Can someone explain Black Metal to me?

[zehydra]

Metal... intellectual? Whaaat?

I mean, I have a guy I always talk to about metaphysics and philosophy, but I'm pretty damn sure he's mentally retarded. Having lyrics about specific things doesn't make you more or less intellectual.

That said, I never listen to lyrics. They're mostly background noise to me, unless they really fit (Rock You Like A Hurricane comes to mind, but listening to anything but the chorus has ruined that song for me).

You might like the Melvins. Can't hear a damn thing they're singing, and they're awesome.

That being said, vocals (not the same thing as lyrics) should never be "just sound".

 

[bird of hermes]

Black metal is a lot about atmosphere, especially the older stuff. That said, the older stuff was, musically, kind of crap for the most part. However, Dissection, Emperor, and bands like that are the kinds of pure-ish black metal bands that really shine. If you want to get into black metal, it's a matter of finding the right bands. I love Dimmu Borgir, Dissection, Emperor, Lord Belial, Immortal (their newer stuff is a lot better), Dark Fortress, Chthonic, Anorexia Nervosa, etc.

It's an acquired taste, like a few guys have said here.

Also, why do people who HATE metal always have to come onto threads and the like about metal to bash it? We get that you don't like extreme metal, but stop claiming that all metal is screaming and growling.

 

[O maestre]

black metal is an emotion an atmosphere... there is nothing to "listen" for.... it is like entering a trance of aggression, power or depression depends which band and genre you are listening to.

black metal is more of a state of mind... as dumb as that sounds


like other music genres either you like it or you dont... there is no point in forcing yourself to like it...
however my advice would be to try out some of the other genres of black metal or newer bands like naglfar, svafnir, agalloch, altar of plagues, dissection, vesperian sorrow, thorns, bornholm, xasthur

sticking only to emperor is only giving you a small window into the genre.

They don't sing about the psuedo-problems or the things in reality which are irrelevant. They focus on the abuse of authority, the worlds of fantasy, ancient mythology, in depth theology, philosophical studies, history, warfare, carnage, pain, horror, salvation, death, metaphysics, the universe, the human condition, the afterlife...the soul. It is the truest, reality filled, most intellectual genre of music we have in the world. Damnit.

Really? It all sounds to me like men screaming about how terrible life is. While making money recording an album, and probably being all kinds of famous and successful. And I know there's the whole passion and emotional release thing with the screaming and the ADHD guitar, but that's no different to me than screaming at noobtubers in BF or CoD.

I won't say Hip Hop and Indie Rock are more meaningful, because that's usually not true, but metal is definitely not the most intellectual. Not even close.

Of course, it all comes down to preference.

like i stated it is more of an atmospheric state of mind.... and believe it or not most black metallers can interpret the growls.

arsen is also correct, i do not think you will find many genre that are so laden with philosophy, and abstract thinking. most of all true black metal is about individualistic will power, black metal is as much a philosophy of how to live interact with the world around you, as it is music.... another thing that few other genre can claim

the unilateral force behind black metal, which at one point was described as a movement(back in the 90's) is the firm belief in that the only way to gain true strength is to be a complete individual and in complete control of your own will, and never submit to anyone

whether this is gained through left hand path religions or through self determination, through intellectual discovery or misanthropy, it is Primum movens behind all true black metal...

and natural within the scene there is huge internal strife between fans trying to determine which artists embody this. for example a band like dimmu borgir has been shunned by most of the scene for not being "true"

and if this sounds familiar, its because a lot of the posturing within the community is just as bad as fan boyism

 

[Greni]

Just like any genre it has its ups and downs. Self made prophets with lots of suits behind them making sure the industry will keep being just that, an industry, making them multi-millionaires in the process while still being absolute soulless hypocrites? Check.
Angsty emo "cut-my-heart-open-so-you-see-I-still-can-love" types of bollocks? Plenty.
Hardcore "I-rule-this-earth-so-feel-my-wrath" kind of immature shit? Oh yeah, most of that resides in metal.
The jolly sound of "Let's-go-party-and-drink-and-dance-and-puke-and-get-into-fights-and-drink-some-more" songs. Yep, Korpiklaani among others, well Folk Metal in general.

It's just like any other musical genre: Many, many flavors with a hint of something similar.
Bands tend to get stuck in a rot, lineups change, band members overdose, record labels screw their bands over, terrible album fallowed by a line-up change fallowed by a terrible album fallowed by the original line-up again fallowed by a semi-well received album fallowed by an album that's the next sliced Jesus Christ bread!
It's all here, it's all there, so please stop bickering about who killed whom and let's rejoice, and stand united against the common enemy called 'factory produced image that sells music, trading cards, blankets, movies, cupholders, lighters, underwear, novelty items, oversized coffeemugs or basically an endless sea of overpriced consumer shit to idolize something that doesn't even add up to reality' and their latest weapon: Justin Bieber!

OT: Didn't really get into Black Metal either, guess it's just not my thing.

 

[Wanderer787]

If you watch "Until the Dawn Takes Us," a documentary about the origins of Norwegian Black Metal, Count Grishnack describes it as a deconstruction and rebirth of music. It's not supposed to be conducive to mass acclaim, it's essentially an auditory "fuck you" that compliments a state of mind.

 

[O maestre]

Metal... intellectual? Whaaat?

Don't find Arsen's post convincing?

snip


To "get" an intellectual songs however, you've really got to listen to the lyrics. Lyrics give a song a specific subject, the music itself creates the mood. Metal is of course an acquired taste, and if you don't like it i respect that. Just don't tell me metal isn't intellectual, i think it's among the most intellectual genres of music.

So tell me, in-between banging your head back and forth do you consider the social implications of America's dominance or the deep undertones of the Ancient Mariner?
It may treat interesting subjects, but it has to treat them in an intellectual way. Amerika was always a parody song for me.
And no, I'm not so daft as to make arguments against something purely because I don't like it. Metal used to be my favourite genre, albeit without the screaming.

wait you are comparing rammstein to black metal? or just metal in general? i hope it is the latter

regardless of which you meant it seems you have little knowledge of what black metal is.

i hope i did not come of as arrogant.

 

[antigodoflife]

I can't say I'm very much into the classic black metal bands myself. I prefer the black metal bands of a more depressing calibre like DSBM - even if the 'vocals' are far more ridiculous and melodic death metal, they seem to have the more appropriate atmosphere to most other black metal bands, at least in my eyes.

(May I suggest turning your speakers up and listening to these while you do something else, make sure that this alternative activity doesn't involve other forms of music.)

Spoiler: A few BM songs

 

[dark-mortality]

It is very hard to define Black metal. It is a very varying genre that embodies a lot of themes: Dragons and heroes, dark and evil domains, tyranny, satanism, sadism, narcisism ETC There is also other themes like love, emotions, hatred, wonderful poetry, and even history. I will now post three-four different black metal bands, all with their own style, and I hope it helps clear a bit of your confusion.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=opeth+reverie+harlequin+forest&aq=2&oq=Opeth+r

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xklhtSUuC6k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDKX22bEsTg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDcPt-hvkPo

I hope this helps, and if not... Well, let's just say that it took a loooooong while for me to like black metal, so, if you really want to like it, just don't give up.

 

[Enslave_All_Elves]

I like some blackened death metal, preferably with symphonic elements. I like how some bands get that sound like they are leading Satan's army across the world. The power! BWWWRAAGH!

Most of the time it just sounds like someone recorded it with their asshole and got some goober to croak into a microphone. crap crap blast beats "ooooOOOOoooOOOooooOOooo" more crap and goddamnit! blast beats.

nothing I hate more than blast beats.

Metal... intellectual? Whaaat?

That said, I never listen to lyrics. They're mostly background noise to me, unless they really fit (Rock You Like A Hurricane comes to mind, but listening to anything but the chorus has ruined that song for me).

We're discussing metal and then you bring up Rock You Like a Hurricane? Are you sure you belong here?

Yes, it can be intellectual. Or if someone like "Nergal" from Behemoth who uses his background as a history student to write songs about ancient middle eastern cults I guess there isn't enough thought put into it? I'm sure you'd like to write and epic song about some 3000 year old obscure cult and put a soundtrack to it?

 

[Death_Korps_Kommissar]

Well I myself have a very on-off relationship with Black metal and I don't listen to that much of it except SYL and Devin Townsend.

The thing I've found is that you can never really jump into metal, for me anyway, I kind of gradually listened to heavier and heavier music until I could bare to listen to it.

 

[Juuel]

It's all about acquired taste. The vast majority of black metal is rubbish, and it's all about finding the right bands for you. If you're expecting complicated, progressive songs, I can't say black metal is your thing. It's all about atmosphere, some bands go for more aggressive stuff but I've never liked that kind of BM.

A couple of great black metal songs, yes, they're repetitive but the atmosphere is out of this world:
Burzum[/youtube]
Drudkh[/youtube]

 

[The Heavy Metal Nerd]

The main focus of black metal is nihilism and misery The darker aspects of humanity. Through dark, evil sounding lo fi music , pained vocals and hate filled lyrics it creates a very atmospheric sense of abject misery.

I don't understand what you mean by "looking for". I also don't understand how you have a problem "getting into it" if you listen to death metal as you say, then one would imagine you started of with music with clean vocals and I'm going to take a wild guess...you seem keen on power metal so you like what, gamma ray? helloween? or whatever and then started listening to something with gruffer vocals like thrash till you realised you could handle death, yes? it's the same with black metal, it's just a divergent path.

go back to the begining and listen to any early influnces like one of the first three venom albums (except maybe at war with satan as the first side is one 20 minute track) or celtic frost, the bands that started having black elements and build from there OR maybe, depending how into your death metal you are, try jumping in with "blackened death" belphegor are a good example, you could even follow darkthrone whose first album was death then they went black, now they are some sort of thrash crust punk thing.

alot of the scene is full is asscoiated with paganism, anti christianity and some of it, neo nazis.
so if you feel personal politics stops you listening to music (I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that your not a nazi) black metal might not be for you . it's also full of pretentious assholes who take themselves way to seriously, which is always good for a laugh, like gaahl who was the singer for gorgorth for a time, coming out of the closet and opeing his own fashion line or the music videos some guys make all running round the forest breathing fire looking stupid as hell.

just go on wikipedia dude, start from the begining, google "top x black metal albums ever" or what have you and stream them from grooveshark or youtube. good luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgQRRI9goFg

And THIS was the kind of response I was hoping for. ^^ And by 'looking for' I meant I was trying to figure out what made Black Metal, Black Metal. Because my mind WAS processing it as 'Death Metal to a different tempo with low production values' and I KNEW that wasn't right.

I actually started out with DragonForce. That was actually all I listened to for a LOOOONG time...until Kataklsym's "As I Slither" knocked me on my ass and made me realize there was an entire Heavy Metal Universe out there. I jumped in with both feet and never looked back. ^^

As for running around the woods looking stupid as hell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VBdAY8eA9w I cannot BELIEVE people took this shit seriously. XD This PROVES Immortal is a Stealth Parody, at least to some extent.

Oh. And just for the irony? My dad is a Baptist Preacher. XD

 

[Nickolai77]

Metal... intellectual? Whaaat?

Don't find Arsen's post convincing?

snip


To "get" an intellectual songs however, you've really got to listen to the lyrics. Lyrics give a song a specific subject, the music itself creates the mood. Metal is of course an acquired taste, and if you don't like it i respect that. Just don't tell me metal isn't intellectual, i think it's among the most intellectual genres of music.

So tell me, in-between banging your head back and forth do you consider the social implications of America's dominance or the deep undertones of the Ancient Mariner?
It may treat interesting subjects, but it has to treat them in an intellectual way. Amerika was always a parody song for me.
And no, I'm not so daft as to make arguments against something purely because I don't like it. Metal used to be my favourite genre, albeit without the screaming.

Why can't intellectual subjects be examined through the genre of music? I'm sure there are plenty of good rap songs about the urban deprivation for instance, metal is not different although perhaps there is broader scope for intellectual topics.

Most of the time, when i (and most people) listen to metal, it's when your sitting on the bus, driving the car or sitting at your computer, not head-banging in a club. You do have time to reflect on what the song is about and listen to the lyrics, and pick up the message or theme contained within, be it about religion, mythology, war, the human condition etc. There are a lot of metal songs and bands written for light-hearted shits and giggles, like Alestorm and quite a few Hammerfall songs. But equally there are songs about more serious and thought provoking topics, examples of which i provided above.