Black metal

[marurun]

And haven’t had much time to explore new music in a while (or play games, for that matter), but Dream Theater was my long-time go to, mostly just for their sheer musicality.

[Nintendork666]

Which Dream Theater album would you recommend to someone who's not very familiar with them? As I said I love bands like Mastodon and Opeth, but also Tool & animals as leaders. If that helps

[marurun]

I haven’t followed Dream Theater since Mike Portnoy left and was replaced by Mike Mangini but of the albums I know I think Images and Words is a great intro to the band, though it is distinctly, probably definitively, early 90s prog metal. Metropolis Pt. 2 marked a shift in sound with a new keyboard player who is now their longest running keyboardist (they are prog metal, yo) and is a great album. And as for their newer stuff, The Astonishing has been getting good reviews. Basically, before 2009 there was a bit more metal, and after 2009 I am reading there has been a little more prog.

Tl;dr Images and Words is still one of their most impressive albums.

[isiolia]

I'd agree with that - I've listened to most of the newer ones at least a little (usually bought anyway), but haven't really ended up with 'em in heavy rotation since maybe Black Clouds and Silver Linings, if not before. Metropolis Pt.2 is probably my overall favorite album of theirs.

If that's more the era you like, Portnoy's new band Sons of Apollo would be one to check out (for instance).

[BoneSnapDeez]

Thread title: Black metal

Last cluster of posts since the thread was bumped: "I don't listen to black metal but..."




THIS IS A BLACK METAL ONLY ZONE. POSERS GTFO.

[marurun]

I actually do not know what distinguishes black metal from other metal. Enlighten me, bone!

[prfsnl_gmr]

If the album art is also the cover of an old Psygnosis game, it’s black metal. I think that’s the key distinction between it and K-pop music.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I actually do not know what distinguishes black metal from other metal. Enlighten me, bone!

CliffsNotes version.

Black metal is a type of underground metal that initially began in Western Europe, in tandem with the rise of other types of extreme metal (death and [non-trad] doom).

The genre was refined during its "second wave" which was geographically situated in Scandinavia (primarily Norway). This infamous scene was comprised of a bunch of various weirdos: edgelord teenage Tolkien/D&D LARPers to violent criminals.

As far as musical tropes go black metal typically features (purposefully) lo-fi production, an emphasis on atmosphere rather than technicality, hypnotic repetitious riffs, fuzzy guitars, tremolo picking, muddled bass, prominent "synths" ($100 Casio keyboards), blast beats, and screamed/snarled vocals. Thematically, the early Scandinavian scene has/had a reputation of being "Satanic" though most of it was really more focused on paganism and nature-worship.

Since those early days the genre has spread worldwide and this style of music is embraced by people of all stripes. There's an extremely unfortunate white nationalist black metal scene, as well as anarchist and Marxist-Leninist bands. And Christian black metal. And anything else you can imagine. It's a mess.

I prefer the 90s classics. Here's one of the genre's defining tracks (if I had to pick one):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iaj2w7Bp58

Here's an atypically good song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk86M3xUbXw

If the album art is also the cover of an old Psygnosis game, it’s black metal. I think that’s the key distinction between it and K-pop music.

This actually isn't too far off.

Also, one prominent old black metal band was caught plagiarizing tracks from Agony (the Psygnosis Amiga game).

[Ack]

Truly, Black Metal is the most hipster of extreme metals. That is because Thrash is too drunk to care, Doom is too busy crying, and Death is too into reading the dictionary for lyric ideas.

Black Metal's biggest issue is a PR one, which admittedly Black Metal also doesn't give a shit about. The issue is that it's been externally defined by its worst examples of criminals and people with severe mental illness. After all, the edgelords weren't mailed pieces of Dead's skull after his suicide nor burn down churches, but as those were the cases the general public heard about, those were the cases they latched onto.

If anything, Black Metal is the most extreme of the four extreme metals because it allows for such wide ranging ideologies and inspirations; it's fringe, and that's where it always wants to be. So yes, it appeals to the likes of hideous ideologies as well as bizarre and unusual but expressive takes on popular religion. There's a lot of creative freedom to express however you want in the genre, even if your ideas are vilified.

I don't listen to much Black Metal, though I enjoy a few classics such as Bathory or Venom(which is really more of a hybrid with Thrash Metal). If anyone could point me to one that emphasizes bass guitar the way Bolt Thrower does, I'd be happy to check it out. Or drum pedals. I like when my music sounds like an incoming helicopter.