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Darkthrone - transylvanian hunger
emperor - in the nightside eclipse
if you want to try bands that have black metal roots/ influences but are easier to get into I would also recommend Enslaved (ethica odini) or wolves in the throne room (any album).
Excellent choices-I would add anything by Agalloch. Probably my favorite BM band that transcend BM. If you've never heard Agalloch, you should listen to them anyway even if you aren't "into" BM. Agalloch are one of the best metal bands in the US...my opinion, of course...but they mix a lot of influences.
You should decide if you want to try avant garde/weird ambient BM, melodic BM or go for the jugular burn in hell meat n potatoes.
I recommend starting w/ your basic meat n potatoes...to me that's what I think of .....
Here are some choices for well known meat'n'potatoes BM that I think sound great:
#1. If you are just checking out BM and aren't afraid of some pretty over the top blasphemy I am going to recommend
Marduk. Anyone who has even a limited familiarity w/ BM will have heard of them. So, this isn't the most creative choice. Sort like recommending the Rolling Stones for an introduction into classic rock...sort like,
well, duh!
Nevertheless, I love this band. IMO they sever heads. Their newer vocalist Mortuus is a force of nature. He should get an Oscar nomination for his vocal performances. This would be back to basics non melodic evil and hateful...but, er, we're not talking about folk music after all.
Wormwood is quite diverse in terms of sound, pacing, speed...some BM is fairly one dimensional. Make that, a lot of BM is one dimensional...worth to research before buying.
This is also an excellent recent Marduk release:
Stay away from their newest release-Serpent's Saint. It's a better than average release, but not their best IMO.
Mortuus (vocalist) also has an excellent side project that is IMO even more interesting
-Funeral Mist -Marantha (2009). Sick schiit. But, a bit more off the beaten track.
#2-Gorgorth...my first BM purchase...
Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam
I decided to investigate BM a few years ago and saw this listed on the Allmusic Guide's best in metal list. I had no idea what I was in for. I remember popping in this CD in my car driving late at night....and being pretty unnerved....like Satan was channeled through my speakers. I think I went home and took a shower afterwards.
Here are two other Gorgoroth releases near and dear to my heart:
Don't the titles just fill you with love and joy for mankind
yeah-these are meat'n'potatoes BM.
If you want to be more experimental, later on I recommend more avant gard French BM:
- Blut Aus Nord (also very well known)
- Deathspell Omega.....approach w/ caution....and be ready for some heavy philosophical existential reading.....I'm not kidding about that.
I can't stop myself....one more. This band also "above ground" in BM -This band has a great BM sound
Watain: Lawless Darkness or Sworn to the Dark
a lot of BM sounds like crap. These three bands: Marduk, Gorgoroth and Watain haver crawled out of the Black Metal recording ghetto and found enough sunlight to get decent production while sounding thoroughly evil, dirty and ugly....and another thing that some BM bands forget, they actually know how to rock.
If you have a habit of playing CDs in your car as I do (I know a lot of people dont' listen to CD's anymore, but I do)....but if you do and don't want your neighbors to think you're a psycho, you probably want to turn the sound down when parking next to the respectable family putting their groceries away....and the elderly individual getting gas next to you may give you looks like you're the next Charles Mason. At leaset that's been my experience.
These are all pretty obvious, well known choices of recent memory....but you didn't ask for creative or ground breaking....just a good introduction to the genre. These are also relatively newer vs what I think of as the ground breakers in the 90's...those being:
- Mayhem
- Immortal (Sons of Northern Darkness is great)
- Emperor
- Darkthrone
Horns up!
