Black Metal Classification

 I've watched plenty of documentaries about and listened to plenty of black metal. When I was in high school, there was a local radio show that played metal some nights. It was run by Michael from Night Conquers Day and another DJ. Michael's tastes in music mirror his music and this was imprinted on me early and heavily. I found the radio show on the way back from a family Christmas gathering when I was scrolling the radio dial and Gehenna came out. The 1st few songs I heard were from Gehenna's 1st 2 albums! Michael MADE SURE I like Cradle of Filth, Ancient, Gehenna, Night Conquers Day, Vinterland and Blut Aus Nord.

The distinction here can be seen as "keyboard black metal/non-keyboard" to some, but there is a level of complexity and concern for creating melodic phrasing in the type that I like, which does not exist in what I call "blast black metal" like Immortal, Necrophobic and Mayhem. Another way of defining this difference could be creepy vs scary. Like a complex spider's web with segmented body spider lurking somewhere in the darkness to a superheated captive bolt gun or battering ram glowing red with heat. Energy level plays a large role, but some of the faster melodic stuff has cascading minor phrases that sound honestly beautiful to me. The borders of metal subgenres are less defined than some may think and moving out from the spider's web of keyboard melodic black metal, comes folk-influenced metal like Mental Home and then dipping into gothic rock more comes Nightingale. Eventually, you get to Bauhaus and need to make a "rock vs metal" distinction.

When folks say "black metal", they generally tend to only mean blast black metal, like when non-metal folk refer to metal as only stuff like Toxic Holocaust, Venom, Slayer and Cannibal Corpse. This has a "mirror" in melodic power metal. There are bands like Gloryhammer, Rhapsody, Blind Guardian and Silverheart that are easiest to compare with this in a "white knight, black knight" manner. This is also "secret" metal for those who look, find and know. We could go all the way to L-Train for Australian My Little Pony metal.

This brings us to the current "sub-culture template" thing going on online now. Folks with no base in this stuff are trying to put on the costume to assume the role. It doesn't work like that. We call them posers. The true metalheads know who they are and will still be into whatever THEY like, regardless of fashion. If mainstream style lines up with yours' temporarily, that is just an interesting effect of this complex world.