this is the most non heated black metal discussion ever. haha
Black metal is a type of music that originated with really bad thrash bands. At least that's my opinion. they basically weren't as good as the other thrash bands, so they changed their weaknesses into strengths. Not being able to sing/yell/etc turned into a positive thing, as it sounded more "evil" or "underground". and people got into it. they used dark imagery to propel this new form of thrash.
eventually it was adopted by scandinavians, who took the thrashy roots of black metal from bands like venom, and added a classical edge to it. This created a new version of black metal, that had the same evil, dark, thrashy sound, with a more sophisticated classically written, ambient spin.
what is black metal now? it's music that people take far too seriously, to a hilarious extent. Militant black metal youths worshipping normal men that play in heavy metal bands, while telling everyone else what is or is not black metal. Not to say black metal is the only genre that is guilty of this, and that all black metal fans are like this. It's just become a very funny sub genre, very driven by ideology and image. Kinda like rap, and a lot of pop has this in common too. Trying to emulate your favourite bands, and be just like them. It's really quite interesting!
In the words of mr devin townsend, "music, it's just entertainment folks"
Black metal is a type of music that originated with really bad thrash bands. At least that's my opinion. they basically weren't as good as the other thrash bands, so they changed their weaknesses into strengths. Not being able to sing/yell/etc turned into a positive thing, as it sounded more "evil" or "underground". and people got into it. they used dark imagery to propel this new form of thrash.
Weelll I listened to bands like Venom, and Hellhammer, and early Bathory (though he's scandinavian), and then I listened to bands like Emperor, Enslaved, etc etc, and i said to myself, wow this stuff is way more sophisticated, as far as musicmanship goes.
Very few genre's in the realm of metal take their idealogies as seriously as the black metal guys do. Most death metal bands are quite aware that all the blood, gore and guts is just a shtick that they do. It's fun. Thrash to me, seems mostly about kicking ass, and drinking. Power metal, well, does power metal have an ideology? It's mostly about things that don't exist, and triumph.
I think music defines itself, and distinguishes itself as music. You don't need to attach political views or any crap like that for your music to get distinguished. You just need to be a good band.
Obviously the level of musicianship became higher as the bands progressed, but innumerable contemporary black metal bands still play in a very raw, simplistic, and traditional manner. Also, you skipped a big chunk in the evolution of black metal and went from the thrash-derived, more raw, early black metal straight to more "sophisticated classically written" stuff like Emperor. You're completely omitting the heavier, more atmospheric music that came between then. It wasn't such a discrete transition. You're also forgetting the dirty, gritty stuff that is still being played now. You're making blind, overarching, completely fallacious statements about the state of black metal then and now.
Anyway, with respect to ideology, I still stand by my statement. Any music genre (and to a lesser degree, sub-genre) requires a particular image and ideology in order to establish and distinguish itself from the genres that surround it. Ideology does not necessarily have to mean something political or social, it can be as simple as having an ideology regarding how the music itself should sound. The reason certain instruments are used in certain sub-genres of metal and not others is because the ideology surrounding it dictates that it is acceptable. I think you should reexamine your understanding of that concept.