Black metal
The black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal, which emerged in the mid-1980s. It is characterized by its letters with satanic overtones. It was born as a musical expression of the anti-Christian movements that proliferate around the European continent, whose greatest impulse was through the burning of numerous Christian churches. The great representatives of this controversial subgenre are generally from the Nordic countries.
Features
Traditional Black Metal has well-defined musical characteristics: the voice, is scratchy and high-pitched, known as shriek ("screech", in English), the guitars are fast and the riffs are repetitive, whose usual technique is tremolo picking, and blast beats are the most used resource on drums, and the bass, for its part, is an instrument which fades into the background and is virtually inaudible. In this genre, the creation of atmospheres in the compositions is prioritized over their technical complexity. For this reason, the low quality of production and post-production is an important element that the first bands used and is still in force, because, according to Varg Vikernes: ''A production too clean, it would fail to convey the feeling of coldness and desolation essential to Black Metal''
Satanism, whether symbolic or as an authentic dogma of faith, is conceptually used by Black Metal bands as a banner of protest and non-conformity against Christianity, which has oppressed the pagan and polytheistic roots of Scandinavia. Being a dark subgenre, the feelings that it explores range from hatred, pessimism, melancholy and misanthropy mainly. Likewise, Black Metal has the particularity of being the side of Metal that more easily combines and adapts external styles without losing its distinctive sound; incorporating flutes, saxophones, harps, violins, keyboards, even ethnic/folk instruments, and also electronic instruments, which causes these combinations and evolutions to give rise to different subgenres of it.
The theme of the Black Metal lyrics is broad; we can find bands that talk about environmental destruction (Wolves in the Throne Room), occultism and mysticism (Nightbringer), the apocalypse (1349), the work of J.R.R Tolkien (Summoning), medieval France (Peste Noire) the exaltation of nature (Immortal), the solitude of the cosmos (Midnight Odyssey), Hinduism and Vedic rituals (Cult of Fire), the human psyche (Akhlys), mental illness (Woods of Infinity), negativity (Hypothermia), Egyptian mythology (Anubi), orthodox satanism and theology (Novae Militiae) to others that tell stories, where violence and war are the main foundations (Marduk). There are two controversial currents within the genre, the first of which is Unblack Metal: which is the typical sound of traditional Black Metal, with the extenuation of using Christian lyrics; and it is rejected by lovers of the genre, arguing that it is a contradiction, since it is inconceivable that a musical current that was born as a protest against Christianity would glorify it with its lyrics. And the second current is National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM), which is also traditional Black Metal, with fascist lyrics and related to racial separatism. It's not mainstream, but it's not non-existent either, and it's an uncomfortable topic that many overlook.
It should be noted that the members of many groups use pseudonyms made from cabalistic or mythological names, so it is not possible to know their true names or their identities. Some choose not to make the lyrics of their songs public, and playing live is not contemplated in their musical project; this is, in part, because one-man bands are relatively common in this music scene, but other bands follow the philosophy of the Dutch band Stalaggh; that in an interview, when asked about playing live, they replied: ''We are never going to play live. At concerts people socialize, and we are not going to support it''
Birth, origin and influences
The beginning of black metal is commonly identified with the appearance on the scene of the Norwegian black metal movement throughout the 1990s. It was during this period that the development of black metal metal became patent; however, the origin of the genre must be placed a little earlier, and in various places. Background as Angel Witch and the theme of her & # 34; Baphomet & # 34;. See: Angel Witch (album).
It was the British Venom who, with their 1979 demo, paved the way for the wave of black metal that was to come. Welcome to Hell, a 1981 album, was a well produced but poorly recorded record with an aggressive and explicitly satanic attitude. Fans were divided in their opinions regarding this group, who with their second album, from 1982, entitled Black Metal, gave the genre its name and was a great influence on the creation of black metal, both by lyrics or aesthetics among other factors, although it is not an entirely black metal album, since it presents a sound completely typical of the NWOBHM, but in the dirtiest and most aggressive of their versions, which greatly influenced thrash metal, a genre that laid the foundations for the black metal that appeared in the late eighties and early nineties.
In 1977 the Italian band Death SS was founded, thanks to their theatrical performances on stage, which had satanist and horror themes, plus their aesthetics, which included the use of one of the first remnants of the later corpse paint, helped together with the Danish band Mercyful Fate to the development of the staging so characteristic of the musical genre. This band debuted in 1982 with a four-song EP called Nuns Have No Fun (“The Nuns Have No Fun”) and it would begin to have an impact in 1983, with the release of their first full-length album. duration, Melissa. Musically, Mercyful Fate were never considered as black metal, but rather as a traditional heavy metal band, but due to theme, origin, and above all aesthetics, their mention is not can be bypassed.
Also noteworthy are the thrash metal bands Destruction and Sodom, both from Germany, whose early work in the mid/early eighties developed musical elements of notable influence on the development and evolution of black metal. Destruction, a German thrash metal band formed in 1982, released their first EP Sentence of Death in 1984 with a satanic theme that set a precedent for the next generation of bands of the years ninety and beginning of the 21st century.
Another of his great contributions to black metal was the 1986 LP Eternal Devastation, whose song "Curse the Gods" has been considered one of the pillars of old school black metal, being even included by Fenriz (drummer of the Norwegian group Darkthrone), in the compilation Fenriz presents: The Best Of Old School Black Metal in 2004.
On the part of Sodom, a German thrash metal band formed in 1981, they recorded In the Sign of Evil in 1984 which, despite being clearly more oriented towards thrash metal, showed a satanic theme that would influence the development of black metal. This same sound is also found on their first album Obsessed by Cruelty.
Around the globe, more specifically in South America, there were bands like Sarcófago, Parabellum, Sepultura and Reencarnación, who are speculated to have been cited as a source of inspiration by the late Euronymous, of the band Mayhem. The Italians Bulldozer, the Canadians Blasphemy, the Japanese Sabbat and, above all, the American group VON, contributed with their musical styles between thrash, death and black; and its satanic lyrics, the necessary elements for the growth of the nascent genre. Other bands like Witchfynde from England sometimes use this genre.
The Swiss group Hellhammer was also a notable influence, releasing the demo Satanic Rites in 1983 and their EP, Apocalyptic Raids, in 1984, which have become releases cult. Hellhammer disbanded and two of its members formed Celtic Frost whose Morbid Tales and To Mega Therion are considered foundational records of black metal.
Swede Ace Börje Forsberg, alias Quorthon, was recording Bathory, the first LP by the eponymous group Bathory, in October 1984, months after the band had recorded their first album, including two songs on the Scandinavian Metal Attack. The album was recorded with fairly rudimentary systems and with a low budget, giving the sound a very low quality, which contributed to increasing the darkness of a work, which added to the new stylistic elements that the band introduced, served to take another step towards sound. current black metal. Bathory could therefore also be considered as one of the bands that began to develop the foundations that Venom, Death SS and Mercyful Fate established. Bathory would later release two other albums, The Return in 1985 and Under the Sign of the Black Mark in 1987, works with a higher quality than the first album, where the evolution of the group and their introspection within black metal and their fundamental contribution at the same time they begin to become apparent.
After this first wave of black metal bands, the genre and ideology were settling in the European underground, while with the incorporation of faster and more intense drums and guitars, the sound would progressively intensify. In northern Europe, the Norwegians Mayhem stood out with their demo Pure Fucking Armageddon from 1986, parents of the Scandinavian wave of the 90s or second wave of black metal and in the south the Greek Rotting Christ who, after their 1988 demos Decline's Return and Leprosy Of Death, produced with hardly any resources, shine for their great quality, variety, disparity and experimentation of his later works.
Development
During the 1990s the genre reached its maximum splendor in the Scandinavian region, its cradle, especially in Norway, where a movement known as True Norwegian Black Metal appeared. >Norwegian black metal) famous for the important musical, thematic and aesthetic significance within the genre of the bands that were included in it, especially the bands that were part of what is known as the Inner Circle. So-called "authentic Norwegian black metal", it is characterized musically by strange, cold, desolate, gloomy and sometimes epic melodies, all of which make it a very atmospheric sound. As for the lyrics, they usually talk about hate, darkness, satanism, paganism, misanthropy and Scandinavian mythology, among other topics.
However, this musical scene also reached great importance due to various cases in which it sponsored, promoted or was involved in events of criminal significance, such as the burning of religious sites in the early 1990s (some 52 churches burned throughout the state, they accounted for Norwegian police services, including the stave churches of Fortun and the Stavkirke, artistic monuments from the 12th century in Norway) and for other violent cases, whether suicides, such as that of Per Yngve Ohlin better known as "Dead", lead singer of Mayhem, currently considered a myth within the black metal genre, or as for example the murder of Øystein Aarseth, more known as Euronymous, guitarist of the band Mayhem, on August 10, 1993, at the hands of Varg Vikernes, who was until then bassist of the same band, and the only member of the band Burzum.
It was groups like Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone and Emperor, creators of the Inner Circle, who took the concepts of instrumental minimalism, guttural voice and turned them into the way to go. In addition, these bands notably increased the ideology of black metal; the Inner Circle was an organization dedicated to eradicating Christianity in Norway and returning pagan beliefs and values. Its members burned several churches of great importance and antiquity in Norwegian territory among other acts. The Inner Circle dissolved in 1993 following the murder of Aarseth, and the imprisonment of Vikernes, although violent events continued to occur in Norway.
At that time, bands like Beherit and Impaled Nazarene were also founded in Finland, a scene without much significance in those years. In Norway Immortal, Ulver, Carpathian Forest, Thorns and Gorgoroth are formed, bands that continue with the message of war proposed by Mayhem. The Swedish scene also stands out, with a much cleaner sound than the Norwegian productions and which also gave a lot to talk about. Its most notable exponents were Marduk, Dark Funeral, Abruptum, The Black, Arckanum, among others. These bands stood out for sounds full of ferocity and very anti-Christian sentiments. And finally (from Sweden itself) Dissection, which despite not having much rawness in its composition, like its Swedish colleagues mentioned above, its sound is remembered as one of the best ever created, darkness, aggressiveness and a lot of melody.. In Poland extremist anti-Judeo-Christian movements continue to flourish, bands such as Graveland, Infernum, Thors Hammer, Thunderbolt, Behemoth, Veles, Legion, among others, that formed the Temple of the Fullmoon, also a criminal association whose mission was to exterminate Christianity from Poland[citation needed].
Second generation bands began to introduce new elements. It was the Norwegian Emperor who added keyboards to their musical style (without exactly falling into melodic black metal, a variation that is very popular today, and which has been followed by groups such as Limbonic Art, Graveworm, Mystic Circle, Satyricon, Dimmu Borgir, Dark Funeral, Old Man's Child, Arcturus and Borknagar among others.Later groups like Aborym would use synthesizers and keyboards in greater quantity as a base to create Industrial black metal.
Other third generation bands emerge such as Gehenna, Lucifugum, Armagedda, Dødheimsgard, God Seed and Keep of Kalessin that, contrary to the black metal of commercial tenure, continue with the underground trend and with a musical style heavier than previous bands.
Meanwhile, Bathory changed her style, substituting certain elements of her music, which became more melodic and with a much more careful production, for choruses and a different theme from the satanic one, singing to the fathers of her land. It is the origin of viking metal, followed by bands like Enslaved.
Aesthetics
It was the band Mercyful Fate that first introduced body paint to a heavy metal band, more specifically on the face of their leader King Diamond. It should be noted that this kind of makeup known as corpse paint (in Spanish, «cadaveric painting»), warpaint or facepaint had already been used by rock bands such as Arthur Brown, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Misfits and Death SS, using this stage resource to attract more attention to their music. This caused disputes between the Kiss group and King Diamond, after which the latter was forced to modify his design so as not to resemble that of Gene Simmons, bassist and vocalist of Kiss.
Later, in the early 1990s, after Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth) and Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin), members of the Norwegian band Mayhem, had used "corpsepaint" In a usual way, this type of body painting was adapted in a general way by the pioneering Norwegian black metal bands of the movement and from there it hatched into a rather unitary aesthetic that has survived until today, although diminishing its importance. prevalence.
To this we must add a black outfit; with few exceptions. T-shirts that allude to other bands are also used, the frequent use of wristbands, bracelets and leather belts, with nails of different sizes (some up to 20 cm) or ammunition, to which are added accessories such as pendants, rings, inverted crosses and other kinds of silver jewelry, generally with allusions to those elements typical of the idolatry of the groups or their ideology.
Subgenres
Black metal, while a subgenre of metal, itself became a genre that today includes numerous subgenres. Many of them only differ in the theme of the lyrics of the songs, while others, instead, differ in the structure or instrumentation. Sometimes it is difficult to classify a band within a subgenre and it is usually classified in several. That is why the categorization of black metal (its division into subgenres) is rejected by many, and overexpanded by others (with the introduction of extravagant subgenres). In any case, the main subgenres of black metal would be:
Depressive black metal
Depressive and Suicidal Black Metal (DSBM) or also known as Depressive Suicidal Black Metal, is a subgenre of black metal, hardly subsumed or delimit it, due to the loose or loosely unified and common characteristics of the groups that actively practice it, such as the Bethlehem natives. It comes from black metal that takes elements from doom metal (the sound), it is very inconsistent in terms of defined musical characteristics, being the lyrics, which deal with issues about of death, depression, suicide, tragedy, sorrow, melancholy and the down tempo rhythm, which gives the characteristic essence of all these bands.
Featured bands: Anti, Xasthur, Shining, Silencer, Dolorian, Hypothermia, Forgotten Tomb, Nortt, Trist, or Happy Days.
Ambient black metal
Also called in English Atmospheric black metal, is an instrumental musical subgenre, characterized by a progressive abandonment of the forcefulness and basic rawness of black metal, to evolve the scarce melody of the genre towards a certain ambient sound and with it, develop an atmosphere that, despite moving away from the bases of black metal, maintains its own correlation in the scales used in its composition to maintain the idea and the sentiment of the genre. Main Bands of the Genre: Burzum with their masterpiece Filosofem; Nortt, Algaion, Xasthur or Ildjarn.
Melodic black metal
It is a musical subgenre with the melodica in which the bands that integrate it, make a black metal of which they increase their melody considerably. Among the prominent bands are: Dissection, Catamenia, Borknagar, Arthemesia or Chthonic.
Symphonic Black Metal
It is a musical subgenre of black metal, barely defined. It is fundamentally based on the incorporation of keyboards, orchestrations and a more melodic approach. Notable bands of the genre: Dimmu Borgir (some of their albums), Dragonlord (who also add thrash metal to their style), Emperor, Diabolical Masquerade, Anorexia Nervosa, Graveworm, Opera IX, Old Man's Child or Limbonic Art.
Fusions
The very evolution of extreme metal genres, as well as the large number of bands with their own style that is difficult to subsumable under a single label, has resulted in the appearance of musical subgenres resulting from the fusion of various styles, with diverse results., reaching, as we will see, the creation of full-fledged genres as a result of this union:
Blackened death metal
Fusion between the death metal and black metal genres, usually based on a combination of aesthetics and lyrics, with riffs, blast beats and guttural voices more typical of >death metal. Notable bands: Ignem Interius, Angelcorpse, Anaal Nathrakh, Behemoth, Belphegor, Infernal War, Gehenna, Dissection, Inferi, God Dethroned, Hyban Draco, Watain, The Legion, Panzerchrist, Zyklon, Impaled Nazarene (who also incorporate industrial elements into their sound).
Folk black/viking metal
Unification of folk music with black metal, leaving the lyrics and a certain instrumentality to the first styles, and the general aspect of sound, normally, to the second. Pagan black metal and folk black metal are included because they are styles with little consolidation and easy confusion, caused by the similarity in all aspects of their bands. It should not be confused, however, with its variants, such as viking metal or celtic metal, which have their own characteristics, just like folk metal. Featured Viking Black Bands: Windir, Menhir, Enslaved, Kampfar, Mithotyn, Hordak, Berserk, Thrudvangar. Notable Black Folk Bands: Finntroll, Skyforger, Runic, Moonsorrow, Primordial, Satarial.
Industrial Black Metal
The fusion of industrial music and black metal, which mixes guttural voices, guitars and riffs typical of black metal, with elements of industrial music, such as effects and tempos characteristic of electronic music, and especially of the so-called industrial metal. This style emerged in the 1990s, with groups like Samael, who ventured into the genre, which would later be joined by leading exponents of black metal such as Dan Swanö. The bands that stand out in this subgenre are Samael, Thorns, Aborym, The Kovenant,...And Oceans (currently Havoc Unit), Dødheimsgard, Zyklon and Anaal Nathrakh.
Ideologies
National Socialist Black Metal
National Socialist black metal, also called NSBM, is a musical subgenre of black metal, characterized mainly by its lyrical theme and its political aesthetics, more specifically, for being directly or indirectly related to the National Socialist movement. On a musical level, in terms of sound there is no consistent differentiation with black metal, being common for groups, despite being part of the National Socialist black metal scene, have a sound belonging to a subgenre of BM. Most featured bands are usually from Europe or North America. By specific countries, in Germany bands such as Absurd (precursors of the NSBM movement), Totenburg or Aryan Blood stand out; Ukraine has produced groups like Hate Forest or Aryan Terrorism (whose members are also members of Nokturnal Mortum); in Russia groups like Forest, Temnozor, Branikald or M8L8TH stand out; from Greece come bands like Der Stürmer, Darkthule or Legion of Doom; from Bulgaria, Paganblut or Aryan Art; from North America, the Canadian Geimhre or the American Tyranath are noteworthy. In South America there are also NSBM bands, like in Brazil; Evil, Seges Findere, White Diamond Head. In Argentina: Ulfhethnar, Campo de Mayo, Uriburu.
In Spain the NSBM is a very minority, since, in general, neo-Nazi ideology is more associated with the skinhead movement than with the world of metal; The Spanish NSBM scene is usually closely linked to the world of RAC and is reduced to a few bands, mostly with only one member, and on many occasions, their music is more of a mix of RAC and black metal than black metal proper. Some examples are Orcus Tyrannus, Winterfrost, Hallstatt or Einsatz Kommando.
Unblack metal
unblack metal is an alternative style of black metal with lyrics about Christianity. Although the beginnings of Unblack metal are not clear, the bands Antestor and Horde are usually cited as precursors of this genre, when in 1994, Horde, on his album Hellig Usvart, extracted the concept holy unblack metal in allusion to the motto "unholy black metal" by Darkthrone, plus Antestor released their album Martyrium in the same year.
The militants of black metal [who?] are not very fond of the idea of the existence of unblack metal, going so far as to to provoke attacks and issue death threats, this because for them it is a strong philosophical and cultural contradiction. [citation required]
Anarchist/communist black metal
RABM (red & anarchist black metal, «red and anarchist black metal) is a subgenre of black metal with thematic anarchist or communist
Certain founders of black metal had far-left visions. Euronymous from Mayhem was declared a Stalinist, members of Sarcófago were anti-Christian communists, and Fenriz from Darkthrone declared that he had been a socialist in the late 1980s and had swung from one political extreme to the other (including being arrested for protesting against Apartheid). On his part, this was counterbalanced by Varg Vikernes and his far-right visions. Even so, none of these musicians openly propagated their ideology in their music.
The RABM appeared as a response to the National Socialist black metal, by the Argentine group Profecium in 1993 (who were anarchists at the time) and massified by the Canadian group Iskra in the mid-2000s. hand in hand with bands rooted in crust punk.
This style is ideological in nature, the lyrics of the bands focus on violent themes, anarchism, communism, hatred of today's society, class struggle, anti-fascism, pro-ecology, Satanism and anti-Christianity.
The sound of RABM bands also seems to differ from common black metal, in many cases the bands mix the sound of crust punk (mostly anarchist) or ambient black metal with elements of post-rock (Panopticon, Wheels Within Wheels, All the Cold, Skagos, Adamennon), there are also elements of pagan and viking metal (Sorgsvart, Lake of Blood, Borgazur). There are also other groups dedicated to black metal (The Dead Musician, Jarost Marksa, Mrakobesie, Wolves in the Throne Room, Cold Blank Stare).
Within the communist bands, there is a more politicized current with bands like Jarost Marksa, Larva ov Cum and Profecium, and others that focus on more common themes of black metal, apologizing for the actions committed by different communist regimes, the red terror and the persecution of Christianity during the Stalinist Soviet Union, such as Mrakobesie (from Russia) and Agony (from the United States), who make direct bridges between Stalinism and Satanism. black metal bands have also appeared, taking communist militarism as their inspiration, such as Katyusha, Voland or Sibat.
Documentaries
- 1994: Det Svarte Alvor
- 1998: Satan rir media
- 2003: Norsk Black Metal
- 2007: True Norwegian Black Metal
- 2007: Black Metal: A Documentary
- 2007: Murder Music: A History of Black Metal
- 2008: Once Upon a Time in Norway
- 2009: Until The Light Takes Us
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