Your top 10 Black Metal bands

last.fm says

Blut Aus Nord
Spite Extreme Wing
Enslaved
(Ulver, wouldn't count them though, as 90% of those plays will be electronic)
Deathspell Omega
Velvet Cacoon
Darkthrone
(Rhinocervs, probably ignore as regardless of same people, so many bands)
Paysage d'Hiver
Urfaust
Oranssi Lazuzu
Dodsengel



So something like this, in a vague order,

1. Darkthrone
2. Enslaved
3. Blut Aus Nord
4. Paysage d'Hiver
5. Spite Extreme Wing
6. Immortal
7. Deathspell Omega
8. Lunar Aurora
9. Aeturnus/Aosoth
10. Velvet Cacoon


After the first seven though there's really about 30 that I could put in there. Already thinking I should have added Bathory, albeit for two albums, Evilfeast and Inqusition.
 
Can someone explain what's so good about Bathory and Darkthrone? I might not even be a big fan of the genre, but still I have listened to all the stuff and except for some of their (usually) earlier albums I don't see what people like about the music so much. Particularly talking about Bathory the vocals are mostly garbage if you ask me and I can't really relate to the atmospheres in albums like Hammerheart, Twilight of the Gods, Octagon, Blood on Ice, Destroyer of Worlds, Nordland I & II. The guitar solos are always welcome here and there though.
As for Darkthrone except for the first 4 or 5 albums (and Sardonic Wrath which is a guilty pleasure of mine) the rest of the discography is fairly garbage.
I'm just wondering if others see something in them that I don't?
 
other than the viking albums from Bathory, i couldnt care less. but hammerheart, blood on ice, nordland 1 and 2, blood fire death and especially twilight of the gods are all stellar. Twilight and Hammerheart are essential pieces of music and history.

I was late into Darkthrone and havent heard what is so special. maybe in the proper context and setting....
 
Can someone explain what's so good about Bathory and Darkthrone? I might not even be a big fan of the genre, but still I have listened to all the stuff and except for some of their (usually) earlier albums I don't see what people like about the music so much. Particularly talking about Bathory the vocals are mostly garbage if you ask me and I can't really relate to the atmospheres in albums like Hammerheart, Twilight of the Gods, Octagon, Blood on Ice, Destroyer of Worlds, Nordland I & II. The guitar solos are always welcome here and there though.
As for Darkthrone except for the first 4 or 5 albums (and Sardonic Wrath which is a guilty pleasure of mine) the rest of the discography is fairly garbage.
I'm just wondering if others see something in them that I don't?

Darkthrone: It's the fact that BitNS, UaFM and TH are all totally distinct from each other and perfect in their own way. Each is a perfect execution of an aesthetic and ideological vision. Panzerfaust really isn't far behind. I agree the rest of their discography is average-- a lot of 6s and 7s--but the impact and quality of the Unholy Trinity + Panzerfaust is exceptional.

As for Bathory, I find his discography very hit and miss. I think S/T is a killer piece of proto-black metal, but The Return is much more hit and miss. UtSoaBM is a very special record. It's still one of the best black metal vocal performances, it's loaded with killer riffs, it has great hooks and the atmosphere seeps evil.
 
No specific order except from #1.

1. Bathory
2. Darkthrone
3. Marduk
4. Immortal
5. Dark Funeral
6. Drudkh
7. Summoning
8. Gorgoroth
9. Mayhem
10. Enslaved
 
someone questioning the appeal of darkthrone and bathory in a BM thread is pretty facepalmy lol. this thread wouldn't even exist without those two bands, nor would the vast majority of ones people have listed. not to mention that they're two of the most creative, distinctive and talented songwriters in the history of metal, with a number of superlative and ridiculously original albums between them. compared to most bands who were good in the '80s or '90s, they also stayed at a surprisingly solid level throughout their careers aside from the occasional lapse; none of darkthrone's recent records have been world-beaters but they've largely been enjoyable.
 
1) Burzum - because duh
2) Bathory - again, duh
3) Immortal - Pure Holocaust is, like, probably the best thing in black metal
4) Beherit - "Engram" alone is the best thing in black metal since Pure Holocaust
5) Mayhem
6) Summoning
7) Darkthrone
8) Graveland
9) Ildjarn
10) Darkspace

Probably in that order, too
 
someone questioning the appeal of darkthrone and bathory in a BM thread is pretty facepalmy lol. this thread wouldn't even exist without those two bands, nor would the vast majority of ones people have listed. not to mention that they're two of the most creative, distinctive and talented songwriters in the history of metal, with a number of superlative and ridiculously original albums between them. compared to most bands who were good in the '80s or '90s, they also stayed at a surprisingly solid level throughout their careers aside from the occasional lapse; none of darkthrone's recent records have been world-beaters but they've largely been enjoyable.

Black metal would have gotten along just fine without Bathory, with Venom, Hellhammer, and Sodom around.
 
By the time Under the Sign of the Black Mark had been released, Deathcrush and INRI had already been written and recorded, and the first two Bathory albums are little more than glorified speed/thrash.
 
The way it seems, I could only assume Darkthrone and Bathory might be simply important, not necessarily very enjoyable.

Tbh I find Darkthrone and Bathory to be amazing. They both have solid cfucking discographies that change style from one album to the next. Neither band ever released an album that sounded the same as the one before.

If you have gripes with Darkthrone or Bathory, my advice is to keep listening. Listen to their worst albums until they finally click, then go to the better ones.
 
By the time Under the Sign of the Black Mark had been released, Deathcrush and INRI had already been written and recorded, and the first two Bathory albums are little more than glorified speed/thrash.

the s/t is (awesome) glorified venom worship but THE RETURN is a huge leap forward and it's ridiculous to dismiss it in those terms. i don't necessarily disagree that BM would still have existed without bathory, but i'm certain it would've developed quite differently given how many of the biggest names of the '90s absolutely worshipped and endlessly borrowed from quorthon.