Written by:	Sephiroth
Published:	October 15, 2004

The Roots of Darkness
A brief history of the Norwegian Black Metal movement

[this work is made with the precise aim of clarify and explain the beginning, and some evolutions, of the Norwegian BM movement through the story of six of the lots of the BM bands that we can find in that land. That means not that BM is only an exclusive of Norway nor that only those six bands are worthy to be mentioned.
Further addictions may be made in the future.
The author chooses like that for reasons for which he personally takes responsibility.]


THE BEGINNING
Like for the majority of artistic movements, it is pretty hard to establish the Black Metal movement's precise beginning date, but we find no difficulties in stating that BM music is an original labour of that wonderful land of forests, snow and majestic mountains that is Norway - and it is no coincidence, like we'll later see.
Before the foundation of the first of the six great Norwegian BM band, Mayhem, in 1984, there were no bands that we can define "Black Metal" as they are today after the "Norwegian revolution", but if we want to see the farthest roots of the movement, we must refer to the bands which influenced the first Norwegian ones. I'm mainly talking of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost of Gabriel Warrior and of Venom and Merciful Fate too, but in some way also thrash-oriented bands like Kreator, Destruction or Sodom, as well as Possessed and Bathory.
The direct origins though lie in the second and most important demo tape (almost contemporary to the "Voice of a Tortured Skull" demo) by Mayhem named "Pure Fucking Armaggeddon". Øystein Aarseth, better known as Destructor, a nickname that pretty soon was changed into Euronymous, together with his friends Kjetil Manheim (drums) and Jørn Stubberud or Necrobutcher (bass guitar), recruit also "Billy" Messiah (vocals) in order to record this demo which became legendary.
It was the year 1986.

That same year, another young boy named Gylve Nagell founded a Death Metal band called Black Death together with Dag Nielsen and Anders Risberget, inspired by a range of groups such as Cryptic Slaughter, Celtic Frost, Deep Purple and thrash metal in general.
The year after the band changed name into Darkthrone.

At about the same time, in 1987, Mayhem published under Postercorpse Music Inc. a second legendary demo: "Deathcrush", with his new Swedish vocalist Sven Erik Kristiansen, aka Maniac. None of those records is to be intended to be BM as we now know it; it was a more thrash-death oriented sound even though they already had a few new intuitions.

Ivar Enger joined Darkthrone.

1988, Darkthrone recorded the first demo "Land of Frost". Due to Anders' resignation, Gylve, now known as Fenriz (Fenris was a monstrous wolf of the Nordic mythology) recruited a new guitarist: Ted Skjellum.

1989, Euronymous and Yngve Ohlin aka Dead, the new vocalist from Morbid replacing Maniac, founded the Deathlike Silence Production, label which helped some nowadays pretty well known bands, first of all Varg Vikernes' Burzum.
Moreover, Manheim left the band, and he was replaced with today's probably best extreme drummer living: Jan Axel Von Blomberg, better known as Hellhammer, a well fitting name coming from Gabriel Warriors' first band which Jan was a fan of.

Darkthrone signed, on Christmas 1989, a contract with the Peaceville Records.

1990, Darkthrone recorded their first album "Soulside Journey" in Sunlight Studios in Sweden, helped by members of Nihilist, the going-to-be Entombed. They began to feel sick of playing Death Metal and of the entire DM trend. Anyway, in autumn they began the recording of "Goatlord" which was not to be published until 1997.

That same year Mayhem made a tour around northern Europe and they recorded their first and only official live: "Live in Leipzig".

In those years Varg Vikernes, Harald Nævdal and Olve Eikemo
played in a DM band named Old Funeral.

1991, and the year after are probably the dates which I would choose if I had to determine the birth of BM.

Darkthrone decided to change their style and to begin to play a grim Black Metal; Dag Nielsen decided to quit due to musical divergences (even if he plays bass as a session member in the coming album) and the other current members began to call themselves with pseudonyms: Glyve Nagell is Fenriz; Ted Skjellum Nocturno Culto, and Ivar Enger Zephyrous. They began the elaboration of the first BM masterpiece: "A Blaze in the Northern Sky", recorded during that summer. Diverging reaction of the fans, some didn't like the change, some others begun to worship them as the new harald of BM.

Spring, the first tragedy occurred to Mayhem, the first of the two events that cast the band in a state of prostration and artistic sterility lasted for years, and for many, from which the band had never returned to be the same. The 8th of April, Dead, singer and lyrics writer of the band, after finishing the writing of the lyrics for the new album shoot himself in the head.
A bit later Necrobutcher left the band, repleaced for a while by Stian Johansen, Occultus.
This year is to remember also for another important event for the BM movement.
Euronymous, with the financial help of his father, opened the famous shop Helvete ("hell" in Norwegian), in Oslo. This "CD shop" was mainly the club which became the headquarter of the new born "Inner Circle" and its basement was used for night-time blasphemous parties. The "Inner Circle" was a not well defined "sect" of those which were inside the BM ideologies which was headed by Euronymous himself, that became though the symbol and the incarnation of BM to the eyes of the youngsters both part of the "Circle" or attracted by this underground secret movement, an drive his self-extime to grow more and more.
The ideologies proposed by the "Inner Circle" were mainly based upon strong anti-Christian doctrines and claim the return of the old Viking traditions and cults, destroyed and forget after the christianisation of Norway.
Inside the "Inner Circle" club were discussed and planned the deeds necessary to traduce in action their ideologies: so begun the church burning phenomenon which drives 22 old wood churches to be burnt in almost 4 years.

Kristian Vikernes recorded the first demo of his one-man project: Burzum.
Some time later also a second one saw the light

The same spring Vegard Tveitan (Ihsahn, guitars) and Tomas Haugen (Samoth, drums, vocals) both coming from Thou Shalt Suffer engaged Haavard Elefsen (Mortiis, bass), for a new band Bathory/Celtic Frost inspired: Emperor saw the light. The quickly recorded and legendary demo "Wrath of the Tyrant" (released for Euronymous Deathlike Silence, label soon left by the band due to its disorganisation) had a good circulation and attract the Candlelight Record. A contract is signed. More changes in the line up: Samoth moved to guitar and the new entered Bård Eithun (Faust) takes the drums.

Between '90 and '91 the new formed BM band Immortal, formed by Abbath (vocals and bass), Demonaz (guitar) (both of them former members of Old Funeral), Jorg Inge Tunsberg (guitar) and Armaggeda (drums) made their first two demos: "Suffocate" and "Northern Upins Death"
The French label Listenable Productions ask the band to produce the "7inch" single for them which was written in the late months of the year.

1992, to record the instrumental part of their new album, "De Mysteriis dom Sathanas" an album now became more than legendary, Varg Vikernes is called for the bass and Blackthorn as second guitarist. For the vocals, removed Occultus, is recruited Attila Csihar, talented singer from the Hungarian band Tormentor. An all-star formation we can say, for an album that has made history. Moreover, the "Live in Leipzig" live album is now released under Obscure Plasma/Avantgarde Records

After the sign of the contract with the French Osmose Production, Immortal (now in three members due to the rejection of Jorg) was able to record in Grieghallen Studios their first full-length album originally named "Battles in the North" but re-baptised for the publishing "Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism". Produced by Eirik "Pytten" Hundvin, this is a faster but also more atmospheric album compared to the previous demos; it is possible to see the beginning of the "icy attitude" of Immortal's music, both in music and in Demonaz lyrics.

January, Varg Vikernes (new name of Kristian Vikernes), also known as Count Grishnackh, after a promo CD publish his album: the self-titled Burzum album was released in 1992 by Deathlike Silence Production.
The arsons begin: the 6th of June Fantoft Church in the outskirts of Bergen is burnt down by Varg.
April, "Det Som En Gang Var" (What Once Was) a second album, was recorded
August, Varg begun the recording of a new EP, Samoth (Emperor) helped with the bass.
September, a third full-length album was recorded: "Hvis Liset Tar Oss" (When the Light hits us)
This "super-production" it is due to the fact that Vikernes work on his material in a span of time that comes from 1989 to March of 1993. So it means that an older album has not necessary the oldest material.

After the recording of the split CD EmperorEnslaved, by the end of the year, Mortiis (that felt no sympathy for the new entered Faust) too leave the band, replaced after a while by Terje Vik Shei (Tchort)

Summer, Darkthrone published their third album: "Under a Funeral Moon". Nocturno Culto replaced Dag Nielsen at the bass. A more grim and no-compromise album which divided the fans again. For some this is the masterpiece of Darkthrone.

Satyricon, which was Satyr (vocals), Lemarchand (guitar), Wargod (bass) and Exhurtum (drums) record their first self-titled demo.
Soon after Wargod and Exhurtum left the band.

1993, a turbulent year for the entire BM scene and a year which has seen it under the siege of the media.

Emperor begin the recording of their first album: "In the Nightside Eclipse" and the Emperor/Enslaved split CD is released by Candlelight Records

March, Burzum fourth full-length album was recorded: "Filosofem", moreover, the "Aske" EP is released under Deathlike Silence Production. On the cover there is a picture of the burnt remains of the Fantoft Kirke.
August, "Det Som En Gang Var" is released too, but under Cymophane records, Vargs' new own label.

Mayhem re-release their "Deathcrush" demo.

10th of August 1993, the 20 years old Varg Vikernes went, with his friend Snorre waiting out for him, to the 25 years old Euronymous' apartment. A harsh argument accurred. Varg stabbed the leader of Mayhem to death. 23 wounds, two to the head, five to the neck, and sixteen to the back. Then he left the house, and went to a lake near Oslo in order to get rid of his bloody clothes. Two weeks later, after the police investigated in the still-unknown BM world, Varg Vikernes was charged of the murder and arrested.
Lots of legends was born about this story: Euronymous too was planning to kill Varg due to a prophecy of a fortune-teller, Varg killed him as a sacrifice to Satan and so on?
What is sure is that Varg during the trial had always proclaimed that Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) was an asshole, and that he begun the fight with a knife in his hand.
The mind of Mayhem, the founder and guide of all the BM underground movement, disappeared.
After that, Mayhem disappeared as a band, until 1996.

Fall, Darkthrone third album "Transilvanian Hunger" is recorded. After Varg's imprisonment, Fenriz contact him in order to write some lyrics for Darkthrone new album, since he could miss his artistic expression.

After Armaggedda left, because of different musical and lifestyle's attitudes, Immortal replace him with Kolgrim which had short life as a band member since he was kicked out after some live shows due to laziness. So, Immortal recorded a second album with Abbath performing also the drums: "Pure Holocaust". A more aggressive and rough album. Songs shortest and faster.
On September a Norwegian TV channel, due to the interest of the media for the new Black Metal movement, asked Immortal to realise a video to be broadcast during an interview. So the bad made "Call of the Wintermoon" video is recorded within two hours in the ruin site already used for "Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism" CD cover. It was only transmitted that specific night and never published.
17th November, a live Immortal's bootleg is recorded at Bergum, Holland. It will be published in 1994 under the wrong name of "Live in Zandaam".

Winter, Satyricon, now only formed by two members published their second demo: "The Forest is my Throne".
It had a good success and it attracts the attention of the Swedish No Fashion Records, which sign them on.



1994.

"Transilvanian Hunger" is released.
Darkthrone had some major problems with Peaceville Records due to a writing on the back of the CD case and of their sleeves: "Norsk Arysk Black Metal": "Norwegian Aryan Black Metal".
Moreover some "embarrassing" dichiarations of Fenriz about the Jews made sink their contract with Peaceville, and they were forced to write a letter of public apologize.
So it was, and, in fall, the new album is recorded, under a new label: The Moonfog Production, label owned by Satyr of Satyricon, in order to work "with Norwegians only"

May, Burzum "Hvis Liset Tar Oss" is released under Misanthropy records.

Emperor release "in the Nightside Eclipse", with a good response of public and press, but bad news were coming for the band: Faust was arrested for killing by stabbing a gay man who tried to engage him in Lillehammer Olympic Park and condemned to 14 years of reclusion.

The deal with No Fashion didn't work because of some economic problems during the recording of the debut album. So Satyr decided to contact another label: Tatra Productions, and to start a sub-label under it, which soon will became independent. Moonfog Productions is born, and under this label "Dark Medieval Times" Satyricon's debut album is released. Since Lemarchand left the band Satyr recruits Kjetil Haraldstadt (Frost) for the recording of this album.

Between the late '94 and the early '95 Varg Vikernes, now in jail, recorded the first of his "new-style" album: "Daudi Baldrs". An atmospheric and only instrumental album, near to ambient music.




1995

Major changes for Darkthrone: Zephyrous, for not really clear reasons left amicably the band. Publishing of "Total Death": a more thrash-oriented album, not in the mood of the previous four BM masterpieces. For many, with this album, Darkthrone changed to never come back.

Erik, Immortal's live drummer for the promotional tour of "Pure Holocaust" left the band. (Erik came into the band around the time of the mixing of the Pure Holocaust album. He participated on the cover, but didn't play the drums on the album. Played two European Tours with Immortal before he was kicked out. Committed suicide on Oct. 14 1999. R.I.P.) so Abbath is forced to play drums also in the new forthcoming album. This is without doubt the most representative Immortal's album, in which we find the explication of the lyrics themes of Demonaz and the grim and cold sonorities, snow and ice. The third album is called as the first one had to be: "Battles in the North".
For the tour Sons of Northern Darkness, Hellhammer (Mayhem) agreed to play drums for Immortal on their tour in 1995. He also played on the first official video of Immortal.


Satyricon second successful album: "The Shadowthrone", in which Samoth from Emperor plays as a session guitarist and for some grand piano parts.
Satyr founded his first side-project with Fenriz (Darkthrone) and Kari Rueslaatten (ex The 3rd and the Mortal): Storm.
Frost releases the album "Blood Must be Shed" from his side-project Zyklon-B, with Samoth, Ishan (both from Emperor) and Aldrahn (Dodheimsgard).


In late March Samoth was arrested for a church arson. He burnt down the Skjold Church in Rogaland, together with his friend Varg Vikernes and condemned for 16 months. Ishan, almost with no more band members continued to write music and lyrics.


1996

January, Misanthropy released Burzum "Filosofem"

First live show of Darkthrone in summer. After that, a long period of silence from Fenriz And Nocturno Culto.

Hellhammer decided to re-found Mayhem, he called back the two former members Maniac and Necrobutcher and recruiting a new guitarist: Rune Eriksen, aka Blasphemer.

By the end of the year, after Samoth release Emperor are back to studios to record the Reverence EP, with a new line-up: Trym Torson
(Tyrm), drummer from Enslaved and the bassist Jonas Alver
(Alver). The EP contained the video CD of the Loss and Curse of Reverence.
They also began the records of a new full-length album.

After a hard and long work of production Satyricon's Third album is ready.
"Nemesis Divina" one of the greatest releases of Satyricon is published. Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone) under the pseudonym of Kveldulv plays guitar in this album.
The EP "Meggiddo" is released too.

Horgh (drums), entered as a permanent member in Immortal


1997

At the beginning of the year Emperor released their new album: "Anthems at the Welkin at Dusk" an epic and gorgeous masterpiece. It was welcomed with much enthusiastic reviews winning the album of the year prize in many magazines, and highed Emperor as the best BM band of the moment.

Immortal's fourth album: "Blizzard Beasts".
Demonaz is forced to quit the band due to a serious arm injury. His tendons were hurted because of rehearsing at the guitar without the proper warm up.
From now on Abbath takes his place at the guitar, and Ares is called. Ares was a session member during the 1998 tours, filling the vacant bass spot. He was asked to be a full time member of Immortal, but chose to concentrate on his main band Aeternus.


Darkthrone are still missing.
The 1990's "Goatlord" is now published

The re-born Mayhem came back with a Mini-CD: "Wolf's Lair Abyss"
An unofficial bootleg with recording of some old live shows is produced: the "Dawn of the Black Hearts" cover shows a picture taken to the corpse of the suicided Dead with his skull shattered near the shotgun he used to kill himself.


September, Misanthropy Records released Burzum's first "from jail album": "Daudi Baldrs", first album of a trilogy and first non-BM Burzum album.


1998

Darkthrone re-begun to work at an album, and Moonfog published a first Darkthrone tribute album.

Immortal's fifth album is recorded (for the first time in Tagtarten's Abyss Studios).

Summer, Varg Vikernes, in prison, re-record some old MIDI material, in order to make a new electronic-ambient album.



1999

A new live album from Mayhem, the first with the new line-up: "Mediolanum Capta Est" recorded during a live show in Milan.

Satyricon signed a contract with the well known (and some says commercial) German label Nuclear Blast.
They released the "Intermezzo II" EP which is an important milestone for Satyricon's musical evolution. In fact except for a remix of the "Nemesis Divina" song, in this mini CD Satyr wants to foreshows the future of Satyricon music: a new track from the preparing album and a very unusual semi-techno remix of a previous track created by the help of Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch. The medieval influences are over, and Satyricon's music is evolving to new electronics sonorities.

"At the Earth of Winter", Immortal's first album entirely composed by Abbath with the contribution of Demonaz only for the lyrics.
The result is a fast, clean, and in someway thrash oriented album, but which deserves all the icy, cold, and snowy feelings; trademark of Immortal's production. For the first live shows, the recording session bassist joins the band: Iscariah, from Enchanted will become a permanent member.

May, Misanthropy Records published the second of album of Burzum's acoustic trilogy: "Hildskialf".

IX Equilibrium, Emperor new album was released. The typical Emperor chaotic and symphonic sound is here mixed with some heavier guitar death metal
oriented.

The new album of the returned Darkthrone is out: the contested "Ravishing Grimness"



2000


Satyricon surprises many releasing "Rebel Extravaganza". A completely different album from all the previous, which was rejected by the BM "purists" but also, welcomed by some as a masterpiece.

Recorded again in Tagtarten's Abyss Studios, "Damned In Black" Immortal new album follow the path chosen by Abbath in "At the Heart of Winter" having an heavy and "thrash" sound, even if still much linked to BM tradition.

The Darkthrone guys work on their new album.

Mayhem released their first full-length album since "De Mysteriis dom Sathanas": "A Grand Declaration of War". Hated by the BM purists which believe that the true Mayhem are dead with Euronymous, it is indeed a different album, mainly for the particular vocal style of Maniac.


2001

Due to the numerous side projects of the members, Emperor decide to split up leaving to the scene their last masterpiece.
"Prometheus, the Discipline of Fire and Demise" is one of the most complex Emperor albums mixing classical music influences with Black Metal.

"Plaguewielder" new Darkthrone full-length is published. It features guest vocals by Apollyon from Aura Noir and Cadaver and Sverre from Audiopain.
They sign a new record deal with Moonfog Productions.



2002

Spring, Immortal, signed a contract with Nuclear Blast published their seventh album: "Sons of Northern Darkness". A partial return to a rougher sound and to darker atmospheres.

Summer, Satyricon published a colletion to celebrate the ten yers of activity: the album is named "Ten horns, Ten diadems".
Then in october a new album is out: "Volcano". Accuses of selling-off rose from the fans.

Darkthrone worked on a new album with the help of Satyr.

2003

Spring, Immortal, after 7 full-lenght announce their split
To notice a guest-appeareance of Abbath on Dimmu Borgir's new album

"Hate Them" new album from Darkthrone is published

"Chimera" the long awaited Mayhem 3rd full-lenght is out



TO BE CONTINUED....






PART TWO
SOME CONSIDERATIONS


It's not easy to understand and furthermore to explain the reasons for which Black Metal's music and thematics, find fertile ground to evolve in such a fast and violent way just in Norway, and then spreading mainly in countries of the Northern europe and (and that's were it founded a new great and interesting movment) in eastern countries such as Poland, and other ex-URSS states.

In Norway christianity is the official religion, even though the people's relation to it has never been simple, and it has never been practiced that much since Olaf Tryggvason, a Norwegian king, brought it in the country in 995 A.D.
But why did these young boys (you have to remember that, for example, Euronymous was 18 when he records "Deathcrush" and that Samoth was 17 when he burnt his first church) have all this hatred against Christianity?
Satanism, or more appropriately, paganism, maybe was the perfect ideology to associate to an extreme music intended as an escape from the closed bourgeois mentality, as a rejection to the schemes imposed by the society of a little, provincial country which hardly counts 5-6 million of inhabitants.
The music had to be as rough as possible (and often bad recorded) in order to show the genuine pulse which animated the musical attitudes of those boys: the musical business was the enemy to avoid.
The revaluation of values of the old Viking traditions was the alternative which cast those youngsters into a fantastic world where simple virtues were important, like courage, honour and violence, a far away world from the corrupt and business-minded society in which we live in. Faust, Emperor's former drummer, when questioned about his crime, replied that the gay man he killed was an enemy of the natural laws, and that he himself liked to live by the law of his sword (the knife with which he stabbed the man to death).

Satan is the archetype of the banned, he who lives at the edge, excluded by his sickly perfect society, and the Vikings where those who fought to obtain what they needed and what they wanted. It's the dream of a return of the golden age for mankind, an age in which man can live in close contact with the earth, feeling himself part of the great "Mother North", and in which racial cultures are not blended and a man can be proud of his origins. This ideology of the BM movement brought many to confuse it with the Nazi one. BM has never had any defined political roots, political ideas were personal (Euronymous claimed himself to be a socialist) but the substrate on which all the BM musicians developed their music was only ideological: Vikernes loved to define himself first of all a Norwegian, but this goes beyond simple nationalism, it is the statement of an artist which feels himself one with his home land and its nature [at least in the beginning of his careeer?].
A land, indeed, that provided the main artistic influence for almost all the Norwegian BM bands.

Vikernes once said, about the Norwegian forests: -Try to take a walk in a Norwegian forest in a winter midnight?.it actually speaks-.
And he is not the only one who put in the center of his lyrics the dark beauties of his country, and I'm thinking to Immortal and Satyricon mainly.
I think that the landscape in which you grow up and in which you have lived all your life changes your mood towards the world, and if you try to live in a cold country in which often for six months a years, where you cannot see the sun higher than some degrees above the horizon, and where infinite forests cover all the landscape, I'm sure that you'll understand better what's the real psychological attitude beyond the BM movement.

Anyway, if most of the "pagan" BM bands have a few or nothing to do with Satanism in its real form, it is very spreaded in others. What precisly means to be a Satanist? The Stanism topic would deserve an entire book to be examined in its complexity and, unfortunatly, we will not scan this topic here.

I frankly think that we can better understand this movement exploring those ideology of hatred against Christianity. Indeed, in my opinion, the most significative and original BM bands (considering the spirit which animates them and not only the music) are to be searched in Scandinavian and eastern europe's countries, where historically the population can be less linked to Christianity than, for example, France, Italy or England's people could be. Places where the popular traditions are not only linked to religion but mainly to an atavic spirit of connection with the homeland, and thus with nature, where superstitions lives on still today (think to the carpathian area and to the famous vampire tales which comes from there) were the pagan spirit continues to live deep within the souls of inhabitants.
Is my opinion too that, in this, plays a great and understimed role the geografic position and morphology of the country. Is not in the nature of a Spanish for example to be melancholic, dark, sad and introverse, nor in the mood of an Italian to sing of icy landscapes and everlasting darkness. Can you imagine a BM song about the sunny seasides of Sicily?

But this is not the only spirit of BM. With its evolution and spreading other ideologies have born, or better, found a good way to express themselves.
For shame, all those elements which were an integral part of that BM movement, are now taken as paradigm by all the nowadays BM bands. The most doesn't understand how meaningless is to try to repeat the characteristics and the schemes that were only proper of that musical movement, the Norwegian one.
Why a Greek (which is possibly the most diverse country respect to Norway in the whole Europe) BM band should sing of northern forests?

After all that things, it is clear how much the BM movement or better that BM movement's birth was strictly connected to a country and a period of time, so, what is BM today?
Is it possible that an artistic movement so linked with the ideology and the feelings of the people that started it, remains just the same also after the disappearing of those elements? In other words, it's possible to continue playing the same BM of the Norwegian 90's without seem meaningless copycats?
But, on the other hand, is it right that BM dies now that its time is concluded?
Some "purists" of BM, but I sincerely call them closed-minded fans, wanted no evolution nor changing in the style of their favourite BM bands as well as they hate new born BM groups which try to make experimentation. How many Satyricon's fans renounce them because of the way of musical evolution taken by Satyr in "Rebel Extravaganza"?
And why the same scorn was addressed to Darkthrone because of their new albums, which are "not enough true"?
It is clearly madness or simply deep lack of sensibility that a fan who claim to love the musical production of an artist deny him the right to evolve, experiment and find a better way to express his feelings.

I think that today BM is changing his skin. It's taking a path ideally started by Vikernes with his first synth tracks and by the first works of Arcturus. Since the beginning bands such as Arcturus tried experimentation with Black Metal and now we can see lots of bands playing something which has its roots in the BM but that is going towards the most different ways of influences. Arcturus, Solefald, ?and Oceans, Kovenant, Aborym, Lunaris, Ulver, Fleurety, Enid, just to make names of some new and old bands. It's still possible to define it "Black Metal"? Today, shouldn't we interpretate the classification BM in a new, open way?
Electronics and industrial beats [which are taking important part in BM, and that I think it will be the most prolific evolution], folk influences [foundable since Ulver and Satyricon's first works], classical inserts, new-age sonorities?BM is without doubt (and in spite of who wants it to be static and closed) the Metal's sub-genre which is more open to contamination from all the infinite forms of music, because I believe that it is in it's nature to be a creature in continuous evolution and changing.
So, why despise the experimentations of a genre that was born as the most exteme of the experimenations?