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.
Thrice is an American rock band from Irvine, California, formed in 1998. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue and lead guitarist Teppei Teranishi while they were in high school.
Neurosis is an American avant-garde metal band from Oakland, California. It was formed in 1985 by guitarist Scott Kelly, bassist Dave Edwardson, and drummer Jason Roeder, initially as a hardcore punk band. Chad Salter joined as a second guitarist and appeared on the band's 1987 debut Pain of Mind and then Steve Von Till replaced him in 1989. The following year, the lineup further expanded to include a keyboardist and a visual artist. Beginning with their third album Souls at Zero (1992), Neurosis transformed their hardcore sound by incorporating diverse influences including doom metal and industrial music, becoming a major force in the emergence of the post-metal and sludge metal genres.
Graveland are a Polish pagan black metal band which was formed in 1991 by Rob Darken. They began as a black metal band before adopting a pagan and Viking metal style. The lyrics and imagery of Graveland are strongly inspired by European mythology, nature, winter and war. Their early work focused on Celtic and Slavic mythology, while their later work focuses on Norse mythology and Wotanism.
Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It initially specialized in experimental metal: particularly doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal. The label later expanded its line-up to include artists from black metal, hardcore punk and crust punk bands.
Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis, Godflesh, and Helmet, who transformed metal texture through experimental composition. In a way similar to the predecessor genres post-rock and post-hardcore, post-metal offsets the darkness and intensity of extreme metal with an emphasis on atmosphere, emotion, and even "revelation", developing an expansive but introspective sound variously imbued with elements of ambient, noise, psychedelic, progressive, and classical music. Songs are typically long, with loose and layered structures that discard the verse–chorus form in favor of crescendos and repeating themes. The sound centres on guitars and drums, while any vocals are usually screamed or growled and resemble an additional instrument.
Nachtmystium was an American psychedelic black metal band formed by Blake Judd, formerly known as Azentrius, and Pat McCormick. The band's name is derived from the German word Nacht meaning "night", and the made-up term mystium which resembles the Latin adjective mysticum. Judd and McCormick combined the words to create the band's name, which they state means "Encompassing Darkness". Nachtmystium released multiple critically praised albums between 2005 and 2012, including Instinct: Decay (2005), Assassins: Black Meddle, Part I (2008), and Silencing Machine (2012).
Wolves in the Throne Room is an American black metal band formed in 2002 in Olympia, Washington, by brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver. They have released seven full-length albums, two live albums, and one EP to date. They have stated one of the founding concepts of the band to be channeling the "energies of the Pacific Northwest's landscape" into musical form.
Diadem of 12 Stars is the debut studio album of black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room. It was this recording that caught the attention of Southern Lord Records, who subsequently signed the band in late 2006 and re-released the album on vinyl. It was subsequently re-issued in 2016 through the band's own imprint, Artemisia Records.
Two Hunters is the second album by black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room and their debut album on Southern Lord Records. The band made minimal use of any digital effects or manipulation in the recording process. The vinyl version includes an extended version of "Cleansing" and a previously unreleased track "To Reveal". Two Hunters was critically acclaimed and succeeded in putting the band at the forefront of the North American black metal scene. The Daymare Recordings release also contains their 2005 demo on a second disk.
Deafheaven is an American post-metal band formed in 2010. Originally based in San Francisco, the group began as a two-piece with singer George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy, who recorded and self-released a demo album together. Following its release, Deafheaven recruited three new members and began to tour. Before the end of 2010, the band signed to Deathwish Inc. and later released their debut album Roads to Judah, in April 2011. They popularized a unique style blending black metal, shoegaze, and post-rock, among other influences, later called "blackgaze" by reviewers.
Monarch was a French doom metal band from Bayonne, formed in 2002.
Celestial Lineage is the fourth full-length studio album by American black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room. It was released through Southern Lord Records on September 13, 2011.
Celestite is the fifth full-length studio album by American black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room. It was released through their own label Artemisia Records on July 8, 2014. The album explores the themes of the band's previous album Celestial Lineage through an experimental, drone-based dark ambient style, eschewing vocals and the black metal aggression which characterizes their other works.
Harm's Way is an American straight edge hardcore punk band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2006. The band started as a side project, but ended up becoming a more serious and full-time band in their later years. Harm's Way has since released four studio albums: Reality Approaches (2009), Isolation (2011) and Rust (2015) and several EPs. On February 9, 2018, the band released their critically acclaimed Metal Blade Records debut, titled Posthuman. They have been recognized for their unique blend of metal, industrial, and hardcore music.
Wanderlust is the debut studio album by Canadian atmospheric black metal band Finnr's Cane. It was released in 2010 by Frostscald Records and re-released in 2011 by Prophecy Productions. The re-release includes a demo version of the song Snowfall, one of the first tracks composed by the band.
Khemmis is an American doom metal band from Denver, Colorado, that formed in 2012. The band's music combines doom and traditional heavy metal with elements of death and black metal. The band released their first two studio albums, Absolution and Hunted, through independent label 20 Buck Spin. Their third album, Desolation, and subsequent mini-LP, Doomed Heavy Metal, were licensed for all territories outside of North America by Nuclear Blast and were co-released with 20 Buck Spin. In November 2021, the band released their Nuclear Blast worldwide debut record Deceiver. They are named after an ancient city located in Egypt, now known as Akhmim.
Mareridt is the second studio album by Myrkur, the black metal project of Danish musician and singer-songwriter Amalie Bruun. The album was released on 15 September 2017 through Relapse Records. Mareridt was recorded between Seattle, United States and Copenhagen, Denmark, and was produced by Randall Dunn. The album's title is Danish for 'nightmare', in reference to the frequent occurrences of sleep paralysis and nightmares which provided the inspiration for much of the album. The album's release was promoted with the release of three singles: "Måneblôt", "Ulvinde", and "De tre piker". The album received widespread acclaim from music critics upon its release.
Woman Is the Earth is an American black metal band from Black Hills, South Dakota.
