What exactly IS Black Metal???

[atifman]

i hear people talkin' about it all the time, and now because of that thread in Chit-Chat i know how to be black metal fan, but i don't really have an idea what it is. so what exactly characterizes this sub-genre of metal?

[OpethRules]

I'm not allowed to say anything anymore, or someone raises hell. So I will leave this to someone else.

[morbid_death]

its hard to describe but when you hear it, you know its black metal (if your well educated). my best explaination would be;

symphonic, melodic, and sometimes ambient death metal with black (many occassions pagan) themes.

i'm sure somebody can come up with a better explaination that...surely.

[warnerve92]

Often includes: lots of keyboards, high pitched screaming, buzzy sorta sounding guitars, insanely fast drumming..........

[Gigantic Penis]

sometimes the band may be backed with an entire orchestra for some songs

[far_beyond_sane]

Someone who fancies themselves as a bit of a BM Ninja can put the finer points on the thematic content, vocal style, orchestrations, synth use and silly costumes of Black metal...

[powersofterror]

screams, screeching, with wierd fast sounding buzzing guitars
with fast drums

or at the other end:

growls, barks, with slow melodic keyboards, and guitars that are so
heavy that you can't understand what they are playing, and fast drums

so basically anything with satan lyrics, fast drums, and keyboards

[morbid_death]

everyone is just describing the elements of generic and the most popular black metal bands, not the actual genre itself. after spending the entire day thinking about this question and listening to all my black metal, i am going with my original post on this thread. (its like, 3rd post)

[far_beyond_sane]

How do you describe a genre without speaking generically?

[morbid_death]

when i said generic, i meant it as in the generic trend of black metal bands these day. like, dimmu, cof, bal-sagoth, etc.

sorry, i worded the afor mentioned post inadequatly.

[Atheist]

In the old days, Black Metal used to be about Satan, and Deathmetal used to be about Death. The difference in ideas of the two genres in a nutshell - now there is a lot of hybrid bands.

Musically speaking blackmetal is less talented than deathmetal (exceptions - blah, there are exceptions). Deathmetal riffs are somewhat standard tremelo picking or power chords in a standard progression and then the "off note" thrown in (more exceptions - blah). While blackmetal stuff tends to be more melodic in the riff style and also less complicated - if you can hear through the shrill, high pitch production that generaly lacks low end (more exceptions - blah). Blackmetal songs arent carried as much by the drums as deathmetal songs. Deathmetal drumming has a higher pitch double bass sound then blackmetal - more of a click - and in my opinion more interesting than blackmetal drumming.

Vocally blackmetal has higher pitch vocals. I call them "rat squeezing" vocals.
Deathmetal is varied - anywhere from a deep yell, low grunts, high pitch screams.

I like deathmetal more than black metal, and its obvious - but I do enjoy some blackemtal. Remember, just say no to NWOGBM - new wave of gay black metal - dimmu borgir, cradle of filth ...etc. - haha.

[walpurgis]

You don't like Dimmu Borgir???

[Gigantic Penis]

Originally posted by morbid_death
when i said generic, i meant it as in the generic trend of black metal bands these day. like, dimmu, cof, bal-sagoth, etc.



bal sagoth classifies themselves as "barbarian" black metal

[Gigantic Penis]

Originally posted by Atheist


I like deathmetal more than black metal, and its obvious - but I do enjoy some blackemtal. Remember, just say no to NWOGBM - new wave of gay black metal - dimmu borgir, cradle of filth ...etc. - haha.

ummmmm......those bands are not very new.....

[se7engates3613]

Atifman, i'll lend you some Darkthrone and some Mayhem. The good ole shit, original. It's fairly dirty sounding with lots of fast repetitious hihat/snare blastbeats. Very dark. That's why it's called Black Metal. Then there is the more trendy black metal with all the keyboards and symphonic shit and atmosphere and songs about elven kings and fairies and Ogre-Smiting Champions. Blah blah blah blah

[morbid_death]

Originally posted by Gigantic Penis


bal sagoth classifies themselves as "barbarian" black metal

but you do understand wat i was getting at right?

[se7engates3613]

uhhhhh? maybe. generalizations and labeling is bullshit. What matters is sound and feel. Youre right about knowing it when you hear it. It's just one of those things that is hard to define but easily known

[metal=life]

DARKTHRONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <-----definition of black metal......its DEEPLY dark shit, about magick and shit. I listened to the album Under A Full Moon when i was going to sleep.... BIG MISTAKE, i had the most horrifiying nghtmares (i always dream about whatever song im listening to at that time...thats why i burned a cd w/ just women orgasms..GOOD DREAMS)

[Nelhiebel]

There are two different styles of Black Metal:
The first style is the symphonic one,with keyboards,melodics,... for example Cradle of Filth , Dimmu Borgir
The second style is the more brutal, fast style with no melodics for example Marduk,Dark Funeral
And if anyone thinks that BM-bands have really fast drums you should check out some Agoraphobic Nosebleed stuff, for example Ceramic Godproduct

[morbid_death]

you know wat....classifying shit makes it less enjoyable

[Chad]

Here is my own opinion/interpretation of Black Metal. I believe that Black Metal should have a certain feel and atmosphere about it. Not necessarily atmospheric mind you, but a dark cold atmosphere, the same kind of feel early bands such as Hellhammer, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Slayer and even Mercyful Fate had. Black Metal bands have done this through hyper-sonic single note and dyad chord dronning(Darkthrone, early Immortal), intentionally raw production(Judas Iscariot, again Darkthrone), slow or mid paced non-mosh riffs(Some Mayhem, Thorns, Burzum), well placed keyboard/electronic effects (Emperor, Satyricon), or sometimes just amazingly dark/cold music(all of the above). Now I personally do not consider Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth Black Metal. This is not to say that they suck, they both have released some work that I enjoy. I just think they are Gothic Metal, although definitely with some Black Metal influences, especially in their first few releases.

[far_beyond_sane]

Originally posted by Chad
Here is my own opinion/interpretation of Black Metal. I believe that Black Metal should have a certain feel and atmosphere about it. Not necessarily atmospheric mind you, but a dark cold atmosphere, the same kind of feel early bands such as Hellhammer, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Slayer and even Mercyful Fate had. Black Metal bands have done this through hyper-sonic single note and dyad chord dronning(Darkthrone, early Immortal), intentionally raw production(Judas Iscariot, again Darkthrone), slow or mid paced non-mosh riffs(Some Mayhem, Thorns, Burzum), well placed keyboard/electronic effects (Emperor, Satyricon), or sometimes just amazingly dark/cold music(all of the above). Now I personally do not consider Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth Black Metal. This is not to say that they suck, they both have released some work that I enjoy. I just think they are Gothic Metal, although definitely with some Black Metal influences, especially in their first few releases.

Touchdown! Chad owns you all, admit it now.

It's an interesting thing I was thinking today - after you define a genre to begin with, people immediately start experimenting with the boundaries that you set, and consequently it starts to become muddied, and you start to hear terms like "influenced by" and "the *** in the style of" and eventually bands become amalgams of different styles and rather eclectic in definition if not in sound...

...and then someone stars a new genre.

[mrweijia]

genres, why does it matter. why not just have them being metal. period.

[Atheist]

there is a reason why we classify stuff, music especially.
"Birds of Feather flock together." What would it be like if Nile opened up for Backstreetboys? Its all music right? then we can play it all together. (Wont happen). Or if we keep it all in the metal genre Nile could play with Korn. Why not? they are both considered metal one is deathmetal the other is nu-metal. (wont happen)

The point is we classify stuff that is similar to each other, it only makes sense. The bad side is that there is stereotyping. As humans it would be impossible for us not to classify things, it just allows for easier organization. It is true that we like what we like no matter which genre it is in.

[Chad]

Excellent point Atheist. The purpose of my post was not to give a black and white, right and wrong definition of Black Metal. It was simply to describe some general traits and motives behind the music. And for every point I made, there are exceptions. It is just the way our brain works that causes us to classify music into genres and sub-genres.

[slayme_returns]

bump

[danzig]

BLACK METAL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A SOUND, IT CAN BE ANY TYPE OF METAL(DEATH, THRASH, POWER, SPEED, TRADITIONAL, ETC.) BLACK METAL SIMPLY STANDS FOR THE LYRICAL STRUCTURE OF THE MUSIC. MEANING THE LYRICS ARE ABOUT EVIL, SATAN, HELL, HEAVEN'S ON FIRE, ETC.
BLACK METAL IS AWESOME!!!
LISTEN TO VENOM!!!-THEY CREATED BLACK METAL!

[Lord Malphas]

Originally posted by danzig
BLACK METAL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A SOUND, IT CAN BE ANY TYPE OF METAL(DEATH, THRASH, POWER, SPEED, TRADITIONAL, ETC.) BLACK METAL SIMPLY STANDS FOR THE LYRICAL STRUCTURE OF THE MUSIC. MEANING THE LYRICS ARE ABOUT EVIL, SATAN, HELL, HEAVEN'S ON FIRE, ETC.
BLACK METAL IS AWESOME!!!
LISTEN TO VENOM!!!-THEY CREATED BLACK METAL!

dude ...you're fucking stupid ! of course Black Metal has its own sound

[mrweijia]

yeah, if you got nsync to sing about satan, would you call that black metal?

[Belphegor]

People who listen to Blackmetal, know what is Blackmetal.
Those who don't couldn't really care.
To me Cof and Dimmu are Blackmetal because they continue with the themes, while creating a grand atmosphere with lots of crescendos.
Just as Satyricon and Dark Throne are blackmetal because they have the same themes and utilise a colder atmosphere with buzzing guitars and blastbeats.

Borknagar is not Blackmetal, their themes are more of a spirtual and cosmical nature. (On Empiricism anyway) This is where they come into speed metal.

It's hard to classify metal these days because of the many crossovers of genres.

[Vortigern]

totally agree. black metal as a term doesn't cover the entire spectrum of styles that developed within this type of music. originally, Venom came up with the term, but they just played half-assed thrash metal with so-called satanic imagery. it was not until the genre hit Scandinavia that black metal grew larger. in fact, it is still developing. purely saying that something is satanic doesn't automatically make it black metal. because if you follow that line of thought, 'sympathy for the devil' by the Rolling Stones is also black metal. But it is however a fact that when you hear it, you'll know.