitched evil vocal was rarely explored later on by other bands, though.

5 essential pure First Wave offerings:
1) Venom - Welcome To Hell
2) Venom - Black Metal
3) Bathory - The Return
4) Mercyful Fate - Melissa
5) Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales


The Second Wave - The deserved sonic preservation and an update of the first wave, this movement peeked between the late 1980s and mid-90s. Possibly more serious and unquestionably more extreme, carrying forward the spirit of the eternal warrior and Black Metal Legions, the second wave furthered the genre by creating more beautiful, transcendental yet inherently violent music, holding on to the strict integrity and ideology. Flowing with nihilistic juices of artistic creativity, the bands that belonged to this wave were sonically very similar, but some did spring up with their own sub-styles. Young and restless, these bands melted deeper into olden culture and the Viking faith, voicing with their music as well as the image (warpaint, also awfully known as "corpsepaint").

Controversy and inner-scene friction did arise, but the spirit was never lost. Also, a more detailed and varied lyrical outlook was introduced; various facets of the same ideology were explored and that is a whole different discussion. The music spread around this short wave was deeply complex in its own right, yet root-based, in a way digging deeper into the blackprints designed by the past masters. In general, the second wave took the first wave to a separate, exclusive plane, injecting itself with a more extreme, dissonant sense of nihility, freedom, evil and darkness. Some still remained vengefully pagan or "Satanic" while others devised a leftist political ideology, often National Socialist in nature (in accordance to region, of course). However, the aspect that was all-important and omnipresent was the extension of the spirit I was talking about and rational updating of the music and approach. Death Metal also took prominence just prior to the emergence of the second wave of Black Metal, and there were quite a few bands that mixed pure, primitive Death Metal with Black, both musically and ideologically. A large number of bands from the great second wave era are now defunct, or not as strong as they were during their heyday, but some still destroy on.

Musical highlights - Difficult to describe due to the various sub-styles that were created, but it largely consisted of either primitive, raw riffs (often structured in a trance-like, sonically complex manner) or piercing, sharp-edged riffs, or both. The melodic sense of traditional metal as well as folk music crept in, making this wave truly innovative. The rhythm section was sometimes overly speedy and destructive but also moving, as if traveling through dimensions, mid-paced and contemplative. Vocal deliveries were predominantly scream/screech-like, but there were a few exceptions. Also, the use of sparse, minimalist keyboard and ambience for the further employment of atmosphere was also quite a highlight.

8 essential pure Second Wave offerings:
1) Burzum - Det Som Engang Var
2) Burzum - Filosofem
3) Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky
4) Beherit - Drawing Down The Moon
5) Graveland - Carpathian Wolves
6) Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
7) Immortal - Pure Holocaust
8) Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse (I guess this is essential, though I'm not an ardent fan)


The Third Wave - A multitude increase in numbers of the Legion and the yearning for keeping the madness spewing gave creation to the third wave in the mid-1990s. This wave strongly exists to this day, and consists of tremendous outstanding bands, most of which are very similar to the second wave bands. However, a small drop in seriousness and an increase in "trend" have caused the third wave to be a tad splintered and overpopulated. In spite of this, the genre as a whole still remains aggressively tough, united and with all spare parts strongly attached. This wave saw Black Metal venturing into a number of different countries and regions, escalating the existence of more original and innovative ideas, but sticking to the hard roots of the first two waves. As explorative as the second wave, this wave used the musical sub-traditions in full measure, and many found their desired balance of influences to create immortal nihilistic art, surprisingly original in nature. However, this does not mean many a handful of bands weren't pretentious or derivative either. Overall, a greater emphasis has been given to the epic, including all the pioneering techniques, orders, and musical sensibilities invented earlier on. The third wave is quite a task to explain due to its wider musical investigation and style (same strict ideology, though). This wave is all around us, just stand up and take notice. Some standout bands moving about are Judas Iscariot, Ildjarn, Mutiilation, Averse Sefira and many others.

Musical highlights - An extension, or rather, twinning of the second wave, striving on an amalgam of the musical stances of both the first and the second wave. A much too interwoven, varied and experimental wave to describe in any concise manner; listening is believing!


The Abortions of Black Metal - A couple of styles that are wrongly and popularly believed to be a part of the genre, but don't quite make the grade.

1) Extreme Goth - Spitefully labeled "fag-Goth", this abortion contains some of the aesthetic elements of pure Black Metal but is far too synth-based and ideologically flawed to be called Black Metal, in any sense of the word. The style strives mainly on hype rather than musical art, and contains superficial wannabe complexity, a lot of pseudo-traditional riffing as well as boring, unimportant keyboard interludes and chunks of make-up. Very close to Dark Romantic Goth imagery and ideology, thus never even loosely real Black Metal. Borrowing consciously from Black Metal, this genre of sorts wrongly popularizes concepts better left underground, never really understanding or enforcing the roots and the rules. Personally, I don't mind a few bands or at least parts of their discography, but none of it has the ability to pierce the soul, and simply dances around the eardrums due to its "safe" outlook. Prime examples would be Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Ancient, Bal-Sagoth, Anorexia Nervosa etc. Some current bands in this abortion style may have played at least semi-Black Metal earlier on in their careers.

2) Norsecore - A bastardized variation of the Black Metal ideology, exceedingly obsessed with the "Hollywood" form of Satan and Evil (reactionary Satanism). This abortion follows a similar lyrical outlook, but like Extreme Goth, strives on hype and over-the-top, almost circus-like exaggerations and imagery. Black Metal was never about being one-dimensionally fast, and this is exactly what Norsecore is, blastbeat and scowling galore. Hardly even fitting the structure of traditional metal (extreme or otherwise), Norsecore frequently falls into a trap of trebly noise. A lot of these bands, again, may have played Black Metal in the past and all generic Norsecore isn't bad, but I'd keep to the same point I mentioned in my dissection of Extreme Goth. Popular Norsecore bands would include Dark Funeral, later Marduk, Limbonic Art, Gorgoroth, Dawn, Setherial etc.


There you have it; I've been as concise as possible, and hope this explains or sheds light on at least the basics. Black Metal is very much a definable genre, and there really is no room for hanger-on, half-way bands. Real Black Metal is organic art of the highest nature, and as I said before, open your ears and listen. "Black Metal ist Krieg" and the darn genre has the ability, power and ferocious drive to sustain its true form.