Black metal

Black metal started in the early 1980s with bands such as Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost,

Black metal started in the early 1980s with bands such as Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, and Hellhammer. The second wave of black metal, an essentially Scandinavian movement, started in the late 1980s and early 1990s, primarily in Norway. Black metal has gathered intense criticism from many sectors of society, for its brutal aesthetic, its misanthropic spirit, and the extreme right wing ideologies displayed by some musicians working in the National Socialist Black Metal subgenre. However, at the same time it experienced a meteoric rise in popularity among metal fans during the 1990s.

The seeds of black metal were planted in the early 1980s, known as the "First Wave", the earliest inspiration being that of the British band Venom. Their debut full-length album, Welcome To Hell was released in 1981, and is a huge inspiration for the future black metal scene (not to emerge for around a decade later), along with their 1982 follow-up, aptly titled Black Metal (then a pun on the phrase Black Magic). The music was in many ways similar to the future black metal music; the under-production, harsh music, and the vocals were relatively growly, similar to the future rasp of black metal vocalists, though Venom took on a more NWOBHM/thrash metal style, rather than the future sound. Venom's clothing style was also similar to that of the future black metal bands; leather trousers, spiked wrist accessories etc. Venom's members also adopted pseudonyms, the original lineup being Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon.