Black Metal

Black metal is extreme metal’s coldest, rawest strain — fast tremolo-picked guitar, blast beats, shrieked vocals, and deliberately lo-fi production built for atmosphere over clarity. A first wave (Venom, who named it, plus Bathory and Hellhammer) laid the groundwork in the 1980s, and Norway’s early-90s second wave — Mayhem, Darkthrone, Emperor, Burzum — defined the genre and its notorious scene. The mood is icy, misanthropic, and occult, with themes of Satanism, nature, and darkness. Melody hides inside the harshness.