Definition of "Black Metal"

Necropeth said:
Any negura bunget fans here? The atmosphere they create is incredible. (I recommend the album Om. Its fantastic)
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'n Crugu Bradului and Om are both amazing albums, though I haven't listened to the rest of their catalogue yet.

EkstatikParataxis said:
Im not a satanist because i listen to dimmu borgir...
im more interested in the music, how its composed and what atmosphere it creates, and from that point of view puritanic euphoric misantrophy is nothing but brilliant.
And from that point of view Mayhem is rubbish, these guys are rather psychos than musicians.
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Are you mentally challenged? Listen to "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" or "Ordo Ad Chao" and tell me that they're not brilliantly composed - much more so than anything Dimmu has ever created imo. Mayhem are one of the originators of Norwegian BM, and to say that they're "psychos" while calling Dimmu brilliant is absolute bullshit. Basically, you know nothing about black metal that's worth anything so please, stay out of this discussion.

perpetual_black_force said:
Having listened to black metal for a long time, i must admit, if you want2 fuck your brain over, listen to mayhem. They are a proper black metal band and have the original taste of black metal . They, in a way, gave form and shape to the bm genre. Having said that, i wouldn't advice anyone lto get into them, as if you take the music seriousely, you might end up blwoing your head off. Burzum is a good original bm band. Dimmu aren't great to be honest, i don't think.
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Okay, you're just ridiculous as well. You say that Burzum is a "good original bm band" but that Mayhem fucks your brain over and that they'll make you blow your head off? Are you challenged as well?


Basically I'd recommend these bands:

Bathory
Venom
Mayhem
Burzum
Darkthrone
Immortal
Satyricon
Thorns
1349
Enslaved
Negura Bunget
Deathspell Omega
Mirrorthrone
Austere
Hellhammer
Dissection
Aborym
Marduk
Drudkh
Wolves in the Throne Room
Leviathan
Xasthur (some people hate them, oh well)
Emperor
Shining
Nortt
Skitliv (hey, I like the demo/promo they've had out since december)
Arcturus
Borknagar
Tormentor
Keep of Kalessin
Absu

etcetcetc
 
A problem i have with most bm bands though is that they seem to be doing it for the "cool" factor and trying to be as dark and rediculous as possible. (and the fact that satanism is a selling factor, i mean you got all these kids who wanna be brutal and evil, omg lets all listen to black metal!) It's hard to find respectable bands these days imo....oh well. I find the black metal bands i enjoy the most dont actually anything to do with satanism at all, such as Negura Bunget and Burzum. (I believe Dominus Sathanas is the only song that has a direct reference to satan? correct me if im wrong please.)
 
i like to say that death metal is about complaining about death, violence, war, and negative things in general while black metal is about bringing them forth.

but this is a prejudice. i hardly know any bm and only little dm.
 
beast from the east said:
I really just started getting into NB heavily...Om blows my mind, so I can't wait to delve into their back catalogue...

Why the hell didn't I pick up on these guys sooner??? :erk:
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My thoughts exactly! I only found out about these guys recently. I find that their older shit is much more straight up black metal.....but Om on the other hand is fucking mystical!
 
Necropeth said:
My thoughts exactly! I only found out about these guys recently. I find that their older shit is much more straight up black metal.....but Om on the other hand is fucking mystical!
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If you like Negura Bunget, definitely check out Wolves in the Throne Room. "Two Hunters" is a masterpiece.
 
I would define Black Metal, from what I know, as some kind of music, or atmosphere in music that looks a little bit... negative in many points. But the points mentionned before are pretty much all true : blast-beats, "grim" vocals, picking, bad-quality recording, corpse paint, and I would add "simple composition", because technically, black metal is of the simpliest things to play (physically, you may need muscles...). Anyways.

When you think about Black Metal, you remember most of the bands mentionned before in the thread. Try to keep listening to them and you'll make the difference. It's hard to tell with only words. And I don't think any bands are really better than one other. Dimmu Borgir, for example, just has better quality in their sound (which, by some peoples, makes them "less-black-metul"), but take a look at the tabs and everything... it's pretty much the same as in other black metal bands. Put a great nice exagerated sound/distortion to old bands like Mayhem with some atmospheric keyboards and everything, I guess it's gonna sound as good.
 
Nasty-Fire said:
I would define Black Metal, from what I know, as some kind of music, or atmosphere in music that looks a little bit... negative in many points. But the points mentionned before are pretty much all true : blast-beats, "grim" vocals, picking, bad-quality recording, corpse paint, and I would add "simple composition", because technically, black metal is of the simpliest things to play (physically, you may need muscles...). Anyways.

When you think about Black Metal, you remember most of the bands mentionned before in the thread. Try to keep listening to them and you'll make the difference. It's hard to tell with only words. And I don't think any bands are really better than one other. Dimmu Borgir, for example, just has better quality in their sound (which, by some peoples, makes them "less-black-metul"), but take a look at the tabs and everything... it's pretty much the same as in other black metal bands. Put a great nice exagerated sound/distortion to old bands like Mayhem with some atmospheric keyboards and everything, I guess it's gonna sound as good.
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Try comparing In Sorte Diaboli to Ordo Ad Chao. They're nothing alike.

As for simple composition...listen to some Deathspell Omega, Negura Bunget, Wolves in the Throne Room, or newer Enslaved. Or even newer Mayhem. They're not simple tremolo riffs or simple powerchords, by far.
 
Ignore the ignorant noobs who try to define as either having to have blast beats, poor recording, corpse paint or simple composition, there are many exceptions. Some music is minimalistic such as Darkthrone, Isengard and Beherit but others such as Emperor, Dissection and Borknagar have proven that black metal can be quite technical.

I have been listening to this music since the early 90's and remember with fondness the days of getting demo tapes by Emperor, Gorgoroth, Ancient and the like before they put their first albums out. So, call me a black metal geezer but I do prefer the raw sounding hate filled noise that bands like Black Funeral and Graveland made. Nothing can match the intensity black metal had in those days. *uncle Rico moment*

Bottom line is that black metal defies definition. I've heard some weird shit over the years, all of which could easily be considered black metal. Anything from Root, to Trifixion, to Vondur, to Dimmu Borgir, Master's Hammer, Mortuary Drape, Necromantia, Isengard, In The Woods... All unsimilar bands, all could easily be considered black metal.
 
Black metal is more about a mindset than the music itself.

Nonetheless, both Dimmu Borgir and Mayhem blow. Try the debuts of Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar, as well as some stuff by Enslaved and Emperor for good BM. If you really want to get the full BM musical experience, go for Ulver's third record, Nattens Madrigal. The whole Norwegian scene is very incestuous member-wise, so all five of the bands I listed share a lot of members, so my recommendation will only introduce you to a very small part of the scene.
 
i love borknagar, try old vintersorg too, its not amazing but its something ill add on to here haha, old and new emperor is great

basicly ill say +1 to possessed' first paragraph
 
I have nothing to add really :D The best thing you can do is listen to the bands mentioned here, and from that you should be able to understand what black metal is. The same for death metal: listen to some proto-typical death metal bands and then make up your mind. Giving a defintion of a genre is hard because a genre is just a mental construction to classify bands. First a style of music is invented, and then they give it a name. It's not like you have to follow a set of rules (although I'm pretty sure some people feel like that about it...). Having said that, I think it all boils down to "experience" - I cannot give a definition of a genre, but I'm pretty sure I can tell when hearing a band, what style they are most influenced by ;)
 
Just listen to Nattens Madrigal by Ulver and some Wolves in the Throne Room, as been mentioned earlier. You'll hear the difference to other music.
 
Bathory had some thrash mixed in (viking is usually a subgenre of black, except for Amon Amarth who are melodeath), but they were mostly first wave black metal - one of the pioneers of the style.
 
Honestly I really don't like black metal.........I listen to only 3 black metal bands: Ulver, Darkthrone and Negura Bunget (because they are from my country:headbang:), I used to listen to Dimmu but after the 2007 dissapointment "In Sorte Diaboli" I've learned that they are going too comercial.
Anyway my fav DB albums are "For All Tid" and "Stormblast", even if I haven't heard them since last year:rolleyes:
 
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