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Top Five First Wave Black Metal Albums


RelentlessOblivion

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So this idea is kind of inspired by a thread on my other forum. They don't have to be landmark albums. Just your 5 favourite first wave BM records - the ones you come back to most. In case you're wondering the thread which inspired this idea was actually a top five early Norwegian BM albums query.

 

Anyway my top 5 would be

 

Venom - Black Metal

Tormentor - Anno Domini

Sodom - In The Sign Of Evil

Destruction - Infernal Overkill

Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...

I've been listening to a lot of First Wave stuff recently so here's another 5:

Bathory- "The Return..."

Venom- "Welcome to Hell"

Sodom- "Obsessed by Cruelty"

Bulldozer- "Lost '84 Demo Tape"

Master's Hammer- "Ritual"

 

First Wave Black Metal is just magical. It's beautiful to see the birth and development of all kinds of Black Metal and other forms of Extreme Metal.

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I've been listening to a lot of First Wave stuff recently so here's another 5:

Bathory- "The Return..."

Venom- "Welcome to Hell"

Sodom- "Obsessed by Cruelty"

Bulldozer- "Lost '84 Demo Tape"

Master's Hammer- "Ritual"

 

First Wave Black Metal is just magical. It's beautiful to see the birth and development of all kinds of Black Metal and other forms of Extreme Metal.

 

The debut from Master's Hammer is recognized as the first black metal album of the second wave. As such, it doesn't make much sense on a first wave list, but it is one of the best black metal albums of all time either way.

 

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5 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

 

The debut from Master's Hammer is recognized as the first black metal album of the second wave. As such, it doesn't make much sense on a first wave list, but it is one of the best black metal albums of all time either way.

 

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Ah, makes sense. I had mistaken it for a First Wave album because i knew that they had already been making demos for a while. Perhaps I would swap it for Vulcano's "Bloody Vengeance".

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On 02/03/2017 at 6:30 AM, Skull_Kollektor said:

So is it okay to consider that Destruction thing black metal?

I'd throw the first Running Wild in there too, then! It's all about Satan this and Satan that!

This is why it's tricky talking about the first wave. It's not really a wave at all - more like a collection of separate beaches. Some I prefer to bathe in more than others. I have a permanent vacation house at Bathory Beach, which is easily the best. For some reason this post turned into a metaphor. 

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So is it okay to consider that Destruction thing black metal?

I'd throw the first Running Wild in there too, then! It's all about Satan this and Satan that!

 

Absolutely. Early Destruction, Kreator, and Sodom are all black metal. Destruction dropped pretty much all of it for the straight up thrash of Release From Agony. The first Running Wild may not wholly qualify, but at least a few songs on it should, especially the Mercyful Fate flavored S.O.S.

 

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Alright, here is my TOP 5 then (based exclusively on my personal taste and understanding of the genre and not on historical relevance - I use the one album per band rule):

1- Mercyful Fate - "Melissa"

2- Running Wild - "Gates to Purgatory"

3- Venom - "Welcome to Hell"

4- Sodom - "In the Sign of Evil"

5- Celtic Frost - "Morbid Tales"

I fucking love "Sentence of Death" and "Endless Pain", but I still find it hard to put them in this context for some reason.

Gotta say one thing about Hellhammer. I have the Apocalyptic Raids tracks in a Noise CD with some extra tracks. I respect the ideas and the attitude, but I sort of despise the results... and so does Tom G Warrior himself, apparently! The coolest thing about Hellhammer is the looks!  

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Alright, here is my TOP 5 then (based exclusively on my personal taste and understanding of the genre and not on historical relevance - I use the one album per band rule):

1- Mercyful Fate - "Melissa"

2- Running Wild - "Gates to Purgatory"

3- Venom - "Welcome to Hell"

4- Sodom - "In the Sign of Evil"

5- Celtic Frost - "Morbid Tales"

I fucking love "Sentence of Death" and "Endless Pain", but I still find it hard to put them in this context for some reason.

Gotta say one thing about Hellhammer. I have the Apocalyptic Raids tracks in a Noise CD with some extra tracks. I respect the ideas and the attitude, but I sort of despise the results... and so does Tom G Warrior himself, apparently! The coolest thing about Hellhammer is the looks!  

 

A fine list, I think Melissa was on mine as well. I have yet to hear any first wave black metal that I don't like though. That includes Hellhammer, who was awesome, but nowhere near as incredible as the band that they would give way to.

 

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Yeah you're right, I was too harsh on Hellhammer, it's just that what followed was so great that it overshadowed their achievements eheh

I'd like to squeeze "Power From Hell" by Onslaught as well somewhere in my list.

And now a special mention for a "fake" first wave band... Witchfynde! I love them anyway, but I'm pretty sure that many a metalhead expected something nastier by looking at the goat of their debut album and the sacrificial altar shown on their third record eheh

The first album by Cloven Hoof also sometimes gets thrown among early black metal episodes. Musically it is far removed, but lyrically and image-wise there are some similiraties.

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Yeah you're right, I was too harsh on Hellhammer, it's just that what followed was so great that it overshadowed their achievements eheh

 

I'd like to squeeze "Power From Hell" by Onslaught as well somewhere in my list.

 

And now a special mention for a "fake" first wave band... Witchfynde! I love them anyway, but I'm pretty sure that many a metalhead expected something nastier by looking at the goat of their debut album and the sacrificial altar shown on their third record eheh

 

The first album by Cloven Hoof also sometimes gets thrown among early black metal episodes. Musically it is far removed, but lyrically and image-wise there are some similiraties.

 

 

 

 

I had never heard those two NWOBHM bands being lumped into the first wave black metal crowd, but I have heard it with Angel Witch. If they had more songs like Angel of Death, then it might make sense, but you can't really toss a band into a genre for one song. Onslaught makes sense, because they first album was very Venom inspired, I just wouldn't put them on a top 5 list for anything.

 

 

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Well, I have friends who bouth this LP right here hoping for something along the lines of other famous goats (Venom, Bathory) and were quite surprised to find out that this band had more in common with Thin Lizzy (music-wise).

The third one, "Cloak and Dagger", actually sounds A LOT like Mercyful Fate, thanks to the new singer Luther something.

As for Cloven Hoof, well, I have the Sanctuary reissue (which is actually worth some money these days) and the booklet keeps bragging about how Cloven Hoof were black metal this and black metal that. I don't remember if its the band members themselves or the writer, though, I will check in a few minutes.

Frankly, they had pagan touches, dabbled with the occult, wore tight spandex, rivets, chains and had stage names. The music was run of the mill British NWOBHM with the occasional great segment here and there.

If Cloven Hoof were black metal, then the debut of french band Satan Jokers also was black metal! With a track like "OFFRANDE" (french for OFFERING), that is as black metal as it gets eheh ("offer your life to your master / commands his sceptre / offer your life to your God / let your blood run red" - quick translation, the french tune rhymed eheh).

witchfynde.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another top 5:

1. Hadez- "Damnations from the Past"

2. Necrodeath- "Into the Macabre"

3. Slaughter Lord- "Thrash 'til Death 86-87" (I know it is a compilation which was put together after the fact, but, nevertheless, it's absolutely First Wave Black Metal)

4. Sabbat- "History of a Time to Come"

5. Mefisto- "The Megalomania Puzzle" (Another compilation, but still First Wave Black Metal)

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Another top 5:

1. Hadez- "Damnations from the Past"

2. Necrodeath- "Into the Macabre"

3. Slaughter Lord- "Thrash 'til Death 86-87" (I know it is a compilation which was put together after the fact, but, nevertheless, it's absolutely First Wave Black Metal)

4. Sabbat- "History of a Time to Come"

5. Mefisto- "The Megalomania Puzzle" (Another compilation, but still First Wave Black Metal)

 

It's nice to see Slaughter Lord here, but you've listed the wrong Sabbat.

 

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1 hour ago, BlutAusNerd said:  

It's nice to see Slaughter Lord here, but you've listed the wrong Sabbat.

 

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Aw, damnit. I love that Sabbat album but I knew something was kinda off. I'll have to dig in to Japan's Sabbat.

 

Get on that sooner rather than later, Sabbat (JPN) is incredible! Their fifth album The Dwelling: Melody of Deathmask is one of my favorite black metal albums. One song, one hour, one brilliant experience.

 

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14 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

 

Get on that sooner rather than later, Sabbat (JPN) is incredible! Their fifth album The Dwelling: Melody of Deathmask is one of my favorite black metal albums. One song, one hour, one brilliant experience.

 

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Damn, that sounds really cool. Will do. Thanks for the tip!

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  • 4 months later...

Here's yet another list, as my First Wave preferences, once again, are shifting just a bit.

1. Sarcófago- "INRI"

2. Sodom- "In the Sign of Evil"

3. Bathory- "Bathory"

4. Sepultura- "Bestial Devastation"

5. Destruction- "Sentence of Death"

Honorable Mentions:

Morbid- "December Moon" Demo

Mercyful Fate- "Melissa" 

Hellhammer- "Satanic Rites"

Celtic Frost- "Morbid Tales"

Grotesque- "In the Embrace of Evil"

Tormentor- "Anno Domini"

Slayer- "Haunting the Chapel"

Venom- "Welcome to Hell"

 

Honorable mentions are in no particular order. They are just my other favorite albums of the First Wave.

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