BLACK METAL: A BRIEF GUIDE

This is an article intended as a short yet informative guide for people who are generally familiar with metal but are largely unacquainted with black metal. At the end I have provided mini-reviews of what I consider to be the ten most influential and essential black metal albums. – by: Quentin Kalis

Definition

The exact definition of "black metal" is a hotly contested subject: a quick perusal of the archives of any metal message board will reveal the extent to which even today it remains a hotly contested topic of debate. One can find entire threads dedicated to the question whether the new Satyricon and Enslaved can be considered black metal. Two main camps have emerged over the last few years:

1. One school of thought, which I will call the "Purist" view, claims that the term "black metal" refers only to underground acts (in this context a "mainstream black metal" act is one which is signed to one of the larger independents, such as Nuclear Blast or Candlelight). These underground acts tend to have a rawer and noticeably simpler style.

2. The second school of thought, which I call the "Inclusive" view, permits a wider definition which includes more mainstream acts, such as Emperor, and also bands such as Marduk, Dissection or Dimmu Borgir. These bands tend to have superior production values and are often more technical then their underground counterparts. These bands tend to be more melodic then their cruder sounding peers, and may also have a stronger focus on keyboards. Sometimes this categorisation becomes overbroad and Viking metal bands (such as Mithotyn or Einherjer) are lazily and erroneously considered as black metal. I have even heard Children of Bodom being called black metal, which is pushing the boundaries too far.

Black metal is notoriously hard to define, and vague, pretentious statements such as 'black metal is the nihilistic audio representation of all the misanthropic evil inherent in man' are unhelpful. But perhaps the following exposition, taking into account both of the viewpoints above, is the best:

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of metal characterised by snarled or shrieked vocals and raucous tremolo riffs. The bass tends to be, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. Production tends to be trebly and raw. Most bands adopt a relatively simplistic style, though some of the more mainstream acts (Emperor is a notable example) are more technical. Generally, technicality is frowned upon and soloing is infrequent and hardly ever used. A clearer, more discernible but atonal vocal style is often used, usually in conjunction with a harsher shrieking style. Keyboards are frequently adopted. Usage of folk, neoclassical and, to a lesser extent, ambient elements is frequent.

Unlike genres such as thrash or death metal, black metal has an underlying philosophy behind it, and no definition of black metal is complete without a consideration of its ideology. Lyrically, black metal bands are at the very least violently anti-Christian if not outright Satanists. It must be noted that the idea of Satanism is not cast in stone and ranges from a relatively medieval style of Satan worship through to the more intellectual strains of Anton LaVey's notorious Church of Satan. Some have adopted Asatru, the contemporary revival of the old Norse religion, as their spirituality of choice; and in recent years this has often been accompanied with a strong nationalist outlook. An overriding feature of almost all black metal is the fascination with the past: many black metal bands include anachronisms, such as the use of medieval-sounding melodies and instrumentation, posing in Middle Ages inspired clothing, or harping about a return to the ages long gone. The writings of Tolkien have exerted a great influence on black metal -- more so perhaps then the writings of Anton LaVey -- and this is reflected in the many names adopted from his mythical world (e.g. Gorgoroth, Burzum, Isengard). Although it is unclear as to how many bands have actually read "The Antichrist" by Nietzsche, his views on Christianity have found widespread acceptance.

The astute reader will have noted that I refer largely to tendencies rather than hard and fast rules. This is due to the musical diversity of black metal and the near-impossibility of constructing a definition that would incorporate albums as disparate as _Det Frysende Nordariket_ (Ildjarn), _Panzer Division Marduk_ (Marduk), _La Masquerade Infernale_ (Arcturus) and _With No Human Intervention _ (Aborym). Despite assertions to the contrary, black metal is an incredibly varied genre -- certainly more so than death metal.

The Origins of Black Metal

Although many believe that black metal started in Norway during the late Eighties / early Nineties, its true origin was much earlier. Many accept Venom as the first black metal band, and thus the band's debut album, _Welcome to Hell_, released in 1981, can be considered as the true genesis of black metal. Other notable albums from this period include Celtic Frost's _Morbid Tales_, Bathory's _Bathory_ and _Apocalyptic Raids_ by Hellhammer.

It should be noted that none of these acts were regarded as black metal in the beginning. On the eve of his sophomore effort, Bathory's Quorthon described his music as "heavy metal"; Celtic Frost have, depending on what you read, been described as being both thrash and death metal. Venom is firmly rooted in NWOBHM. Their music was described as being "black metal" well after the most influential black metal albums were released. It is a term which only became widely used with the rise of the second wave.

The second wave was constituted of Norwegian black metal, which started in the late Eighties and reached its peak between 1991 and 1994. Many of the most important albums were released in this period, including Mayhem's _De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas_ and Darkthrone's _A Blaze in the Northern Sky_.

Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal and Mayhem are the most important and influential bands of the period. However, these bands were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the nascent Norwegian black metal scene, and contributions by bands such as Emperor, Thorns, Satyricon and Ulver, amongst many others, cannot pass by unnoticed.

Originally, the aim was to forge a return to what they considered to be the true death metal sound and was a reaction against what they perceived to be the commercialization of death metal. This 'true death metal sound' later became what is now known as black metal. Death metal bands in this period tended to perform in everyday clothes and appeared on stage in tracksuits and sneakers. This was unbearable for the likes of Euronymous, who adopted a more 'shocking' and 'anti-social' image.

The Norwegian acts spurred on the rise of black metal's third wave. The two most significant albums, both of which were instrumental in accelerating its spread and popularity, are Emperor's _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_ and Cradle of Filth's _Dusk... and Her Embrace_.

Emperor was one of the original Norwegian bands, but it was their sophomore full-length that drew widespread interest and attention. _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_ showcased an unprecedented degree of complexity and technicality. It was well received, and placed highly on virtually all "Best of 1997" lists.

Another noteworthy album was Cradle of Filth's seminal _Dusk... and Her Embrace_. Whether Cradle of Filth can be considered as black metal is one of the most highly debated topics, though it has subsided in recent years as Cradle of Filth have veered towards a more obvious commercial sound with each subsequent album. Whatever you may consider Cradle of Filth to be, there is no denying that impact that _DaHE_ has had on the scene, and its influence can be felt in many bands commonly considered to be black metal, such as the (early) works of Hecate Enthroned and Agathodaimon, which at times border on outright plagiarism. Even Ancient, who were part of the nascent Norwegian scene, were clearly influenced by Cradle of Filth on some of their later works.

Alongside Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth were to become one of black metal's crossover bands, gaining fans from the nu-metal / commercial (Pantera, Metallica) metal crowd as well as attention from the goth community.

Black metal was no longer confined to Scandinavia and bands started to emerge across the world, from countries as culturally diverse as Japan (Sigh), USA (Judas Iscariot) and the Czech Republic (Maniac Butcher). Scenes started to become established across the world. Perhaps the most significant scene was the "Legions Noires" or "Black Legions" of France, which gave birth to legendary bands such as the short-lived Vlad Tepes and Belketre. Although the Black Legions collectively only released a handful of ridiculously limited albums, they nevertheless had a huge impact on the development of black metal.

Some black metal bands became more experimental, and bands such as Arcturus, Sigh and later Solefald released albums that can be best described as black metal avant-garde. Bands such as Aborym and ...And Oceans borrowed from dance and EBM.

The third wave was further by its rapid increase in popularity within the underground (and by underground here I mean bands that are not signed to one of the major labels, such as EMI or Virgin) selling more albums than any other underground genre. Labels scrambled to sign black metal bands and a lot of unoriginal nonsense was released, but in the end the imitators and hangers-on either found some new ideas or disappeared. Black metal reached its apex in 1997, after which sales started to decline. Given the rapid increase in bands and its splintering into various scenes and subgenres, it is hard to select the most influential albums of this period. (As mentioned earlier, Emperor's _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_ and Cradle of Filth's _Dusk... and Her Embrace_ are probably the most important albums in terms of influence from this period.)

The Future

The decline did in no way affect the progression of black metal, and only the most naïve would believe that the relative loss of popularity of the genre would mean its demise. All the major labels have several black metal bands on their rosters, and many smaller labels (such as No Colours Records and Drakkar Productions) specialise almost exclusively in black metal.

A lot of would-be Nostradamuses predict that black metal with a strong electronic influence -- think Aborym or latter day Dodheimsgard -- will be the future of black metal. I've read predictions about that in respect to almost any rock and metal subgenre you could care to name -- and they have all been wrong! At best a new sub-genre will be established, but this will in no way supplant the more traditional forms. In addition, the widespread adoption of electronic elements in black metal is made unlikely by a strong and pervasive focus on the ancient past for a futuristic genre such as EBM or industrial to exert a noticeable influence on a significant number of bands. Nor are the above mentioned 'black metal avant-garde' acts such as Arcturus the future of black metal: some bands are simply too idiosyncratic for their basic style to be espoused by others.

The future of black metal is dependent on a fourth wave emerging. Most of the first wave are no longer active, and the Norwegian veterans have either broken up (Immortal, Emperor) or have changed their style to the point where it is debatable whether they can be considered black metal at all (Satyricon, Enslaved). Few notable bands have emerged from Norway since the mid-Nineties; clearly the impetus behind the fourth wave will originate elsewhere. Although various scenes have been established around the world, the one that I believe will be the force behind the impending fourth wave is the Eastern European scene. Already Poland's Graveland and the Ukraine's Nokturnal Mortum are probably the most popular acts amongst the black metal underground, and their names are familiar to many whose tastes are more mainstream.

Musically, there is a tendency towards a greater clarity in production as well as a more epic vibe with these bands, sometimes combined with a folk influence. The overt Satanic tendencies of their Norwegian counterparts have been abrogated in favour of a strong nationalistic slant, usually accompanied by a neo-Pagan spirituality.

However, the rise of Slavic black metal has been accompanied with a rise in National Socialist beliefs, which, although not exclusive to Eastern European bands, does appear to be most prevalent there. This is also a possible inhibiting factor preventing its widespread adoption -- the larger, more commercially orientated labels usually refuse to sign bands that are overtly racist, and the smaller labels simply do not have the funds to promote their bands as strongly as the bigger labels. In addition, some smaller labels such as Voices of Wonder refuse to sign National Socialist black metal (NSBM) bands. Even if they had the funds, many countries have hate speech laws, which inhibits more widespread promotion.

The reasons behind the adoption of National Socialism in black metal form a complex hydra-headed affair which can become the basis of a doctoral thesis, and I cannot possibly consider all of them here. However, it is worth noting that from the earliest days of the Norwegian scene, a strong nationalist creed was present -- and is still present. In addition, the line between racism and nationalism / patriotism is an extremely thin and perilous one: if one is strongly nationalistic, whereby one is proud of belonging to his origins and of belonging to a particular social group, then it is no great leap to start seeing other groups as inferior.

The 10 Most Influential Black Metal Albums

Criteria: The following albums were chosen because of the impact that they have had on successive bands. A fair amount of personal preference has also affected the bands chosen, and in a list this short it is sometimes the only way to make a choice between two bands who are arguably equally important. For example, can it be said that Satyricon are more influential than Thorns or Ulver? I have focused exclusively on the first and second waves of black metal. The reason for this is simple: these are the bands most often cited by current black metal bands as being their biggest influence. Ratings are not given, as I wouldn't mention them unless they were worth 10 out of 10. However, they are of more than historical interest and stand in their own right as classic black metal albums that should be in every fan's collection. If you don't have them, start saving!

Venom - _Black Metal_ (Neat Records, 1982)

Although relatively tame by today's standards, they certainly weren't when they released their debut back in 1981 -- at which time they were one of the first bands to explicitly and unambiguously espouse a Satanic outlook. The genesis of black metal was Venom's seminal debut _Welcome to Hell_. Any one of their first three albums could have been chosen, as they are all classics, but the reason _Black Metal_ was chosen was largely because it has the quintessential Venom song "Countess Bathory" -- as well as being the album that provided a name for the developing genre. Venom's simplistic, raw sounding and sloppily played songs were to be the blueprint from which all others would follow in one way or another. Although they superficially don't sound like most black metal bands, virtually all of the basic audio characteristics are present; the major difference lies in the vocals, which are sung in a clear and decipherable voice, having little in common with the shrieked vocal style of almost all black metal bands. Their Satanic aspect may have been a gimmick, and it may not have been. Either way, it ushered in one of the most potent metal subgenres.

Bathory - _Bathory_ (Black Mark, 1984)

Any of Bathory's first five albums can rightly be considered a classic and have collectively had the biggest impact on the development of black metal -- selecting just one as the most influential is an exercise in futility. The best option was to simply go back to the beginning where it all started: on his short and nasty self-titled debut. Most of the songs struggle to attain the three minute mark, the music is simple and sloppily performed and the lyrics are laughable. At another time and another place, this might have been seen as juvenile and doomed to obscurity. But the sheer uncompromising violence of the music -- which was pretty much unrivalled in 1984 -- meant that this album couldn't simply be dismissed. Like many other black metal classics, the end result was greater than the sum of its parts. Later albums would show considerable growth and progression, but none would replicate the 'take no prisoners' attitude and youthful aggression of _Bathory_.

Celtic Frost - _Morbid Tales_ (Noise, 1984)

It is significant that while Celtic Frost do not fit comfortably into either death, thrash or black metal, each genre has tried to claim Celtic Frost as one of their own. Their debut album was a relatively raw and simplistic affair, unburdened by the avant-garde accoutrements that would be experimented with at a later stage. The abrasive sound was probably due more to lack of funds than design, but would nonetheless serve as a blueprint for future bands. Their signature riffs have been much copied and their influence can be felt almost everywhere, in bands as diverse as Samael and Darkthrone. Their signature song, "Circle of the Tyrants", is probably the most covered song in extreme metal, with everyone from Obituary to Mystic Circle having a go at it. Although they were never one of the more technical bands, their unique and original sound, combined with a desire to experiment, meant that they would be remembered long after their demise.

Immortal - _Pure Holocaust_ (Osmose, 1993)

Immortal got off to an unpromising and noisy start with _Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism_, barely recognisable as an Immortal release in comparison to later efforts. But its successor _Pure Holocaust_ was an entirely different beast: gone were the death metal overtones, replaced with the characteristic cold production that came to be known as the Norse sound. _Pure Holocaust_ sounds less noisy than its predecessor, but infinitely more hateful, with more angry songs. Immortal are one of the more unique black metal bands both in terms of sound and appearance, thanks largely to Abbath's unique croak and grim frostbitten appearance. If it were any other band attempting this image, it would probably be extremely cheesy; but with Immortal it somehow just seems right.

Satyricon - _Dark Medieval Times_ (Moonfog, 1993)

_Dark Medieval Times_ is a noisy affair, drawing on folk music and the Middle Ages for inspiration -- a sharp contrast to the more urbane image Satyr is currently cultivating. The use of folk elements and the 'floating' guitar sound combine to create an incredibly atmospheric album. While the insubstantial sounding guitars may be considered a flaw by some, it provides the album with a unique sound largely unduplicated by the black metal community. Indeed without this sound, _DMT_ would lose a lot of its potent ambience. Along with Ulver, Satyricon were one of the first acts to utilise folk elements and were possibly the first 'trollish' bands. Many bands, such as Wyrd and Nokturnal Mortum, have since then successfully merged folk instrumentation and melodies with black metal.

Burzum - _Hvis Lyset Tar Oss_ (Misanthropy, 1994)

While _Hvis Lyset Tar Oss_ is superficially similar to its predecessors, the stronger song writing as well as the inclusion of the amazing "Det Som Engang Var" meant that this album stands out (albeit only slightly) from his other work. This album features all the Burzum trademarks, namely droning guitars and minimalist drumming, all accompanied by Vikernes' unique wail. _HLTO_ also features the obligatory ambient track, "Tomhet", which showcases Burzum's skill in creating ethereal ambient music, present throughout and an integral part of his black metal period, although sadly much ignored.

Darkthrone – _Transylvanian Hunger_ (Peaceville, 1994)

Fenriz and company took the basic black metal outline that they had helped pioneer on the amazing _A Blaze in the Northern Sky_ and stripped it of any and all frills, resulting in a sparse, hateful album. The thin production later became known as the "necro’" sound. The raspy croak that passes for vox and the stripped down guitars are the very embodiment of black metal simplicity, while the practically non-existent production resulted in the bass being totally inaudible and the drums dissolving into an undifferentiated sludge. These are far from being negatives, as _Transylvanian Hunger_ embodied the very spirit of black metal and formed the seed from which it was to grow. Much imitated, but never equalled, _TH_ stands above almost all others.

Enslaved - _Vikingligr Veldi_ (Voices of Wonder, 1994)

Unlike most of their peers, Enslaved eschewed Satanism in favour of a neo-Pagan world view, focusing heavily on Norway's Viking heritage. Many bands would advocate similar ideas, but Enslaved were probably the first to do so (barring Bathory's Viking era material). _Vikingligr Veldi_ is a delightfully lengthy and repetitive affair, utilising the same cold Norse production as Immortal's _Pure Holocaust_. But instead of playing furious black metal, a greater emphasis is placed on creating atmosphere, inducing an almost trance-like state in the listener. Like all other albums mentioned here it is a unique album, yet it feels necessary to draw attention to this fact here, as it tends to be in the shadow of most of the other bands / albums mentioned in this section.

Emperor - _In the Nightside Eclipse_ (Candlelight, 1994)

One could not imagine a more suitable name for the creative entity centred around the duo of Samoth and Ihsahn, as at the time of their premature demise they were the undisputed lords of black metal. Although it was _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_ that brought them widespread acclaim, _In the Nightside Eclipse_ ensured that they already could be considered as one of black metal elite. Emperor fortunately dropped the fuzzy guitar sound of the _Emperor_ EP in favour of a more focused and infinitely more intense sound. Although the lyrics are inferior to those on _AttWaD_, they were nonetheless already superior to those produced by the vast majority of their contemporaries. While they were not the first black metal act to use keyboards, they were probably the first to adopt a more majestic and -- pun unintended -- imperial sound, and helped pave the way for the more melodic and symphonic black metal acts.

Mayhem - _De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas_ (Deathlike Silence Productions / Century Black, 1994)

This album was the result of a mixture of chance, luck, skill and talent. Dead's suicide resulted in the recruitment of Attila (Tormentor) for session vocals, whose unique, weird vocals provided the perfect backdrop to Euronymous' furious riffs. While Euronymous' guitar style was widely influential, Attila's unorthodox vocals didn't exactly set the scene ablaze. The bass (performed by Varg Vikernes or Hellhammer, depending on which story you choose to believe) is unusually prominent and sounds particularly ominous on tracks such as "Pagan Fears" and "Life Eternal". The drumming is impeccable, provided by black metal's best drummer, Hellhammer. All of these factors combined to form one of the definitive black metal albums, one which remains a classic ten years after its first release. This album also proved to be the albatross around Mayhem's collective necks, as while it was massive progression from their primitive death metal roots, such was the import of this album that all of their subsequent work was doomed to be in its shadow, irrespective of the quality.

Concluding Thoughts

It will be interesting to see what the next few years will bring to black metal. As I mentioned earlier, I strongly believe the impetus behind black metal's fourth wave will be in Eastern Europe. This may be somewhat muted, as the National Socialist tendencies will act as a dampener on more widespread adoption. Nonetheless, Slavic black metal will come to dominate black metal in years to come. Scenes in France and Germany, as well as in many other countries, will obviously continue to develop and coalesce; however, eyes will be trained further east.

This will not result in the disappearance of any black metal subgenre -- there will be a place under the sun (moon?) for the raw shameless Bathory copycats as well as the more futuristic acts.

Source: www.chroniclesofchaos.com

http://www.chroniclesofchaos.com/Articles/rants/6-668_black_metal_a_brief_guide.aspx

TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL

In deepest Scandinavia, Keith Kahn-Harris discovers social democratic Satanism

– by Keith Kahn-Harris, Tuesday, 8th July 2008

Of the many postwar subcultures, black metal is one of the most extraordinary. Arising in the late ‘80s as a reaction to the bloated success of mainstream heavy metal, the black metal underground sought to create a music and culture that were unambiguously satanic, transgressive and violent.

Although black metal has always been a global phenomenon, its birthplace was Norway – beautiful, peaceful, wealthy Norway with its generous welfare state, superb education system and excellent quality of life. In the early ‘90s the country was rocked by an outbreak of black-metal-inspired violence. A number of Norway’s unique wooden churches were burned down by black metallers – an unprecedented attack on the country’s cultural and religious heritage – some of whom were imprisoned. That wasn’t the end of it. One black metal musician, Count Grisnacht aka Varg Vikernes of the one-man band Burzum, was convicted of the murder of Euronymous aka Øystein Aarseth of the band Mayhem in 1993. Another musician, Bård “Faust” Eithun, was convicted of the murder of a homosexual stranger in 1992. More recently Gaahl, vocalist of Gorgoroth, was imprisoned for assaulting and torturing a man in 2002.

At the centre of black metal ideology lies virulent opposition to religion, particularly Christianity, embodied in the slogan “Support the war against Christianity”. This opposition stems not from a humanistic reaction to religious oppression but from a characterisation of religion as a form of weakness, a deviation from humanity’s lustful, animalistic self. The Satanism associated with black metal is rarely theistic, resembling instead an extreme form of anarchism in which compassion and community are eschewed in favour of individualism and elitism. Satanism on occasion crosses over into social Darwinism and fascism – in interviews before and after his trial, Vikernes espoused National Socialist beliefs. This tendency is compounded by the “volkisch” celebrations of pre-modern, pre-Christian national origins (such as the Vikings) often found in black metal.

Although one can find black metal scenes all over the world, Norway remains its spiritual homeland, the place where it is most developed and most notorious. Black metal as it developed in the ‘80s and ‘90s represented a rejection of everything contemporary Norway was about. In place of a stable, orderly, social democratic society, black metallers advocated a chaotic, individualistic free-for-all. The Norway celebrated in black metal is a land of forests, inclement weather and untamed wilderness, the land of the Vikings.

At the same time, the delicious irony of the Norwegian black metal scene is that it is in part reliant on Norway’s wealth and its welfare provision. The benefit system makes it easy for musicians to concentrate on making music. The well-funded education system makes musical training and rehearsal space easily accessible. The liberal criminal justice system allowed Faust, a convicted murderer, to be released after only nine years in jail and for Vikernes to record two albums while imprisoned. The Norwegian black metal scene is, as the sociologist Asbjørn Dyrendal has dubbed it, “Social Democratic Satanism”.

This often bizarre world is nicely captured in Peter Beste’s collection of photographs of Norwegian black metal scene members. Over 13 visits to the country, this American photographer immersed himself in the scene and his hard-won familiarity with the leading black metal personalities has produced some fascinating portraits.

Many of Beste’s subjects stare at the camera directly, with an uncompromising coldness. Look at the captions to the photos and they reveal pseudonyms such as Nattefrost, Samoth and King Ov Hell. The desire to create an inhuman impression is compounded by the frequent use of “corpse paint”, a kind of face painting similar to that used by Gene Simmons of Kiss, but less clown-like.

Some might find such material frightening and perplexing, others may find it mythic and powerful, still others would see it as ludicrous. It is to Beste’s credit that he avoids all these temptations in favour of developing a body of images that lay bare the ambiguities of the Norwegian black metal scene.

The most extreme images in the book are subtly qualified and questioned. Pictures of Nattefrost drunk and covered in his own shit are taken in his bathtub, as if to emphasise that his transgression is contained within the most mundane of objects. There is bathos here, but also vulnerability. The same is true of the many pictures taken of black metallers in the Norwegian countryside: in the woods, on mountains and in the snow, many of the subjects are made to appear small and insignificant (or quite simply cold). The contradictions inherent in black metal’s simultaneous celebration of untamed nature and untamed humanity are revealed in the insignificance of the black metaller next to the potency of nature.

My favourite pictures here are the ones of Kvitrafn and of King Ov Hell in full corpse paint taken in the old town of Bergen. In both pictures stunned, bourgeois-looking passers-by regard the black metallers with a mixture of puzzlement and horror. Shocking polite society is of course a classic feature of spectacular subculture. But Beste also shows that his subjects are more integrated into Norwegian society than might at first be apparent. There are pictures of black metallers with their children, in their apartments, on housing estates, on the street. There is no world but this one and black metal scene members live in it too, sometimes looking out of place, sometimes looking entirely comfortable.

What this collection cannot capture is the music – undeniably harsh, characterised by fast tempos, screams and trebly guitars, but also innovative and somehow unearthly. There is an austere, bleak beauty in the work of Burzum, Emperor, Gorgoroth and other black metal acts. If Norwegian black metallers themselves are caught between a desire for transgression and violence and the inescapability of living in Norway, black metal music is perhaps more transcendent, less inextricably tied into the circumstances of its production.

True Norwegian Black Metal is published by Vice Books

SOURCE: http://rationalist.org.uk

MAYHEM - A History of One of Metal's Most Radical Acts

Like a dark breath of forbidden fantasy, black metal came into a world of orderly containers and sprayed them with foaming blood, black bile, and most of all a poisonous uncertainty about the safely egalitarian but boring lifestyle of the first world. In this genre, Mayhem were the band that by sheer persistence evolved into being one of the founders of the new black metal style, but only after years of thrashing in the dark and confusion of the fatalistic tendencies that eventually brought the band to artistic collapse.

Formed in the early 1980s by Oystein Aarseth, or Euronymous, the band released two demos which built upon what Bathory and Celtic Frost had achieved by making it more minimal, less coherent, and less friendly to the ears; in truth, the first anti-social music. The latter of these, "Pure Fucking Armageddon," had attributes of extreme crustcore infused into its fractured heavy metal stylings, bringing criticism from a metal world which was then just beginning to accept Morbid Angel, Kreator, Destruction and others as a new form of "music."

As time went on, two important things happened: first, Mayhem released "Deathcrush," their first release and the best snapshot of the musical style they were attempting to produce, and second, the vocalist "Dead" [Per Yngwe Ohlin] from the Swedish band Morbid joined Mayhem to replace previous vocalist Maniac. The underground was slow at first to embrace the newer music, but soon there was a firm niche carved out for Mayhem: those who rejected the desire for logicality, in the modernist style, that death metal represented. As Euronymous said, "Black Metal is so extreme that not anyone can get into it. This isn't any funny hobby which stupid kids shall have after they comes home from school."

With the introduction of Dead, the conceptual impetus behind the band changed, and soon the blocky and deliberately awkward music of "Deathcrush" was metamorphosizing into a sleeker, melodic variant with more dynamic change in the songs, producing different "settings" to tell a tale, somewhat like a micro-opera in harsh guitars and howling vocals. Similarly, the appearance of the band went from t-shirts and jeans to black clothing, black boots and facepaint - corpsepaint - in black and white. In concert, Dead cut himself onstage, surrounded by the carcasses and heads of slaughtered animals. A full rejection of the positivity, pity and focus on individual lives of democratic humanism, the new appearance and music of Mayhem emphasized the bold, terrifying, morally ambiguous and deathlike in life itself. To understand it, one had to realize that the passion given to the music was an affirmation of life, but a different form of life, than that endorsed by the nominally Christian Nordic countries.

With this change, the following of Mayhem increased, especially as their recognizably different image placed them ahead of other musical efforts in the world of metal as less socialized and thus more extreme. Mayhem played a series of concerts across Europe, but recording and songwriting were sporadic, thus little material emerged from this period. At the end of it, Dead, in a moment of nihilism and darkness in 1991, slashed both his wrists and blew out his brains with a shotgun, leaving only a note: "Please excuse all the blood." Euronymous, upon returning to the band's shared dwellingspace to discover the cold corpse, took pieces of the brain and integrated them in a stew of ham and vegetables for the pleasure of eating human flesh; the band's drummer, Hellhammer, took pieces of the shattered skullcap and made them into a necklace. As if a primitive ritual, the members of Mayhem paid their respects in death as in life: with coldness, feral opportunism, and a denial of any "sanctity" or "feelings" toward life, even that of a friend and collaborator. As Euronymous said later, about his form of "evil," "It is basically hate to humankind. I have no friends, just the guys I'm allied with. If my girlfriend dies I won't cry, I will missuse the corpse."

During this time, Euronymous and his band were instrumental in the forming of a new black metal social group, or "scene," centered around his record store in Oslo called Helvete [Hell]; the downstairs was a necrotic and bleak excuse for a commercial establishment in which the hatred and disassociation from commercial process was as much a barrier to purchase as anything else, but the upstairs was a practice room where Nazi flags and weapons hung over instruments decorated with inverted crosses. During the daytime, the store was a gathering place for musicians and fans of an anti-social nature; at night, Euronymous indoctrinated those who might be useful to the scene by inviting them to wild parties in which orgiastic appetites for alcohol fueled self-mutilation and eventually, rampant church and graveyard desecration [in Europe and many older American towns, the graveyard surrounds the church - a strangely forthright admission of the role of religion in society!]. Euronymous also started the first record label of the modern black metal movement, Deathlike Silence Productions. While these events stood against everything that Norwegian society of the time valued, authorities were permissive and did not "connect the dots" until far later.

It was at this time that many of extremist views, such as the skinhead-turned-rocker Kristian Vikernes - also performing in Burzum, joined the circle - and joined Mayhem on bass. Vikernes was an interesting counterpoint to those in the association so far; he was a hater of life but, like Dead, had an uncanny passion for life through art, and seemed to value his time in nature, away from people and their imaginary rules. His intent could be summarized in his most clarion statement, "I see Burzum as a dream without holds in reality. It is to stimulate the fantasy of mortals, to make them dream" - a replacement of morality with the über-Romanticist ethos of adventure and heroic classicism. Between the Gothic neoclassicism of Dead and the postmodern Romanticism of Vikernes, black metal became more than a style of music, but an ideological and social tool for change away from a highly regimented, moralistic society. Vikernes again: "We want to create the most possible fear, chaos and agony so that the idiotic and friendly Christian society can break down. We are overall not interested in that the truth comes through. When we spread lies we cause confusion and confusion leads to chaos and at last breakdown. People shall be oppressed and we support everything that oppresses man and takes from him his feelings as free individuals."

It was part of this denial of the supremacy of the lives of individuals over ideas, emotions and even real-world activities that helped what happened next to occur. Two polar opposites existed in black metal, the fatalism and negativity of Euronymous versus the political and violent doctrine of Vikernes, and these were brought into conflict through the personalities. Vikernes claims Euronymous delayed the release of Burzum albums [on Deathlike Silence] by spending the money instead on degenerate pursuits; Euronymous presumably did not care and was more interested in the upcoming Mayhem release, which was moving slowly because of the personality conflicts in the band. Eventually, reality followed imaginary projections: on the night of August 10, 1993, Euronymous was stabbed to death by Vikernes; of 26 knife wounds, 2 were to the head, five to the neck and 19 to the back. Thus began the projection of Mayhem into legend, since it provided black metal in the modern sense with not only its first model of technique and imagery, but also its first martyrs. Dead was eulogized in a 1992 release, "Live in Leipzig," which recorded an excessively bloody and violent Mayhem concert in East Germany. Teaming up with Attila Csihar of Tormentor, the remaining members of Mayhem put out "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas," one of the most impassioned black metal albums released, yet one with its feet firmly grounded in old-school Venom/Bathory heavy metal styles. Their nihilism was so great they left Vikernes' bass tracks on the album next to the guitar work of the man he killed, claiming in the press to have removed them so not to attract unwelcome attention from his family.

While the lives of its members had mostly run their course, and its most epic work had been produced, at least in conceptual form, before these deaths, afterwards the social and political importance of Mayhem was fully recognized. First, it gave many a central point with which to identify the new movement, and generated a wave of publicity especially in unison with the news of 22 churches burned in Norway, mostly by black metal "Satanists." Even more importantly, Euronymous himself became a central figure, and his ideas [and those of Dead and Vikernes, who heavily influenced him] became dissected and discussed across the globe. Not only was this influential in the fanbase, but labels and bands worldwide began to see the importance of the new black metal movement: unlike anything from popular music since the 1960s, this was shocking; the people in black metal lived on the edge and fought to the death, something metal bands had always sung about but never acted out, much to the derision of punkers and other underground fans. The image of Helvete - the church of the anti-life - became predominant in the minds of many when conceptualizing new forms of social expression to the anti-oversocialization impetus that black metal and heavy metal share. In the years following the death of Euronymous, the focus he brought to the scene brought it to a dramatic rise and sudden death, as in late 1997 the genre became swamped with commercial bands in the mainstream style.

Mayhem itself continued on in the form of two major works, "Wolf's Lair Abyss" in 1997 and "A Grand Declaration of War" in 2000, interspersed with numerous live albums and re-releases. where "De Mysteriis..." continues to be their most popular work, "Wolf's Lair Abyss" is regarded by many as a highly proficient black metal album in the style of Satyricon mixed with old Mayhem, producing something with the same rhythmic thrust as "De Mysteriis" but with less of the operatic lack of total consistency in songs. "A Grand Declaration of War" is more problematic, taking a divergence into math-metal and pseudo-progressive stylings, which creates an album which sounds more like soundtrack than foreground listening, with Marilyn Manson influences in both songwriting and image. Because of this, and other factors such as the vast commercialization of black metal during the last six years, Mayhem is effectively dead in the underground and a small player with a devoted fanbase in the mainstream metal scene at this time. However, for every person who gets into black metal, the chorus of voices suggesting "De Mysteriis..." has an effect, for people continue to buy it at a great rate and praise it as immortal metal music and unmatched spirit in a genre filled mostly with angry people of little imagination.

Regardless of the current tedium of record sales and popularity contests, Mayhem contributed an indelible influence on not only metal, but music of resistance to socialization as a whole. Their ideology - part blank-faced fatalism, part fascism and part feral atavism - was carried upwards by the voices of many who were similarly frustrated with the pity-oriented egalitarian society of the first world, which preached that avoiding death was more important than achieving heroic or passionate things. Against this belief system black metal, and Mayhem most visibly, agitated. "True satanists are superhumans," stated Euronymous in a now-infamous interview. A few years later, Vikernes gave a clearer view: "Strife is evolution, peace is degeneration." This did not sit well with not only Christians and Jews, but also many people who had become dependent upon society and its pity toward those who are less-able as a whole, thus raising a cry against black metal as music of "hate" or "intolerance." While those would clearly like to file black metal into a wholly political category, the raw artistry and imagination of bands like Mayhem make that appear a one-dimensional look at the story. As Ihsahn from fellow Nordic rockers Emperor said, "You'll never understand me because you sit in the audience at a horror movie. I'm up on the screen." There is no place in the current society for bands like Mayhem; they are beyond its rules and mental conditioning, and always will be. And for this, wherever anguish at social predominance grinds, there will be new fans of the fundamental works of Mayhem, which not only outlive their creators but will forever be a mythos larger than life itself.

Source: http://www.anus.com/metal/about/metal/mayhem/

TOWARDS THE SEPULCHRAL CITY: THE URBANISATION OF BLACK METAL

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Black Metal is a genre traditionally associated with the dark woods and fjords of the Norse peninsula. But, argues Brad Sanders, a new breed of groups are looking to urban grit for inspiration.

– Brad Sanders , July 4th, 2011

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The first two waves of black metal – that is, Bathory, followed by the full gamut of the early 90s Norwegian scene – in many ways informed everything that has been produced in the genre since. Some would argue none have done anything profoundly new with black metal after the release of Under the Sign of the Black Mark, or at the latest, Filosofem. Even the undoubtedly crucial Les Légiones Noires movement centered in Brittany in the mid-90s is rarely credited with being a radical departure from the framework built by Quorthon.

What makes the Norwegian Second Wave so interesting is that every crucial band in it begat some distinct (and now overcrowded) sub-subgenre. Mayhem gave us the classic black metal blueprint; Burzum made it more atmospheric; Immortal made it rock harder; Darkthrone made it rawer; Enslaved added folk and paganism to the mix; Emperor made it symphonic. It isn't difficult to name a black metal band and break down, as a chemist would, their precise composition, split into percentages among those six endlessly influential bands. But for all the marked differences between those acts, they all oriented their music in similarly rural places. Despite using technologies made possible by the rise of industrialization to create and record their music – Burzum's Varg Vikernes, arguably the most primordially-obsessed member of the movement, even dabbled heavily in electronics – each band stood resolutely upon Mountains of Might or in Forests Unknown, too nervous to venture musically into the cities where most of them, in fact, actually lived.

Fast forward to 2001, where a mysterious Birmingham duo called Anaal Nathrakh has just released a debut LP entitled The Codex Necro. The album's sound is unmistakably black metal, but there are a lot of other things going on, things that are completely alien to the genre. There's blastbeats, but they're all programmed. The vocals are often distorted, but they don't sound anything like the fuzzed-out effects that Varg and the like put on their screaming. The guitars and bass buzz with life, almost boasting, unashamed of the amount of electronics that make them sound the way that they do. The production is gloriously lo-fi, burying everything and letting the important bits rise to the top of the grime – this in contrast to the lo-fi production of Darkthrone and Burzum that made their records sound like they were recorded from miles away. There's even samples, for God's sake, including one from 1997 cult sci-fi flick Event Horizon. The song titles, too, defy black metal convention; 'The Technogoat' seems to imply both 21st century progress and the more traditional black metal trope of primeval Satanism, and 'Human, All Too Fucking Human' channels Nietzsche while subtly nodding to the man-versus-machine tendencies of the band's sound.

There was no question that The Codex Necro was a landmark album, but it was uncertain at the time just how important it would become. Now, with a decade of hindsight, it feels safe to say without reservation that it's the most important black metal album since Filosofem. In 46 minutes of sonic irreverence, Anaal Nathrakh's Dave Hunt and Mick Kenney had successfully urbanized black metal. The floodgates weren't opened immediately for this new city-slicker sound, but a slow and steady stream began to emerge once bands realized that you could express the same misanthropy from a skyscraper that you could from a fjord. The resultant movement has been perhaps the first significant, widespread black metal offshoot since the subgenres spawned by the Second Wave.

Just as Anaal Nathrakh's industrial-informed fusion of black metal and grindcore so vividly evokes the ironworks and foundries of their native Birmingham, most of the bands who have taken up the urban black metal mantle orient themselves not merely in the city but in their city. The key bands propelling this movement forward hail from all over the world, and their respective sounds share as many points of tangency as they do complete departures from one another.

For all intents and purposes, there are seven bands (including one that has unfortunately broken up) who are shaping urban black metal in a significant way today; each with their own sound, each wholly suggestive of the city from which they hail, and each doing something to ensure that this once-fledgling movement – accidentally created, as so many of the best are – will survive past its 2001 inception and 2008 explosion. They are Black Anvil (New York, pop. 8,175,133), Lightning Swords of Death (Los Angeles, pop. 3,792,621), Nachtmystium (Chicago, pop. 2,695,598), Coffinworm (Indianapolis, pop. 829,718), Amesoeurs (Avignon, pop. 94,787), Heretoir (Augsburg, pop. 263,646), and Lantlôs (Rheda, pop. 46,988).

BLACK ANVIL

Perhaps the most logically urban band in this microgenre, Black Anvil arose from the ashes of recently defunct NYHC stalwarts Kill Your Idols with an ace 2008 debut LP entitled Time Insults the Mind and an equally furious follow-up in last year's Triumvirate. Not only is New York far and away the biggest city to play host to a major urban black metal band, the three members' backgrounds in hardcore serve to ground them in gritty reality – a stark contrast, of course, from those black metal bands whose version of reality involves Baphomet and/or Gandalf. The invocations uttered by Black Anvil are those of shit-talking New Yorkers, not Satan-hailing, corpse-painted specimens, and while the difference in intention is profound, the result tends to be comparably harrowing.

LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH

The least explicitly metropolitan band on this list is likely LA's Lightning Swords of Death. One gets the idea that they had no intentions of joining the urban black metal movement but their upbringing was so entrenched in city life that the influences couldn't help but seep out in the final mix. As such, the band's lyrics don't stray far from the vaguely philosophical nihilism and hellish imagery of more standard black metal fare. Where they deviate is in their sound, which is informed by the same sensibilities that set Anaal Nathrakh apart from the field back in 2001. The music is composed in a relatively straightforward manner, but it's in the execution and the production that the sounds of sidewalk steam and the excesses and emptiness of Hollywood can be heard – nay, can be felt.

NACHTMYSTIUM

The most fashionable and thus the most controversial band among these acts is Nachtmystium. Led by the polarizing and iconoclastic Blake Judd, the Chicago crew has moved from an early history (contemporary to the early history of Anaal Nathrakh, in fact) that saw them playing a traditional, raw brand of black metal and moving ever since into an increasingly weird niche, most recently characterized by a pair of psychedelic ruminations on Pink Floyd and drug addiction. What their stylistic shift has done, apart from alienate old fans and bring in new ones to replace them, has oriented them more firmly in the city of Chicago. Songs like 'High on Hate' and 'Addicts' conjure up arresting images of junkies sitting in dark alleyways shooting up heroin. Black metal was always repugnant, but latter-day Nachtmystium has given its ugliness a completely different face.

COFFINWORM

One shortcut to urbanizing black metal is to fuse it with another metal subgenre more traditionally associated with the city. With debut LP When All Became None, Coffinworm grabbed up all the claustrophobic, humidity-laden elements of EyeHateGod and Crowbar's New Orleans sludge, threw them in a blender with raw Darkthrone intensity, and put the revolting result in an Indianapolis office building for 40 hours a week, recording the mayhem (and Mayhem) that ensued. When frontman Dave Berkowitz bellows on lead track 'Blood Born Doom' that “from the cubicle to the casket, life is a mere lottery of loss," it becomes immediately evident which urban issues (think Falling Down, or better yet, American Psycho) Coffinworm is interested in addressing, and the abrasive music follows the lyrics at every turn. The Profound Lore act is also one of the most exciting live black metal bands now performing, an unpretentious, seething ball of energy, threatening to do anything at any time, leaving their devoted following both impressed and terrified in their wake.

AMESOEURS

The most prolific (and arguably the most interesting) figure in black metal today is Stéphane Pout, better known by his wintry pseudonym Neige. As a part of Forgotten Woods, Mortifera, Alcest, Peste Noire, and Phest, Neige has created some of the strangest as well as some of the most idyllic black metal in existence, but his work with Amesoeurs and Lantlôs has also put him at the forefront of the European urban black metal movement. Amesoeurs put out an EP called Ruines Humaines, a split with Valfunde, and a self-titled full-length before calling it quits in 2009, but those albums were an essential blueprint for their little corner of the genre. Despite hailing from relatively small Avignon in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, one of the most aurally intense experiences of my life was playing through the Amesoeurs LP at the base of the Eiffel Tower, drinking in all the post-punk, shoegaze, and industrial music that they attach to the backbone of their pastoral black metal sound. Though separated by 700 kilometers, it somehow doesn't feel inaccurate to label Amesoeurs as Paris metal. The hallmarks are all there.

HERETOIR

Like so many German cities, Augsburg carries with it a checkered history. The Bavarian municipality has been strategically crucial since its 15 BC founding by Drusus and Tiberius and eventually became a stronghold for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe (as well as the location of a Dachau subcamp) during World War II. This history doesn't escape one-man urban black metal band Heretoir, whose self-titled debut came out earlier this year on Northern Silence Productions. Each strangled rasp and Burzum-like drumbeat from mainman Eklatanz contains the anguish of a shameful legacy and the onomatopoeic clash and bang of the US Air Force and RAF bombing raids that eventually led to Augsburg's occupation by American forces throughout the Cold War. Eklatanz doesn't shy away from the history that made Augsburg what it is, managing instead to use black metal to reflect the horror of what has happened there across the centuries as only a local could.

LANTLÔS

The strangest band of all on this list is Lantlôs, an urban black metal act hailing from the small German town of Rheda. Black metal is fused with one of the most urban genres of all – pure American jazz of the Miles Davis variety, despite multi-instrumentalist Herbst's protestations that none is present in the band's sound – to create a sound that is at once highly evocative of the city but wholly irrelevant to the city the band actually calls home. Take 'Pulse/Surreal', the highlight of 2010's excellent .neon album: Over a loose, jazzy bassline, Neige croons in a longing voice, “These are the streets I call my home," a sentiment that is followed by a shimmering, entrancing black metal riff and a hauntingly screamed verse, which seamlessly bleeds into more jazz, which seamlessly bleeds into tremolo picking and blastbeats, which seamlessly bleeds into industrial manhole-cover sounds, et cetera. Without even hailing from a big city, hardly any band understands the relationship between the desolation of urban centers and that of the great wilderness and beyond better than Lantlôs.

SOURCE: http://thequietus.com

BURZUM - Ambient Black Metal

In a search for what black metal would become it became necessary to find out what it meant, and that leads us to a category of black metal bands who are "the conceptualizers," most notably, Burzum, Darkthrone and Immortal. However, it is only Burzum who exceeded the epic with the majestic in terrifyingly abstract and emotional music.

Created to "stimulate the fantasy of mortals," the music of Burzum is vengeance of chaos against the propagation of administrative and technological models for human existence, ideas which demand allegiance to rules and "morality," or the wisdom of mercy and social compromise as seen by Judeo-Christian technocratic society. Thrusting his fist in the face of that evident death-worship, Grishnack enfolds the rejected darkness in the lucidity of structure in the most forebodingly empty and threatening views of the world.

Total nihilism reduces its belief in inherent nothing to nothingness and from that builds to absolutist ideologies which avoid the emptines discovered; Burzum carries this passion in music and lyrics as well as artistic conception and presentation. The includes the darkly organic Pagan neo-Nazi post-Nietzschean philosophies which Varg spouts in fragments to a barely credible and barely listening press. He envisions his ideology and music as a continuation of Nazi Germany in the 1940s as a pagan revolution against Jewish and Christian (Judeo-Christian, including Islam) influence, notably "morality," against which not only Nietzsche but other influential thinkers have railed (Burroughs, Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein, Pound, Shaw).

While unorthodox to the tastes of the public, these political beliefs must be understood for the complex ideological system they express at the approach of the demise of a materialist civilization. In postmodernist thought, we learned that our society operates with a justified "text" of ostensible motivation, and a submlimated "subtext" of desires and natural passions. As society continues to crumble toward moralism in the midst of self-destruction, newer thinkers look away from Judeo-Christianity and Liberalism toward older modes of thought which valued the place of all of humanity in nature before the "moral worth" of the individual.

For more information on the Judeo-Christian basis to materialist civilization in the twentieth century, read Friedrich Nietzsche's "Genealogy of Morals," sections 7-10 (describes the virus of Judaism and Christianity as a cult of psychological dependency and need, resulting in sublimated sado-masochistic power-obedience behavior) or Vaclav Havel's "Power of the Powerless." Also, to understand Vikernes, it is useful to study Northern European culture in its origins from Asia to India, and its history as an independent and noble community that used naturalistic values for the basis of its social structure, in dramatic opposition to the materialist culture to come with the rise of Jewish and Christian immigrants to Europe.

Long before the first Christian appeared in a misty fjord, the Norwegian people had a socialist approach to family, an open and fearless society, a hierarchy of metaphorically symbolic gods, and a world-exploring culture. Their trading partners were mutually considered equals, and their women had more freedom than in any other society on earth. Their values reflected the least of Nietzschean "clever" or "lower" materialist values and the highest of materialist-transcendent "noble" or "warrior" values. During the occupation, Northern Europeans have modified capitalism/socialism and Christianity to their most benevolent forms ever while maintaining one of the nicest places to live in the world with the least hypocritical and vengeful moralistic influence of the civilized nations. European society has suffered its 1,000 years of Christianity and as pro-Judeo-Christian influences in politics and media build in America and the island England, desire for separatism and neutrality is on the rise.

As a result, Burzum stays controversial: not answered, not rebutted, not forgotten and not even carried on. This work is simply enduring as both music and ideological impact of emotion and action. http://www.burzum.org/

Source: http://www.anus.com/metal/burzum.html

A HISTORY OF BLACK METAL

Black Metal History

A brief history of a complex genre

August 6, 2005

The genre that came seemingly last of all the metal genres was the one that considered its ideals the most seriously and consequently, produced a radically distinctive form of music. While black metal was somewhat of the cousin of speed and death metal during its early days, during the 1990s it bloomed into full musical form after developing a philosophy more coherent with its dark aesthetic than the hedonism and liberalism of the past. In a consequent blaze of controversy, the black metal genre streaked across the public perspective briefly before proliferating into a variety of styles and mainstream versions of its sound, forcing older variants out as a flood of similar bands absorbed the genre.

THE EARLY YEARS

Black metal existed first as a singular concept in aesthetics, and later began to proliferate musically, only differentiating itself from death metal in the theoretical arena when its philosophical divergence became clear to the Norwegians in the early 1990s. A comparison from history can be found in the invention of the telephone; while Alexander Graham Bell invented the phone itself, the complex switching systems necessary to connect multiple parties within a city awaited later inventors. Similarly, the aesthetics [appearance and stylistic refinements of music] of black metal were created long before it really existed as a genre, influencing a period of long lull in the 1980s.

There is confusion as to who "invented" black metal, but it is clear that like death metal, its origins came from the same general area and were spread across creators worldwide contributing to the process. While Venom were the first band to grab headlines with their sensationally stripped down riffing and overtly occultist yet ludicrous image, it was Bathory, Sodom and Celtic Frost who gave the genre its enduring form. Where Venom was limited musically to deconstructed heavy metal, these bands took the neoclassical phrasing and minor key melodies of NWOBHM bands like Angel Witch, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and matched them up with the droning three-note roar of early crustcore as exemplified by Discharge. As both bands depended on diminished melodies in power chord riffing it was a seamless match.

During this formative era of black metal, several general styles emerged. First was Bathory with a smoothly flowing, fast-tremolo picked flow of sound over consistent throbbing drums; next was Sodom, making three-chord primitivism which moved at high speed with unsteady and abrupt changes of riff, tempo and texture; also included were Hellhammer, who specialized in droning minimalist music that often resembled hardcore punk played in minor keys, and Celtic Frost, the continuation of that band into grandiloquent constructions resembling the musical staging of operatic scenes; finally, there was Venom, who continued to produce their heavy metal/punk hybrid which delighted in using the simplest possible musical devices to convey the broadest changes available.

From this time onward, the genre slept while innovations were made in the death metal camp, with a few notable exceptions soon to be covered. The same year that Bathory unleashed its first opus brought about a small but intense wave of hardcore/metal hybrids front by Slayer but including within the next two years formative works from Sepultura, Possessed and Morbid Angel. While the basic approach of death metal was to create intricate arrangements using extended phrasing in an architectural style, its essential approach involved rhythm and chromatic progressions which did not admit much obvious melody. The tightly-woven, complex and interlocked riffing used by early death metal bands produced a sense of deconstruction and immersion but gave little new direction. As the genre wound up for its grand entrace, black metal again split from the pack in the 1987-1988 era with Sarcofago and Mayhem, and was then silent for another four years while death metal raged.

Sarcofago presented something offensive, abrupt and even ludicrous to people of the time who were schooled in the riff salad style of death metal, with stilted and broken sounding rhythm changes matching akward, nearly imbecilic riffs which fit together into songs with an uncanny, barely discernible continuity. While the majority of the formative work of Sarcofago, "I.N.R.I.," was abrasively disassociative rhythm riffing, the album held itself together with some admirably sonorous yet barely logical melodies, seemingly as if formulated on a whim by demons of a distracted but perversely insightful mentality. Ignored at the time by most, Sarcofago in part generated the impetus toward the bizarre and primitive that spurred the next generation of black metal into action.

Simultaneous to the release of "I.N.R.I." was the fourth release from Sweden's Bathory, "Blood, Fire, Death," in which the rippingly fast and simple works of earlier albums had been turned into theatrical yet emotive quasi-operatic pieces in which rasping vocals and singing coincided and song structures staged dramatic encounters of their parts more than repeating cyclic patterns. Across the water in Norway, Mayhem were putting the finishing touches on a massively incompetent but enigmatic work known as "Deathcrush," in which tortuous guitar patterns arced over drumming with the grace of an exhausted pack animal, and horrific howling vocals textured the mix. The following year, Merciless assembled "The Awakening," a fast speed metal album with touches of death but an undeniably morbid melodic sensation. Together these releases defined what would go into the mix of the genre coming next: the aggression and grandeur of Bathory, the abrupt and convoluted structures of Sarcofago, the rough aesthetic of Mayhem and the dramatic staging of Celtic Frost, who had just unleashed their discontiguous but impressive masterpiece "Into the Pandemonium."

THE MODERN ERA

Again some years went by in which death metal was the primary focus of the community and fans. Where mainstream metal had vanished under the dual onslaught of grunge and the progressive selling out of speed and heavy metal bands like Metallica and Testament, the underground shot to the forefront of the minds of those who expected metal, and consequently, became the area where development in metal occurred while the more popular bands did their best to reiterate their essential sound and presence as a means of not losing ground. As death metal became more accepted, however, it became slowly infested with the same mentality that clogged mainstream metal: an underconfident, socially dependent, accepting and undiscriminating mentality which placed excellent bands next to derivative, unimaginative acts without thinking twice.

Born of the desire to surpass this mess, the modern era of black metal began in Norway with the first releases from Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor, Burzum and Mayhem. Each differed from the death metal before it in an emphasis on melodic composition and intricate, classically-inspired song structures which functioned as motifs, returning to not verses or choruses but clusters of riffs and musical ideas which framed their concepts in a setting, not unlike the work of an opera or ancient Greek tragedy. This new form of metal was more vivid and emotionally evocative than the thunderous assault of death metal, and also less concerned with the immediate social values around it; it embraced independent thinking, a dislike for all social dogmas and humanism, a Romanticist love of nature and predation, and a penchant for fantasy and thoughts of ancient times.

The reaction of the death metal boy's club was unanimous: "fags!" However, the new style rapidly gained ground and soon a second generation of the modern era, including bands like Ancient, Gorgoroth, Graveland, Behemoth, Abigor and Gehenna among others landed in the crowd. Many of these bands were inspired as were original black metal pioneers Darkthrone by the melodic tremolo picking of Swedish death metal bands from the previous generation, which caused the pace to be picked up as the aggression, but the fundamental differences remained. From the reaction to the first wave of black metal, and a desire to get "purer" and farther away from the possible infestation of death metal bands, black metal bands starting with Darkthrone on "Ablaze in the Northern Sky" began to use a fuzzed-out, lo-fi sound and primal song structures similar to those of Hellhammer, early Bathory, and Venom.

While this initially drove away the more sycophantic fans, it was a failing strategy for the same reasons it failed in the production of hardcore music: it made the genre extremely easy to emulate. As demonstrated by bands such as Dark Funeral, it was easy to transition from death metal and make primitive and fast melodic black metal songs which sold in the underground, and soon there were more ex-death metal, ex-crustcore and ex-rock personnel surging into the scene. By the time of the middle 1990s, bands such as The Abyss and Marduk had joined the party, creating in their process templates which any bands could use to emulate the style - and did.

In a few short years the genre had gone from a handful of bands making distinctive music to a horde of bands making indistinguishable music identified only by novelty factors of instrumentation, voice and concept. Nothing was any longer being achieved in the central group of black metal bands, so most of the "old guard" of Norwegian bands backed out and allowed their music to dissipate, as indicated by Darkthrone claiming their "Total Death" album would be final one from the band. As the hordes of scenesters and clone rock artists gathered, bands such as Graveland, Summoning and Ildjarn began experimenting in ambient forms of the original style, writing longer melodies and integrating semi-symphonic instrumentation in digital form in some cases and making rawer, less rock-like music in the case of Ildjarn.

THE DRAMA

Much has been said about the dramatic entry of the Norwegian scene in the early 1990s. Articles ranting about the terror the "Inner Circle" and "Black Circle" would bring to Christian society overstated the case, and so by the year 2000 most fans were tired of hearing the same stories of the genesis of the scene. These will be mentioned here only for the purpose of conveying the ideology of black metal, and its effect upon society at large that in turn reflected the response of civilization to black metal and some of the factors that contributed to its demise.

In the beginning, there were a handful of black metal bands in Norway loosely unified around some ideals and a few meeting places, including the shop Euronymous from Mayhem ran called Helvete [Hell]. There is some debate over whether or not there was a formal "Black Circle" as initially was claimed by American and British publications, but clearly the members of these bands communicated and met within the 4.5 million person country. Strange things began happening in Norway: churches burned, a homosexual man was slit open, miscellaneous assaults and grave desecrations occurred, and then to cap it off, Euronymous was stabbed one night in his apartment. Furthermore, implications of fascism and/or Nazi beliefs were pointed at many members of the underground, most of whom quickly denied them.

First, the vocalist Dead of Mayhem committed suicide with a large knife and shotgun, leaving a note "Excuse all the blood." Some time later, Varg Vikernes of Burzum was arrested for burning churches and murdering Euronymous; at the time of this writing, he is still serving his term [when arrested, Vikernes was near famished from lack of money to buy food, yet had 150kg of explosive in his basement for use in destruction of churches]. Over 20 other black metal musicians and fans were arrested for burning churches; a total of 77 burned in Scandinavia during that time, although not all have been definitively linked to "Satanists." Several other musicians did time for killings, assaults, desecrations or unrelated arsons, including Jon Notveidt in Sweden who served 8 years for being accessory to a killing, and Hendrik Moebus in Germany, who served several years as accessory to a murder before being arrested for making a Roman salute while on parole. While the carnage was not widespread, the effect was; Europe saw a wakeup call to some Pagan values and anti-Judeo-Christian sentiment, and America saw a chance at rebellion and consequently, marketing.

Further, the community of black metal had a chance to demonstrate its values. While most members of the scene when pressed denied they had been involved in fascist or Nazi politics, they were indifferent to the roles of others in such things. Equally noncommittal were many around Euronymous after his murder; Hellhammer, the drummer of Euronymous' band Mayhem, shrugged and said, "One of them had to die," when queried about the feud between Vikernes and Euronymous. Most bands interviewed spoke positively of nature, negatively of Christianity, and displayed disdain for social behavior that placed the lives of individuals above that of a collective movement. This made many uneasy, especially in tolerant, peaceful and normally quite uneventful Scandinavia.

THE AFTERMATH

When the mainstream bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and Marduk that attracted hundreds of thousands to black metal are confronted with the ideology of the founders of modern black metal, they quickly shake their heads and walk away. "Not for us, thanks." In addition, their music is fundamentally different from that of the underground bands; where the originators of this style used diatonic and chromatic riffs and melodic modes, most of the "aboveground" black metal uses pentatonic scaling and much of the same riffs and rhythms of metal bands from the 1970s. Thus is exemplified a split in the genre: the bands who are doing what metal bands always have, and the bands who are moving away from traditional metal toward a more neoclassical, less rock-n-roll, more intricate musical form.

This split extends to every area of the black metal scene at the time of this writing. On one side, let's call it the "left," there are bands who embrace the current era and its variant aesthetics, including the mainstream genres outside of metal; a good example here would be Ulver or Sigh, both of who create postmodern metal from fragments and samples of other genres arranged into pieces delineated by key or rhythm. On the right would be the classicists, the old-schoolers who either only support black metal in the established tradition or who embrace a "purity" of both musical rawness and ideological allusion to the Greco-Roman, Viking or fascist values. For all intents and purposes this split is permanent, with the sides diverging into assimilation on the left and obscurity on the right, yet somehow they keep attracting audience, albeit a degraded one.

Some would say that there was a mystique about black metal that took a long time to die; it didn't break in 1996, when The Abyss made an album so textbook Norwegian black metal that it provided a template for other bands to follow, and it didn't even break in 1998 when all but a handful of the original bands had moved on to making more contented music. The year after however appears to have brought the death of black metal in a form emerging from within, similar to the story of Baldr's death that conceptualizes a later Burzum album: betrayal from within. When the first of the more mainstream bands emerged, the underground took a clue from Darkthrone and it became de rigeur for the non-commercial bands to slap out albums with monochrome art and blindingly distorted, low-technicality music. As before however, this made it easy for further emulation to occur, diluting a genre with exactly what it opposed, and turning it from a movement where concept, music and action were joined into another form of entertainment for couchbound teenagers.

BLACK METAL BELIEF SYSTEMS

Conventional wisdom in the Judeo-Christian west holds that nature is lawless, dangerous and pointless; to give life meaning, there must be a moral goal, such as civilization itself: the conquering of natural frontiers and environments, taming of natural impulses in humans, and reduction of the law of the fittest - an equalization, as F.W. Nietzsche and later others pointed out. Nietzsche saw this equalization as a form of "revenge" on nature by depriving nature of what makes it threatening to the individual human, namely the potential imminent death - a form of judgment - for being less than capable in a situation calling for endurance and survival.

Sixty years after Nietzsche's most influential period of work, explosions on the Polish border awakened the globe to the second world war. In this war, a conflict between the most fundamental division of ideology was established: collectivism versus individualism, with the latter favoring the kind of product-oriented, technologically-based, container-logical lifestyles currently seen in the first world nations. It was those insular and self-pleasing ways of living that first irked black metallers, and demonstrated to them a social devolution: there was no longer any competence needed, only obliviousness. Many black metallers, like Nietzsche, found greater inspiration in nature than in post-Judeo-Christian western society, and identified what Christians find horrible - the bloody, competitive, anti-individualist character of nature - to be an example of the most sublime beauty.

The ideological inclination of black metal remains disturbing to most and illegal in many countries. Yet it is not unique to black metal; as history shifted in the 1960s from a predominantly conservative society to a liberal society, thanks to the counterculture, and its effects were only felt with the children growing up in the 1980s, their response mirrors that of some who rejected the flower powery view of the politics and society. Among the thinkers and dissidents now coming back into favor are ecological fascists like Pentti Linkola and Theodore Kaczynski, as well as various stripes of nationalist and racial separatist leaders. [The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish self-defense organization, claims that National Socialist and Neo-Nazi movements are increasing "worldwide."] It's hard to see what the future holds but this controversy remains in the forefront of not only black metal, but international politics, as shown by the amount of air time it is given by the entertainment industry, news media and American/U.N. politicians.

Interestingly, black metal joins not only the far right, but the far left, in many of its sentiments. As the world anti-globalist and anti-capitalist movement picks up speed, it echoes many of the ideals of black metal: natural ecosystems; ethnic uniqueness; population control; an end to technology-driven, product-oriented, convenience-based lifestyles. Protestors across the world in anti-war and anti-globalism protests would be shocked to know they have something in common with a group of bloodthirsty church-burning fascists who idealize the occult, but perhaps would be glad at least for a sympathetic ear. Interestingly also, the "modern primitives" movement as seen in events like the Burning Man festival and the survivalist trend around the time of Y2K align themselves in the same general direction these ideals seem to be taking, but the final synthesis has not yet been heard.

SUBDIVISIONS

After the initiation of modern black metal in the Scandinavian style, a fragmentation occurred along the general lines of techniques used to unify song composition, creating a number of subdivisions in the black metal subgenre [genre = metal, subgenre = black]. The following are general descriptions of these substyles and what they implied for changes in black metal as a whole.

ROCK

The heavy metal style of black metal, descended directly from Venom and NWOBHM bands like Angel Witch who inspired them, is essentially rock music with some neoclassical influences in the loosest sense. Pentatonic, verse chorus music that stays within basic harmony, heavy metal/rock-styled black metal is recognizable for its radio friendly ways, redundant harmonic constructions and verse/chorus arrangements. Good examples include Venom of course, Dimmu Borgir albums after Stormblast, Cradle of Filth and Dissection.

RAW

Descended from Hellhammer and some early Bathory, this is mostly rhythm music which like hardcore punk is fashioned from the harmonic space of a basic interval between two anchoring notes, often a fifth. While this style is easy to do, it is difficult to do well, as the number of bands emulating Hellhammer and falling far short of what Hellhammer produced have found.

EPIC

Symphonic styles and epic song structures often seem to go together, as seen in bands like Summoning, Graveland, Heidenreich and early Emperor. Where most bands indulge some complexity, these bands aspire to a demi-operatic state of unifying concept with staging, projecting a theatrical view of the action described in a song through the pure sound and arrangement of riffs. These bands are often the closest to classical music in types of melody and depth of layering, but it is important to note that epic is mainly a description of the complexity and arrangement of a band, not its techniques, so there is complete overlap with other styles mentioned here.

TRANCE

Music designed to utilize the undulating nature of the sweep picking of a guitar as suspended between unchanging percussion of a basic nature, this style is inspired by generations of metal with ambient experimentation, including Slayer, Von, Massacra, and Bathory. The most notorious band working in this group is Burzum, but other bands such as Nargaroth, I Shalt Become, Ildjarn and Darkthrone have created great works in this area.

MELODIC

The oldest style of modern black metal, the melodic compositional approach was first utilized by Norwegian bands looking for a way to make simple power chord music more than thudding rhythm and chromatic patterns. Immortal's "Pure Holocaust" is the best example of this, with highspeed tremolo picking whipping distorted noise into a flood of searing yet beautiful sound, but there are also examples to be found in Behemoth, Darkthrone, Mayhem and Sacramentum.

SOURCE: http://www.anus.com