Black Metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It is typically abrasive and usually makes use of fast tempos, high-pitched electric guitars often played with tremolo picking, high-pitched shrieking vocals, and unconventional song structures. Lyrics often focus on anti-Christian themes, and during the early 1990s, the Norwegian black metal scene was associated with a wave of church burnings. In the early and mid 1980s a few thrash metal bands such as Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost formed the prototype for black metal. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a second wave emerged, primarily of Norwegian bands like Burzum, Mayhem, Darkthrone and Emperor.