Metal Reviews

I'd say go for the modern BM, like:

Khold
Tidfall
Aborym
late Emperor

and if you like CoF, you'll love Tvangeste.

Edit: a good way of getting used to it is to just listen to a lot. Go to www.darksoul7.net and go with it for a while, some quite underground stuff on there. You can request most of the above bands as well.

Indeed, although first wave BM is somewhat different to what we consider BM nowadays. Great bands though.

I forgot Emperor by the way. how the fuck di dthat happen.

Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse

I think that's the first place to start with real BM.

And I don't see why eveyone should get into BM by listening to half-assed BM/Goth stuff (not that I hate all of it)... just go for the pure unaltered version.

Because not everyone is like me, capable of going from Cradle to Darkthrone straight away. I got a huge kick out of how different it was to everything else I'd ever heard, but that doesn't mean it won't frighten others away. Work up to it. And start with late Emperor and work back, for fuck's sake, otherwise you'll be upset by the time you reach IX.

Dude try Ildjarn first.


I agree with almost every album mentioned in this thread.

know they do, but for a beginner it is almost unnoticeable. I know this, b/c that was the way it was for me. That is why bands like Windir or Drudkh should be a good place to start.

I was thinking of making a "Favourite Ildjarn Song" thread just to see if anyone could distinguish between them..

I know I can't. I'm partially deaf now because of Ildjarn anyway.

(I'll just say earphones...)

By the way, try my favourite band: ...and Oceans. Begin with The Symmetry of I, the Circle of O, then AM GOD, then Cypher, and if you're still interested then, buy The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts. They're all excellent albums (apart from TDGoT which didn't quite grab me), but each is radically different.

a real good place would be borknagars- emericism.

it has some of that gothic nature cradle, and the progressive elements too has but leans towards the raw and is decent initiation

Everyone talks about gothic side in cradle music, but no one has explained why..Is low voice and clear woman vocals enough for talking about gothic metal? And how exactly you would define black metal? OK, we've got hellish screaming, but what else? What distuinguish black from grindcore, death, thrash, doom when we're not speaking about vocals?

a certain medieval simplicity; high riffs and a guitar tone with only a little low-end, murky production, often croaked or rasped vocals and a repetitive, one-two element to the drums. in many cases the objective of the music is to hypnotize rather than to pummel or inspire. and in most mature cases, the noticeable lack of a traditional song structure.

it doesn't help that there are seperate classifications inside of black metal that differ wildly from one another.

listening to deathkvlt's classic list would probably be a more practical way of finding out than having us try to define it, of course, especially as there'll always be exceptions.. Bergtatt in particular bears little relation to many others on that shortlist.

Hell Yeah!!!
And then Vlad Tepes and Mutiilation!

There's no easy way into real BM. Easy is gay.

With the hundreds, if not thousands, of BM artist out there, seperating the wheat from the chaff is indeed a daunting endeavor.
I say fuck the pussyfoot approach and immerse yourself in so-called true Black Metal from the start...
A few examples:
DArkthrone-A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Transylvanian Hunger
Ulver-Nattens Madeigal
Xasthur-A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors
Satyricon-Dark Medeival Times
Mutiilation-Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul
Funeral Fog-Under The Black Veil
Black Blood-Cryptic Rituals
Burzum-Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Graven-Perished and Forgotten
Tenebrae in Perpetuum-Onori Funebri Rituali
Nightbringer/Temple of Not-split
Vargsang-Call of the Nightwolves
Besatt-In Nomine Satanas
Moonblood-Blut und Kreig, Sob A Lua Do Bode plus any of the numeroous rehearsals/demos from thr mod 90's
Vlad Tepes-anything...
Kvist-demo '94
Svartrahid-Forthcoming Storm
Carpathian Forest-Bloodlust and Perversion
Black Funeral-Empire of Blood (true cult)...
fuckinghell, I could go on and on...
also try:
Gehenna-Seen Through The Veils of darkness, Malice
Emperor-In The Nightside Eclipse
since purchasing all of these (and more!) is economicaly infeasible merely to acquaint oneself with a genre, I suggest downloading, then buying that which you like, if anything... DC++ is a sure bet.
try extrememetal.no-ip.com, I have all those and tons more, so feel free to partake as you wish.
p.s.
Avoid Marduk, Immortal, Old Mans Child, later Dark Funeral (post Secrets...) and other hollow soulless norsecore.
Often mistaken for black metal, yet having next to nothing in common aesthetically with the genre.