BLACK METAL
“On 8 April 1991, Ohlin (lead singer from mayhem) committed suicide in his own home.”
“Eithun was convicted of murdering Magne Andreassen, a gay man, by fatally stabbing him in Lillehammer Norway on 21 August 1992”
“On 6 June 1992, Fantoft Stave Church was destroyed by arson.”
“On August 10, 1993, Oystein Aarseth died as a result of numerous stab wounds sustained during a violent confrontation with fellow musician Varg Vikernes.”
The main responsibility for these crimes is pointed towards Black metal and the culture behind the music.
In the late 60s, Bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and deep purple are known to be the first recognised heavy metal bands. They still refered to their blues roots but add more aggressive tones, distorted guitars and strong vocals. However in the mid 70s bands such as judas priest discarded the blues roots and added further to the development of metal music.
Over time bands kept on making metal more aggressive and faster. Then the underground scene then produced a selection of more extreme, aggressive styles such as Death metal, thrash metal and Black metal.
The three main bands to inspire the movement of black metal were Venom (Newcastle), Celtic frost (Switzerland), and Bathory (Sweden). These bands were releasing songs in the early 80s and were known as the first wave of black metal. Venom’s 1982 album “Black metal” has inspired many black metal bands in the second wave, with its raw production and its distorted sound. It is also where the name black metal arrived from. These bands have also influenced black metal bands visually as well. The covers usually contain sharp contrasts, unusual fonts and black, dark backgrounds.
First wave
Second wave
Black metal in the early 1990s has a unique sound and many elements which you would not find in over genres. Some of the features of the music included high pitched screams or shrieks and no melody to the vocal line; this was very much inspired by the first wave bands. The guitars are distorted and include a lot of minor chords which can relate to the lyrical content of the music and the points they are trying to put across. The guitarists normally use techniques like tremolo picking which is alternative picking usually repeated on the same note. The drums usually play a blast beat, which is a fast drum pattern. The bass guitar is usually less important than the rest of the instruments. Black metal tries to keep clear from popular song structures and includes lots of instrumental sections.
These singles and albums are main examples of black metal in the 1990s:
Aske EP – Burzum (1993)
The production is very raw and does not cost much to record. Varg Vikernes from Burzum makes it quite understood that the black metal bands did not care much for the sound and tone of the album and sometimes even tried to make it sound less professional, he writes “When I recorded all the Burzum albums I used an old Weston guitar that I bought cheap. The bass I used was the cheapest bass guitar they had in the shop. When it came to drums I simply borrowed a drum kit from the drummer of Old Funeral. On "Filosofem" I didn't use a guitar amplifier at all, but instead used only the amplifier on my brother's stereo (that of course was not intended for that use) and some old fuzz pedals. For "singing" I used whatever microphone the sound technician handed me, or - when I recorded "Filosofem" - I asked for the worst microphone he had, and ended up using the microphone in a headset.”
Black metal has an exclusive sound and uses different techniques but black metal is arguable more focused on the lyrical meaning and the point behind the music than the actual music itself. The main theme in black metal lyrics is anti-religious and anti-Christian. The reason for this theme is because Norway (where most of the black metal bands come from) was invaded by Christians which built churches all over Norway. This can link to other genres like britpop which was very patriotic. So many bands use their lyrics to put their point across, but some bands go further and this results in churches and religious places being burnt down.
Many black metal bands do not perform live because lots of black metal bands are projects with no more than two or three people. When black metal bands do perform they often use props. They usually wear inverted crosses to support their believe of anti-Christian and anti-religion. Many black metal bands wear black and white make up and sometimes complete with blood, this is meant to produce the appearance of a corpse. This can to some extent link to other genres around this time like girl power which the groups in general wear similar uniform.
All though black metal still remains, some bands try to break into the mainstream and move away from the guided outlines of black metal. A good example of this is Progenies of the Great Apocalypse by “Dimmu Borgir”. In this song, the band uses clean, melodic vocal lines and their production is rich and does not sound raw. Although the traces of black metal are there, many black metal fans say this music is not true black metal.
Black metal has gone on to influence many subgenres of heavy metal. Deathcore and Metalcore uses elements of black metal such as the high pitched scream, blast beating and the tremolo picking guitars. There has also been many Mixed genres of black metal such as ambient black metal, folk and viking black metal, and Symphonic Black metal.
Taking everything into account, you could argue whether music is so important for black metal followers or is it just second place to the message they are putting across.
So is black metal really a genre of music or just another culture?
Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_metal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_(musician)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantoft_stave_church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust_(musician)
http://www.burzum.org/
http://themusicsover.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/oystein-aarseth/
Links to music videos
http://www.youtube.com/
Matthew Gleason
“On 8 April 1991, Ohlin (lead singer from mayhem) committed suicide in his own home.”
“Eithun was convicted of murdering Magne Andreassen, a gay man, by fatally stabbing him in Lillehammer Norway on 21 August 1992”
“On 6 June 1992, Fantoft Stave Church was destroyed by arson.”
“On August 10, 1993, Oystein Aarseth died as a result of numerous stab wounds sustained during a violent confrontation with fellow musician Varg Vikernes.”
The main responsibility for these crimes is pointed towards Black metal and the culture behind the music.
In the late 60s, Bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and deep purple are known to be the first recognised heavy metal bands. They still refered to their blues roots but add more aggressive tones, distorted guitars and strong vocals. However in the mid 70s bands such as judas priest discarded the blues roots and added further to the development of metal music.
Over time bands kept on making metal more aggressive and faster. Then the underground scene then produced a selection of more extreme, aggressive styles such as Death metal, thrash metal and Black metal.
The three main bands to inspire the movement of black metal were Venom (Newcastle), Celtic frost (Switzerland), and Bathory (Sweden). These bands were releasing songs in the early 80s and were known as the first wave of black metal. Venom’s 1982 album “Black metal” has inspired many black metal bands in the second wave, with its raw production and its distorted sound. It is also where the name black metal arrived from. These bands have also influenced black metal bands visually as well. The covers usually contain sharp contrasts, unusual fonts and black, dark backgrounds.
First wave
Second wave
Black metal in the early 1990s has a unique sound and many elements which you would not find in over genres. Some of the features of the music included high pitched screams or shrieks and no melody to the vocal line; this was very much inspired by the first wave bands. The guitars are distorted and include a lot of minor chords which can relate to the lyrical content of the music and the points they are trying to put across. The guitarists normally use techniques like tremolo picking which is alternative picking usually repeated on the same note. The drums usually play a blast beat, which is a fast drum pattern. The bass guitar is usually less important than the rest of the instruments. Black metal tries to keep clear from popular song structures and includes lots of instrumental sections.
These singles and albums are main examples of black metal in the 1990s:
Aske EP – Burzum (1993)
The production is very raw and does not cost much to record. Varg Vikernes from Burzum makes it quite understood that the black metal bands did not care much for the sound and tone of the album and sometimes even tried to make it sound less professional, he writes “When I recorded all the Burzum albums I used an old Weston guitar that I bought cheap. The bass I used was the cheapest bass guitar they had in the shop. When it came to drums I simply borrowed a drum kit from the drummer of Old Funeral. On "Filosofem" I didn't use a guitar amplifier at all, but instead used only the amplifier on my brother's stereo (that of course was not intended for that use) and some old fuzz pedals. For "singing" I used whatever microphone the sound technician handed me, or - when I recorded "Filosofem" - I asked for the worst microphone he had, and ended up using the microphone in a headset.”
Black metal has an exclusive sound and uses different techniques but black metal is arguable more focused on the lyrical meaning and the point behind the music than the actual music itself. The main theme in black metal lyrics is anti-religious and anti-Christian. The reason for this theme is because Norway (where most of the black metal bands come from) was invaded by Christians which built churches all over Norway. This can link to other genres like britpop which was very patriotic. So many bands use their lyrics to put their point across, but some bands go further and this results in churches and religious places being burnt down.
Many black metal bands do not perform live because lots of black metal bands are projects with no more than two or three people. When black metal bands do perform they often use props. They usually wear inverted crosses to support their believe of anti-Christian and anti-religion. Many black metal bands wear black and white make up and sometimes complete with blood, this is meant to produce the appearance of a corpse. This can to some extent link to other genres around this time like girl power which the groups in general wear similar uniform.
All though black metal still remains, some bands try to break into the mainstream and move away from the guided outlines of black metal. A good example of this is Progenies of the Great Apocalypse by “Dimmu Borgir”. In this song, the band uses clean, melodic vocal lines and their production is rich and does not sound raw. Although the traces of black metal are there, many black metal fans say this music is not true black metal.
Black metal has gone on to influence many subgenres of heavy metal. Deathcore and Metalcore uses elements of black metal such as the high pitched scream, blast beating and the tremolo picking guitars. There has also been many Mixed genres of black metal such as ambient black metal, folk and viking black metal, and Symphonic Black metal.
Taking everything into account, you could argue whether music is so important for black metal followers or is it just second place to the message they are putting across.
So is black metal really a genre of music or just another culture?
Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_metal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_(musician)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantoft_stave_church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust_(musician)
http://www.burzum.org/
http://themusicsover.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/oystein-aarseth/
Links to music videos
http://www.youtube.com/
Matthew Gleason
