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.
In the Nightside Eclipse is the debut studio album by Norwegian black metal band Emperor, released in 1994 through Candlelight Records. It was their only album to feature drummer Faust and one-time bassist Tchort. Considered a landmark in the black metal scene, the album has been ranked by critics as one of the most influential albums of the genre. It also contains some of Emperor's best known tracks, "I Am the Black Wizards" and "Inno a Satana".
Dissection was a Swedish extreme 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.
Wintersun is the debut studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Wintersun, then the solo project of Jari Mäenpää. The Japanese edition of the album was released with the original three demo tracks used to obtain a contract with Nuclear Blast.
Jon Andreas Nödtveidt was a Swedish musician best known as the founder, vocalist and lead guitarist of the Swedish black metal band Dissection. With the band, he released the seminal and influential extreme metal albums The Somberlain (1993) and Storm of the Light's Bane (1995). In addition to Dissection, Nödtveidt performed with several other projects, including Ophthalamia, The Black, De Infernali and Nifelheim, and also worked as a journalist for Metal Zone, where he covered the growing black metal scene.
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the debut studio album by Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. Songwriting began in 1987, but due to the suicide of vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin and the murder of guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, the album's release was delayed until May 1994. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is widely regarded one of the most influential black metal albums of all time. It is the band's only studio album to feature Aarseth and Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes.
Blackened death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that fuses elements of black metal and death metal.
Kristian Wåhlin is a Swedish musician, singer, graphic designer and album cover artist for many bands in the extreme metal scene worldwide. He is often credited under his pseudonym Necrolord.
The Somberlain is the debut studio album by Swedish black metal band Dissection, released on 3 December 1993 by No Fashion Records. It went on to become a highly influential release in both black metal and melodic death metal circles.
Reinkaos is the third and final studio album by Swedish black/melodic death metal band Dissection. It was released through the band's own label Black Horizon Music, which they had formed "out of the need of taking charge of our own business and making things our own way, without compromise". Reinkaos is also available as autographed limited first edition: CD packed in exclusive embossed slipcase, limited to 1,001 hand-numbered copies signed by the band members; including the music video for "Starless Aeon" and a sticker.
John Allan Zwetsloot is a Swedish guitarist who previously played with black/death metal band Dissection.
Sacramentum is a melodic black metal band from Falköping, Sweden, formed by Nisse Karlén (vocals/guitar) in the summer of 1990 under the name of Tumulus. The band released three full-length studio albums and two demos. They are best known for their debut album Far Away from the Sun, which is often considered one of the best early melodic black metal releases.
Ole Christian Öhman, also known as Bone W. Machine, is a Swedish drummer, best known as a member of Dissection from 1990 to 1995 and Deathstars from 2000 to 2011. Öhman appeared on two studio albums and EPs with Dissection and three albums with Deathstars.
Watain is a Swedish black metal band, formed in 1998. The band's name is taken from an early recording by the American black metal group Von. The band have become famous for their theistic Satanist views and for their live shows which involve pyrotechnics, candles, Satanic rituals, animal carcasses, and blood. At a now-notorious live performance in Brooklyn in 2014, they doused audience members in animal blood, allegedly causing some members of the audience to vomit. This was picked up and publicised by TMZ, generating controversy around the incident. To date they have released seven full-length albums, as well as three live albums and a number of demos and EPs. Their most recent album The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain was released on 29 April 2022 through Nuclear Blast. The band's core lineup has remained stable since their formation, consisting of Erik Danielsson, Pelle Forsberg, and Håkan Jonsson, though as of 2015 Jonsson no longer performs live, Emil Svensson of fellow Uppsala death metal band Degial was recruited as live drummer.
Ophthalamia was a Swedish black metal band that was formed in 1989 in Stockholm. The band released three studio albums before splitting up in 1998. Members of the band included guitarist IT, guitarist and bassist Night, drummer Bone and vocalist Shadow.
Maha Kali is an EP by the Swedish extreme metal band Dissection. It was the first release after the rebirth of Dissection, shortly after Jon Nödtveidt was released from prison. It represents the band's change from a melodic black/death sound to a more heavy metal-based sound of melodic death metal. The song "Maha Kali" also appears on the live DVD Rebirth of Dissection, and was re-recorded and included on Dissection's last full-length album, Reinkaos; "Unhallowed " is a re-recording from Storm of the Light's Bane. Maha Kali entered the Swedish charts at number 50.
Live Legacy is a live album by Swedish black metal band Dissection, released in 2003 by Nuclear Blast. It was recorded during a show at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany on 8 August 1997. It was first released as a bootleg called Frozen in Wacken, which featured the art of romantic painter Antoine Wiertz on the cover. The bootleg also includes the song "Night's Blood" that was omitted from the official release due to errors in the recording.
Sworn to the Dark is the third studio album by Watain and was released on 19 February 2007 on Season of Mist. The album received very positive reviews from music critics and has been described as the band's "breakthrough" album. The song 'Legions of the Black Light' is dedicated to Dissection's vocalist Jon Nödtveidt who committed suicide in 2006.
The Wild Hunt is the fifth studio album by Swedish black metal band Watain. It was released through Century Media on 19 August 2013 in Europe and 20 August 2013 in USA. The cover art was painted "in oil and mixed materials" by Zbigniew M. Bielak, who was also responsible for the artwork of Lawless Darkness. The album sold around 2,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release, and was the best-selling album in their home country of Sweden on the week of its release, making it the band's highest sales and chart debut to date. Stylistically the album represents a development of Watain's established black metal sound, incorporating influences from heavy metal, doom metal, and progressive metal. It is also the first Watain album to feature vocalist Erik Danielsson performing clean vocals.
Far Away from the Sun is the debut studio album by Swedish black metal band Sacramentum, released through Adipocere Records on 15 May 1996.
