Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast
tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure.
During the 1980s, several thrash metal bands formed a prototype for black
metal. This so-called "first wave" included bands such as Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost.[1] A "second wave" arose in the
early 1990s, spearheaded by Norwegian bands such as Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal and Emperor. The music of the early
Norwegian black metal scene became a distinct genre.
Black metal has often been
met with hostility from mainstream culture, mainly due to the misanthropic and anti-Christian
standpoint of many artists. Moreover, several of the genre's pioneers have been
linked with church burnings and murder. For these reasons and others, black metal is usually
seen as an underground form
of music. Additionally some have been linked to neo-Nazism, however most black metal fans and most
prominent black metal musicians reject Nazi ideology and oppose its influence
on the black metal subculture.[2][3][4][5]
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[edit] Characteristics
[edit] Instrumentation
Black metal guitarists
usually favor high-pitched guitar tones and heavy distortion.[6] The guitar is usually played with much
use of fast, un-muted tremolo picking.[6][7][8] Guitarists often use dissonance—along
with specific scales, intervals and chord progressions—to yield foreboding and
fear-inducing sounds. The tritone or flat-fifth is often used, for example. Guitar solos and low guitar tunings are rare in black metal.[8]
The bass guitar is seldom used to play stand-alone
melodies. It is not uncommon for the bass guitar to be minimal or difficult to
hear,[8] or to homophonically follow the bass lines of the
guitar. Typically, drumming is fast and uses double-bass
and/or blast beats.
Black metal songs often stray
from conventional
song structure and often lack clear verse-chorus sections. Instead,
many black metal songs contain lengthy and repetitive instrumental sections.
[edit]
Vocals and lyrics
Traditional or
"purist" black metal bands usually use high-pitched and raspy vocals
which include shrieking, screaming and snarling.[6][8] This vocal style was influenced by Quorthon of Bathory,[9] and is one of the traits that
distinguishes traditional black metal vocals from those of death metal, which usually uses low-pitched growls.
Black metal was originally
used as a term for extreme metal bands with Satanic lyrics; today, the most
common and founding lyrical theme is opposition to
Christianity[8] and other organized religions. As part
of this, many artists write lyrics that could be seen to promote atheism, antitheism, paganism or Satanism.[10] The hostility of many secular or pagan
artists is in some way linked to the Christianization of their countries. Other
oft-explored themes are depression, nihilism, misanthropy,[10] death
and other dark topics. However, over time, many artists have begun to focus
more on topics like the seasons (particularly winter), nature, mythology, folklore, philosophy and fantasy. For more information about black metal
lyrics, see the ideology section below.
[edit] Production
Low-cost production quality
was typical for early black metal artists with low budgets, where recordings
would often take place in the homes or basements of artists.[6] However, even when they were able to
raise their production quality, many artists chose to keep making low fidelity (lo-fi) recordings.[8][10] The reason for this was to stay true to
the genre's underground roots and to make the music sound more "raw"
and "cold".[10] One of the better-known examples of
this is the album Transilvanian Hunger
by Darkthrone – a band that has been said to
"represent the DIY aspect of black
metal" by Johnathan Selzer of Terrorizer
magazine.[10] Many have claimed that, originally,
black metal was not meant to attract a big audience.[10] Vocalist Gaahl
said that during its early years, "black metal was never meant to reach an
audience, it was purely for our own satisfaction".[7]
[edit]
Imagery and performances
A common black metal trait is the use of corpse paint.
Unlike artists of other
genres, many black metal artists do not perform concerts.[citation needed]
Bands that choose to perform concerts often make use of stage props and
theatrics. Mayhem and Gorgoroth among other bands are noted for their
controversial shows; which have featured impaled animal heads, mock crucifixions, medieval weaponry,
and band members doused in animal blood.[11]
Black metal artists often
appear dressed in black with combat boots, bullet
belts, spiked wristbands,[10] and inverted crosses/pentagrams to reinforce their anti-Christian or
anti-religious stance.[1] However, the most stand-out trait is
their use of corpse paint – black
and white makeup (sometimes mixed with real or fake blood), which is used to
create a corpse-like appearance.
In the early 1990s, most
pioneering black metal artists used simple black-and-white pictures or writing on their
record covers.[4] This could have been meant as a reaction
against death metal bands, who at that time had begun to use brightly-colored
album artwork.[4] Most underground black metal artists
have continued this style. In the main, black metal album covers are usually
atmospheric or provocative; some feature natural or fantasy landscapes (for
example Burzum's Filosofem and Emperor's In the Nightside
Eclipse) while others are violent, perverted, sacrilegious and
iconoclastic (for example Marduk's Fuck Me Jesus and Dimmu Borgir’s In Sorte Diaboli).
[edit] First
wave
The first wave of black metal
refers to those bands during the 1980s who influenced the black metal sound and
formed a prototype for the genre. They were often speed metal or thrash metal bands.[1][12]
Venom's album, titled Black Metal,
inspired the name of the genre.
The term black metal
was coined by the English band Venom with their second album Black Metal
(1982). Although deemed thrash metal rather than black metal by today's
standards,[10] the album's lyrics and imagery focused
more on anti-Christian and Satanic themes than any before it. Their music was
fast, unpolished in production and with raspy or grunted vocals. Venom's
members also adopted pseudonyms, a practice that
would become widespread among black metal musicians.
Mercyful Fate from Denmark was very influential
when it showcased the Satanic imagery with its epic songwriting and progressive
musicianship with the EP Mercyful Fate
and classic albums Melissa
and Don't Break the Oath.
Vocalist King Diamond (real name
Kim Bendix Petersen) used make up on-stage, one of the inspirations for the
second-wave to wear corpse paint.
Another major influence on
black metal was the Swedish band Bathory, led by Thomas Forsberg (under the
pseudonym Quorthon). Not only was Bathory's music dark,
fast, heavily distorted, lo-fi and with anti-Christian lyrics and imagery,
Quorthon was also the first to use the "shrieked" vocals that came to
define black metal.[9] The band played in this style on their
first four albums: Bathory (1984), The Return
of Darkness and Evil (1985), Under the Sign
of the Black Mark (1987) and Blood Fire Death (1988). With Blood Fire
Death and the two following albums Hammerheart and Twilight of the
Gods, Bathory pioneered the style that would become known as Viking metal.
Other artists usually
considered part of this movement include Hellhammer and Celtic Frost (from Switzerland), Kreator, Sodom and Destruction (from
Germany),[13] Bulldozer and Death SS (from Italy),[14] whose vocalist Steve Sylvester was a
member of the Ordo Templi Orientis.[15]
[edit]
End of the first wave
By the time Bathory's Under
the Sign of the Black Mark was released, the album was considered a death
metal record.[16] In the fifth issue of his Slayer
fanzine, Metalion
wrote that "the latest fad of Black/Satanic bands seems to be over",[17] the tradition being continued by a few
bands like Incubus[17] and Morbid Angel[17] (from the United States), Sabbat (from Great Britain),[17] Tormentor (from Hungary) and Sarcófago (from Brazil).
In the years before the
Norwegian black metal scene arose, important recordings were released by Root and Master's Hammer (from Czechoslovakia), Von (from the United States), Blasphemy (from Canada), Rotting Christ (from Greece) and Samael (from Switzerland).
In Northern European
countries, bands began to refer to these bands or the older ones from the first
wave. In Sweden this included Marduk, Dissection, Nifelheim and Abruptum. In Finland, there emerged a scene that mixed the
black metal style with elements of death metal and grindcore; this included Beherit, Archgoat and Impaled Nazarene. Bands such as Demoncy and Profanatica emerged during this time in the United States. During this time, American and
Swedish death metal were more popular among extreme metal fans.
[edit] Second
wave
Main article: Early
Norwegian black metal scene
The second wave of black
metal began in the early 1990s and was spearheaded by the Norwegian black metal
scene. During 1990–1994 a number of Norwegian artists began performing and
releasing a new kind of black metal music; this included Mayhem, Thorns, Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, Satyricon, Enslaved, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Gorgoroth, Ulver
and Carpathian Forest.
They developed the style of their 1980s forebears as a distinct genre that was
separate from thrash metal. This was partly thanks to a new kind of guitar
playing developed by Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch of Stigma
Diabolicum/Thorns and Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth
of Mayhem.[4][7] Fenriz of Darkthrone has credited them with this innovation in
a number of interviews. He described it as being "derived from
Bathory"[18] and noted that "those kinds of
riffs became the new order for a lot of bands in the '90s".[19] As seen below, some members of these
Norwegian bands would be responsible for a spate of crimes and controversy,
including church burnings and murder. Within this scene, an aggressive
anti-Christian mindset became a must for any artists to be finalized as
"black metal". Ihsahn of Emperor believes that
this trend may have developed simply from "an opposition to society, a
confrontation to all the normal stuff".[20] Visually, the dark themes of their
music was complemented with corpsepaint, which became
a way for many black metal artists to distinguish themselves from other metal
bands of the era.[10]
Black metal scenes also
emerged on the European mainland during the early 1990s, inspired by the
Norwegian scene or the older bands. In Poland, a scene was spearheaded by Graveland and Behemoth. In France, a close-knit group of musicians known as Les Légions Noires
emerged; this included artists such as Mütiilation, Vlad Tepes,
Belketre and Torgeist. Bands such as Black Funeral, Grand Belial's Key
and Judas Iscariot
emerged during this time in the United States.
In the beginning of the
second wave, the different scenes developed their own styles; as Alan "A.A. Nemtheanga" Averill states,
"you had the Greek sound and the Finnish sound and the Norwegian sound and
there was German bands and Swiss bands and that kind of thing".[4] By the mid 1990s, the style of the
Norwegian scene was being adopted by bands worldwide. Newer black metal bands
also began raising their production quality and introducing additional
instruments such as synthesizers and even
full-symphony orchestras. By the late 1990s, the underground
considered many Norwegian bands, like Emperor,[21][22] Immortal,[21][22] Dimmu Borgir,[21] Ancient[21][22] Covenant/The Kovenant,[21] and Satyricon,[22] to have chummed up with the mainstream
media and "big bastard labels"[21] and commercialised.[21][22]
[edit]
Helvete and Deathlike Silence
The basement of Helvete
During May–June 1991,[23] Euronymous of Mayhem opened an
independent record shop named Helvete (Norwegian for 'hell')
in Oslo. Musicians from Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor and
Thorns often met there, and it became the foremost outlet for black metal
records.[24] In its basement, Euronymous founded an independent record
label named Deathlike Silence
Productions. With the rising popularity of his band and others like
it, the underground success of Euronymous's label is often credited for
encouraging other record labels, that previously shunned black metal acts, to
then reconsider and release their material.
[edit] Dead's
suicide
On 8 April 1991, Mayhem
vocalist Per Yngve 'Dead'
Ohlin committed suicide while alone in a house
shared by the band.[25][26] While fellow musicians often described
Dead as odd and introverted off-stage, his on-stage persona was very different.
He went to great lengths to make himself look like a corpse and would cut his
arms while singing.[7][27]
He was found with slit wrists
and a shotgun wound to the head, by Mayhem guitarist Øystein 'Euronymous' Aarseth. Dead’s suicide note apologized for firing the weapon
indoors and ended: "Excuse all the blood".[26] Before calling the police, Euronymous
allegedly went to a nearby shop and bought a disposable camera with which he
photographed the body, after re-arranging some items.[28] One of these photographs was later used
as the cover of a bootleg live album called Dawn of the Black
Hearts.[29]
In time, rumors spread that
Euronymous had made a stew with bits of Dead’s brain and had made necklaces with bits of his skull.[10][25] The band later denied the former rumor,
but confirmed that the latter was true.[27] Moreover, Euronymous claimed to have
given these necklaces to musicians he deemed worthy.[1] Mayhem bassist Jørn 'Necrobutcher' Stubberud noted that “people
became more aware of the [black metal] scene after Dead had shot himself ... I
think it was Dead's suicide that really changed the scene”.[30]
Two other members of the
early Norwegian scene would later commit suicide: Erik 'Grim' Brødreskift
(of Immortal, Borknagar, Gorgoroth) in 1999[31][32][33] and Espen 'Storm' Andersen (of Strid)
in 2001.[34]
[edit] Church
burnings
The Fantoft stave church.
Musicians and fans of the
Norwegian black metal scene took part in over 50 arsons of Christian churches in Norway from 1992 to 1996.[24] Some of the buildings were hundreds of
years old and seen as important historical landmarks. One of the first and most
notable was Norway's Fantoft stave church,
which police believed was burnt by Varg Vikernes of the one-man band Burzum.[24] The cover of Burzum's EP Aske (Norwegian for 'ashes') is a photograph
of the Fantoft stave church after the arson. In May 1994 he was found guilty
for the burnings of Holmenkollen Chapel, Skjold Church and Åsane Church.[18][35] To coincide with the release of
Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom
Sathanas, Vikernes and Euronymous had also allegedly plotted to
blow up Nidaros Cathedral,
which appears on the album cover. Euronymous's murder in August 1993 (see
below) put an end to this plan and stalled the album's release.[25] The musicians Samoth,[36] Faust[37] (both of Emperor) and Jørn Inge Tunsberg
(of Hades Almighty)[24] were also convicted for church arsons.
Today, opinions on the church
burnings differ within the black metal community. Guitarist Infernus and former vocalist Gaahl
of the band Gorgoroth have praised the church burnings in interviews, with the
latter saying "there should have been more of them, and there will be more
of them".[1] However, Necrobutcher and Kjetil Manheim of Mayhem have condemned the church
burnings, with the latter claiming "It was just people trying to gain
acceptance within a strict group [the black metal scene] ... they wanted some
sort of approval and status".[25]
[edit]
Euronymous's murder
On 10 August 1993, Varg Vikernes of Burzum murdered Mayhem guitarist Øystein 'Euronymous' Aarseth. That night, Vikernes
and Snorre 'Blackthorn' Ruch (of Thorns) traveled from Bergen to Euronymous's apartment in Oslo.
Vikernes fatally stabbed Euronymous. His body was found outside the apartment
with 23 cut wounds – two to the head, five to the neck, and 16 to the back.[38]
It has been speculated that
the murder was the result of a power struggle, a financial dispute over Burzum
records, or an attempt at "out doing" a stabbing in Lillehammer the
year before by another black metal musician, Bård 'Faust' Eithun.[39] Vikernes claims that Aarseth had
plotted to torture him to death and videotape the event –
using a meeting about an unsigned contract as a pretext.[40] On the night of the murder, Vikernes
claims he intended to hand Euronymous the signed contract and "tell him to
fuck off", but that Euronymous attacked him first.[40] Vikernes also said that most of
Euronymous's cut wounds were caused by broken glass he had fallen on during the
struggle.[40] This version is doubted by Faust and
other members of the scene.[41]
Whatever the circumstances,
Vikernes was arrested within days and in May 1994 was sentenced to 21 years in
prison (Norway's maximum penalty) for the murder and for four church arsons.
Vikernes smiled when his verdict was read and the picture was widely reprinted
in the news media.[40] That month saw the release of Mayhem's
album De Mysteriis Dom
Sathanas, which has Euronymous on electric guitar and Vikernes on bass guitar.[7] Before the release, Euronymous's family
had asked Mayhem's drummer, Hellhammer, to remove the bass tracks recorded by
Vikernes. Hellhammer said "I thought it was appropriate that the murderer
and victim were on the same record. I put word out that I was re-recording the
bass parts, but I never did".[7] In 2003, Vikernes failed to return to Tønsberg prison after being given a short leave.
He was re-arrested shortly after while driving a stolen car with various
weapons.[42] Vikernes was released on parole in 2009.[43][44]
[edit]
Conflict between scenes
There was said to have been a
strong rivalry between Norwegian black metal and Swedish death metal
scenes. Fenriz and Tchort have noted that Norwegian black metal musicians had
become "fed up with the whole death metal scene"[4] and that "death metal was very
uncool in Oslo" at the time.[25] A number of times, Euronymous sent death threats to some of the more mainstream death
metal groups in Europe.[25] Allegedly, a group of Norwegian black
metal fans even plotted to kidnap and murder certain Swedish death metal
musicians.[25]
There was a brief feud
between Norwegian and Finnish scenes during 1992 and 1993.[45] The feud was partly motivated by
seemingly harmless pranks; for example Nuclear Holocausto of the Finnish band Beherit made prank calls in the middle of the night to Samoth of Emperor (in Norway) and Mika Luttinen of Impaled Nazarene (in Finland).
The calls consisted of senseless babbling and playing of children's songs,[45] although Luttinen believed them to be
death threats from Norwegian bands.[45]
Notably, the album cover of
Impaled Nazarene's Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz has "No orders from
Norway accepted" and “Kuolema Norjan kusipäille!” (‘Death to the
arseholes of Norway!’) printed on the back. The Finnish band Black Crucifixion
criticized Darkthrone as "trendies" due to
Darkthrone originally being a death metal band
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