Black metal (or Blek Metal) is an extreme kynd o hivy metal muisic. Common traits is fest tempos, skreicht vocals, heichlie distortit guitars pley'd wi tremolo poukin, blast baet drummin, raw recordin, an unconventional sang makup.

Durin the 1980s, a whein o thrash metal baunds shapit a prototyp for black metal. This "first wave" included baunds sic as Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost an Sarcófago.^[1] A "seicont wave" cam aboot in the aerlie 1990s, spearheidit bi Norse baunds sic as Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal an Emperor. Thon muisic scene fordert the black metal styl intil a distink genre.

Black metal has aften been met wi ill-will frae mainstream cultur, maistilins due til the misanthropic an anti-Kristian staundpynt o monie airtists. Mair ootower, a whein o the genre's pioneers hae been linkit wi kirk brennins, murther or Neo-Nazism. For thir reasons an ithers, black metal is aft seen as an "unnergrund" kynd o muisic.

Black Metal is forordnar seen as cumin in twa "waves". Tho monie fans wad nou threap that the seicont wave is nou endit, nae defined thrid wave haes yit taen place. As wi aw muisical historical terms, the waves owerlap sumwhit.

The term First Wave meins the curn o baunds that wis gey influential in the makkin o whit wad syn cum ti be Black Metal. Monie o thir baunds stairtit oot as Thrash metal baunds, an syn cam ti be Black Metal - in fak sum fowk threaps that the first Black Metal albums wis littil mair nor badlie produced Thrash. The album maist aften luikit til as the first Black Metal album wis Black Metal bi Venom. Tho the muisic wis maistlins thrash, the harsk vocals, production, leerics an eemagrie wis distink frae the lave o the metal scene at the tym. Anithir baund aften seen as unco influential in the aerlie yeirs o Black Metal wis Bathory, frae Swaden. Bathory wis the first ti jyn elements o Norse meethologie ti Black Metal, an sae is cried Viking Metal bi sum fowk. Thar war ither baunds at the tym forby thon twa that wis unco influential in the oncum o the eemagrie an soond o aerlie black metal, sic as Hellhammer, Celtic Frost an Mercyful Fate.

Wi the ryz o a Norrowegian baunds sic as Emperor, Immortal, Burzum an Mayhem it becam clear that the centur o the muivment wis nou Norawa. The muisic stairtit ti muive furder frae Thrash metal an mair intil its ain, baith muisicalie an philosophicalie. A strang anti-Kristian strynd wis nou merkit, an sum o the baunds wis takkin a faur-richt airt leericalie an ideologicalie. Baunds that didna tak in sum kynd o extreme ideologie wis creeticized bi Black Metal leaders an fans as no bein a richt pairt o the scene. Maist fowk nou sees the seicont wave as bein throu, but nae properlie defined third wave haes taen place. Tho new trends daes kyth frae tym ti tym this haesna happent sae aften as til indicate a shift til a new styl o Black Metal that is generalie acceptit bi maist fans; that is hou the seicont wave becam distink frae the first, hou the first becam distik frae Thrash metal an sae on. Monie o the seicont wave baunds, sic as Immortal an Emporer skailt but haes syn cum back thegither.

Maist Black Metal haes at least a tait o the follaein featurs:

• Guitars is forordnar unco fast an hiechlie distortit.
• Alternate or Tremelo pickin styls is aften uis'd.
• Doun-tuinin is common
• Cromatic (hauf-tone) shifts is mair common in Black Metal nor in maist ither kynds o muisic. This is for ti gie the muisic an un-eithie feel til it.
• Guitar solos isna gey common ava, specialie whan compear'd til ither kynds o metal sic as Pouer metal

• Blast baet drummin is gey aften uis'd, as is D-Baet.
• The mukkil fek o Black Metal drummers uises aither twa bass drums or a doobil kick pedal.
• Syn mair nor twa-thrie baunds is ae-man projeks, monie Black Metal albums featurs drum machines raither nor human drummers.

• Vocals is awmaist aye harsk, an forordnar is mair heich pitch'd an skreich nor in Deid metal that uises lawer vocals.
• Sum baunds uises clean vocals an quiers, but this isna ordinar, an is no aften the lead vocal for that baund.
• Leerics ar forordnar in Inglis, tho no aye; Burzum skreived in Norrowegian, fer exemplar.
• Hatred, anti-Kristianitie an anti-societie leerics is common ti maist baunds. The Sautanic trend haes been rejectit bi monie new baunds that sees it as passé an owerduin. Sum baunds uises racist an faur-richt leerics, tho no the fek. Ithers faws on thair kintra's meethologie an on things sic as forests, winter an sae on. Immortal is amang the baunds that skreive anent fantasie topics. Meesticism an the occult is aften fund in Black Metal leerics anaw. Housome'er thar is a smaw but strang strynd o Black Metal that is Kristian in focus. This is aften cried Holy Unblack Metal an haes been gey controversial in the scene syn it stairtit, wi sum Black Metallers threapin that Kristianitie an Black Metal canna gang thegither ava.

• Production is aften gey lo-fi, for a twa-thrie main raisons. Firstlins, wi monie baunds (specialie in the aerlie days) the recordins wis duin wi gey littil siller, an guid production cudna be affordit. Seicont, monie albums is recordit an produced by the baunds thaimsels athoot the uiss o a producer, an syn the baunds dinna ken hou ti produce richt, thay dae it ill-lyk. Lastlie, sum baunds gaes for bad production deleebirate for ti byd obskure an for ti gae for "muisical regression" (see the concepts o "Tr00" an "Kvlt" ablo).
• Production is forordnar unco thin, wi gey littil in the wey o laich frequencies. This is in pairt due ti baunds ettilin ti get a "cauld" soond, an in pairt due til the lo-fi raisons gien abuin.
• Vocals is aften produced wi reverb effeks on thaim for ti mak them soond cavernous, atmosferic an "cauld".

• Monie Black Metal baunds disna play shaws ava, syn thay hae anerlie ae member. Houesomeiver, whan baunds daes play live, thay aften uise props an stage claes based on neo-medieval eemagrie, bondage gear an pikes.
• Maist baunds weirs "corp-pent" an face mak-up, awmaist aye white an black. The desyns wis oreeginalie for ti merk the genre oot an skare awa "posers", but haes syn becam a staundart pairt o Black Metal costume. Sum baunds uise-it-na thir days syn thay threap it haes becum clichéd an isna uised for its oreeginal purpose oniemair, but the mukkil fek aye weirs it.
• Monie muisickers taks on the fause-names taen frae meethologie, fowklair an siclyk, sic as Cronos o Venom, Faust o Emporer an the mukkil fek o ithers forby thon.

Black Metal haes monie ideological concepts eikit til it, but the follaein twa is awmaist universal. The spellins o the wirds "Tr00" an "Kvlt" is obviouslie corruptions o the Inglis wirds "True" an "Cult", but is awmaist aye spelt in thair "modifee'd" versions bi Black Metallers.

Tr00 is the idea o stayin leal til the vailies o Black Metal, baith muisicalie an ideologicalie. This is ae raison for the appearent stagnation an want o muisical progression in Black Metal i.e. baunds dinna ettil ti muive ower faur frae the basic Black Metal template syn that wad be "un-Tr00". In practiss, this meins haudin wi the lo-fi production (see abuin) muisical leemitation that Black Metal haes creatit for itsel as weil as haudin til extreme ideologies an philosophies, forordnar anent poleetics, releegion, attitudes til ither genres an baunds etc.

The concept o Kvlt is sib til the concept o Tr00. This is mair or less anent baunds ettilin ti byd unnergrund sae faur as thay can, for til evyt "sellin oot" an becumin "un-Tr00". This is ae raison for Black Metal baunds playin sae few live shaws. For ti stay "kvlt", baunds wul aften leemit the nummers o thair records pitten furth, refuise ti syn wi labels an juist pit furth demos.

Black Metal haes aye been controversial, mainlie acause it is sae extreme. The veeolence o the scene reach'd its hicht in the 1990s, whan thar wis several kirk-brennins an murthers in Norawa linkit ti Black Metal baunds an muisickers. In 1991 Mayhem lilter Dead (real name - Per Yngve Ohlin) kilt himsel, eftir that a fotae o his deid corp wis uised as the kivver o a Mayhem buitleg album bi thair guitarist, Euronymous (real name - Øystein Aarseth) an the follaein yeir Faust (real name - Bård Eithun) o Emperor kilt a man in Lillehammer, Norawa. In 1993, Varg Vikernes killt Euronymous , ane o the raisins appearantlie bein that he haed uised the pictur o Dead as an album kiver - tho argie-bargie ower ryalties frae Euronymous' label, racism (syn Aarseth wis haulf-Sami), pouer strauchil (the twa wis leaders o the scene at the tym) an mair raisons haes been pitten forrit. Vikernes himsel haes threap'd it wis in sel-defenss that he killt Aarseth, but he haes chynged his storie a twa-thrie tyms. Atwein 1992 an 1993, elievin Norrowegian kirks wis brent doun, monie o thaim wis twa-thrie hunder yeir auld.

Tho the veeolence o the scene haes caum'd doun til a mukkil extent syn the aerlie 1990s, assaults etc. aye gae on. Gorgoroth lilter Gaahl (real name - Kristian Eivind Espedal) wis jylt for the ae yeir in 2001, an agin for nyn month in 2002, for exemplar, baith tyms fer brutal assaults.

Aw the whyl, thar is aye controversie ower the leerics o Black Metal, tho thir days mair sae anent racist an ither faur-richt leerics nor Sautanist anes. Stil an on, it shud be merkit that baunds wi sic faur-richt ideologies represents a gey smaw strynd o Black Metal.

• - "How black is Black Metal?" - essay anent the scence.
• - The Metal Crypt, wi a guid page anent genres Archived 2007-08-17 at the Wayback Machine
• - lang list o Black Metal baunds

Wikimedia Commons haes media relatit tae Black metal music groups.