This is a list of bands who were a part of the first wave of black metal, which took place between roughly 1982 [1] and 1991. [2] [3]
While Venom, Mercyful Fate, Bathory, and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost are generally considered the most pivotal in kick-starting the black metal genre, the bands in this chapter also played a significant hand in its development... The German trio of Sodom, Kreator, and Destruction, as well as the American act Slayer, are a perfect case in point.
Up to this point, no Swedish band had really followed in Bathory's footsteps. The pioneers Obscurity and Mefisto faded after just a couple of demos. The first to break the ice were the soon-to-be classic Merciless, from the small and idyllic town of Strängnäs, sixty-five miles west of Stockholm.
Merciless was formed in 1986 by the very young metalheads Fredrik Karlén on bass, Stefan "Stipen" Karlsson on drums, and Erik Wallin on guitar. Fredrik had previously been in a punk band, while Stipen and Erik used to play heavy metal... Unlike Obscurity and Mefisto, Merciless also started to play live gigs very early in their career-probably one of the primary reasons why Merciless eventually succeeded where Obscurity and Mefisto had failed.
En af grundlæggerne af 'black metal': heavy metal med udtalt satanistiske tekster. [English: One of the founders of 'black metal': heavy metal with pronouncedly satanic lyrics.]
[...] sataniske tekster, som gør, at de er med til at skabe undergenren black metal. [English: [...] satanic lyrics, which entails that they are involved in creating the subgenre black metal.]
Rick came to me and said, 'I got this band you've gotta listen to. It's like Motörhead, but even more extreme.' And he happened to bring in Black Metal from Venom, and that sealed it for me. I was like, 'Yes, we can do music like this.'" Venom's musical interpretation of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal may have been crude and their lyrical interpretation utterly juvenile, but it was all the inspiration DeLillo and Lee needed. Soon the pair decided to form a band of their own.
the first-era black metal bands such as Venom, Bathory, Possessed, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost
Predating the Norwegian black metal revolution of the nineties, Thorns...