Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.
Bathory was a Swedish black metal band formed in Vällingby in March 1983. Named after Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory, they are considered pioneers of black metal and Viking metal. The book Lords of Chaos described Bathory's first four albums as "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal." Acts influenced by their early records include Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Satyricon, Emperor, Dark Funeral, Enslaved, Immortal, Marduk, Moonsorrow and Dimmu Borgir.
Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in hardcore punk. Gothenburg has a large melodic death metal scene while Stockholm is known for its more raw death metal scene.
Possessed is an American death metal band, originally formed in 1983. Noted for their fast style of playing and Jeff Becerra's growled vocals, they are often called the first band in the death metal genre, and paved the way for the 1980s Bay Area thrash metal scene, along with Metallica, Exodus, Testament and Death Angel. The band is also notable for featuring future Primus member Larry LaLonde, who was the guitarist for Possessed from 1984 to 1987.
Dissection was a Swedish black metal band from Strömstad, formed in 1989 by guitarist, vocalist and main songwriter Jon Nödtveidt and bassist Peter Palmdahl. Despite a number of lineup changes, Dissection released The Somberlain in 1993 and Storm of the Light's Bane in 1995, before splitting up in 1997 due to Nödtveidt's imprisonment for complicity in the murder of Josef Meddour.
D-beat is a style of hardcore punk, developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, after whom the genre is named, as well as a drum beat characteristic of this subgenre. D-beat is known for its "grinding, distorted and brutally political" sound. Discharge may have themselves inherited the beat from Motörhead and the Buzzcocks. D-beat is closely associated with crust punk, which is a heavier, more complex variation. The style was particularly popular in Sweden, and developed there by groups such as Crude SS, Anti Cimex, Mob 47, and Driller Killer. Other D-beat groups include Doom and the Varukers from the UK; Disclose from Japan; Crucifix and Final Conflict from the U.S.; Ratos de Porão from Brazil; and MG15 from Spain. While the style initially developed in the early 1980s, a number of new groups working within the subgenre emerged in the mid-1990s. These include the Swedish groups Wolfbrigade, Totalitär, Avskum, Skitsystem, and Disfear.
Marduk is a Swedish black metal band formed in Norrköping in 1990. The band released their debut full-length album, Dark Endless, in 1992 on No Fashion Records. Their name is derived from the Ancient Babylonian deity, Marduk.
Anti Cimex were a Swedish crust punk band, based in Skövde, Gothenburg, Linköping, and Malmö, at different times, that formed in 1981. They were one of the first bands to define Scandinavian hardcore punk. Their second 7-inch is considered to be a subgenre-defining D-beat record. Scene historian Peter Jandreus describes the group as the most famous Swedish punk band of the 1977–1987 era.
Under the Sign of the Black Mark is the third studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Bathory. It was recorded in September 1986 and released on 11 May 1987 through New Renaissance Records and Under One Flag. It was a key album in the development of the black metal genre, and greatly influenced the Norwegian black metal scene that emerged in the early 1990s.
Bathory is the debut studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Bathory. It was released in October 1984, through Tyfon Grammofon. It is considered by fans and critics to be one of the contenders for the first black metal record.
Grotesque was a Swedish death metal/black metal band.
Abruptum is a Swedish black metal and dark ambient solo side-project band. It is run by Evil of Marduk, but the band was formed in 1989 by IT. All, Ext and Evil joined the band later. IT was one of the leaders of the True Satanist Horde, part of the Swedish Black metal scene. Euronymous, co-founder of Mayhem and founder of Deathlike Silence Productions, described Abruptum as "the audial essence of pure black evil".
Dark Endless is the debut studio album by Swedish black metal band Marduk. It was recorded and mixed at Hellspawn Studios during four days in June 1992 and released that December by No Fashion Records. Like many early black metal albums, it mixes black metal vocals with predominantly death metal stylings. Dark Endless is the only Marduk studio album to feature Andreas Axelsson on vocals and Rikard Kalm on bass, as by Marduk's second album Those of the Unlight, they had been replaced by Joakim Göthberg and B. War respectively.
Moss was a three-piece English doom metal band that formed in 2001. Influenced by H. P. Lovecraft and the occult, songs usually average the 2.0 minute mark and incorporate dense and otherworldly atmospheres. Despite the use of extreme bass frequencies, Moss features no bass guitarist.
Funeral Mist is a Swedish black metal band formed in Stockholm in 1993. To date, the band have released four full-length albums, three EPs and a compilation boxset. Since 2003, the band's sole permanent member has been Arioch, also known for his work as the frontman of the black metal band Marduk.
Satariel is a death metal band from Sweden founded in 1993 in Boden.
Rom 5:12 is the tenth studio album by Swedish black metal band Marduk. It was recorded and mixed between December 2006 and January 2007 and released on April 24, 2007 by Regain Records. The CD version of the album includes a 44-page booklet, and the LP and picture disc pressings were limited to 500 copies each. Rom 5:12 is the last Marduk album to feature Emil Dragutinovic. Just as the previous album Plague Angel, it features a second collaboration with the Martial Industrial band Arditi.
Driller Killer was a Swedish crust punk band. They were formed in 1993 in Malmö and are named after the Abel Ferrara film The Driller Killer. They are signed to the French record label Osmose Productions and have released seven full-length albums, and a variety of split releases to date. Their style has been described as heavy punk, hardcore punk, crust punk and D-beat. They are also strongly influenced by the sound of Discharge.
Death 'n' roll is the subgenre of death metal music that incorporates hard rock-inspired elements to the overall sound. The achieved effect is that of death metal's trademark combination of growled vocals and highly distorted detuned guitar riffing with elements reminiscent of 1970s hard rock and heavy metal. Notable examples include Entombed, Gorefest, Carcass, Kaptain Sun, Six Feet Under, Pungent Stench and the Fernando Colunga Ultimate Experience.
Triumphator were a Swedish black metal band consisting of Tena on bass, Arioch on guitar and vocals and Fredrik Andersson on drums, who released a demo, an EP and one album between 1996 and 1999.
