Black metal
Videos
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 recording, unconventiona
Members of Gorgoroth wearing typical black metal gear such as corpse paint, spikes and bullet belts. The band was formed by guitarist Infernus to express his Satanist beliefs.
A common black metal convention is the use of corpse paint, black-and-white make-up intended to make the wearer look inhuman, corpse-like, or demonic. Shown here: Taalroth of French pagan band Hindvir.
Venom's second album, Black Metal, inspired the name of the genre.
Norwegian band Immortal influenced countless bands in the genre
The early Norwegian black metal scene of the 1990s is credited with shaping the modern black metal genre and producing some of the most acclaimed and influential artists in extreme metal.
Norwegian black metal singer Gaahl wearing corpse paint
The basement of Helvete
The Fantoft Stave Church, restored in 1997.