Black metal is a bit of a conundrum in metal history because among all the sub-genres of metal, it easily possesses the maximum number of qualities that are instant recipe to hate it, and yet for who like raw and abrasive music with a certain atmosphere, black metal is pretty much perfect.

For those who do not know, black metal is a subgenre of metal featuring ear-grinding harsh shrieks, heavy distortion, horrible raw lo-fi production, tremolo picking, inaudible bass, blast beats, strong focus on atmosphere, speed, abrasiveness and dark shocking themes.

In fact, a big part of black metal music and culture is the visual aesthetic where many of the iconic black metal bands such as Mayhem and Gorgoroth apply corpse paint, impaled animals, animal blood and lyrics either pertaining to religion (particularly Satanism or anti-Christianity), politics, society, death, gore, war and is in general extremely negative.

Plus there is a massive level of elitism where hardcore fans can simply be too close minded to try anything else. Yet, there is a level of dedication, passion and sincerity in the music that is highly admirable. Also, the genre itself is diverse enough to allow fusion and experimentation, and can be used as a fusion element even by non black metal bands.

For example, Opeth fuse death metal, black metal, progressive rock, heavy metal, jazz and other genres to create their own unique sound while Cradle Of Filth fuse black metal, death metal, thrash metal, gothic metal and symphonic metal to achieve another unique sound.

Black metal bands themselves fuse elements ranging from thrash, death, progressive, ambient, symphonic, gothic, doom, psychedelic  etc such as Dissection, Graveworm, Lord Belial, Rotting Christ, Forgotten Tomb etc.

An incredibly unique form of music, black metal is underground, dark, melancholic, way  too raw and aggressive yet at the same time atmospheric, innovative and passion driven. Certainly not for everyone, not even every metalhead, black metal has its own unique appeal due to the factor of a mystery and a personal connection.