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Black metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music. Death metal is often closely related.
Black metal has proven somewhat difficult to categorize. Some fans and musicians have a firm concept of genre and subgenre, but others reject such categorization as limiting or useless and think of black metal more as an artistic movement than a sub-category of popular music. There is often significant crossover from one category to another, and often the influence of non-metal music is present.
The progenitors of modern black metal are bands like Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Bathory, and Venom. The movement can be seen in its mature form with the recordings of Bathory in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Black metal congealed in its current form through the influence of Norwegian bands such as Darkthrone, Enslaved , Burzum, Mayhem, Immortal and Emperor, who began with the earlier style and introduced elements from mainstream heavy metal, classical music and hardcore punkHardcore punk is an intensified version of the punk rock genre, characterized by bands who play short, loud, and angry songs with exceptionally fast chord changes on highly overdriven guitars. The lyrics are often political in nature, and typically violen and popularized the style to a growing underground audience. Their influence is most apparent in the Satanic imagery, blasphemous lyrics and occult themes.
1 Characteristics
Black metal characteristics can include:
- heavy distortionIn telecommunication and signal processing, the term distortion has the following meanings: #In a system or device, any departure of the output signal waveform from that which should result from the input signal waveform's being operated on by the system'
- fast, repetitive guitarnylon strings. steel strings and more guide dots on the fretboard. A guitar is a stringed musical instrument played with the fingers or a plectrum ( guitar pick). The sound is produced by vibrating strings. Guitars have a body (which is hollow for acousti playing and riffing
- high- pitchedIn music, pitch refers to the perception of the frequency of a note. For example, the A above middle C is nowadays set at (often written as "A 440 Hz", and known as concert pitch , although this has not always been the case (see #Historical pitch standard screeching vocals
- swift percussionPercussion instruments are played by being struck or shaken. They are perhaps the oldest form of musical instruments. Some percussion instruments play not only rhythm, but also melody and harmony. Classifications Most percussion instruments have a distinc
- repetition
- technical simplicity
- overtly anti-religious lyrics, often taking the form of SatanicSatanism is a religious or philosophical movement centered around Satan or another entity identified with Satan, or centered around the forces of nature, particularly human nature, represented by Satan as an archetype. Unlike many religions and philosophi themes which blasphemeBlasphemy is defamation of God or gods, and by extension of gross irreverence towards any person or thing worthy of exalted esteem. In this broader sense the term is used by Sir Francis Bacon in the Advancement of Learning when he speaks of "blasphemy aga Christianity, and other occult themes
An abraded, very low fidelity recording style is common to the early albums associated with the genre. Modern black metal has incorporated atmospheric elements using ambient guitar and keyboard passages such as organ sounds or other miscellaneous instruments.
A distinct feature of the early bands' image was the use of corpse paint, a special kind of black and white make-up which was used to make the wearer look like a decomposing plague victim, also hiding their identity.
