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Recommended Black Metal bands?


stuarthall95

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We've had a few threads devoted to BM recommendations and other chat, including these: http://metalforum.com/black-metal/1076-recommendations.html http://metalforum.com/black-metal/6660-current-black-metal-bands-listen.html http://metalforum.com/black-metal/3837-your-top-100-black-metal-albums.html Personally, I like Darkthrone (though less than I used to), and a bit of Immortal, but my favorite second-wave Scandinavian bands are Ulver, Satyricon, and Dawn. I've recently gotten into some Burzum as well, his shit never clicked with me much until last year. If you take your focus off Scandinavia, there's some great stuff old and new to be found elsewhere. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Averse Sefira, Thantifaxath, Furia (Poland), Drudkh, and Jute Gyte. Based on your list, you might like some of that stuff. Dig around here, there are plenty of video links to get you started.

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Yeah, my taste is a little Norway intensive. Strange that you say that Burzum took a while for you to click with.... That's the band that converted me into a Black Metal fan, it just clicked for me that BM was about creating atmosphere and my interest just escalated from there. Thanks for your suggestions, will check them out!

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I like BM bands such as Burzum, Gorgoroth, Immortal and Darkthrone but find it difficult to get into other bands. What bands are similar to these or are otherwise worth checking out?
The recommendations thread that FatherAlabaster linked to below is filled with YouTube video recommendation posts that I put together for others here. It started for one user specifically, but I have kept it going since and run the gamut of different styles of black metal to suggest. Norwegian BM is not an absolute favorite of mine, but I should still have plenty of lesser known bands represented that would interest you based on what you listed above, like Aeternus, Manes, Ljå, Taake, Ragnarok, etc...
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

I see you've been digging in the threads we already have going, that's good. Black metal has been developing for over thirty years and there's a lot to take in. Everyone will have different highlights. For first wave, mine are early Hellhammer/Celtic Frost (up to "Into The Pandemonium", which is more avant-garde), Bathory's "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" and "The Return", and Sarcofago's "INRI", which is sort of a bridge between 1st and 2nd wave and has some thrash and DM going on as well. For the 2nd wave Norwegian scene, I prefer Darkthrone from "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" through "Transilvanian Hunger", though I enjoy them up through "Sardonic Wrath"; the first three Satyricon albums; Ulver's "Bergtatt" and "Nattens Madrigal"; Burzum's "Aske" and "Filosofem"; some early Enslaved though they're arguably "Viking" rather than BM (I enjoy their later albums more, but check out "Frost" and "Blodhemn"); some Thorns and Dødheimsgard; and you should definitely check out Mayhem, Emperor, and Immortal, as others have mentioned above, though I'm not personally as taken with their stuff most of the time. For the more melodic Swedish 2nd wave, I dig Dawn's albums, the first Sacramentum album, and maybe try the first Naglfar album, and keep in mind that there's a bit of stylistic overlap there with the early Swedish melodeath scene. Dissection is another classic Swedish BM group that you should definitely hear, though personally I've never been too excited by them.You may also enjoy Shining (SWE), totally different vibe but I like their 3rd, 4th, and 5th albums in particular. If you like their depressive vibe, I'd recommend Bethlehem's "Dark Metal" and "Dictius Te Necare", which aren't BM strictly speaking, but have a compelling combination of melancholy and anger. Don't miss Rotting Christ's first three albums, they're my favorite of the Greek 2nd wave though I haven't really dug into that scene. "Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers" made a big impact on me as a teenager, though it's the least "black metal" of their early albums. My USBM standouts are Leviathan and Averse Sefira, but I'm admittedly not huge on the US scene, there's plenty to discover if you should feel like digging around. The first four Cradle Of Filth albums have been in constant rotation for me lately, if you find yourself in the mood for keyboard-heavy Gothic/BM bombast. There's the dissonant French stuff, like Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord, as well as the super-kvlty LLN scene; the first two albums by a Polish band called Furia are excellent, riffy and melodic BM; Drudkh, from the Ukraine, has some amazing melodic/atmospheric albums (particularly "Autumn Aurora" and "The Swan Road" for me); I'd recommend Obsequiae for a dose of pure medieval melody; and more experimental recent groups like Krallice, Imperial Triumphant, and Abyssal that are often described as black metal though I wouldn't put them in that box. Jute Gyte is another experimental project that I can't recommend highly enough, though it may be off-putting because of how much attention it requires; I recommend starting with "Isolation", "Verstiegenheit", and "Discontinuities". Free on Bandcamp, too. 

There's a ton of stuff that I haven't mentioned, don't like, or haven't heard yet. I'm not the most knowledgeable person on black metal around here, but I've gotten a lot of enjoyment from most of the music I listed above. Keep digging through the recommendation threads and let us know if you find anything you particularly like. Happy hunting.

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  • 3 months later...

Hello, the mourning palace by dimmu borgir along with gateways, and some immortal stuff like mighty ravendark has hooked me on black metal. I love the black metal tremolo picked riffs you here at the end of mourning palace and the riff right after they say "forever more" in gateways. I know these riffs are all over black metal but where can I find the best? Thanks! Also, being one of the more popular black metal bands is dimmu borgir hated on a lot by elitists?

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I'm not a big Demon Burger fan, but they have some good songs and I get the appeal. Check out Satyricon's "The Shadowthrone" and "Nemesis Divina", Cradle Of Filth's "Dusk... And Her Embrace" and "Cruelty And The Beast", Diabolical Masquerade's "Nightwork", and maybe Borknagar's "Empiricism". For something less riffy and a bit more atmospheric, check out Dawn's "Slaughtersun" and Ulver's classic "Bergtatt". Also be sure to check out the black metal recommendation thread. Good to see you developing a taste for other stuff.

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15 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I'm not a big Demon Burger fan, but they have some good songs and I get the appeal. Check out Satyricon's "The Shadowthrone" and "Nemesis Divina", Cradle Of Filth's "Dusk... And Her Embrace" and "Cruelty And The Beast", Diabolical Masquerade's "Nightwork", and maybe Borknagar's "Empiricism". For something less riffy and a bit more atmospheric, check out Dawn's "Slaughtersun" and Ulver's classic "Bergtatt". Also be sure to check out the black metal recommendation thread. Good to see you developing a taste for other stuff.

Awesome! I'll start listening

3 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Black metal is pretty vast, about the only thing that you can do is explore it. You'll run into some patterns in sound based on scenes, year of release, musicians involved, etc..., so you kind of just have to see what fits for you.

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I will definitely start exploring probably gonna start with classics

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