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When Did Black Metal Become So Cool? A Guitar Planet Guide

From church burning and corpse paint to ecological warfare and gigs at world famous art galleries – Guitar Planet investigates the improbable rise of Black Metal.

Thursday, 21. March 2013  -  by  David Hayter

In the increasingly fragmented world of metal it’s rare to find a sound that can unite fans and critics across the genre spectrum. Black Metal has, somewhat bewilderingly, won over the metal fraternity, the indie set, and the prestigious rock institutions. The scene really caught fire in 2010 when Agalloch’s stunning album Marrow Of The Spirit forced critics of all creeds to take up the Black Metal banner – but what exactly is Black Metal in 2013?

Is it simply a catch all term used as a stylish alternative to Post-Metal? Do the Black Metal bands of 2013 have anything in common with the genre’s founding fathers? What are the signature sounds and who are the historically great artists? How did the liberal music press fall in love with a scene synonymous with devil worship, far right politics, and satanic cults?

It’s time for a Guitar Planet investigation.

What is Black Metal and where did it come from?

The genre took its name from Venom’s 1982 album Black Metal. Back then, and arguably today, British metallers Venom would be considered a thrash band – which is entirely logical, the Black Metal scene that would emerge over the next three decades undeniably sprang from the Thrash movement.

Building on the successful blend of punk and heavy metal that emerged in the late-70s, Thrash offered a more brutal, pummelling and often more technically proficient assault that emphasised the pace of the playing rather than the deepness of the groove. The breakthrough sound opened the doors for the invention of modern metal and million dark, and at times, disturbing detours. Black Metal took the dynamism of speed metal and thrash and merged it with more brooding atmospherics and the theatrical flair of the operatic metal pioneers (albeit expressing that theatricality in an insidious fashion).

The early scene was defined as much by aesthetics (King Diamond’s make up (corpse paint) and Venom’s ragged Satanic verses) as any one-signature sound. Sweden’s Bathory changed all that and codified the Black Metal sound when they introduced shrieking ghoulish vocals in the early 80s. Subsequent bands would introduce both deeper and shriller cries, but Bathory’s snatched rasps instantly recalled satanic incantations and the possessed corpses of Japanese horror. The fundamental building blocks lay in place.

Celtic Frost and Kreator helped to develop the under-produced dissonant guitar sounds that would form the foundation of the Black Metal sound, but the next major breakthrough for the fledging genre came in the 1990s. Norway’s Mayhem ushered in the age of the Black Metal riff. Avoiding solos and burying basslines, Mayhem mixed blitzkrieg percussion with a series of descending ever-present guitar lines. The result was a sound that created a sense of foreboding and dread. The assault was too quick to escape and yet rhythmic enough to lull the listener into a submissive state for the impending dark sermon.

With its founding principals in place the genre was set to branch off in a thousand different directions, typified by Britain’s Cradle Of Filth. The wraith like Brits introduced a symphonic element to the Black Metal’s wheelhouse, using keys to create a more grandiose, theatrical and ultimately commercial sound. They were promptly decried and distanced themselves from the Black Metal label. Luckily Emperor took up the symphonic strand employing strings and keys lavishly to create 1997’s Black Metal masterpiece Anthems To The Welkin Dusk.

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