The Bizarre Truth About BLACK METAL
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
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What explains the strange popularity of black metal? I look at the history of black metal, black metal documentaries and the philosophy of black metal bands like Emperor, Marduk and Darkthrone.
Edited by Tim Gilli: bit.ly/tmgprmba
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0:00 Intro
2:59 Early years of black metal
7:23 The Satanic Panic
11:27 How popular IS black metal?
15:13 Are the elitists right? - บันเทิง
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First
Nice video man a big fan of yours
Second!
1 view! I’m EARLY
I'm not sure if you need to bend the cap more... But it's close.
When you're comparing GG Allin to the Unibomber you're talking about the extreme opposites of IQ, right?
Fun fact: today, Wagner Lamounier, Sarcofago's vocal, is a teacher of economy on my college in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Very nice and chill guy.
Holy shit that’s funny. I listen to them almost daily
Bet the economy is the last thing the students asking him during the lectures 😜
Verdade kkkk
So he's a poser!!
How so??
Finns been working so hard on becoming more likable that he finally found a way to compliment black metal. This man is trying and I appreciate it.
lmao
I' like Finn's content.
I' also disagree with many of his opininions, but we don't need to hate him for that.
After all; we all have our own opinions, that doesn't mean he is a bad guy. Besides he is older than us & has made it in life.
I'd actually think twice, before ignoring what he says.
Also, seems like a great guy to be around.
They are trying hard, don't they?
@@dissonantbrainz3556I disagree with how much he shows respect to stuff he doesnt actually like or respect lmfao. But I get it. Getting a bunch of views is better than getting a fandom of teenage freaks in your mentions.
No matter what i still have a soft spot in my heart for ”Freezing moon” with Dead on vocals.
Pelle is still missed to this day.
For sure. Legitimately so haunting.
absolutely
Dead on vocals forever and ever. I’ll never listen to mayhem beyond live in leipzig
When it's cold... and when it's dark... the freezing moon can obsess you
The reason legacy Black Metal bands get less than 500,000 Spotify listeners per month is because we actually invest money into physical media like the vinyls and CDs and stuff like that.
My thoughts exactly, the likes of Spotify, are destroying the music industry. Always directly support the bands you like.
Listening to music off of streaming can be so jarring.
I'll be thinking "This is fantastic, just wish everything was not so blown out or soft.", then bam, the purchased version is sharp and punchy with tracks you couldn't even hear over the compression.
100% agree. I got a really nice collection of vinyls
Yes, it's called not evolving with the times
@@bojnebojnebojne Taylor Swift, the biggest star in the world, has released multiple vinyl versions of her albums, so wouldn't they have been ahead of the times?
I'm a black metal musician from the 3rd wave. I remember tape trading in Oslo in the mid-90s. The thing that made the crime associated with the genre back then so shocking in Scandinavia was not necessarily just the nature of the crimes themselves, but in my opinion was more due to the (at the time, at least) incredibly low crime rate in Norway. Add in the musicians themselves hamming it up for a tabloid media they held only disdain for, and voila - instant international noteriety.
I still stand by my statement that Jonas Åkerlund was apparently in a different Oslo than i was in the early 90s.
Why do you say that about Jonas Åkerlund?
Do you have any material youd like to share?
Akerlund is the commercial tool that only implicates interest with the normies. Only adding that old shade of satanic panic. Blame him for not leaving the curiosity of the genre alone. Enticing curious kids to discover it time and time again.
I like how DarkThrone keeps up
There are several things that did not go down as the media portrayed them to be, but anytime I take the time and effort to write about it it has the same outcome - being called a liar or told that I am full of it.
Tl;dr: If you decide to consume theLoC book or movie you should enjoy it the same as any other piece of drama fiction that is "based on a true story". In other words it will be grossly distorted and highly fictionalized by the film industry.
To me every good Black Metal track has an incredible sense of atmosphere and emotion hidden within the completely fucked sounds production, which makes the music feel so much more honest and true. Untouched by any logical or money driven reasons just fuck it I want to make this, so I'll make it.
Honest and true 😂😂 So other bands like Metallica or Nirvana are not honest and true
@XAMAKA... correct, they aren't. They are huge sellouts
Honestly, some of the better black metal tracks are just like listening to good music on a broken radio. Once you discover the melodies in all the noise, it's quite nice.
@@XAMAKA... No way you brought Metallica of all bands into this topic lmao.
@@whiterunguard9978 Ok i Pick Queen 😂
I was a hangaround back in the day. Me and my friends partied with a few of the known bands like Ulver, Mysticum and Satyricon. Today being 47 looking back and having viewed a few of these videos about the scene there is one thing that never gets mentioned and that is that we were kids and kids do stupid shit. Being 16-20 in most cases, buying into the whole message and trying to live it up. It all changed when success abroad started happening and making money wasnt seen as selling out any more. I look back fondly on those times, but i have no illusion about what it really was.
Are Mysticum really as crazy as they seem? lol
Motley Crue's first album was not "Shout At The Devil". It was "Too Fast for Love".
Props for diving back into the hornet's nest of black metal content, Finn! I love black metal. I also love having a job, rock climbing, being a good dad, and not spending time debating with other black metal fans.
Facts
This is the way. Although replacing rock climbing with model painting.
Based
I adore Black Metal but cannot be arsed with the fandom of it all.
Warhammer?@@mediocore808
13:33 "The most avant-garde, repellent inaccessible thing you can imagine"
We'll take it!
Metal Machine Music?
For the record I think you guys sound beautiful. Like a Persian Behemoth.
Enthrone darkness triumphant is not only my fav. black metal album, it's my fav. metal album period. Dimmu Borgir really nailed it with that album.
Agreed. It was the first black metal album I heard back in 2000. I couldnt sleep all night becuase I kept listening to the songs over and over again, and I knew my life was changed. I still listen to the album on a daily basis.
Love that album 🤘
Enthrone darkness triumphant is absolutely one of my favorite albums ever.. 🤘 next summer they play at Tuska festival 👌
Good album. Spiritual Black Dimensions is actually my favorite by them and yes I know I'm in the minority on that but I also think that Puritanical is their best album.
Horrible.
Just a small correction: Dissection is a Swedish band.
“Let’s make sure we stay underground by making ourselves as unlistenable as possible” is certainly a strategy
I sincerely respect it
@@ThePunkRockMBAbahahaha finn REALLY trying to prove it. Lmao
@@ThePunkRockMBA while it’s somewhat respectable I don’t think it’s anymore authentic than cynical pop music, it’s still allowing someone else to dictate what sort of music you make and enjoy, just in the opposite direction.
They r so wrong. I like multiple genres. One of them is metal. Am i a poser bcs of that? Not like u need to dedicate ur entire life to a music genre. Its completely stupid 😂.
@@ChoB1denLiking multiple genres? That's illegal.
Black Metal is one of those things that I think most people can't just "get" until something in their life has made way for that vibe or feeling to come around, and especially when we look at Atmospheric Black Metal. There's a lot of things about bands like Summoning, Agalloch, Lustre, Ulver, Panopticon etc. that kind of strike a similar nerve in me to what emo does, but just a lot more tortured and unresolved, and I get the same story from a lot of people who got into it that way.
DSBM, Atmospheric BM, Blackcore, Dissonant BM, Industrial BM have never been considered part of the "Trve Kvlt" movement, and understandably so (I also appreciate those subgenres a lot more than classic 2nd wave BM, despite loving that subgenre as well, musically and artistically speaking). Those scenes developed when hardcore kids entered the black metal realm. Look at Kvarforth and Raikku from Shining, or Scott from Xasthur, or the guys in Diapsiquir, look at their ideologies: they were all left-wing hardcore kids (if you see Kvarforth even from the extreme left) discovering a niche metal subgenres that kept that DIY philosophy. They even mock their Trve Kvlt fanbases calling them "cringey" and "all about the stereotypes and the tropes" whereas they want them to be immersed in the music and the message behind it.
I feel that completely. When I first started listening to Black Metal, I would put a bunch of albums on my iPod & take it camping with me.
Being in the woods during the sunset & night time made Black Metal hit very differently.
It doesn’t make me unique, if anything I’d hope to meet others who got into it in a similar way.
Your comment strikes a chord. When I was diagnosed with infllamatory breast cancer in my 30s(a rarity accoridng to doctors), they didnt think I was going to survive and the regular Heavy/Power Metal I used to listen to, didnt feel right anymore. I travelled deeper into the underground, found DBM, Extreme Death Metal and some that dont even fit into any catagory at all because they are that experimental(Gnaw Their Tongues I'm looking at you). I'd found the soundtrack for what I believed at the time, were my last days. Weirdly, this dark music, also gave me the strength to beat that horrible virus and live. Today, I have scars left over from surgery and side effects from the meds that saved my life but I will never forget that Black Metal music was, in a large part, instrumental in giving me the will to fight back and live. With everything that followed after, it became my soundtrack for dealing with hell in a shitty world.
Black metal has become "emo" with the second wave from Norway, before that it was all very rough and aggressive. I'd argue that war metal is the only actual black metal subgenre that stayed true to the roots of the style while progressing the 80s sound.
@@starscreamthecruel8026 Gnaw Their Tongues ❤️❤️❤️
“Hey welcome to punk rock mba, and before we start, here’s a message from our sponsors….not happy with your current bed mattress? ….”
The aesthetic is definitely one of the coolest things in black metal. I don’t know why lots of people seem to hate it so much.
Probably bc theres alot of NSBM nazis in that scene
@violentspectral "Lots of NSBM" lol. No more than anti-semitism and homophobia in hip hop and remind me what genre spawned RAC?
@@mandu6665 thats bc nazis dont ever invent anything new they just corrupt what already exists into their own volatile ideology
@@mandu6665 In what way does your argument invalidate morpheuslaughing's comment? It's a fact, it's the truth. We all know that besides anti-semitism and homophonbia in hip hop there are a lot of NSBM nazis in that scene... there are people that separate the art from the ideology, I don't like both, and hey I'm a lefty metalhead. It's easy to be a fascist in a free country, but try to be a democrat in a fully fascist world. I like right-wing people, but fascists don't tolerate anything... and I applaud your comment, yeah I kinda agree with you mate... neo-nazis are everywhere in music, not just in NSBM, but, I'll repeat it yet again, it doesn't mean that they are not there.
@@mandu6665 Plus, I think that hiding being a neo-nazi is just lack of self-respect. I've always been a metalhead, and I've always been left-wing. Never changed since a kid. If you believe in something, don't hide it. It's not like the whole world will agree with you, it's impossible. I don't like neo-nazis, but I think they should BE what they are. If you believe in something, don't hide it. If you don't think I've suffered from being true to my beliefs, you're wrong. Dude if everybody in the world was true to their beliefs, everybody would suffer more, but at least they'd be true to what they believe.
"Too Fast For Love" was the first Mötley Crüe album.
Thank you. Came here to say this. 🤘
“Until the light takes us” is a good documentary on black metal.
Very sketchy though lol. I just watched it for the first time in years and that documentary goes a little too hard on the whole "fascism is cool" and "Euronymous deserved it" rhetoric
@@JosephFuckinStalinboth those things are true though
@@JosephFuckinStalinFascism isn't the problem.
I've actually had quite a bit of contact with people in the Oslo Black Metal scene over the years thanks to friends. My experience in that the reason for the continued relevance of the scene is that it is full of 2 synergistic, but very different kinds of people.
On the one hand you have the "ideologists", though masters of aesthetic would maybe be a better choice of words. People who either have a deep-rooted belief in a concept, someone like Varg, or people who know how to court controversy and publicity for their own gain like Ghaal.
On the other hand you have the craftsmen. Absolutely brilliant musicians who want to push their craft to the extreme.
The fact that these two types of people can still work together towards a parallel goal is why the scene stays relevant. It's how it survives the constant upheavals and protects itself from devolving fully into parody.
Anecdotally, all of the people I've met from the music side of things are actually really chill people. As long as you don't try to demean their musicianship.
It’s laughable that Maiden and Priest were considered super edgy at one point.
not really considering they invented that style and nothing like it existed before them.
@@Nosferdamusthe point is… nowadays they sound soft and campy.
It is very laughable.
Maiden was even forbidden to enter and play in Chile back in ‘92-‘93 (can’t remember the exact date). The irony is that Maiden has such popularity in Chile that in 2010 in a Iron Maiden concert in Santiago de Chile, Bruce Dickinson said that gig was the biggest one in Maiden history in terms of crowd. (50,000 at the time. And yes, they have played in front of 200,000 in the 80’s on rock in rio, but that was a festival, not an Iron Maiden concert).
@@ROVA00 compared to what? their own sound? have you heard their latest shit? both bands released albums just last year, they don't sound old in them at all. they only sound "campy" when you compare them to other bands who are adding to their style.
Never joined a “scene”. But I am a fascinated observer of them all.
Don't feel ashamed for liking what you like.
True.
True sigma statement
Based
One thing you possibly glanced over too is you can't really use spotify to judge black metal listeners, because black metal I believe is one of the last bastions of true physical media listeners, whether if CDs, LPs, or Cassettes, including actual song rips/downloads on their computer or phones.. Just as you see at 17:35 in this video, dude has a wall of CDs, you just dont see listeners of other genres of music these days who have any considerable amount of physical media, if any..
I fall in this camp too, I do not use spotify, tidal, qobuz, or whatever, instead my entire metal collection I actually own either the physical copy of the album and the digital files on my computer and uploaded onto my phone on a playlist i've made myself, and in my car on an SD card. And virtually every friend I had over the years who listen to black metal are the same, their metal consumption is largely physical media or ripped/downloaded mp3 or flac files.
I am a tape collector (primarily tapes I have some vinyl and cds too ofc) and it's a great time to be a fan of underground music. The internet has made it possible to discover and follow obscure bands from all over the world and be one of the few people to snap up their limited physical releases, usually not very expensive though international shipping can be lol
@@jackvancekirkland thats the thing too i forgot to mention in my reply.. another top reason why listeners of black metal dont really use the streaming services is because aside from the popular metal bands in recent years being added to streaming services (too little too late), most black metal bands cannot be found on any of the streaming services.
So this also contributes to fans of metal not adopting streaming services to consume music, as they couldn't find any bands they truly love on them (it's one of the main reasons I gave up after trying out the streaming services years ago, the pathetic metal libraries accross spotify, tidal, qobuz, etc.
how to tell that you are a boomer in a nutshell.
@@Drippinonyou how so? When you consider numerous black metal bands don’t release their music on streaming services, Bandcamp or anything officially posted online. Instead only physical media is the only way to get their music or unofficial uploads to TH-cam
@jonathanchia9167 Has nothing to do with age. It's about the culture in bm.
The funny part to me, as part of the Black Metal scene in Bergen in the late 90s early 00s, is that many of the artists mentioned here isn't that extreme in their day to day life. I have talked GI Joe action figures with Ørjan from Taake, music with Gaahl (I couldn't get hold of a Gaahlskagg album, and he simply offered to give me one of his copies if he could find it) or been to parties where Abbath and Demonaz struggled to communicate at a normal volume level, and just yelled their answer. I have not spoken to many members of the Oslo scene, apart from Nocturno Culto. I met him when I went to a Hank Williams III concert. But I did not get the evil gatekeeper vibe from any of them.
I once spoke to Nocturno Culto (Ted...) on the phone, very relaxed and personable guy.
It sounds like you must have gone to the same parties as one of my best friends, Jokull from Frosthardr.
@@Metalbass1979 can't say the name rings a bell, but Bergen is a small place and even though I did not actually make any music, I met folks every now and then and had friends that made Black Metal and had me tag along for a few parties...
I saw Hank III as well in Collegno, Italy in 2012 or 2013
Black metal is what non metal listeners think all metal is
I would agree, but Slam exists lol
Slam xD
Nah, they think all metal is like ACDC / Iron Maiden / Kiss
@@JosephFuckinStalinI like slam and black metal sm i cooked 😭🙏
that's the same thing i've said to one of my friends who doesn't like metal lmao, it's so true
My freshmen year of high-school it was discovered that our history teacher was a band member in gorgaroth. Never would have guessed it just a cool quirky dude with a heavy accent that played sabbath, metallica, etc while we finished homework and what not
Was your teacher King Ov Hell?
It’s nice to see you going outside America and talking about music everywhere.
I just genuinely enjoy black metal more than any other genre of music. It’s just beautiful, especially the more experimental or atmospheric stuff
We get it; you're built different. You'll listen to music you don't enjoy just to be contrarian.
Nah it’s fun. Such a sonic assault can be quite meditative
Ok, buddy.
Feminazgul is straight up beautiful.
So edgy
Strong nostalgia, I grew up obsessed with BM in the early 90's, seeing bands like Dimmu Borgir or Dark throne playing in local pubs in Stockholm to an audience of 200 people.
Good times but over here we took it way too seriously, if it wasn't the rise of nu metal years later I wouldn't even know it is ok to listen to different genres, my BM bros mocked me relentlessly for liking the first album of Slipknot lol
Early Dimmu Borgir were great, but I remember they were the ones who turned BM into a trend in the late 90s, along with Cradle of Filth. It was not the media coverage about church burnings.
I read that as 'I grew up obsessed with B&M'
Same thing. Had I not discovered Nu Metal, Metalcore, Gothic Metal, Symphonic Metal and Deathcore, I wouldn't be into this stuff. The Evanescence to Black Metal pipeline exists
@@lethybridtheorygolucastheo2191 do you still listen to hybrid theory, or have you let it go?
@@baby_joe I still listen to Hybrid Theory as it’s my favourite album ever and was my gateway to metal but my username is a mix of that album and Avril Lavigne’s Let Go
A lot of black metal is actually very melodic and easy to listen to compared to brutal death metal or grindcore, it doesn't surprise me that it has wider appeal than other styles.
Exactly! BM is probably my favourite subgenre of metal but I never liked it for being „brutal” because I never thought of it as brutal. The main point was to be raw and atmospheric and that is awesome.
Brutal dm and grindcore is trash. There I said it. I don't care. It's not music. Just noise.
@@gdl9362 this proves my point! My mom says back metal is noise, BDM and grind are just too much for you, because you don't like it doesn't make it trash.
I agree. What I find hard to listen to in music is odd time signatures, lack of musical structure, and dissonance.
Black metal is generally 4/4. More structured than DM, and while they have some signature chords that have some dissonance.
It's not like just minor 2nds played against each other just to be noisy or sound like an alarm clock.
A lot of pure DM sounds every member is playing a different song.
Trad/true, speed/thrash and doom are more my preferred metal genres. I've just turned 57 so that's probably got something to do with it and what I've been diggin' for 40+ years. I do agree that black metal when done well can be brooding and atmospheric with a high standard of musicianship. However, those demented screeching vocals that most employ does turn me off.
I hear some of the music and I often ask "why tho". This video really helped me figure it out.
When you say "genre designed to be unappealing" I think you get something important wrong. It's not "designed" to be unappealing, it's just what black metal heads feel deep inside and that happens to be unappealing to most people. It also is not made only for the people "who are willing to suffer when listening to it". I suffer more when I DON'T listen to it. It mirrors the suffering inside so it feels calming almost, like a cure for the suffering. I personally can listen to black metal to sleep in at night.
You gotta make a video on how diverse ween is one day. They literally play every genre with insane level of skill. They get written off as a joke band cuz ocean man became a meme, but if you dive a little deeper you find that they are really freakin good. Plus they have an insane cult fan base that follows them from show to show. I think it would make an interesting video and I think you would do a good job breaking it down.
Agreed. Ween is no joke. They get lumped in with parody like Frank Zappa used to be. They,just like Zappa did,switch into whatever genre they're feeling at the time. And do so convincingly enough to be appreciated by fans of that genre
Ween is extraordinarily Brown
Being a fan of black metal and your stuff, I'd just like to thank you for going out on a limb for us black metal fanatics. The last bit of the video said things perfectly and that's why I revere black metal, it is true outsider art.
I go to a lot of shows of all different genres and generally the most violent, abrasive music (black metal, hardcore punk, crossover thrash) tends to have the most conscientious, outgoing and friendly fans. People are there for the music, often going to shows on their own, but are looking out for everyone else, whether its picking people up in the pit, catching stage divers or just keeping an eye on one another. At larger, more popular and mainstream shows, you get so many people just there for the social aspect, getting drunk with their friends, acting messy, talking loudly and maybe paying attention to one or two songs. It's actually a much more insular, conceited and standoffish vibe. Ironically it's outsider music like punk and metal that is so much more welcoming and has such a rich and exciting community feel.
@@JohnHuxleySavage So...like Juggalos?
LOL, easy now "lord" whatever... Outsider art? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I think one of the main reasons for the longevity of black metal is that it's the most diverse metal genre and it has attracted some of the most amazingly talented and innovative musicians. There are no rules and no boundaries on what you can do. It is said that black metal isn't a music genre that can be described on musical terms. Of course there are some common characteristics, but no truly defining elements.
It is the emotion, the feeling, the atmosphere, whatever terms you want to use. I think most people that are into the genre know what I'm talking about.
i think "shaman metal" can be described in the same terms as "epic metal" where it isn't actually a sub-genre but a vibe that's been pervasive since metal's inception
Can we also mention the fact that the early Norwegian (or modern) black metal scene was also focused on resisting (or a direct response to) the spread of American culture through (but not limited to) various music genres ?
No we can't
If I remember correctly, Varg once told that they shot at a (closed) McDonald's with his dads old gun.
They didnt spoke in english in their songs?
Watain is an awesome live act. The theatrics make it even better than just listening to the album. The one time I saw them the frontman had this giant goblet filled with blood and dumped it on the front row. It was awesome. When we got on the train after the show, someone asked us if there was very violent moshing going on. Good times. Not a normie friendly show, but I wouldn't change a thing.
I saw them years ago in Portland Oregon. Excellent show, a very eclectic crowed . Some were around for the tunes and others of us worshiped. If you are not use to odd smells and being around Theistic Satanist energy, it can be to much. I think of those kinds of shows as rituals. For new people, just go with an open mind.
Eh probably not my scene, even though I like Watain's music, but it sounds metal as fuck and I'm glad you loved every minute of it buddy!
Why would you even want metalhead or black metal friends? Music classification is a marketing tool, but taste in anything can reflect sensibilities. Find people who share yours. Why would you want to remain friends with someone whose occupation or preoccupation is listening to and spreading filth to those hungry for it in society? Standards in music consumption and friends is paramount in living the good life.
Wasn't just venom in the UK but also Amebix, Amebix are the interesting one they get categorized amongst the punk scene but if you go down what made that band up occult lyrics check, practicing satanic rituals check, dark music that was a mix of metal, post punk and hardcore check. in some ways they were more serious about it than venom were.
Amebix were the precursors to what we now call "blackcore", which is not what an elitist or a normie may think of. It started as literally black metal+hardcore/old-school metalcore, further developing into one of the least accessible subgenres of metal. We aren't speaking of what people now call "blackened deathcore", it isn't any of that. Bands like Hexis, Young And In The Way, Hounds, Noise Trail Immersion, Plebeian Grandstand, Dodecahedron, Martyrdöd, now, THAT is blackcore. Even the lastest studio albums by Mizmor and Shining could qualify for it. It's not accessible, it's one of the most unhinged subgenres of metal and hardcore/metalcore. If modern deathcore takes from modern metalcore adding death metal and OCCASIONALLY symphonic black metal, blackcore takes more from acts such as Converge, Integrity and The Dillinger Escape Plan and at times early Meshuggah, making it more I'd say "mathy", although still maintaining that black metal spirit and dark aura and the main focal points of the genre, even in terms of instrumentation.
Love Amebix
Amebix is not black metal but sonically it's pretty close! Venom and Amebix were trading tapes amongst themselves and definitely influenced each other.
Anti Cimex
I love black metal and personally think its early days were its least creative. As more melodic riffs and symphonic touches were introduced, way more creativity entered the genre. I now find it to be one of the most pure forms of expression in all of metal music.
I completely agree. I think Black Metal nowadays is better musically than it’s ever been. I respect those who came before us, but all the different flavors and sub genres within it make it the last bastion of actual art in music.
depends on what you mean, if you are referring to the classic 2nd wave bands like darkthrone, emperor, mayhem etc. I would say that Emperor is the exception there. Even fairly early on they were doing things musically that was vastly different to what bands like Darkthrone and Mayhem were doing. And don't get me long, I love Darkthrone, but its not the most innovative stuff. Summoning also deserves some note for in many ways spawning an entire subgenre of black metal.
The first wave black metal stuff I completely agree with you. Bathory, Venom, Hellhammer all that stuff seems...very uninspired compared to what would come. At the same time, without those bands I mentioned, its a fair question as to wether black metal as we know it today would exist.
Cool vid, I remember being so fascinated by that whole Black Metal ideology, glad I know better now. If you like more ambient chill stuff, I'm in a Black Metal band called Vixenta.
I tend to lean more towards the punk end of the spectrum about 90% of time. For the longest time, I thought I wasn't a fan of metal. Turned out I just hadn't heard the right artists yet. Black Metal, mainly the Norwegian stuff from the 90's changed my mind.
80s black metal is even more punk than the Norwegian stuff; Bathory, Hellhammer, Sarcofago, Blasphemy, Sadistik Exekution...were directly influenced by GBH, Discharge, CrudeSS, Kaaos, etc...
I saw Mayhem live the other day and it felt like a massive fever dream. I even crowdsurfed during Freezing Moon. People genuinely love this stuff, and I'm all for it lol.
Brooklyn steel?
I managed to catch emperor this year in Chicago
NO FUN NO MOSH - actual black metal slogan from the early days
Mayhem sucks
saw them at a small bar a few weeks ago, the best experience in my life, people fighting, doing moshpit, a dude holding an upside down cross, someone screaming/calling Necrobutcher ''bald man'' in spanish, what can i say i love it
Surprisingly accurate and objective analysis from someone outside the culture. A unicorn moment for music journalism in my opinion
I own a piece of Black Metal history, the 2003 Vigier Marilyn custom guitar of Ashmedi, of Melechesh. He’s one of the best artists and a true wise man in this era, and I just wanted to thank the Universe.
Finn: *releases video about black metal*
-Sinizter has entered the chat-
This video is so much better than the one you made three years ago. That one came off as douchey and condescending, but also more amateurish. This is more stream lined and professional, as well as just simply exploring the topic more concisely. It shows growth on your part, good job.
In other words Finn gained some more insight and understanding into something that he originally nearly mocked.
Rick and Paul listening to Burzum really got me
Last I checked up, Varg Vikernes is out of prison, married, living in France and has several kids. He had a TH-cam channel called Thulean Perspective, I don’t know if he’s still doing that.
His channel got banned a few years ago, but he’s on twitter/x
His wife Marie has a channel active on YT where she posts homesteading and homeschooling related content.
Yeah, he was banned on all platforms and arrested in France for inciting. Convicted too, last I heard.
@@anntares172 Inciting for what? Freedom of though? Freedom of speech? Freedom of living?
@@anntares172 The French justice system is awful. What was he supposedly inciting? Because he’s not politically active and spends all his time with his family.
As someone who has been one of the "Trve Kvlt Elitists for more than 20 years now and lives and breathes the black metal lifestyle, I have to say that this is the most articulate and accurate explanation of black metal I've ever seen. And it's coming from someone who up until now I assumed hated everything about black metal and didn't really know much about it. This was probably the best video you've made. Keep up the good work man! Peace, love, hail Satan.
How does one go about living a black metal lifestyle? Asking for a friend.
@@darksu6947if you have to ask you have no business even trying
@@boscxx1447
Not very convincing
@@darksu6947I would start by moving to the frozen north. Next, sacrifice a lamb, sheep or if you're in a pinch, pig.
Now that you're covered in corpse paint and really smelly blood, you're ready to burn down your first church! The older the better too. They light up real good. Now, you're ready to start your very own black metal band and start living the BM life style!
@@boscxx1447 It would appear that our Dark Lord and Savior doesn't love you enough to show you the way Kemosabe. Don't worry though, I got this demon just for you 👿 You're welcome
I was on my way to kill Euronymous myself
Ty for bringing up the connection between the 2
Alcest is still surprisingly unknown. I always joke and say they sound like Jimmy Eat World decided to be black metal and it’s fucking amazing. I think them keeping their vocals primarily in French/improvised vocalizations and the 7-8 minute songs would probably run some off, but I’m here for it.
I also think if they toured the US more often they would be one of the biggest bands in alternative music. But, they do their thing, and I don’t care, because the music is that good.
Honestly that’s the best description of Alcest I have ever seen lmao
Right? The first time I listedned to the Kodama album, I just kept thinking that Jimmy Adkins could start singing at any moment and it wouldn't sound bad at all. It's all love for Jimmy Eat World and Alcest. Both are amazing bands.@@noellegaige9652
Glad you finally gave black metal a fair chance.
You don't need to like it, all of us BM fans understand how repulsive it is to most ears. But if you look beyond the music, as you did, you can see that there is a certain honesty about BM that has been mostly lost in music. It's raw and gritty, and if you're a damaged individual that has been lied to one too many times, like a lot of us are, you really do appreciate that honesty.
It's crazy how influential black metal has been even though it tried not to.
Even in hardcore music, I've surprisingly heard its influence in a random Gulch song like Accelerator or in Mourning's last two releases.
At first it was confusing hearing that in a hardcore song, but I think this video helps explain why.
I think artists these days are all realizing that even if you're not into the genre defining old school black metal stuff on its own, it works really well as a flavor to other styles. Probably explains why a lot of deathcore bands these days have been going in the symphonic black metal direction.
I think of it as a flavor too, just like the other response said. I've never heard a black metal song I loved, but I also hear the influence becoming more and more prevalent and I like it in small doses. Kind of like garlic and onions in food. Do I want to eat a steaming pile of garlic and onions? No. Do they flavor up other things I do enjoy? Yes.
Black Metal sounds best when it's diluted into other genres like Thrash, Death, Crust, etc.
@@anarcho-savagery2097 no, black metal sounds best when it doesn't sound too Norwegian
yes, even in hardcore music. Take the last All out war album for instance !
Stages of being introduced to black metal:
1. Wtf is this bullshit?
2. I just don't get it, it's literally bad?
3. It's kind of cool in how weird it is though.
4. Gotta give credit where credit's due to some of these artists though.
5. You don't understand, it's SUPPOSED to sound like that.
I think that what has helped Black Metal remain relevant and innovative to this day is that what makes a band, an album or a song Black Metal is that it has a lot less restrictions than other metal genres when it comes to the actual music. Black Metal isn't beholden to a specific song structure (like verse-chorus-verse-chorus), it isn't beholden to a certain tempo or time signatures, it isn't beholden to any particular scale, the only thing that could really be considered a pre-requisite is the unclean vocals and even that isn't really a given as Alcest proved with Souvenirs d'un autre monde. What makes a band, an album or a song Black Metal is quite simply the feeling that the music produces. It's not about the technical aspects of the music, it's about the atmosphere that the music creates.
That is why Black Metal is the most musically-diverse metal sub-genre. There are tons of ways that one can create this atmosphere that Black Metal requires and everyone's take will be slightly different.
Perfect video man - nuanced and insightful. Captured exactly the reason I like the bits of black metal that I do - thinking "Why would anyone make this? Who is this even for?!" Pure art.
Love the comparison with rap beef - my go to explanation for non BM fans is that Varg/Euronymous is basically just Bigge/Tupac but with the money and fame replaced with alienation and neurodivergence.
Brillant analogy.
I don’t listen to a lot of black metal day to day, but seeing small BM bands at small venues is THE BEST music experience.
I know the upside-down crosses are supposed to be an insult to Christianity, but it's historically an homage to Saint Peter. He was the apostle who upon being sentenced to crucifixion didn't consider himself worthy to die in the same way as Jesus, so the traditional understanding is that he was crucified upside-down as an accommodation.
Yeah, it's called The Cross Of Saint Peter for that reason.
Also the upside down Pentagram is still a protective symbol in the christian sense, a fact that most "satanists" don't get.
@@stevekramerf242 If you seriously want to do something occult then you paint the pentagram on the floor. There's no upside down.
@@GothamClive That would be a way to protect you from demons and evil spirits. Like I said, the pentagram is a christian protective symbol no matter if it's upside down or not.
@@stevekramerf242 The pentagram is not a Christian symbol. And there is no upside down.
@@GothamClive Maybe, but it is a protective symbol against evil.
The extremity and nihilistic ideology is one of the things that lured me to black metal to begin with. Not because I necessarily felt that way, but I wanted to understand it. And even then it took me a while to get into the more acquired taste bands.
Euronymous once said "There exists an abyss between us and them", but I didn't want to cross the abyss, I wanted to walk straight into it to see how deep the rabbit hole went, and how far I was willing to go. As a result I discovered some amazing bands, some fascinating bands, and some outright horrifying bands.
You should try to listen to power electronics, more extreme than black metal by almost any metric, and it's from a few years before (very early 80s).
My depression, curiosity, and wanting to expand my musical taste did lead me to black metal. Though people will call me a poser, I do love BlackGaze because of the contrast of Darkness and Shimmers. But when it comes to more black metal bands, I do love Emperor, Watain, Imperial Triumphant, and MGLA. I just could never get into Darkthrone, Immortal, and Mayhem. The singers and some of the production sounded really shitty to me, though if other people love that stuff, don't ever let me convince you to not love your favorite music. Also, Enslaved fucking rules!
@@Remedy462 Listen to Immortal At the heart of winter again at low listenable volume,when it clicks,crank to full volume.
Screw what people think!
Props for mentioning Emperor!
Shout at the Devil wasn't Motley Crue's first album, it was their second after Too Fast For Love.
This is a great video. I'm glad you approached things more open minded. I am not the biggest Black Metal fan but I respect it. The band Ive been enjoying as of late isnt Black Metal (Black Metal with Jazz??)but are extremely talented are Imperial Triumphant.
I like the correlation between street rap and black metal sir Finn! I would have never thought them to be as similar as they are 🙂
Yeah I noticed when the guy from Venom mention Satanism and paganism were more of a gimmick to entertain, early hip hop was more gimmicky and entertaining, but than that sound reached tougher communities, they took that sound and made the subject more real, unfiltered and grim
@darrenthetuber743 that’s wild and cool lowkey lol nice to know I learned something new today.
Check out early 90s Memphis rap. Shit was evil af and has a lot of parallels with black metal
Fun fact: I actually did a report/presentation for my myths & legends class on the parallels between black metal and gangster rap and the similarities between the lore of both respective genres, all the way back in 2008. College freshman vibes af.
What's funny is that I once stood on the first row of a watain concert just to see the next band at the festival ayreon. Ayreon is a once in a lifetime project with all happy people. So that means during watain it was a bizarre mixture of happy prog / symphonic / metal fans at one side and dark black metal fans at the other side. That means that people like arjen, floor from nightwish singer of the golden earring etc had to see some pig's blood. Or was it fake pig's blood on my t-shirt and on stage?
Hey bud what's Yr opinion on the metal/hardcore genre about now. Personally I'm all for it pumping the beats to 240 bpm and more is certainly v cool
Nothing more fun than wearing a Hawaiian shirt to a local black metal show.
I really want someone to make a Hawaiian shirt that is black but instead of flowers it's patterned with brutal metal logos best of both worlds.
there was a guy with a nike tshirt in the audience and he seemed so out of place i made fun of him on stage, sorry.
@@i_fish6657 black button up hawain style shirt with a barbed wire pattern
Hawaiian shirt goes great with corpse paint and four inch spike bracelets.
Because it's even more fun if you nail the rest of the attributes.
@@JH-lo9ut call the band "Bloody Sunrise"
Years ago I went to a Watain show and there were pig heads, it smelled of carrion and the band looked genuinely possessed. One the way back it rained, friend of mine came to pick me up from the venue and while driving he broke the back axle of his car. One of the most memorable shows I've been to ;d
Good mini documentary about Black Metal essence.
I personally just like the music and attitude.
I genuinely love black metal, i listened to adarkthrone back when noisy dropped the one man metal video and I became intrigued. I didn't like it at first, but it slowly grew on me after listening to darkthrone, then from there I went fown the rabbit hole. I find I like war metal a bit better such as blasphemy, and conquerer, but black metal obviously has a place in my heart
I don’t care what anyone says but BM riffs are the greatest guitar riffs in any genre of Metal
Last count was over 20+ genres of BM. Not bad considering most people don’t differentiate BM from “hard rock”. There’s something for everybody in BM.
As always - great video.
I went to see mayhem like a week ago and there were security guards at the front of the stage catching crowd surfers 💀
A very articulate and well thought out video! I started off as someone who was simply mesmerised by the history and true crime aspect of the black metal scene, and then I eventually became a massive fan of the music - albeit the more atmospheric and accessible stuff like Alcest and Violet Cold, but I definitely got sucked into it over time
I actually love me some early Marduk. Glorification of the Black God was one of the first black metal songs I ever heard and immediately started hunting down a copy of Heaven Shall Burn.
Lord Belial's another great band from that general time period, though I can't say I've heard them come up since maybe 2001 or so. Enter the Moonlight Gate is excellent.
Satyricon, also. At least pre-Now, Diabolical Satyricon. Even Volcano got a bit... Odd. Fuel for Hatred kinda felt like shit was going in a bit of a weird direction that didn't really appeal to me. Can't really put my finger on why.
Everytime marduk comes town I'm there!
Yeah, I wonder why he chose "early Marduk" at 13:01, maybe it's just me, but I'd say, compared to all the bands that got mentioned, older Marduk stuff is probably the easiest to get into, maybe after Dissection. Love that Swedish BM, Naglfar - Vittra is probably my alltime favorite record.
And, I gotta admit, I really like that Black'n Roll approach of newer Satyricon, newer Darkthrone and mid Carpathian Forest (before Nattefrost completely lost it), works great live, even with sunny weather (where the true norwegian or atmospheric stuff suffers a lot when the mood is not right).
@@Knokkelman The most likely thing I can think of (though it's completely speculation, of course) would be maybe he doesn't like Legion's vocals? Or just prefers Mortuus? I do recall him saying at some point he prefers the less accessible stuff like (if I remember correctly) Havohej. Again, all speculation, though.
If you're into the more rock-inspired stuff like the more modern Satyricon stuff then you may want to check out some of Finntroll's stuff like "Under Bergets Rot" or "Solsagen." If you haven't heard 'em already, of course. I haven't heard the term "Black'n Roll" before but Finntroll's definitely the first band that came to mind when I saw it.
This video reminded me of how epic the video for immortal - call of the winter moon is 😂
"Black Metal is one of the lat true genres of outsider music"
Now cover harsh noise, power electronics, etc.
can't really make a fun clickbaity normie friendly video like this about noise.
As a bm listener, I can say I do enjoy your perspective. One amazing recommendation is kanonenfeiber. They are WW1 Black Death, and are what got me into BM. Even if you don’t enjoy BM, chances are you’ll enjoy the more polished sound and sobering lyrics. 👍
The Lords of Chaos movie is not “the book made into a movie”, they have nothing to do with each other besides the general story and the title. The books draws a lot of parallels to the Norse theme of the Wild Hunt and also touches on a bunch of non- Norwegian bands, and has a chapter on NSBM. The movie is a heavily Hollywood adaptation of what happened with Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor and thats it.
Edit: I also wanted to point out that the LoC book is a work of journalism by two people from outside the scene and there is a lot of personal interpretation of what happened by the authors.
The Hollywood movie was directed by Jonas Åkerlund the Swedish director whose debut work was the Candlemass video for Bewitched, where Per Ohlin has a cameo. The guy also played session guitars for Bathory but quit because it wasn't really his thing. He also produced a ton of high profile videos for the biggest pop stars, the GISM leather jacket in Lady Gaga/ Beyonce's Telephone is his idea for example. All the occult references in Lady Gaga stuff is from his essentially.
the Lords Of Chaos, I'm told is a total work of fiction but that aside, it was still an interesting, if massively inaccurate, movie and that's all I care to see it as. Some day, I will buy one of the books that were actually written by the band to find out what REALLY happened.
@@starscreamthecruel8026 that's wrong people keep spreading that because one time Varg said some stupid incriminating stuff and wanted to backtrack on it.
I would argue that yes the genre is super coopted by commercial interests but I don't think the underground element will ever go away because while someone will always sell out, there will always be more coming in from behind. Technology has even made it easier to enter in an underground fashion and not rely on labels or other commercial interests to succeed.
Great video as always, but Motley Crue's first album was 'Too fast for love', not 'Shout at the Devil'.
I'm so glad you mentioned rap. It baffles me that people don't see how extreme metal (in this case bm) and rap/hip-hop have so many common points. Different sides od the same coin.
This gave me flashbacks to 8th grade when my Christian school made us watch a movie celled Hell's Bells that was all about how satanic metal music was. It totally had the Streisand Effect on a bunch of us though by introducing us to bands we would otherwise never had found.
Such an well though perspective. As a person dedicated to black metal for last 20 years I give you a big thumb up
I have a playlist with all kinds of Metal, because it is a very powerful form of music something like Organ Music such as Toccata and Fugue.
Some of it is a bit shocking at first but if you can get past that, you'll find some of the most clever lyrics, cool guitar riffs, and overall darkness that appeals to us, we the few.
Black metal can be very beautiful and it has a unique atmosphere and is very close to nature, which fits perfectly to the sound.
That's atmosphere black metal,
In the late '90s/early 00's, this was pretty different from what was on the radio... We were listening to old punk and hardcore and metal, and then someone was like, "check out this relatively new shit from Norway", and I remember liking Satyricon and Gorgoroth etc, but mostly because of the Skandinavian "folksiness" and the aesthetic of it... We weren't afraid of this music or these people. We considered them to be very artistic, and we learned a lot about Skandinavia too... It was certainly better than what "Goth" had become, at the time, that's for sure.
I discovered Black metal after finding death metal mainly out of curiosity. I watched lords of chaos and wanted to learn more about the black metal history and its bands. The whole black metal culture is very badass. The fact that it's still underground and its staying that way makes it very appealing. I'm honestly tired of listing to Metallica or other generic hard rock bands that now a days seem more pop.
My little brother went thru a black metal phase after his punk rock phase...I love metal, but I'm also listen to James Brown, and Parliament as often as I listen to megadeth, Faith No More or Pantera. I just like music. When my bro played BM for me...I said..."that sounds terrible, is it supposed to sound that annoying?" and went back to playing Halo 2 or whatever. Your right on about it being a last bastion of outsider art . Respect.
Which band did he play for u?
The band name sounded like "Demon Burger" He was painting his face white, and dressing like a vampire and it wasn't even halloween. I never made fun of him, or put him down. I just went about my business. He moved on since then...I'm completely familiar with alienation, and being an outsider. Been across the country and feel like I don't fit in anywhere. Too much of a free thinker perhaps? I think I just express these feelings with my own art. The "outsider art" description struck a chord for me.
I truly don't care when the purists don't like me, even when I enjoy some of their music. I absolutely despise that individuals will let their elitism alienate them from the rest of the world. One of my best friends was largely into black metal and is now the founder of one of the major rising bands within subgenres and he has since erased many of the people from his past, including myself, because we aren't pure enough. It's genuinely disgusting and heartbreaking.
That's pretty sad
Gatekeeping is cringe, the more people appreciate and connect with an art form the better. Like, I don't like quite a bit of black metal politics, and I am certainly not going to burn down a church, though I am atheist, but I really connect with some of the music and it has brought emotional and entertaining comfort to me and that is all that should matter to anyone and their musical preferences.
weak people tend to do that. They don't see it that way of course but it takes more character to coexist and have a friendship with people who see things differently than you. Cutting them out and leaving them behind is easy. Especially when one just kinda let's it fade away instead of straight up saying " I don't think I like you anymore " ^^
That's a helmet mentality...know what I mean....I LOVE METAL but that is close minded garbage.
@@Remedy462 I actually think some gatekeeping is okay, albeit with limits that aren't about excluding people, just about factual knowledge. However, I totally think he was on the wrong side of gatekeeping and that mentally drove a wedge between us in ways that were unrelated to music as well. Makes me sad to this day. We were close for a good 7 years and he erased me from his life about 6 years ago. It still hurts.
At this point I am not even sure whether I am impressed surprised or shocked (in a good way ofcourse) by the sheer amount of insight Finn holds. I mean this guy's knowledge be it any genre is absolutely remarkable, this ain't the first time that I am saying this and this surely won't be the last, the time, effort, research that goes reflects in his every video, his consistency and work ethic is commendable too . Nothing but love and respect to you, keep growing bruv
What band is being shown at 18:53 in the video? Thanks much
Immortal
That was the music video for all shall fall
Pretty sure you'll find them by just typing "black metal" in TH-cam
I love black metal, and I don't necessarily see it as a hard pill to swallow that is alienating, but rather a welcoming home-like feeling. I can understand those who don't feel the same, and I believe that's the point. Black metal commits harder than most genres of music to the art and style, and that's what I cherish about it. No other genre can truly put me in the mental framing of encanting dark spells in a pitch black cave, on a mountain, in the middle of a blizzard quite like black metal can. And perhaps that's a good thing.
Well said, i feel the same.
I feel like Black Metal is just Hardcore Gangster rap for Scandinavian people.
LoL. I definitely made that comment before Finn said the same literally two minutes later.
Ah! At last! More historic content / analysis. I missed that.
What is the first song playing?