Your top 10 Black Metal albums

[Krow]

I really dont consider any of the "first wave of black metal" bands actually black metal... (or Possessed or Death's first full lengths death metal, for that matter either. They were close, but still thrash, imo)

I dont get the double standards... Pyrexia and Suffocation arent slam death metal, yet, they had the chugging breakdowns ala brutal death metal...
But mercyful fate was black metal because of their atmosphere and lyrical content?

It really doesnt matter, I guess... I dont really want to argue against the majority of the board about musical genre, especially when my only would be ally must be an idiot.

 

[Cythraul]

I really hate this whole fucking argument.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Are you dropping the whole "reductio ad" and "-um" parts and going for flat-out, balls to the wall fucking absurd now or what?

Both of those bands were labeled as heavy metal at one point, and applying the magical powers of historical context or sonic relativism or whateverthefuck is hardly different from calling Venom or Mercyful Fate black metal because they were the closest thing to it at the time. (And yes, I know Aerosmith was never the closest thing to heavy metal. My general point still stands.)

I really hate this whole fucking argument.

You appear to hate argument in general.

 

[Cythraul]

You appear to hate argument in general.

You really have to be kidding with this one, man. Perhaps you're not sufficiently familiar with my posting history, or how I make my living, otherwise you would not say something so blatantly untrue.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Both of those bands were labeled as heavy metal at one point

That isn't the "power" that makes Mercyful Fate and Venom BM.

 

[Goffdahl]

Impossible for me to cut it down to ten... These are my absolute favourites in no particular order:

Dornenreich - Bitter Ist's Dem Tod Zu Dienen
Heimdalls Wacht - Der Untergang der alten Welt
Limbonic Art - Ad Noctum - Dynasty of Death
Nagelfar - Srontgorrth
Nagelfar - Virus West
Summoning - Dol Guldur
Summoning - Stronghold
Windir - 1184
Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulée
The Ruins Of Beverast - Rain Upon The Impure
The Ruins Of Beverast - Unlock The Shrine
The Ruins Of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite
Lunar Aurora - Andacht
Weakling - Dead As Dreams
S.V.E.S.T. - Urfaust
Ondskapt - Dödens Evangelium
Agalloch - Pale Folklore
Verdunkeln - S/T

Worthy Mentions:
Abigor - Nachthymnen/From the Twilight Kingdom
Abigor - Verwustung/Invoke the Dark Age
Aeturnus - And so the Night Became...
Agrypnie - F51.4
Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde
Arcturus - Aspera Hiems Symfonia
Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale
Arckanum - Kostogher
Bathory - Hammerheart
Bergthron - Faust Für Faust
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II
Borknagar: S/T
Borknagar: The Olden Domain
Darkspace - I+II+III
Dissection - The Somberlain
Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
Drudkh - Forgotten Legends
Drudkh - Blood in our Wells
Enid - Abschiedsreigen
Enslaved - Below The Lights
Enslaved - Blodhemn
A Forest Of Stars - The Corpse Of Rebirth
Forgotten Woods - The Curse of Mankind
Gehenna - Adimiron Black
Gris - Il Etait Une Foret...
Heimdall's Wacht - Ut de Graute Olle Tied Deel I
Helrunar - Frostnacht
Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter
Katharsis - Fourth Reich
Katharsis - World Without End
Lantlôs - Lantlôs
Leviathan - Tentacles Of Whorror
Limbonic Art - In Abhorrence Dementia
Limbonic Art - Moon In The Scorpio
Luror - Cease to Live
Manes - Under Ein Blodraud Maane
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Nachtmystium - Instinct: Decay
Nagelfar - Hünengrab Im Herbst
Nocte Obducta - Nektar I+II
Nokturnal Mortum - Goat Horns
Nokturnal Mortum - Mirovozzrenie
Nokturnal Mortum - The Voice of Steel
Potentiam - Balsyn
Primordial - To The Nameless Dead
Primordial - Spirit the Earth Aflame
Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
Shining - V - Halmstad
Summoning - Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame
Taake - Nattestid
Ulver - Bergtatt
Verdunkeln - Einblick in den Qualenfall
Wolves In The Throne Room - Two Hunters

 

[Vilden]

This is not the your top 71 bm album thread, I mean why list all albums you think are good instead of the BEST OF THE BEST? Because I find it hard to believe that you for example like those three Nokturnal Mortum albums EXACTLY the same.

 

[Goffdahl]

Well, in fact I do. A bit more than Lunar Poetry and To the Gates of Blasphemous Fires and much more than NeChrist and Twilightfall.

I could easily list 500 good black metal albums but I only took the best of the best.

 

[Cythraul]

I highly doubt there are 500 black metal albums worth listening to.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

There definitely are. tbh

 

[Cythraul]

Unless you have fairly low standards then I really don't see how you could believe that.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I don't see how thinking there are 500 releases worth listening to in a genre where there are 11,525 (thanks M-A; although that's really only a rough estimate because that includes black/death bands, etc., so let's say there's only about 8,000 'black metal' albums) necessitates "fairly low standards" on my part, but okay bro.

 

[VelociBrad]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were. I'm not that into black metal, but I can positively find 500 death metal albums worth listening to and it's pretty much the same concept yeah?

 

[Cythraul]

Sorry but I'm still not convinced. It's quite likely that an astonishing proportion of that 8,000 consists of mediocre copycat releases, downright horrible releases, pointless bedroom black metal projects, and then stuff that is probably decent (which, by the way, I wouldn't count as "worth hearing.") If you think stuff like Drudkh is good then of course I can see you thinking the latest atmospheric black metal jerk-off out of Uzbekistan is worth hearing, but I don't. I need a little bit more than mere numbers to be convinced.

edit: Now, if we're including demos in the mix, then I could see how the 500 figure might be reasonable. I was referring to albums. I simply cannot fathom there being 500 black metal albums that I ought to listen to.

 

[Draehl]

BM seems easier to screw up than DM, but BM when done right is many order of magnitude better than DM. With BM you almost have to get that spine tingle or it just doesn't work. DM? Play heavy music, growl, and don't write a downright terrible song and it can be passable.

 

[Goffdahl]

I highly doubt there are 500 black metal albums worth listening to.

I would say there are much more. Of course it depends on your standards, your array of taste and also whether cross-over genres like black/death or pagan/black counts.

From my own collection I could find 500 good black metal albums worth listening too. Overall I would say the number would be two or three times as high.

 

[Cythraul]

I hate you.

 

[Goffdahl]

Nah, I don't believe you. I'm a quite likeable guy.

Perhaps you just hate black metal?

 

[Cythraul]

Actually, black metal is my favorite type of music.

 

[Goffdahl]

I don't see how thinking there are 500 releases worth listening to in a genre where there are 11,525 (thanks M-A; although that's really only a rough estimate because that includes black/death bands, etc., so let's say there's only about 8,000 'black metal' albums) necessitates "fairly low standards" on my part, but okay bro.

How did you come up with this number from MA?

I just checked the number of bands labelled as BM in MA and there were 18.517. I don't know what the average number of releases is? 3? 4? So there are probably more than 50.000 black metal releases overall?