Black metal is a genre of heavy metal music that emerged from the metal underground and was largely popular in Europe. Black metal is characterized by its distorted guitars, fast tempos, heavily distorted vocals, and unconventional song structures.
The sound of black metal has also been called cold and lo-fi as a result of the production style’s tendency to defile sounds rather than enhance them.
The genre began in Norway with bands such as Mayhem, Emperor, Darkthrone and Immortal.
The origins of black metal can be traced back to the late 1960s with the founding of the band Black Sabbath. This dark genre is often fraught with aggression, and is a mix of heavy metal and punk rock.
Black metal first emerged as a Norwegian musical style in the early 1980s when band members began experimenting with traditional Scandinavian folk music, as well as classical and neo-classical music. The name black metal comes not from the color of the music or how it sounds but rather from its Norwegian origins.
