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Dark Metal: The Definitive Albums


The purpose of this list is not to find and record which albums are the best but to define Dark Metal. We will try to specify which albums are the definitive examples of Dark Metal. "Dark Metal" is what we would call a "post-subgenre". An album that's not quite Black, not quite Death, sometimes a little Doom or Gothic, other times just Melodic or Symphonic or even "Atmospheric", anything that could fall somewhere in between some or all of these categories, that could probably be a "Dark Metal" album, as long as the tone is somewhat dark.

Created by: NurseryRhyme | 03.10.2021



1. Rotting Christ - Sanctus Diavolos
2004
2. Celtic Frost - Monotheist
2006
3. Nightfall - At Night We Prey
2021
4. Septicflesh - Sumerian Daemons
2003
5. Behemoth - I Loved You At Your Darkest
2018
6. Moonspell - Wolfheart
1995
7. Cradle Of Filth - Dusk... And Her Embrace
1996
8. Dark Fortress - Ylem
2010
9. Monumentum - In Absentia Christi
1995
10. Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones
2010
11. Septicflesh - Communion
2008
12. Cradle Of Filth - Midian
2000
13. Moonspell - Under Satanæ
2007
14. Tiamat - Wildhoney
1994
15. Behemoth - The Satanist
2014
16. Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia
2001
17. Nightfall - Lesbian Show
1997
18. Moonspell - Irreligious
1996
19. Opeth - Deliverance
2002
20. Cultus Sanguine - The Sum Of All Fears
1999
21. Diabolique - Wedding The Grotesque
1997
22. Fleshgod Apocalypse - Veleno
2019
23. Tiamat - Clouds
1992
24. Celtic Frost - Into The Pandemonium
1987
25. Cradle Of Filth - Damnation And A Day
2003
26. Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses
1993
27. Samael - Ceremony Of Opposites
1994
28. Paradise Lost - Gothic
1991
29. Dark Fortress - Spectres From The Old World
2020
30. Carach Angren - Lammendam
2008
31. Septicflesh - Codex Omega
2017
32. Dawn Of Ashes - Anathema
2013
33. Old Man's Child - In Defiance Of Existence
2003
34. Rotting Christ - Non Serviam
1994
35. Nightfall - I Am Jesus
2003
36. Paradise Lost - Obsidian
2020
37. Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
2014
38. Moonspell - Memorial
2006
39. Cradle Of Filth - Cruelty And The Beast
1998
40. Hecate Enthroned - Redimus
2004
41. Opera IX - The Call Of The Wood
1995
42. Winterhorde - Maestro
2016



Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
[ More lists by NurseryRhyme ]



Comments

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Comments: 11   Visited by: 32 users
16.10.2021 - 15:53
Starvynth
i c deaf people
Interesting list with quite a few old favorites of mine.
The term was a big thing in Germany in the 90s and a common umbrella term for (almost) everything you couldn't categorize otherwise. It was only years later that I realized that dark metal had very little meaning outside of Germany...

Off the top of my head, I would also include early albums by Dornenreich, Graveworm, Dark (GER), Agathodaimon and Siebenbürgen.
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16.10.2021 - 18:26
NurseryRhyme

Thanks. Interesting info. To be honest, many of these bands are also old favorites of mine, back from mid 00's when I got into extreme metal.

Agathodaimon and Graveworm will definetely be included in the future, they are solid examples of bands that you couldn't say explicitly that they are black, and they had that dark atmosphere and tone especially in their early albums. Sieben are also a good band and good example of what I consider "Dark Metal".
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30.04.2022 - 07:30
F3ynman2000
Nocturnal Bro
Interesting list! I do see how all of these albums have something in common
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04.05.2022 - 00:45
mz

Oh I wanted to make a list with the same exact title, but the albums there would had been very different
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Giving my ears a rest from music.
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05.05.2022 - 03:16
NurseryRhyme

I wanna see what albums you would put in that list. I'm in the right mood to discover some good music.
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12.05.2022 - 20:43
A Real Mönkey

I've heard November's Doom (specifically The Pale Haunt Departure) referred to as "dark metal" before. Still not too understanding of the concept of the genre itself so can't really verify.
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"Change the world. My final message. Goodbye."

~Last words of Harambe, seconds before he was shot, according to child he shielded from gunfire
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13.05.2022 - 08:18
NurseryRhyme

Well, I listed Opeth & Triptykon, so why not Novembers Doom? Although I personally am more familliar with "The Novella Reservoir" album of theirs.
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28.10.2022 - 14:08
ScarFury

Just wanted to say, and very much mean this unironically , thank you for putting Deliverance as the only Opeth album on this list
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28.10.2022 - 19:47
NurseryRhyme

No problem. I don't know about their best album, but Deliverance it's their most fucking dark one. And it is dark without making you any damage, psychological or emotional. It is great stuff. Trully amazing,
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29.10.2022 - 16:25
Roman Doez
Hallucigenia
Did you really make a list named dark metal that doesn't even include Bethlehem
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01.11.2022 - 01:05
NurseryRhyme

I religiously believe my friend that the Beths are Depressive/Suicidal Black, in the same way that Venom's "Black Metal" was Thrash.
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