Black metal

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I like black metal. Some of it, anyway. I guess I don't like all of any genre. I also like "white metal," which as far as I'm concerned is still black metal. Most of my favorite BM albums are genre fusions, so don't come down too hard on me if you're a purist. Anyway, my favorites...

Antestor - The Forsaken
Crimson Moonlight - Veil of Remembrance
Darkside Journey - Pervasive Solitary (Free on Bandcamp!)
Desiderium - An Image of Solitude (Free on Bandcamp!)
Evroklidon - The Flame of Sodom
Kekal - Embrace The Dead
Moonsorrow - Tama Ikuinen Talvi
Shadows of Paragon - Through The Valley Within
Skyforger - Thunderforge
Slechtvalk - At The Dawn of War and A Forlorn Throne
Synnove - The Whore and the Bride

Kekal is especially strange and abrasive. After Embrace the Dead, their albums include more and more noise art and electronic sounds, but each is more difficult listening than the last.

[Forlorn Drifter]

This genre is such an annoyance for me.

I LOVE the musical style of Black Metal. But as a Christian, I have to say no to a lot of Black Metal bands that are just straight-up Satanic. God Dethroned is a perfect example. Such a fantastic band, but so overtly anti-Christian.

I wish there were more bands that played the Black Metal style, but had lyrics that weren't all about church-burning, killing Christ, and staking Christians. They do exist, but they're far and few in-between.

Now just to be clear, I'm not such a Bible-thumper that I can't listen to anything offensive. It would be pretty hard to be a metal-head if I had that mentality. I just don't want to listen to stuff that's straight-Satanic.

This, and I'll throw in that I don't do too well with the shrieked vocals- I like listening to and understanding vocals, and I can't do that with the shrieked vocals, the same that I can't with the extremely low death growls. When it comes to harsh vocals, I end up listening to mostly stuff in the melodeath range- somewhere between a growl and a shriek.

I'll say I can dig some Viking-Era Bathory though. Epic stuff.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Lyrics can add a lot to a song and especially a concept album. I love it when artists treat their lyrics with as much care as the rest of their work, and when I'm making music I usually try to do the same. At first I couldn't understand growled vocals either, but after a few years I can "translate" pretty much everything. Some bands are so lazy with their annunciation it's impossible, though.

If you can't understand the vocals' words, you can still understand the raw emotion. You can treat it as instrumental music, or foreign music. Flamenco in Spanish, folk metal in Finnish, spacey pop in Japanese, metal in baffling animal noises. Whatever.

[BurningDoom]

^ I don't mind bands I can't understand if the music is still good. Vintersorg is a perfect example. I only speak English, so I don't have a clue what they're saying. But they're damn good still.

[BurningDoom]

This genre is such an annoyance for me.

I LOVE the musical style of Black Metal. But as a Christian, I have to say no to a lot of Black Metal bands that are just straight-up Satanic. God Dethroned is a perfect example. Such a fantastic band, but so overtly anti-Christian.

I wish there were more bands that played the Black Metal style, but had lyrics that weren't all about church-burning, killing Christ, and staking Christians. They do exist, but they're far and few in-between.

Now just to be clear, I'm not such a Bible-thumper that I can't listen to anything offensive. It would be pretty hard to be a metal-head if I had that mentality. I just don't want to listen to stuff that's straight-Satanic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unblack_metal

That might help.

Thanks!

[Forlorn Drifter]

For me, the black metal that I pick up on is the symphonic/melancholic stuff. Either epic, or wallowing in the darkness of life. I think to an extent that I pick up on that stuff because I've grown up with and like all the dark, melancholic styles of country and bluegrass. Hank Williams and the Louvin Brothers, along with many others, sing about things more darkly and horrifically than any other music I've heard. I like to apply that to what black metal I pick up on, and part of that is the lyrics. I can't really pick up on it without lyrics to go with it.

But, I also listen to very little black metal. Only certain stuff with friends really. Its just not something I really want to attempt to get into. I like the instrumentation of doom metal more, and it is easy to find with clean vocals. So... I like it more than black metal.


Plus, I don't like surfing through all the crappy satanic bedroom bands to find the actual good ones.

[Auron_Amarth]

I like the intensity, I like the atmospheric approach, but my main issue with black metal seems to always be a general lack of flair in the instrumentation. Just not enough going on musically to keep me engaged. I know I'm generalizing, but I always find myself underwhelmed if not bored when trying to give a black metal album a go. Ensiferum, Dissection, and Bathory always stand out as being very good though.

The more melodic blackened death metal is my favorite type of black metal, i.e. Dissection, Sacramentum, Dawn, Vinterland, Noctes, (old) Naglfar, etc but I do like some of the first and second wave bm bands like Emperor, Mayhem, Burzum, Ulver, Bathory.

Vinterland - Welcome My Last Chapter is one of my favorite albums. You should check it out if you like the melodic side of bm. I wish I got the reprint a few months ago. Damn...

I can also tolerate some DSBM like earlier Xasthur, Leviathan, and Sterbend. But the ultra lo-fi bedroom one man bands don't really do anything for me usually.

Edit: I'm also a big fan of Grand Belial's Key, even though I don't agree with the lyrics, etc., but the music is so awesome. Like a NWOBHM band with black metal vocals.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Vinterland - Welcome My Last Chapter is one of my favorite albums. You should check it out if you like the melodic side of bm. I wish I got the reprint a few months ago. Damn...

Yes! One of my favorite BM albums. The best example of melodic BM - I like it even more than Dissection, Sacramentum, Dawn, etc...

Edit: I'm also a big fan of Grand Belial's Key, even though I don't agree with the lyrics, etc., but the music is so awesome. Like a NWOBHM band with black metal vocals.

Those dudes can go eat a bag of dicks. Same goes for Arghoslent.

[Auron_Amarth]

Edit: I'm also a big fan of Grand Belial's Key, even though I don't agree with the lyrics, etc., but the music is so awesome. Like a NWOBHM band with black metal vocals.

Those dudes can go eat a bag of dicks. Same goes for Arghoslent.

I agree. But the riffs man, the riffs! haha

[AppleQueso]

Wow this is an old thread. A little embarrassing for me even!

I will say though... Scandanavian death metal > Scandanavian black metal