Black metal

[Mercy/Severity]

Hi, I'm a bit of a newbie to black metal, I have seemed to thrive on death metal more... but I have recently gotten into some BM.

Could anyone recommend more melodic/symphonic black metal to me? Stuff that is more about sorrowful/bleak atmosphere rather than just raw aggression?

The BM I have is as follows:
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Destroyer 666 - Phoenix Rising
Bathory - Hammerheart
Dimmu Borgir - all (I don't call them black metal, but some seem to so I'll throw it in)
Cradle of Filth - all (^)

Please, recomendations? thanks.

 

[Birkenau]

Make sure you get all of the early black metal bands before you do anything, Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, Immortal - Pure Holocaust, Ulver - Bergtatt and maybe Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.

Once you've got them, try some of the newer, more accessible black metal bands.

Taake - Nattestid Ser Porten Vid
Sigh - Hail Horror Hail
Dødheimsgard - 666 International
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
Diabolical Masquerade - Death's Design
Black Funeral - Az-i-Dahak

If you like depressive black metal, make sure you also get Silencer - Death - Pierce Me, Weakling - Dead As Dreams, I Shalt Become - Wanderings and Shining - Within Deep Dark Chambers.

 

[SkeetsMaloy]

I'm no expert by any means, but here's my suggestions.

Nokturnal Mortum - Lunar Poetry
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
Satanic Warmaster - Opferblut

 

[T.I.E.]

some other albums to try :

Deathspell Omega - Kénôse
Emperor - IX Equilibrium
Nargaroth - Black Metal Ist Krieg
Woods of Ypres - Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth
Carpathian Forest - Black Shining Leather
Dornenreich - Her Von Welken Nächten
Secrets Of The Moon - Carved in Stigmata Wounds
Negurã Bunget - 'n Crugu Bradului
Klabautamann - Der Ort
let me know what you thought of these (dload before you buy anything too )

 

[Nico]

Aeternus - Beyond the Wandering Moon

Severely underrated.

 

[Susperia]

Well, Hammerheart by Bathory isn't Black Metal, it's Viking Metal. However, you should listen to his albums "Blood, Fire, Death", "The Return", and "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" for some good BM by Bathory.

Also, I'd listen to whoever pointed out Nokturnal Mortum.

 

[byrne]

Aeternus - Beyond the Wandering Moon

Severely underrated.

.

 

[polarity3]

essentials; these are the recordings widely agreed upon as classics, though will a little of my personal taste interjected. familiarity with these will allow you to more easily determine what else is worth listening to and what's derivative crap;

immortal - pure holocaust
burzum - burzum/aske, det som engang var, hvis lyset tar oss, filosofem
darkthrone - transilvanian hunger, panzerfaust, under a funeral moon (how was i the first person to mention them?!)
bathory - under the sign of the black mark, blood fire death
enslaved - vikinglgr veldi
mayhem - live in leipzig, de mysteriis dom sathanas
emperor - in the nightside eclipse
gorgoroth - antichrist
ulver - bergtatt (controversial one here...)
graveland - thousand swords (personally can't understand what people see in this one, but it's accalimed enough that you should at least check it out)
summoning - dol guldur
beherit - drawing down the moon
necromantia - scarlet evil witching black
varathron - his majesty at the swamp

some more recent/less classic stuff

nokturnal mortum - goat horns, lunar poetry (all their albums are pretty good as far as i know)
deathspell omega - si monumentum requires circumspice
drudkh - autumn aurora, forgotten legends, the swan road
mutiilation - remains of a dead ruined cursed soul, vampires of black imperial blood
vlad tepes/belketre - march to the black holocaust (split)
alcest - le secret
nocternity - onyx
krieg - the black house, patrick bateman
antaeus - cut your flesh and worship satan
moonblood - blut and krieg
blut aus nord - the work which transform god (it's now become trendy to hate this album, but oh well. their earlier stuff is apparently good too)
velvet cacoon - genevieve
graveland - memory and destiny, the fire of awakening, dawn of iron blades (this era of stuff is far superior to his supposed "classic" material, imo)
demoncy - joined in darkness (some people absolutely love this, personally i think it's pretty good but am yet to hear in it what they hear....still trying, though)
gontyna kry - welowie

there's more, but i'm not going to make a huge list of bands. i don't think i've omitted anything of undeniably high quality.

edit: i definitely advise downloading before buying with black metal

 

[Birkenau]

some other albums to try :

Deathspell Omega - Kénôse
Emperor - IX Equilibrium
Nargaroth - Black Metal Ist Krieg
Woods of Ypres - Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth
Carpathian Forest - Black Shining Leather
Dornenreich - Her Von Welken Nächten
Secrets Of The Moon - Carved in Stigmata Wounds
Negurã Bunget - 'n Crugu Bradului
Klabautamann - Der Ort
let me know what you thought of these (dload before you buy anything too )

Maybe it's just me, but other than Woods of Ypres and Emperor, all of those bands are really hard to get into for a beginner black metaller.

But yeah, Mercy/Severity, get most of the ones polarity listed before you get anything new.

Edit - nevermind he just edited his post, just get the stuff up the top he recommended.

 

[T.I.E.]

well maybe it's just you then
I'm a BM beginer too and those are the ones I enjoy !

 

[no country for old wainds]

Polarity's post is pretty much perfect, though I'd stay the hell away from stuff like Krieg and Belketre for the moment.

Burzum's Hvis Lyset Tar Oss was my personal gateway into black metal and remains my favourite metal album to this day.

Summoning's Dol Guldur brings an epic, glorious, triumphant touch to the genre, whilst Immortal's Pure Holocaust is a dreamy blizzard which seems aggressive at first but stops doing so when one delves deeper.

Aeternus' Beyond the Wandering Moon is absolutely amazing as already stated, and Transilvanian Hunger is certainly Darkthrone's most *bleak* album (Under A Funeral Moon is both darker and, in my opinion, better).

Also recommended for beginners are Drudkh, Gontyna Kry, Varathron and the mighty Sacramentum who Polarity didn't mention because he doesn't like them (interchangeable with "because he is a fag").

That'll do for now.

 

[Nico]

Haha, best post you've made in a while.

 

[madu]

Arcturus' Aspera Hiems Symfonia! It's a bit on the softer side, but one of my favorite bm albums.

 

[Demiurge]

Fullmoon - United Aryan Evil
Avzhia - Dark Emperors
Lunar Aurora - Weltenganger
Epheles - all material
Asgeirr - Nouvel Ordre Du Nord
Belenos - Notre Amour Eternel(the first demo, also)
Kyprian's Circle - Noitatulen Vartija
Necromantia - Scarlet Evil Witching Black
Sorcier Des Glaces - Snowland

 

[metal paddy]

yeah barhory finntroll iiise cradles new song on scuzz they have been around a while and still sound good :Shedevil: :Shedevil:

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

Well since no one has mentioned these two then i will:

Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk

Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky

Mayhem - Chimera

btw Bathory's Blood Fire Death is really considered Viking metal more for it's lyrical content them music...

 

[skeptik]

Absu - Tara
Borknagar - Borknagar
Burzum - Burzum/Aske
Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky
Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism
Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse

These are the first Black Metal albums I've ever listened to, and helped me get into the genre. Of course, at the time I was getting into extreme metal in general, so I wasn't really familiar with the brutality at the time.

 

[MasterOLightning]

Lots of good recommendations here. I strongly second:

Enslaved - Vikingligr Veldi
Burzum - Det Som Engang Var (most accessible Burzum album)
Drudkh - Forgotten Legends
Darkthrone - Panzerfaust (most accessible)

Pure Holocaust is a bit more dense then those above, but it's worth the effort to get in to.

 

[KMADD]

Enochian Crescent-Telocvovim
True Black Dawn-Blood For Satan
Limbonic Art-All

 

[Morpha]

Blut Aus Nord
Grand Belial's Key
Burzum
Epheles


All ESSENTIAL.