4 ms·
> This one's a bit unique as it all began with a small group of teenagers in Jessheim in Norway in the late 80s/early 90s. They wanted to be 'evil' and 'extreme
by obombration 10y ago
> This one's a bit unique as it all began with a small group of teenagers in Jessheim in Norway in the late 80s/early 90s. They wanted to be 'evil' and 'extreme' but they lacked the musical ability to rival the predominantly (at the time) Swedish and American Death Metal scenes. So instead they did what anyone would do (not) they started burning down churches, proclaiming themselves 'Satanists' and killing each other.
That statement ignores a big part of the black metal aesthetic and does a huge disservice to the many great musicians in the scene. The raw production values were in response to the rising popularity and commercialization of death metal around the late '80s and early '90s and the 'plastic' production that came with it. Listen to Soulside Journey and then A Blaze in the Northern Sky and try telling me it wasn't absolutely intentional. Then listen to anything Emperor released and try telling me "they lacked the musical ability to rival the predominantly (at the time) Swedish and American Death Metal scenes."
Euronymous spent tons of time perfecting the production of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Whether it sounds harsh to the average listener or not (it does), he went out of his way to have 1) audible bass (check it out on headphones sometime), 2) thunderously huge drums and 3) cacophonous guitars, true to his playing style. These were all calculated, intentional decisions, meant to drive the cold, bleak aesthetic.
- Applejinx 10y agoIndeed. Also, there's an interesting side-issue in that the 'corpse sound' of Black Metal was a conscious rebellion against overproduced death metal, but the same choices from a rock band would read as RAW, not 'bad'. There are parallels with AC/DC, who continually struggled against the record industry's desire to slicken and produce them. I like the heck out of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (you'd never think it to look at me) and have listened to it on a really high-end professional mix system with very good DACs and amplification, and far from being 'corpse, bad' sound, they actually managed a big, live sound that delivers the impact of a black metal band quite well. Just because it's not 'slick' doesn't mean it's low fidelity. For instance, Jethro Tull's 'Aqualung' is a very similar 'raw' sound but strikingly high fidelity on the right equipment. I strongly recommend the documentary, "Until The Light Takes Us" if you're interested in black metal. Varg "Count Grishnach" Vikernes in particular, interviewed in prison, has a lucid and striking account of the motivations of the early Black Metalists.
- careersuicide 10y agoOn that note: I consider "Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult" by Dayal Patterson a must read for any fan of black metal. Patterson went straight to the sources as much as possible and managed to paint a complete and (perhaps more importantly) non-sensationalist picture of the genre from just before it became a discrete thing up to the around the time the book was published in 2014.
- careersuicide 10y agoI take extreme exception to their characterization of the beginnings of black metal. Not just because of the unfortunate dismissal of technical ability. Rather, anything that doesn't start off by mentioning Venom and Bathory and instead jumps to what is arguably the second wave totally outs itself as not having actually listened to what the larger names in the genre have themselves said. If you read interviews with the members of bands who started in the late 80's and early 90's they all have the same influences in common (with few exceptions): Kiss, Mercyful Fate, Venom, Bathory, and Celtic Frost. Skipping ahead a decade kinda misses how the aesthetic was established. Which as you mentioned was very much intentional.
- Floegipoky 10y agoActually they mentioned Venom, and did describe the "churchburners" as the second wave
- careersuicide 10y agoThis is what I get for scanning for the quoted part, finding it, and assuming that was all that was said. I take back what I said.
- ZenoArrow 10y agoSlightly off topic, but any recommendations on Mercyful Fate stuff? I don't know much of their back catalogue, though I did play this at a Halloween party once, I enjoyed it immensely, other people not so much! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ObAaVZwULH4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ObAaVZwULH4
- careersuicide 10y agoPersonally I'd recommend "Don't Break the Oath"[0] or "Melissa"[1]. But really their whole LP discography can be listened to in an afternoon. King Diamond as a solo artist has been a bit more prolific though. 0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpk1wJ62CrQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpk1wJ62CrQ 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_PjBUcbzqY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_PjBUcbzqY
- tptacek 10y agoTangential question: how do you get around how overtly racist these bands are? You're citing Darkthrone, for instance, which is basically the poster-child band for teenagers using metal as an excuse to shoot people and burn things.
- Poiesis 10y agoDo you have some references for this (I was afraid this was a problem but hadn't looked into it)? Been wanting to talk to my son about that. He loves the music, he's seemingly not racist, but repeated exposure to that crap is not good.
- tptacek 10y agoPretty much anything you read about Darkthrone in particular is going to point out their involvement with Varg Vikernes (who basically put Black Metal on the map) --- who is a neo-Nazi (a "blood and soil nationalist") and a convicted murderer --- and released an album with overtly antisemitic messages.
- butterfinger 10y agoWhich Burzum album do you consider to have overtly antisemitic messages? Varg only started being a Neo-Nazi in prison and after releasing most of his influential music. So this says nothing about Darkthrone.
- tptacek 10y agoSorry, unclear antecedent. Was referring to Darkthrone.
- butterfinger 10y agoThank you for claryfying! Would you mind to elaborate on that? I'm not a huge fan of Darkthrone and while I know that many of their songs are anti-judaism I don't remember any racist lyrics.