The First Wave of Black Metal

United around a table moaning of pints of beer, in a pub, somewhere in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, three musketeers gathered under the conspiracy pseudonyms of Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon and decided that heavy metal sounds kind of weak and not satisfying enough, and it should be upgraded to a more aggressive, speedy, dirty-sounding, and at a new level of vicious delivery.

Black Metal GIF

 

In this regard, they took action and baptized their new unholy trinity under the name of VENOM, then started to write songs where they managed to merge heavy metal riffs with some punk-wise attitude infused with stories about Satan, occultism, witchery, and other dark topics into the lyrical section.

The first album, "Welcome to Hell," released in 1981, showed a fresh and uncompromising energy, blowing up the entire metal scene and becoming a very important piece within the whole N.W.O.B.H.M. movement.

Their second output from 1982 is the album that gave a name and a new genre for the Heavy Metal audience : "Black Metal"!

A chainsaw teeth were destroyed while recording the intro for the, now infamous "Black Metal" song.

The third effort was titled with the "At War with Satan" name and it was issued as of 1983 representing the band's peak of their carrier, creativity and inspiration.

It is a great album and worth getting into, but somehow, they were musically out-taken by the emerging and competing bands like METALLICA, ANTHRAX or SLAYER, and it became more obvious when the follow-up disc was released, under the name "Possessed" and issued as of 1985.

A video-clip was, also made for the "Nightmare" song, being their one and only official video, of course, excluding the live performances made for their most famous songs published on their first two LP's . 

Also, the band published a VHS tape with one of their live appearance named "The 7th Date of Hell - Live", captured at Hammersmith Odeon back in 1984.

Cronos of Venom GIF

 At some point, Cronos got annoyed that bands  dressed only in jeans and t-shits, somehow were  responsible for shrinking their audience and was  calling them in a direct live confrontation, stating that  then peolpe will understand why VENOM is way greater and stronger.

 

 

VENOM are known for being one of the first bands who used a lot of pyrotechnics during their live performances.

 

Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss GIF

On the other hand, later on, upon hearing about what happened in the Norwegian Black Metal scene back in the early 90s with all the escalation, crimes, church burnings, threats, and the so-called Black Metal mafia, VENOM stated that their lyrics should not be taken literally, as their music stands only for rock'n'roll and entertainment, and the lyrics are written to fit the music.

 

They had the same reaction when asked about satanism, saying that they are not advising fans to follow Satan, as guys from MERCYFUL FATE did, they only ask their fans to follow VENOM!

 

MERCYFUL FATE is a Danish traditional heavy metal band who is, as well, credited as being part of the first black metal wave with their dark, satanic lyrics and fronted by one of the greatest artists heavy metal had spawn, KING DIAMOND!

Wearing a ghoul-like make up,a cross made of two bones as a microphone stand and with a very impressive vocal range, this band was hard to pass unnoticed, at that time. 

The aforementioned climax can be saw and heard on their two, brilliant official videos : "A Corpse without A Soul" taken from the "Mercyful Fate" EP and "Evil" from their first album "Melissa".

MERCYFUL FATE provided two albums and one EP before their first split-up. "Mercyful Fate" EP was published in 1982"; "Melissa" as of 1983 and "Don't Break the Oath" is dated back in 1984.

KING DIAMOND was member of the LaVeyan's The Church of Satan in those early years, but he left it later on.

BATHORY from Sweden!

In the first place, the Black Metal term was referring to the bands who adopted the full satanic lyrics and esthetics, so to speak, but Quorthon Seth succeeded  to change this situation.

Black Metal and extreme metal of the 80' in general, received a lot of bad reviews in the media of those times. Journalists and fanzine reviewers, at that time, were not prepared for such musical ferocity, or they were too much into the melodic rock and, somehow, many of them being unable to deal with, or to truly understand this hot, explosive, new metal endeavor.

Also, back in 1986 some of them were truly convinced that this genre will disappear at some point, just because they perceived it as nothing but senseless noise, as MORBID ANGEL's vocalist David Vincent recalls in some of his interviews taken later on.

That was the case with the Swedish band BATHORY, as well.

Quorthon Seth, the vocalist, guitarist and the main songwriter was so annoyed by the above mentioned attitude, that he started to lie, misguide, giving false names or funny pseudonyms in order to piss off the media and the journalists in some of his early of interviews.

The Return......of Bathory

Back in those incipient days Quorthon Seth was struggling hard to find a drum and a bass player for the band, without much success, just because many of the metal or rock musicians, in his area, were mostly into the melodic hard rock bands who were very famous at the middle of the 80's. For example, bands like Whitesnake, Europe, Scorpions and so on.

BATHORY was formed in 1983 and is one of the main and the most important pioneer for the Black Metal scene, as they created the specific vocal style and the sonic identity known up to this day.

Their first achievement was to record two songs for a compilation called "Scandinavian Metal Attack" back in 1983 : "Sacrifice" and "The Return of Darkness and Evil" issued by Quorthon's father label Black Mark Production.

The result was astonishing and overwhelming as they received sacks full of letters from around the world.

Their fans were literally fascinated by the songs, and especially for the icy vocal delivery and they begged for a full album.

The first "Bathory" album dated back in 1984 musically saw a heavier version of VENOM and it was greatly received by the fans worldwide.

With their second "The Return....." release from 1985 creativity took off and the band managed to create their own, original sound. 

The American band SLAYER indirectly contributed to this situation, just because Quorthon listened and liked SLAYER, and he wanted BATHORY to sound more evil and minimalistic than SLAYER, in order to save his band from becoming just another regular Thrash Metal act.

There is a photo circulating on the internet with Quorthon among SLAYER guys made in one of his visits in U.S.A.

In his interviews, at that time, he was describing the music present on this LP as being Death Metal. 

It isn't Death Metal, actually, but definitely is a very extreme form of Black Metal for those times. 

The follower output "Under the Sign of Black Mark" from 1986 created the standard Scandinavian sound we know up to this day, with all the ingredients, so to speak : melodicity, speed, vocal delivery and most important, the typical atmosphere black metal should have in order to be at its highest quality.

Starting with "Blood, Fire, Death" released in 1988 BATHORY's music started to incorporate more and more choruses , acoustic and symphonic elements, by the fans' request, as they asked for more songs in the "Enter the Eternal Fire" vein, transforming their music in what is labelled Viking Metal today.

The band HELLHAMMER are known for a much "greasier", doomier sound than the other bands within the style. Same goes for CELTIC FROST who was formed a few days later after HELLHAMMER was disbanded.

Hellhammer - Triumph of Death GIF

This happened in Switzerland back in A.D. 1983.

HELLHAMMER released one legendary EP called "Apocalyptic Raids" as of 1984 , besides three demos, before the front-man Thomas "Ugh" Gabriel Warrior decided to switch the band's name to CELTIC FROST. 

He stated that he wished to experience more with the music and at the general sound side, being the main reason for the up-said change.

After two EP's : "Emperor's Return" issued as of 1984 ; "Morbid Tales" and a legendary album "To Mega Therion" both issued by 1985, the band released "Into the Pandemonium" back in 1987. 

A quite avant-gardistic attempt mixing industrial sonority, gothic-like atmospheres, female vocalists were, also invited, and somehow a poetic touch created on some of their songs, such as "Mesmerized" Featuring Claudia-Maria Mokri as guest vocalist or "Sorrows of the Moon" Featuring Manü Moan as guest vocalist.

The album received a mixed reaction from the audience. 

Some part of the fan-base were not very much "mesmerized" by the output and looked in suspicion and overall disappointment, regarding the album.

Sadly, their worst intuitions came truth when the band decided to publish the following disc in 1988 under the name of "Cold Lake".

A very unfortunate move, for sure, as the band took a turn to...Glam-Rock style, for some reason...but that's another story.

The German band SODOM plays, also an important role in the first Black Metal wave, before they became a pivotal name for the European Thrash Metal scene. 

Formed by three gentleman, one of them being a mine worker, they gathered under the pseudonyms of "Angelripper";  Witchhunter" and "Grave Violator" and promoting their band with a photo among some antique ruins, besides other typical 80's metalhead postures.

Their EP from 1985 named "In the Sign of Evil" and the fist LP "Obsessed by Cruelty" issued as of 1986 are the most appreciated contributions, her , before switching more and more towards a Thrash Metal take starting with their second album "Persecution Mania" issued back in 1987.

However, their musical quality and ferocity remained kind on the same coordinates , establishing the band among the most harsh Thrash Metal deliverers of the scene.

The Italian band BULLDOZER is worth to get into, as well.
Through time they became an iconic legend and their music sounds a lot in the vein of VENOM or BATHORY.

Their first three albums became cult-like pieces and they were pointed out and being recommended for a listen in an interview by Fenriz of DARKTHRONE.

"Day of Wrath" published in 1985 ; "The Final Separation" back in 1986 and "IX" as of 1987 should be mentioned here, being part of the first Black Metal wave.

Perhaps, SEPULTURA's first two releases fits the category, here, judging through the whole artistic presentation ; Antichristian/demonic album covers and lyrics, high speed riffs and the wild vocal delivery.

All of the above checked and there we have it! Demo#1 ; "Bestial Devastation" EP both dated back in 1985 and the "Morbid Visions" album from 1986 should be considered closer to the first wave of black metal side, musically and conceptually speaking, than the average Thrash Metal usually practiced in the mid of the 80's.

Also, we have Max Cavalera, describing in an interview, how they were struggling to hand-made their own bullet-belts in order to catch-up with the overall look in the most black metal fashion for the band's first promotional photos, at that time.

Con-national band SARCÓFAGO was formed by "Wagner" Antichrist Lamounier back in 1985, as he left SEPULTURA after his contribution as the vocalist on their demo, and had a huge impact on the black metal development, especially for the musicians from the Norwegian scene. 

Black Metal related GIF

Many of them looked up to this band and it was considered highly inspirational music-wise as they had the proper attitude extreme metal demands.

SARCÓFAGO released the milestone "I.N.R.I." album in 1987 followed by the "Rotting" EP as of 1989 and the "Laws of the Scourge" LP back in 1991.

From the last one it was made an official video-clip for the "Screeches from the Silence" song.

PARABELLUM from Columbia should be in this article, again. 

The band had a comet lifespan, so to speak, from 1983 up to 1988, but still important for the history of Black Metal. They published a compilation on which we can find their both EP's : Sacrilegio - 1987 and "Mutación por Radiación" - 1988 who were gathered under the name of "Tempus Mortis" released back in 2005.

Even that MAYHEM might be credited for creating the second (Norwegian) wave of black metal, they truly are part of the first one as they are active since 1984 and their first demo "Pure Fucking Armageddon" saw the light of the day (or the dark of the night) back in 1986.

Euronymous created the scene by influencing his fellow musicians from the Norwegian scene he got into contact with, to drop their Death Metal approach within their music and fully embrace the Black Metal style, stating that Death Metal became dull, repetitive and the musicians left their right attitude extreme metal should have, in general.

This is the reason why he is credited for being the Godfather and the mentor for the second Black Metal wave.

As for the infamous open chord Norwegian sonic identity, he is credited for, it is unclear if this guitar technique truly belongs to him...or to MAYHEM's second guitar player.

That above mentioned specific sound appears, for the first time, only on the "Live in Leipzig" and "De Mysteriis Dom Satanas" for the first time in MAYHEM's discography and kind of lacks on their aforementioned demo or the "Deathcrush" EP and it might be created by their second guitarist, at that time, which is Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch originally from the avant-gardistic band THORNS...

However, in an interview, Fenriz of DARKTHRONE told that the original Norwegian sonic take has been created by both of them.

Along with the Black Metal style, the extreme metal scene of the '80's was active with Death Metal and Grindcore subgenres, as well, practiced by bands such as : MASTER, DEATH, MASSACRE, POSSESSED, NECROPHAGIA, REPULSION, NAPALM DEATH, CARCASS and TERRORIZER.

...to be continued, edited and completed with more details about the topic...

Industrial Metal and its development

When speaking about the Industrial music most of the people think about electro-driven rhythms, almost syntethic sonic textures in the entire delivery, electro-beats, of course and less analog-based type of sonic display.

Industrial Metal GIF

That's why one of the most extreme and fringe heavy metal branch, totally not sufficient explored is what is called Industrial Metal. Where the main musical ingredient is the guitar riff and the electro sonorities added falls as a second level, so to speak.

The first band we can thing about, regarding the Industrial (rock) music, must be the British post-punk band Killing Joke.

Which is, surely, one of the pioneers to start exploring and playing with what was later called as Industrial-like riffs.

Killing Joke are regarded as pioneers in the whole Gothic-Rock development, as well, just because these two genres are closely related and many times inherently exchanging elements from one to the other.

The second exponent, here, must be the American band Ministry.

After a first excellent New-Wave album called "With Sympathy" they released "Twitch" where they started to experience with industrial sounds, repetitive musical formulas and a more aggressive, dark and twisted songs, building up an interesting assembly found through albums like "The Land of Rape and Honey" ; "The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste" ; "Psalm 69" ; "Filth Pig" ; "Rio Grande Blood" and so on.

Featuring Justin Broaderick, behind the drum-kit the British band Head of David should be mentioned in this gearing. A total underrated act, if you like, not to be ignored and quite inspiring for other, bigger bands within the whole genre.

Justin Broaderick and his main band Godflesh must be one of the most pivotal names in the whole development for Industrial Metal.

First of all, he played with a project called Final before joining Napalm Death as guitar player, where he was invited just because the guys in the band admired his up mentioned work and his project. 

Apparently, he was kind of terrified while playing the songs from the first part of the "Scum" album and that happened, especially when the ultra-rapid grindcore passages set in, as he was more into the long, crushing, type of riff delivery.

Albums like "Streetcleaner" ; "Pure" ; "Selfless" ; "Us and Them" must be the pin-points from the Godflesh very special and unique catalog to get into.

The same goes to the Godflesh' side project called Jesu, which is a natural and a more diverse version, yet keeping kind of the same musical direction.

The french band Treponem Pal must be mentioned here, as another great example of Industrial Metal, heavily influenced by Ministry, The Young Gods and Godflesh with works like "Treponem Pal" (1989) ; Aggravation (1991) ; "Excess & Overdrive" (1993) ; "Higher" (1997) or "Weird Machine" (2008) they cemented their status as an important player in the scene.

The American band Prong should be, also took as pioneers for the Industrial Metal subgenre, here, especially with their mid albums of their discography.

First of all, they started as a Thrash-Crossover Metal band and then developed their style adding more and more industrial sonority and groovy riff-work, later on.

fear Factory - Concrete GIF

"Soul of A New Machine" the first Fear Factory LP created such a great sonic replica for metalheads worldwide, being an assembly of death metal meets industrial, growl meets clean voicals and an outstanding, original riff signature delivered by Dino Cazares. 

The albums that followed incorporated more mainstream metal elements in the process, but still remaining at the same level of creativity and authenticity and not altering their own musical autenticity.

We, also have to take in consideration Pitchshifter, the British combo, responsible for memorable albums like "Industrial" ; "Desensitized" or "Infotainment?".

Sadly, later on, their music moved more into the Alternative style of rock music.

Dead World band hailing from Colorado U.S.A. built an enjoyable Industrial Death-Metal sound through albums like 1992 "Collusion" ; "The Machine" from 1993 and "Thanatos Descends" output on 1996, heavily influenced by Godflesh' music.

Nailbomb combo was an interesting industrial project consisting of Max Cavalera and Alex Newport from Fudge Tunnel.

They released an album called "Point Blank" which was sustained live, also at Dynamo Festival in Eindhoven back in 1995.

As, for the German Rammstein band, could it be called the AC/DC of Industrial Metal? 

Their music is simple, straight to the point, memorable and effective combining Industrial Metal with Neue Deutsche Härte, just like their co-nationals from Eisbrecher, for example.

From the 1995 full-lenght "Herzeleid" to their last "Zeit" the band managed to capture attention with unforgettable tunes and breath taking live shows, despite the German language used on most of their music.

The band gained international success from their second "Sehnsucht" LP issued back in 1997. 

This album was certified with platinum by the RIAA in the U.S. The single "Du Hast" hitting like a thunderstruck in the hearts of the metalheads worldwide, at that time.

Peter Tägtgren's project Pain must be counted here as well, as an original mix of Industrial Metal-Rock and Electro outputs that created a strong fan-base, starting from the second part of the 90's from the first self titled disc to the last "Coming Home" dated in 2016.

The classic Napalm Death line-up from the first part of the "Scum" album with Mick Harris, Justin Broadrick and Nic Bullen reunited in 1992 under the banner of Scorn in order to issue "Vae Solis" 

Later on, the band moved to a more experimental music and becoming one of the first dub-step acts out there.

However, their first album is definitively a 100 percent Industrial Metal effort.

The german band Die Krupps plays, also a pioneering and significant role in the general mechanism of the early industrial gearing. Their catalog stretch from the 1981's "Stahlwerksinfonie" to the last "Songs from the Dark side of Heaven" dated back in 2021.

Their heydays are represented by albums like "II - The Final Option" released in 1993 "III - Odyssey of the Mind" 1995 or 1997's "Paradise Now". Their best received products at that time.

The swiss band Samael started to experiment with electro-metal admixture added to their basic groove Black Metal background. 

Albums like "Eternal" or "Reign of Light" made them the Rammstein of Black Metal, so to speak. 

Other Black Metal bands were experiencing with this kind of musical approach, such as the Italian Aborym, The Kovenant or Thorns from Norway, but that's another story and it belongs more to a Black Metal article.

Another stand out product is for sure "Embedded" issued in 1993 by the project Meathook Seed formed by Napalm Death's Shane Embury - bass, Mitch Harris - guitar plus the Obituary's Donald Tardy - drums and Trevor Peres as a front man. A quite creative musical approach filled with interesting riffs. 

Their second opus called B.I.B.L.E. (basic instructions before leaving earth) has a more industrial rock direction, but still recommended for a listen, although.

Speaking about Napalm Death, they were inevitably influenced by this kind of sounds and contributed with industrial tunes from time to time within their quite rich discography they have. 

The much praised "Fear,Emptiness,Despair" output is suspected to host indus-like riffage throughout its entire display, also tracks like "Morale" ; "Contemptuous" ; "The Lifeless Alarm" or "Inside the Torn Apart" and, of course the main riff from  Greed Killing video are more than obvious examples, in that respect.

Same goes to the Obituary LP "World Demise" which was released in 1995 after the first Meatbook Seed album. The industrial sonorities being present from the first to the last song.

However, some of the albums released around the mid '90 had industrial influences, like Sepultura or Annihilator.

Fleshing some industrial samples to a Doom-Thrash Metal skeleton the swedish band Misery Loves Co. released some interesting albums like the eponymous from 1994, "Not like Them" in 1997 and "Your vision was never mine to share" by 2000.

The well known musician Devin Townsend the main composer and mastermind of Strapping Young Lad combined Thrash with Death Metal with industrial influences through "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing" dated 1995 to "The New Black" album released in 2006 with such a corrosive and obnoxious atmosphere,very dynamic at times and obviously experimental equal as unexpected, surprisingly good Industrial Metal to get into.

Up fronted by Jörgen Sandström founder of the legendary band Grave, the swedish The Project Hate MCMXCIX band produced an interesting and original mix of industrial, Death Metal and Gothic inflences throughout its very rich discography starting with 2000 "Cybersonic Superchrist" to the last "Spewing Venom into the Eyes of Deities" dated as of 2021.

The Floridian band Schnitt Acht, who was active in the first half of the 90's released two albums "Subhuman Minds" (1991) being more into EBM-electronic music, but their second effort "Slash and Burn" (1993) added a more metal substance and riffs to the general concept, resulting into an original and excellent album.

The music in this video being absolutely fantastic in terms of creativity and inspiration!

The contribution of bands like Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie and his band White Zombie, Front Line Assembly, Oomph!, Swans, The Young Gods, KMFDM, Revolting Cocks and Skinny Puppy or even Marylin Manson are surely the main Industrial acts, but they cannot be overviewed in this history, although, their music reach metal at times, all these well known and appeciated bands, balanced their musical content from rock to electronic, even electronic body music and they are not exactly anchored, so to speak, in the Heavy Metal musical spectrum, as it is.