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Black Metal

Black metal is everything that scared your mom. In a genre of music well-known for razor sharp instrumentals and theatrically intense lyrics, black metal marks the height (or perhaps nadir) of the metal world's dalliance with the dark side. Lyrics glorifying The Adversary, murder, madness, death, and all that jazz is central to the black metal scene. How seriously you choose to take the imagery is up to you (and, as Metalocalypse proved, there's a lot of goofy humor to be found here), but there's no denying that really good black metal can melt your face completely off. The sinister lyrics, the sinister downtuned guitar, the gruesome corpse paint faces, the incredible live shows, and the charnel house atmosphere of death and decay make for a gleefully wicked time. Unfortunately, due to the obtuse subdivisions of the heavy metal scene, it can be difficult to figure out where to begin a black metal music collection. Fortunately, I got your back.  

To The Death And Far Beyond

Trying to navigate the mine field of heavy metal minutea can be frustratingly difficult. For instance, did you know that black metal is different from death metal and that black metal can be divided into a dozen subcategories like symphonic black metal, blackened death metal, black doom, Viking black metal, and so forth? I think it's goofy to get that specific, but these little categories keep fans amused.  The term "black metal" was first coined by the early 80s British band Venom who, along with acts like Sweden's Bathory, solidified a lot of the sound and the look of acts to follow. Later acts would refine the genre's sensibilities, bringing out the screaming vocals and the gory corpse paint look that later acts would routinely use. Major bands from different eras of black metal include Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate (which straddles enough other sub-genres to be annoying), Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Carpathian Forest, Enslaved (my ex loved them), and everyone's current favorite band Dimmu Borgir. Black metal has a huge following in Northwestern Europe, where the scene remains huge. Unfortunately, European black metal fans have been responsible for church burnings and murders, which has given the scene an unshakable negative reputation. If you're interested in this side of black metal, check out the documentary ''Until The Light Takes Us''. 

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