My top five would have to be, and in no particular order:
Burzum
Darkthrone
Immortal
Bathory
Emperor

New black metal has aquired a more mainstream sound structure and production quality which goes against the view points and styles that actually define black metal. For example, Darkthrone purposely used lo-fi production mediums such as tapes for more of a reason than money. If you look at transylvanian hunger, it has a much lower quality of production than their earlier releases. This is to thwart away the trendy, and those who can not appreciate their nihilistic views (well not true nihilism, more of satanism light) and asatru influences. The ultra minimilistic style is inherited from the electronica scene by influencial neo-classical musicians. For example Varg uses only classical scales on his cd Det Som Engang Var. It's actually quite clever that he exited the black metal scene with two entirely electronic releases. The black metal scene is dead, as all the good bands are either no longer or they have switched to other more listenable genres (for example dimmu borgir who transformed themselves into sort of a pop black metal which is therefore not really black metal.) That is my reasoning and you aren't going to convince me otherwise much like i could not convince you otherwise.

i dont like black metal that much so...

bathory
emperor
dissection
immortal
dimmu(old)

on a side note, this thread will probbaly get flames and way off topic

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I say bring it on, im educated enough to put up a fight.

Nice points you brought up, bloodredthrone. Using low-fi quality in Black Metal might sometimes add more atmosphere to the music than reducing it.

I consider these as the finest from BM:
Darkthrone
Paysage d'Hiver
Enslaved (actually Viking Metal)
Burzum
Ildjarn

close this thread too, there already was a thread exactly like this.

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Not another one!

Darkthrone
Emperor
Mayhem

The rest blow.

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Hardly. Bands like Inquisition, Revenge, Axis of Advance and Arkhon Infaustus are releasing some amazing albums. Same with Xasthur and Blunt Aus Nord if that's your thing.

Any ways, on to the topic at hand...

Dissection
Blasphemy
Mayhem
Emperor
Samael

That's the five that came to my head the fastest. Five is such an arbitrary number though.

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Dark Funeral, Emperor, and Mayhem are the only black metal bands i can tolerate, oh yeah, and Impaled Nazarene.
Burzum is terrible.

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Bloodredthrone you're trad fucking bitch. Don't justify musical claustrophobia. "The suck ass production is to ward off the trendy" - surprise, it's not the bad production that's warding off the trendy, it's the fact that the music is not "cool". The trendy will listen to an 8 bit version of Britney Spears' farts if MTV told them to, and if BM was on MTV they would listen to it, bad production or not. Bad production is too often used as a substitute for heaviness through composing, which sucks. Minimalism gets sickening after awhile, when all it becomes is three chord wonder recombination music. Instead, BM lost it's spirit of progress and doing something unique. Did Bathory, Sodom,Celtic Frost or Venom have "tr00 BM" guidelines to adhere to? Of course not. They were pioneers, and BM was about experimentation and slapping the rules in the face, and that's gone now with everyone trying to be painfully true.

I like:
Burzum, pre-electronic. I admire Varg's spirit, and he's a decent guy, if you read any of the interviews.
Emperor, Anthems in particular, and eventhough purists called them sellouts for this album, I salute them for doing what they did.
Satyricon, both old and new.
Astriaal, you have to love Astriaal, and if you don't, you're missing out.
Mayhem, and now that Maniac got fired, I can't wait what they will come up with next.

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i dislike most black metal but still:

Marduk (raw shit, good)
Melechesh (think of a black metal version of Nile)
Kult Ov Azazel (for the same reason as Marduk)
Impaled Nazarene (they keep things simple, which is good)

MANIAC GOT FIRED??? we'll be waiting 4-5 years for the next mayhem effort... cant wait hehehe. GDoW was decent but nothing to write home about. chimera i havent heard, and i wont if the reviews are anything to go by.

1. burzum, including electronic. each album is unique, from the true "burzum", to the artistic and beautiful "hvis lyset tar oss", to the crushingly heavy "filosofem" and all his ambient songs in between. i intend to buy hlidhskjalf and possibly daudi baldirs.

2. dissection. not part of the raw norwegian scene, these guys were amazing. it's not really sad that jon went to jail, they may have sold out earlier (it appears they have now). ill hear the new album and see what i think. regardless, their first two cds are legendary.

3. atomizer. temporarily forefronted the australian scene, while norway is the "tr00" country, i live in australia so thats useful. not bad third album, fan-fucking-tastic second album, with raw guitar sound but not raw production and classic old school riffs.

4. astrofaes. similar to darkthrone but canes darkthrone.

5. immortal hammer. delicious raw band with some nice riffs.

hah, only one norwegian band in all of that...

Exactly!

And the part where he was going off about Burzum using only classical scales or something equally ludicrous made me smirk. What the hells a classical scale?

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I've read many, many Burzum interviews, as well as a fair number of the articles he's written that have been translated into English. Varg isn't a decent guy, except in the sense that it's hard to find a human being you couldn't fairly easily get along with.

bloodredthrone seems to be a less literate SR Prozak parrot. If he can't post a topic without giving us a poor imitation of that man's thesis, no matter how little it matters - What bands do you like? I think black metal's moved away from its nihilistic origins and blah blah blah Varg's a modern day hero because he went from being a pioneer in one genre to a third-rate minimalist composer blah blah blah - I'm sure one of our friends can take care of that problem for him. For future reference: if you want to talk about your top five favorite black metal bands, a topic called 'Top 5 black metal bands' is a good place to do it. If you want to talk about the degraded state of current black metal, a thread with a title like 'True black metal rules, trendy posers should suck on my rectum' would be more appropriate. The two don't belong under the roof of the same thread. Figure out which you want to talk about, or make two different threads.

Natural scale? Mode scale? I don't know. It is quite obvious that bloodredthrone doesn't know what he's talking about. Trad bitches seem to tack on the whole Nihilism bullshit to BM, making it no better than any other religious music. Nihilistic origins? Fuck you! Romantic origins, naturistic origins, maybe, but not Nihilistic.



No, not nihilism. That anus dude isn't a true nihilist either.

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Fuck this, not again!

Emperor, Immortal and Astriaal. Thats it.

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Immortal
Darkthrone
Dodheimsgard
Mayhem
Thorns

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I don't like BM much but I like some Emperor, Rotting Christ and Anaal Nathrakh (or however you spell it). Generally, if I wanted to listen to music that sounds like it's been recorded by a 15 year old with a cheap dictaphone I'd lock my brother in the bathroom while he's having a shit. Not my scene but like I said, some of it is OK.

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Immortal.

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I think that nowadays scene is in some areas much better than the one on late 80's-early 90's, there weren't bands like: Deathspell Omega, Paysage d'Hiver, Satanic Warmaster, Inquisition, S.V.E.S.T, Peste Noire etc. though, eg. Darkthrone's early albums are still one of the best albums from Black Metal, it doesn't mean that all of these pioners' music would be better than nowadays ones.

It is true that these Darkthrone, Burzum, Hellhammer, Mercyful Fate and many other pioners has done a lot of influence to the nowadays scene, and therefore one might make an assumption that these all pioners should be/are better, which isn't always(/only some times) true. For example Abyssic Hate's Suicidal Emotions was a total master piece of Burzum's Filosofem-era Black Metal, and if you start to compare these two albums, Abyssic Hate's one is way better.

READ WHAT THE FUCK PST JUST FUCKING SAID, NO DEBATING THE FUCKING STATE OF BLACK METALS EXISTANCE IN THIS THREAD, START A NEW FUCKING THREAD FOR THAT SHIT, AND YOU AND THE OTHER ELITIST PRICKS ON THIS SITE CAN GO ON AND ON ABOUT HOW RIGHT YOU GUY ARE THAT TR00 KVLT BM NO LONGER EXISTS. THIS IS FOR YOUR TOP 5 PICKS FOR BEST BLACK METAL BANDS.
on that note

1 - borknagar
2 - emperor
3 - immortal
4 - acoustic fucking mayhem
5 - dimmu borgir

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In interviews some of the band members talking about how they made their music to be as unlistnable to as possible, and it is; almost no one likes it. That's not a bad thing, because than you get overpolluted genres and lots of bad bands. Nihilists don't believe in assigning values to actions, such as morals. Often times a black metal artist from the norwegian/ helvete scene will express views which reflect this. It's pretty fucking obvious. Even morbid angel has mentioned it before. Every muscisian has a point of view. Nihilism philosophy, especially that of niezche's, is very influencial to germanic and nordic countries. Actually he was influencial to a lot of philosiphers, especially when more accurate translations of his work became available. You can see it in other metal acts like massacra too. I guess Anton LaVeys philosophy accounts for a lot of it too. The theme of reviving viking custums and lifestyles is also common. There's alot of good new music in the black metal genre but my point was that it's old news, that bands have to evolve from the best metal bands (I'm not only into black metal like some prejudice remarks have stated). Black metal did have some good ideas and it should be built upon and improved, made into new. I also don't advocate their methods of removing christianity. For anyone who's christian it helps them, so there's no real harm in it as just a basic belief. Yah this is pointless, close the thread if you want. I think there's alot of people who'll want to bash the shit out of me again though.

Bloodredthrone, drop it.Read thread title. You just started this as an excuse to pimp your stupid trad bullshit. It's old, there are millions of threads like this, when "tr00" bitches come in and start whinning how CoF or Dimmu aren't tr00. Shut up, nobody cares anymore. There used to be a "war against black metal" on this forum a few years before I came, the oldies will remember, when BM trad bitches overflowed the place with bullshit about being "tr00". You're a few years late.

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maybe im not totally familiar with this dude

either way, being grim and necro 100% of the time is boring.

bleh, and of course i cant be frostbitten because this is australia. hence my location

Nietzsche wasn't a nihilist. His views on morality are fairly different than nihilists', even those who claim to follow his teachings. Death was probably the only notable and important metal band to really reflect Nietzsche's ideas well, and what does Schuldiner get from the metal nihilist society? Prozak harasses his mother immediately after his death. Nice. Regardless, very few black metal fans first hear In the Nightside Eclipse and think 'Woah, this is very Nietzschean. Also nihilistic. With a bit of Anton Lavey thrown in. And Asatru. I like this. What kind of music is it?'

As for poor production to avoid mainstream exposure: why care? That's not notably different from intentionally improving your production in order to gain mainstream acceptance. In both cases it's allowing non-musical reflections on mainstream acceptance dictate something that should be dictated by what best conveys the music, and, if you must, the message. These guys aren't the Knights Templar; they're musicians. Being cryptic doesn't do any good; it doesn't even self-select its own listenership so as to weed out poseurs. It does encourage listeners to try harder to appreciate the music, but since, at the same time, it assigns a positive value to the action of appreciating the music, there'll be some fuckin' poseurs, my friend (Just like the Knights Templar. They should've paid more attention to medieval hermetic societies when they were trying to make music. Obviously there's some connection. At least as strong as with everything else they claim). Especially if we follow contemporary thinking about taste (following Bourdieu - oooh, look at me! I named a sociologist! I must be smart as hell!), where anything that you have to work at liking (i.e., anything you don't like naturally) is an affectation. If they want their music to be difficult to get into, write it well enough that it's difficult to get into; don't be a pussy and use the recording shortcut. They're not working at getting their ideal listeners; they're working at getting people who will do whatever they say. And they're assigning value. Eat it.

I like Emperor, Dissection, Akercocke since they're apparently black metal, a few Mayhem songs, and, uh, shit, hmm, Gargamel. They're true as balls. I still say this thread shouldn't have been an opportunity for you to stand on your little nihilistic soapbox and tell us the political and philosophical reasons why music is good, and why everyone should abandon black metal. I kinda agree with that last bit, but I don't really go around telling people it when I've just asked them what bands they like.

1. living color
2. old man's child
3. dimmu
4. old mayhem
5. anything else i'm not really a huge fan of

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summoning
mourn in silence
hecate enthroned
catamenia
graveworm

this is more like my favorite 5 at the moment, as opposed to a "top 5" which sounds more permanant. and its not all that reliable either cause it could change in a week...

I just added my own point of view about state of nowadays Black Metal, I guess that talking some times off-topic isn't banned on this forum. So why should it be banned on this particular thread?

Maybe talking about the current state of Black Metal isn't very relevant if according to this topic's subject, though some people might read those 'conversations' and find there a good band which might lead them to the change of their top 5 black metal list.

December Wolves
Astriaal

Thats all I've come to respect. DW is my favorite band.

YES! Another person who liked Astriaal! Not enough people like Astriaal.

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1. Burzum
2. Cradle Of Filth
3. Dimmu Borgir
4. Emperor
5. Immortal

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PST raises many good points, more skillfully than I have too. It's true I was just using it as an excuse to boast bloated elitist views, but it also allows me to test what I have read among a community of various metal fans. We don't just have black metal fans here we have all types. It really helps you get a sense from all view points within the confined space of the metal genres. Now it's not that I am going to completely agree with you all, but there have been enough valid points for me to admit defeat and to rethink my own beliefs a little.

1.Dimmu
2.Bathory
3.Mayhem(old)
4.Emperor
5.Immortale

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Cradle of Filth isn't black metal. It's gay goth metal bullshit. I don't know how it can be called black metal.

1. Mayhem
2. Emperor
3. Immortal
4. Marduk
5. Darkthrone

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Damn, you're a stupid cunt. If you think you know so much about what makes black metal and goth metal, then explain to me how they're not black metal.

1. Mayhem
2. Dark Funeral
3. Gorgoroth
4. Rotting Christ
5. Cradle Of Filth

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Not meaning to cut in here, well actually I do, but CoF aren't exactly BM. Their music isn't heavy enough and sometimes they've got these really nice melodies all the way through. They used to be BM but they aren't in my opinion any more. Also, they don't match to the likes of Mayhem and that.

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Do I even have to explain it?!?!? Fuck me, I mean, they rank alongside Slipknot in sellout poser bullshitiness, they paint there fucking faces [like half of the shitty BM bands out there], they signed to Sony, they're videos and lyrics are simply and plainly OVERLY gothic, they make stupid fucking public statements like "Lets 'ave a war on emo then lads.", . I mean, they just fucking suck. They are one of the worst bands I've heard. I'd rather listen to fucking evanescence than that shitty band.

Heres an excerpt from a website about them:

Cradle Of Filth is the unsurpassed glam band of the new century. Everything regarding this band du jour smacks of the kind of commercialism for which people fall as a function of the inherent subservience to herd mentality in the pathetic human race. While Kiss and Sweet were the foremost glamsters of the seventies, Poison of the eighties and the nineties gave us Gwar and White Zombie; the new century gives us Cradle Of Filth. The band uses more makeup and gimmicks in its photos than entire labels (with the exception of Nuclear Blast and Dimmu something) spend on promotion. The oh-so clever play on words of the band's label extends to the album title. The biography spends pages revealing the manifesto to the theses of coolness never bothering to mention a thing about their music, including the present album's one cover and three rerecorded songs. Cradle Of Filth simply live off the hype, image and the correct bet that the established media will tow the party line. Judging by the photos, six Marilyn Manson concubines with six times more references and allusions to erotic angels than Aeroshit have about their dicks deliver shrilly, ultra-treble dancey goth rock - with Mickey Mouse acting as front man. Finally, please stop parading the semi-nude female photos. Hustler has it tenfold at half the price of a CD. Just plain give it up boys. Remember what happened to Poison? - Ali "The Metallian"

But whatever man, I dont care if you fucken like them or not, I'm just saying, I think they are a shitty band.

Listen, it seem you think they aren't black metal because they were on Ozzfest, they were on Sony at one point, wear corpse paint, shit like that. Since when did that change their metal gendre? I don't give a damn what they do, I'm speaking from a music stand point. On their new album they display the same heavy sound that bands like Dark Funeral and Marduk. Take the song Guilded Cunt for example. I never heard goth metal bands such as Type O Negative or HIM play anything like COF. Its insanely easy to tell the difference in the music. Don't tell me they're not bm because they're more popular than other bm bands, that's just stupid.

Also, how long has COF been around? Longer than any Slipknot band bullshit and if I remember correctly, they wore corpsepaint then too. So that now they got a little more attention they're posers? What the hell? Don't let stupid shit keep you from listening to desent music. If you did give them a chance and actually DO hate them then I can understand and I really don't mind. But if you hate a band because they're popular and never really tried out their music, then I fucking hate you. I tried to listen to Slipknot before putting them down and I hated them. But I like Mudvayne, they may be bigger than most but I still like their music.

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Well that explains everything. You listen to Mudvayne.

Sound like Marduk? AHhahaha, Decent Music? Don't make me fucken laugh... again.

Wow, let's all insult people because they like a band that I think is ghey.

Musical tastes. Something not familiar with the "gotta be more metal than the next guy" philosophy of the metaltab users. Sure I hold my head high and say "hah my music is more technical than that mainstream crapp playing on the radios." The problem is, everybody thinks their music is the best. Just learn to respect other people's musical tastes. Most of us will grow out of being metalheads in 20 years anyways, and look down on all the young metalheads and laugh. Besides, any metalhead over 40 will die in a year from drug abuse anyways.

God forbid me listening to anything other than death metal. At least I'm man enough to admit it. And about the Marduk thing. I don't really know what Marduk sounds like since I only heard one song. I just didn't want to list another band that it did in my list.

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Ummm, No.

BTW thats to Shred is not Dead ^

Ahaha, so you arm yourself with Marduk, but you don't know what they sound like? Right on man.

What did Shred say that you disagree with? I think he was right. If someone likes a band you don't you think they're stupid.

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Umm..yeah!

Omgawd I feel so giddy!

Let the immaturity flow

When I said Marduk I meant black metal in general. I could have said Ragnarok, Carpathian Forest, Arthmesia, whatever, Cradle's music is just as bm in my eyes.

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No, it's just that Nu metal and Cradle of Filth suck.



I believe what you think is best is in your taste, as long as it isn't Cradle of Filth or Nu metal.



Just no.



Ummm, no.

Wow... you're just a whiney cunt aren't you?

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Ok, your really running outta things to pin me down on, right? hahaha...

You changed it from healthy argument to something personal. Tisk tisk, someones has a temper don't they?

in no certain order...

Burzum
Darkthrone
Ancient Ceremony
Satyricon(old)
Anorexia Nervosa(definately stomp on cradle)

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How is it Infinity complains about how judgmental metalheads look down on him for his clothing, and at the same time an intolerant true metaller bashing people for admitting to like this or that? They like bands you think suck? Shut up about it. What's worse than having bad taste? Trying to dictate taste. You come off like the assholes you complain about who rag on you for wearing a shirt with color in it.

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I'm just making a point, you ARE a cunt. I could have ended a while ago but no. Jeez, why do you care so much that I or anyone else listens to Cradle? Why is it so bad that anyone listens to something you fell is sooo "terrible". People have different musical taste then you, believe it or not. Just because someone likes something you don't doesn't make them wrong. Do us a favor and pull your head out of your ass.

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I'm teasing for CoF and Nu Metal. Most people would be on my side for that one.

An I'm not making a point? You attacked me, dickhead. It all started that way. Now, You say you could hav ended it. But you didn't. You are just as bad as me.

CoF is gothic influenced BM. It's fucking stupid to take music out of it's context of sound. So they dress funny, that doesn't change their music. The people who make the music don't matter. If the band sounds like BM, it's BM. So they have nice melodies, who the fuck said that BM can't have nice melodies, and who the fuck are you to say what's BM in the first place? Trad whores....

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fantastic point dude, they certainly do



i am, for cradle anyway. i like listening to them, but because i dont respect them, i can laugh at dani filth and still enjoy listening to it, i dont take that guy very seriously.

Most people are elitist pricks. It's the worst thing about the metal scene. I don't like CoF or nu-metal, and I'm vocal about it, but I don't have to slag people because they like it. Music affects you viscerally and emotionally; there's no way to point out that somebody's reaction is inferior to yours. You can say it's crap, but you're in the same territory as, to borrow BrokenCrimson's apt term, trad bitches when you take that line to music. Looking down on somebody for their taste is idiotic and would ideally be beneath us. Bands I dislike and don't respect I ignore.

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Oh... I screwed up when I said " 'I' could ended.". But I'm "attacking" you? How cute. Are my words that painful? Am I raping your ego via internet. Jesus, how tender we are.

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Oh ok, lets take it down that way, shall we? You know what I mean. Your just being dumb now.

Man, I wasn't looking down on anyone, you know? I said this "I dont know how COF is black metal, they are shit". If you look at my previous posts I even said to MyOwn that "I don't care if you listen to them man, I just don't like them." Check it out, it's just when the whole argument started, if you don't belive it.

replying to Broken Crimson
Have you ever heard any "nice" melodies in Mayhem or that stuff. I take that to be Black Metal. I like earlier Cradle of Filth but it's not bm in my opinion. I could of got worse by saying that true black metal has Satanic lyrics but that includes Dimmu Borgir and some Death metal bands. If in someone elses opinion CoF are bm then that's fine but they shouldn't go around trying to convince other people it is!

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I'm dumb? One of the worst things anyone could do is to let someone's words damage them. You say I attacked because I called you a cunt. How sad that I called you a giant walking pussy affected you so much. I am if I'm a asshole when it comes to ignorance, but I am. But like I said, you shouldn't let things get to you. How the hell did you survive high school?

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I saw what you said. You didn't give arguments for why you dislike the music, you simply toed the metalhead line that anyone who likes these bands has much worse taste than somebody able to appreciate grindcore. You're slagging the fans instead of the music, which is stupid and pointless. I don't like either Cradle of Filth or Mudvayne. If asked, I'll say what it is about their music that doesn't work for me. I won't rip on somebody if the music does work for them. I haven't since I was first getting into metal in middle school, and I was an idiot in middle school. I'm not saying you're an idiot like I feel I was; you're just at an apogee of metalness that assigns some non-musical value to taste. You wouldn't have gotten into an argument if you'd just said you don't like Cradle but don't give two shits if the next guy does. At most you'd have found yourself in a discussion.

MyOwnSavior: Chill out. You're not being much better at this point.

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I think we should both quit on that man. :Extending hand smiley here:

Someone should suggest that smiley to nomad. No harm done.

More on topic: I consider Cradle of Filth black metal. Perhaps not a particularly good example of it, but one which at least does the genre the service of occasionally drawing attention to it without having to kill anybody. A lot of people get into the better black metal acts (whatever they may be) through the accessible Cradle of Filth doorway. They do and say extremely stupid things, but that seems to be par for the course in metal. Or bands in general.

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Yeah, its too damn late for me.Sorry for being a dick. Lets get back on topic.

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So we kissed and made up awww how cute! lol jk

So anyway, back on topic like you said.

Cirith Gorgor, Enthroned and Immortal are certainly in my top5.

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Does anyone like "....and Oceans"? just Curious

immortal
emperor
burzum
dark throne
mayhem

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Varg is a fag.

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i do, they are a pretty unique band.

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i dont listen to much black metal but out of the few i know id say
burzum
immortal
emperor
mayhem

6:
Inquisition
Burzum
Graveland
Conqueror
Darkthrone
Enslaved

no i am not NS, graveland and burzum simply slay

???

Australia has spawned some of the most crushing black metal known to man. Bestial Warlust...Spear of Longinus. What about Astriaal (previously mentioned in the post)...Myrddraal...Portal (ridiculous enough to be considered bm)...Sadistik Exekution (maybe not bm)...

Location has nothing to do with writing black metal. One's environment may be good for inspiration, but it is just one of many sources for inspiration.

I thought Astriaal was NZ

Marduk
Frozen Shadows
Bestial Warlust
Deathcrush / DMDS era Mayhem
Darkthrone*

*I only like Darkthrone's Total Death, Ravishing Grimness, and Sardonic Wrath, but they make up for the other albums. Hate Them is okay at times, too.

newbie rule #17635: do not, under any circumstances, resurrect(sp?) a dead thread.

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It was on the second or third page. It's not a big deal.

Don't ever resurrect an old thread. But, if you want to discuss something that's been discussed before, dont make a new thread either. In fact, don't do anything. It's best if you don't post at all. That's what keeps the forum alive.

On topic: Emperor only put out four records, so I can't finish this. They rule so much they should apply for non-black metal status. It would only be fair.

I don't really like black metal but here are the bands I do like..

1. Borknagar
2. Dissection
3. Naglfar
4. Immortal
5. Graveworm

5. In the Nightside Eclipse
4. Imperial Live Ceremony
3. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
2. IX Equilibrium
1. Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise

I know this thread is 5 best black metal bands, but all 5 are Emperor anyway, so I might as well just list their best albums in descending order. I do like Bathory's first four albums, but I don't love them, and besides, everything he made after those sucked. I also like Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, but nothing before or after. Seriously, Emperor are better than every other black metal band put together and multiplied by 10. Fuck, Emperor are better than most of my favorite death and thrash bands.

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Damn straight, except for a couple of things:

1. Anthems....
2. Prometheus.....
3. In The Nightside...
4. IX Equilibrium
5. Immortal - Blizzard Beasts

I dunno, there was something about the live album that I didn't like.....

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BELPHEGOR
BEHEMOTH
EMPEROR
IMMORTAL
NAER MATARON

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Emperor are the king's of black metal. All the other bands are fools caught up in a contest of trying to out-grim each other.

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mayhem
emperor
burzum
Immortal
(dunno)

mayhem is really raw and sometimes impossible to listen to. Othertimes its fuckin amazing. When true black metal fans think of what is black metal, they usually think of the really dirty, raw sound of mayhem, or sometihng like it. Questoin, Do they currently have an original members?

When I started to listen to burzum, i found them intolerable, but slowly found it more and more addicting... i really don't know why because the vocals sound like a dying bird of some sort... which i used to think sucked, but now i see as amazing

emperor... they are definately the top, but they are also sooo sketchy. They have some amazing songs, some really shitty songs, and some songs that i have no fuckin idea how they could be metal, probably a result of Isahn doing... something... wierd. Most of my respect for them comes from the fact that they have degrees in music, and have managed to melt different scales together and still keep it sounding decent.

Immortal is the speedy flesh tearing black metal kind, and i love them, but havent heard enough to really judge well.

behemoth is more death than black metal. The subject matter is very black metal, but the rest isn't as much as it could be. don't get me wrong, i love behemoth, for Nergal to still be heading the same band since he was 15 is a feat in itself.

Dark Funeral have yet to be judged, i have a few of their cds, but most of it is the same: super fast guitar playing harmonic minor riffs over and over again. Other than that, they're pretty good.

A new one is Zyklon, headed by emperor's old Samoth (now Zamoth), they are comparable to behemoth: some black, more death. Zyklon almost has the blackmetal guitar goin, but the subject matter is something else, makes me think of futurisitic anti-christianism (is that a word?) kinda like what Wormed is to Death Metal.

1349 are pretty cool, but again, i havent heard enough from them to judge yet. What i have heard, are really really fucking long songs that keep me interested by changing the riffs, far more interested than i was for the really fucking long songs on IX Equilibrium by Emperor. If you like immortal, you will like 1349. Chasing Dragons is a good song by them, i believe the internet based Black Metal Radio has an episode with it, go check it out.

Satyricon... i saw em live, they fuckin own. Problem though, they arent quite pure black metal, they're more... i dunno how to put it but innovative. Listen to Angstridden so you know what i mean, its has touches of black metal but not really.

Dissection, ive only heard 2 songs by them, but they both kickass, if the rest are like that, then Dissection is quite black metal.

Zyklon-B is very very very raw, so raw that i cant tell what the guitars are really playing, i do know that the guitars are fast though, and the drums are fast, and the synth is really trashy (if that is synth i hear) and the vocals are really quiet. Good listening for all you underground black metal lovers out there.

Dissection(not anymore)
Mutiilation
Watain
Sacramentum
Behemoth

1.Emperor (no contest)
2.Immortal
3.Burzum
4.MayheM
5.Graveland-Darkthrone tied

1. Abyssic Hate
2. Kretan
3. Immortal
4. Varg Vikernes
5. Mayhem

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Dissection
Emperor
Sacramentum
Thyrane (first two albums)
Immortal

No order,

Dissection
Naglfar
Anaal Nathrakh
Lord Belial
Emperor

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i don't know what i said before but my updated list, i'm listening to a bucketload more pagan black metal, i find it 100 times less ridiculous than satanic black. ive really, really cracked the fucking shits with satanic black, (apart from old varg, and CoF) especially the modern stuff, since the gorgoroth guy drank that dude's blood. i despise mayhem as well.

my new top 4 in no real order:

anorexia nervosa. french outfit, best parts of emperor, x1000 heavier.

astrofaes. raw with a unique chorusy type sound, these bands set brilliant atmopshere and prove that ukraine may be second to norway in black metal kingism (and in my opinion, may wrestle the crown from sweden)

burzum. everyone on metaltabs should know why i love him, if you don't, don't worry i expect you'll catch up.

immortal hammer. slovakian two piece that was great while it lasted, but tragically short-lived.

Mayhem
Emperor
Immortal

........that's as far as I go concerning black metal, but it seems I've been missing out on some of the better bands.

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learn to spell (unless you're french-can, then you're excused ).

mayhem has 3 original members, their vocalist, drummer and bassist, due to the fact that euronymous is (fortunately) dead.

Grand Belial's Key
Emperor
Immortal
Judas Iscariot
Mayhem

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Cant say...because I´m not really into Black Metal...

but I can say that Mayhem - dark night of the soul is one of the best black metal songs i´ve ever heard.
(And chimera one of the best black metal albums)

1 - Absu
2 - Melechesh
3 - Achren
4 - Akercocke(sp?)


spose that's the only real "black"(if you consider absu "black") metal i listen to

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It`s my opinion.
Where´s the problem?
Okay it´s well produced so you can hear the different instruments (I´m sorry ), and they use a metronome and they have complicated songstructures...
Nah...it´s just my opinion...and I dont really like stuff like burzum or darkthrone etc.