What is "black metal"

n. 1 iron, or similar metals worked by a blacksmith 2 (context music English) A subgenre of heavy metal employing fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars, double-kick drumming and unconventional song structure, often emphasizing antireligious and misanthropic themes. 3 (context music dated 1980s and early 1990s English) Any form of extreme metal having a Satanic or anti-Christian theme.

Black metal is an extreme subgenre and subculture of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.

During the 1980s, several thrash and death metal bands formed a prototype for black metal. This so-called first wave included bands such as Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. A second wave arose in the early 1990s, spearheaded by Norwegian bands such as Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal, Emperor and Gorgoroth. The early Norwegian black metal scene developed the style of their forebears into a distinct genre. Norwegian-inspired black metal scenes emerged throughout Europe and North America, although some other scenes developed their own styles independently. Some prominent Swedish bands spawned during this second wave, such as Marduk, Nifelheim and Dark Funeral.

Initially a synonym for "Satanic metal," black metal is often met with hostility from mainstream culture, due to the actions and ideologies associated with it. Many artists express extreme anti-Christian and misanthropic views, advocating various forms of Satanism or ethnic paganism. In the 1990s, members of the scene were responsible for a spate of church burnings and murders. There is also a small neo-Nazi movement within black metal, although it has been shunned by many prominent artists. Generally, black metal strives to be inaccessible to the mainstream and those who are not committed.

Black Metal is the second album by English heavy metal band Venom. It was released in November 1982, during the great flourishing of metal music in the UK that was the new wave of British heavy metal, and is considered a major influence on the thrash metal, death metal and black metal scenes that emerged in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Although lending its name to the latter genre, today the album is often regarded as thrash metal rather than black metal. AllMusic has described it as " thrash metal". Nevertheless, its lyrics and imagery were a major influence on the early Norwegian black metal scene.

The original cover art was made by the band's bassist and singer Conrad "Cronos" Lant.

Black Metal is an album by Dean Blunt, released on Rough Trade Records in November 2014. The album features vocals from Blunt and frequent collaborator Joanne Robertson.

Musically, Black Metal features more traditional pop song structures than Blunt's previous work, but is diverse in instrumentation and genre. The album includes elements of indie pop, folk pop, Americana, dub, ambient, grime, drone, and dancehall. Critics have also noted the prose of Blunt's lyrics as being similar to contemporary hip hop lyrics, which often reflect that of dark subjects like cheating and alcoholism.

Blunt has stated that the album was inspired by what he sees as black artistic liberation away from the appropriation of 'existing white images' (a la names like Black Elvis and Black Cobain) toward 'something that is undefined and is new'.