If every metal subgenre had its own table in the middle-school cafeteria, black metal would probably be the too-cool clique that wouldn’t let you sit with them. Its slow, drone-like state says to thrash, “We don’t want to be fast like you!” Its drawn-out tracks of 10 minutes or more say to grindcore, “We don’t want to be choppy and short like you!” And its dark, cancerously evil tone says to prog and pop, “We don’t want to have falsetto and wailing guitar solos like you!” That exclusivity is amplified when the music in question comes from France: the really cool kids — Aosoth, Antaeus, Deathspell Omega, Peste Noire . . . — don’t even sit in the lunchroom. They hang out outside, smoking cigarettes. And no one is cooler than Blut Aus Nord.
In our recent Q&A with the band’s frontman Vindsval, he told us about about the band and its newest release, The Desanctification, the second album in the 777 trilogy. Because Vindsval worked as a solo act for a long time, nothing in the band happens without his influence; in fact the latest record is credited solely to him. Blut Aus Nord keeps a very low profile and has very little press coverage as they refuse to take any photos that aren’t for album covers, and they do not play live shows as they consider listening to Blut Aus Nord a “solitary experience”.
Today we are giving away one copy of this new CD, so that you have a chance to embark on a Blut Aus Nord “solitary experience” of your own. To win, tell us in the comments below what element or subgenre of black metal you enjoy the most. The contest will close at midnight on December 20th. You must have a mailing address in the continental United States or Canada to enter.
BUY THE DESANCTIFICATION
Debemur Morti Productions (2xLP, CD)
. . .
I like the do-it-yourself ethos of black metal more than anything else about the genre.
I don’t think there’s any subgenre of black metal that I particularly like, because “black metal” is the subgenre I like. Anything further divided than that tends to be just a bunch of bands imitating the sound of another more original band.
But the element of black metal I like the best is the isolation/solitude/singularity of it, as Vindsval mentioned. When I hear great black metal I don’t picture multiple musicians playing together in a room (whether or not it is a real band or a solo thing), I picture a single entity spitting out dark sound. The lo-fi sound helps all the elements to coalesce in that way, and the speed helps smooth out the peculiarities of each instrument, but it’s also the nature of good black metal that it rises above (sinks below?) the individual elements that make it up, leaving a singular aesthetic in its rawest form.
I like black metal.
are Blut Aus Nord even black metal anymore?
My favorite subgenre of black metal is whatever the hell DSO and BAN are. Seriously though, I like black metal that confounds my expectations. To varying extents, I like black metal that just blasts away (e.g., Marduk), depressive black metal, and even some of the shoegaze-y stuff, but all of those subgenres are full of similar-sounding bands. If I want to listen to DSO or BAN though, no other band will do. There are a few U.S. bands that fit into this category for me as well: Krallice, Ludicra, Absu. All of those bands use black metal tropes and conventions in a distinctive way. It’s that balance between recognizable generic conventions (tremelo picking, blastbeats, witchy shrieks) and a recognizably distinct sound that I’m looking for (or listening for, I guess) in black metal.
Joe?
If every metal subgenre had its own table in the middle-school cafeteria, black metal would probably be the table with the awkward kids wearing black t-shirts sticking out sorely
The element of black metal that I appreciate the most is its ability to mix absolute hatred with deep melancholy, all within a cold, morbid atmosphere. No other music on Earth can so capably capture these disparate feelings in a manner that makes such perfect sense.
Their are two elements that I enjoy most. One would be the emphasis upon “feeling” that is so important. What a lot of people fail to understand its its not the blast beats and the tremolo picking that make it black metal. Its really the feeling. How does it make you feel inside. The feeling is best encountered with headphones or alone.
The second element is the desire to experiment with the ingredients of black metal. Adding folk, ambient or other elements. Adding non traditional instruments and playing in different scales or modes, while not limited to black metal, certainly find themselves explored more here then in other genres.
My absolute fav is Cascadian Black Metal. I especially like that new band Wolves in the Throne Room. Their album Black Cascade is subgenre defining.
this made me smile (which i understand is neither kvlt nor grim)
I dig the psychedelic black metal coming out now, which includes Oranssi Pazuzu and Nachtmystium.
The biggest reason why I connect to black metal is its opposition to conformity. There are more bands that speak to me on a transcendental level that are based generally around black metal then any other subgenre of metal. Not to say that a band cant attain this next level of songwriting through another genre medium, but black metal is the furthest from any type of superficial conformity. Even in its most raw and aggressive state, black metals purpose is to make a statement, and make people think outside the box (or at least thats what I’d like to think). Metal for me has always been something that made me approach life with a heightened sense of awareness. Metal is a way to open minds, break stereotypical societal barriers, and connect the world. Its amazing that I can listen to bands from all different parts of the world and connect with their ideas regardless of whether or not I can understand the lyrics, or even if they are in a different language altogether. This is because music is a more pure form of communication, something we can use to convey broad concepts and ideas through artistic expression. Again, something that can break these stereotypical and societal barriers that are ingrained in us from day one. Thats why black metal is my niche favorite when it comes to metal, because it actively opposes these ideas.
I’ll quote Gahl here; “Satan.”
I really seem to be drawn to bands like Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega (as well other bands like Krallice and Liturgy, who’s classification as black metal is perhaps contentious among some) whose musicianship takes the main stage. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Norwegian classics, but it’s been done. So, I’m not quite sure what, if any, subgenre bands like BaN and Deathspell belong to. French black metal? Psychedelic black metal? Black metal that synthesizes other musical influences other than black metal? Scare me with how good you are at your instrument, not your stage props.
On a more serious note, my personal favourite thing about black metal is that it fundamentally understands a very particular kind of hatred and malevolence, and expresses it with supreme power in a whole variety of ways. The all-our war of bands like Teitanblood against the cold, calculated misanthropy of Ascension; the blasting carcophany of ImpNaz and the expansive yet introspective repetition of Burzum.
So many different ways of expressing the same basic concept; it speaks to a very particular part of my psyche that no other art form can.
viking metal.
I how some black metal can take the aggressiveness and complexities of metal and blend it with a wholly dark atmosphere that builds whole and vast worlds within my mind. Sure there is much dark atmospheric music out there. But non other than black metal can create such a beautifully intricate world, still hold and aggressive feel, and not skimp out on intricacies of song structures.
I love how*
As with other types of music, I tend to favor atmosphere, texture, experimentation, discordance, aggression, atonality, ambience, novelty, and rhythm over technical proficiency, lyrics, melody, “hooks,” and slick production. In addition, I like shitty Dracula movies and stuff a lot. So a lot of different black metal permutations suit me just fine.
I have to echo Pseudonymous, I prefer “whatever the hell you call DSO and BAN.” I’d be tempted to call it transcendental black metal if that term wasn’t currently residing in someone’s ass.
hmm…like some people already said…my favorite black metal branch is so called “orthodox” bm, so of course Deathspell Omega, BaN, Nightbringer, Owl, Ruins of Beverast, Aesoth, Numinous etc.
Raw Black Metal.
Accersitus, Black Cilice, Astaroth, Urfaust, Hiver Noir… stuff like that.
Also – still raw – the good ol´ “disease”: Venom, Hellhammer, Sodom, Death SS, Antichrist, etc.
I like the way that black metal often ties in so closely to the sense of “place.” Norwegian BM sounds more cold and distant than, say, claustrophobic French BM, which in turn is less empty and brutal than Russian BM, all of which are less laid-back and swagger-prone than Australian BM. Even within a nation you get regional variations, such as WITTR’s comforting “Cascadia” sound as opposed to the harsh Rocky Mountain vibe of Cobalt. Without having to rely on folk instrumentation, black metal creates meaningful regional differentiation that ultimately enhance the growth of the subgenre as a whole.
I love the challenge it presents with every listen. Especially the more murky groups (Wold, Velvet Cacoon, xasthur..) It’s just a fog of sound there for you to make your way through and each listen you might uncover new things. In the Nightside Eclipse was one of the first BM albums I got in highschool and I still find new things within the album after so many listens. Black metal is one of the few genres that can take me to a faraway place and put me in a state of mind, away from everyone. And the feeling it brings to me when a certain album matches up with a rainy/foggy/snowy nightly drive is just an extremely personal thing that is hard to forget.
My favorite is blackened shoegaze, like Alcest.
Trve Sierra Nevadan post transcendental raw black metal
For me Black Metal has had never anything to do with trends. I was understandably influenced heavily by the first and second “waves” of BM but I never bought into the whole “I’m more cult or true than you” ideology. I shied away from that as best as I could and found equal enjoyment in music from Dissection as well as Ludicra. In other words, I could care less about the agendas set forth by bands that preach about Satan or are NSBM – I’m in it for the music.
As Vindsval pointed out in the interview with him, BM should be about the feeling one derives from listening to it. It’s not about how close a band is in sound to the originators (Venom, Bathory, or Mayhem). That’s why I find myself enjoying WITTR just as much as Black Witchery. I don’t confine myself to specific genres or sub-genres; I listen to what fits my mood and am glad that there is such a variety within the “black metal” genre that I can go from listening to one extreme to the other. Each album has its’ place and meaning to some extent; some bands are more consistent than others. Placing lyrics aside, personal agendas aside, and image aside, the feeling that evolves from Black Metal is far more important than what technically defines it: Norwegian BM, NSBM, Cascadian BM, Bay Area BM, Swedish BM, German BM, Avant-garde BM, Atmospheric BM, etc… However you define it, find comfort in that there is a little bit of something for everyone.
Definitely black metal with any folk influence!
My favorite part about black metal is the way it sounds. It’s music, and I treat it as such, by listening to what I enjoy and disregarding what I do not.
My favorite sub-genre of black metal is the raw/primitive variety. I like simple, ugly music; and it is simple, ugly music.
My favorite black metal transcends previously-held genre boundaries, be that the addition of folk elements in Ulver’s Bergtatt, the progressive tendencies of late Emperor, the bizarre meanderings of Ved Buens Ende, or the off-the-rails formlessness of Deathspell Omega.
Raw suicidal/depressive national anarchist blackgaze.
I prefer the more melodic ends of BM, most of which is coming from USBM at the moment. I tend to like my black metal to invoke beauty and melody as opposed to ugliness. I appreciate all kinds, but tend to shy away from the thrashier ends of BM. And I like the higher vocals as opposed to the barked or “frog voiced” vocals.
When black metal is channeled through psychedelic filters, I’m extremely happy. It definitely compliments the “otherworldly” aspect of the genre, which is a twofer considering the subject matter is most usually not of this realm as well.
The best element of BM today (IMHO) is that there are people doing with it whatever the fuck they want with it and don’t give a fuck if you like it or not. Just like Vindsval said, BM is a feeling. Thats all that needs to be said.
sometimes it seems easier to say what black metal isn’t than to say what it is.For the kvlt police it is far easier to quantify black metal, it should be satanic/religious/quasi religious, corpse painted, ridiculously fast and when slow, hideously dissonant, minimalist if not sloppy and sonically inferior in the conventional sense of modern production values.By those standards many many so called black metal bands are now merely influenced by black metal.
if you asked a 15 yr old Vindsval if trip hop beats belong in black metal what do you think he would have said? And who makes the rules here? The fans or the musicians?Does Varg have more say over what black metal is than say, Hunter Hunt Hendrix?Would Tom G Warrior know better than Tom Visnes?
whatevs, it’s music, who gives a shit what you call it? aside from saying it’s good or bad and even that is so subjective as to be meaningless.
I would have said banjos are mos def not black metal ..then I heard the new Taake, and banjos still aren’t black metal but Taake IS black metal ….so, what the fuck now?oh its ok because Taake is old guard black metal from Norway, but now if Panopticon does it , which he does, that’s just hippy cascadian hipster shit, NOT black metal! ugh , too much coffee.
My favorite element to black metal in all its various incarnations is the atmosphere. There’s that intangible “something” to black metal that gives it an engrossing character which, regardless of whether you’re casually listening or intently focused on the music, you can’t help but get absorbed into it – swaying/bobbing your head, tapping along with blast-beasts, etc.
Favorite element and/or subgenre: Deathspell Omega or anything that is authentically inspired by Deathspell Omega.
I guess I’d try on the label, “atonal black metal,” and Blut and Deathspell are at the top of the list. Atmosphere is one of the most attractive qualities of black metal (and that’s actually kind of paradoxical, as that atmosphere is often dense, suffocating, and very cold… not qualities I’d label as “attractive” in any area but music–and EX-girlfriends). When I pick up a new release by a band of this ilk, I know that I can count on one thing: the unexpected. And somewhere in those twisted “non-harmonies,” there’s a musical logic that is accountable only to itself. Cool.
What I enjoy most about Black Metal is how much my parents hate it.
Thrashy black metal, such as Ravencult, Malfeitor, Urgehal, etc. is my favourite.
I can’t get enough of Skeletonwitch lately, so I’ll have to say I enjoy blackened thrash the most.
When it comes to various types of art I appreciate expressions that incorporate outside (and sometimes) eccentric elements. My love for black metal is not exempt from bands and albums that are not afraid to push the boundaries of what is defined as “black metal.” There are countless bands who use challenging and quirky elements to challenge and inevitably alienate their audience. For the sake of this writing I will focus on two bands and their respective albums: Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk, and the Shining’s Blackjazz. Each example takes the traditional notion of black metal and absolutely flips it on its cranium.
My first exposure to Emperor was Anthems and it took awhile for me to digest what I was hearing. At first I appreciated the black metal and symphonic arrangements. Emperor composed in such a way that these styles did not contrast each other. Rather, both styles enhanced the overall product. It took me awhile longer to appreciate Ishahn’s vocal style. He could transform from a growl to a clear style that belonged in a dramatic production, (i.e. “With Strength I Burn” and “Thus Spake the Nightspirit”). One can actually sing the refrain of “Nightspirit, Nightsprit, Oh Sprit Embrace my Soul” with an accompanying dance number and it would not be entirely out of place. Trust me, I have tried to the amusement of others. The classical elements and clean vocals definitely challenged traditional perceptions of black metal and potentially alienated fans who enjoyed earlier albums like In the Nightside Eclipse or Wrath of the Tyrant but I loved the unexpected yet diverse elements found on Anthems. Looking back, it was not a coincidence that I eventually came to admire classical music after immersing myself in the music of bands like Emperor, Dimmu Borgir and Arcturus who were not afraid to incorporate different styles into their music.
Blackjazz calls to mind equal parts Mahavishnu Orchestra, 90s circa Scandinavian black metal, acid jazz and King Crimson. The convergence of these contrasting styles should not work, but in my sonic universe the Shining reign supreme. It is hard to pinpoint one specific song that best exemplifies my claims. The entire CD is a clashing of eccentric styles and I love every discordant note of it.
One final note to wrap up these ruminations: listening to quirky, eccentric and progressive black metal does not diminish my love for the genre as a whole. In fact, checking out different bands and styles within the genre inevitably cause me to love bands who play a more traditional style of black metal. I still enjoy and will continue to enjoy such landmark releases as Sworn to the Dark, A Blaze In the Northern Sky, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Beyond the Apocalypse, Sons of Northern Darkness and so forth. In other words, there is room for various styles under the pitch-black sky.
I like how there’s finally some good music coming out of France after all these years!
(at least since Amazone. Sortilege ftw!)
Hearing Nattefrost piss and puke has always done it for me all these years. Also, there’s the “absolutely nothing” comment, but I’m not that Kool. Looking at classic, early ’80’s pictures of Motley Crue and wondering, “What does this black metal band sound like?” has kept me entertained for a while now. I bet you they sound like the future.
Venereal black metal is number one.
Black metal provides violent fury without the popcorn movie gore of death metal, energy without the tired trappings of thrash, sorrow without the goofiness of goth, and chaos without the fashion of punk. Bands like Lunar Aurora, Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega allow a grand design into their work that transcends and becomes greater than the music.
I like black metal because it readily embraces and expresses the ideals and imagery that much of modern society rejects or has forgotten with no hesitation. Pan, blood sacrifice, paganism, Satan, anti-theism, Wicca, etc…
i dig a lot on DSO and BAN as well as the american bands krallice, liturgy, deafheaven etc. they all rock fairly hard and i am glad that there are bands who are trying to change black metal instead of replaying the same buzzy lofi shit that is supposedly TRVE
What’s most interesting in Black metal is the very fact that some of the best bands in the genre have a strong tendency to move away from it and still manage to sound very Black Metal. Few genres have as much failures as it has wins but when Black Metal hits at the jugular, its deadly.