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i am eager to know whcih one of these is your favourite...

Well.. acutually none, but i voted for Dimmu, as their sound has developed in a quite interesting direction, imo. The other bands are nice for sleeping

What about Borknagar? Atleast they are more BM than Cradle
Emperor?
Naglfar?

That was meant as an Edit.. stupid board

urmm...yeah emperor and borknagar should have been there...damn...what now?

I like CoB, Dark Tranquility, and Hypocrisy the best!
Crematory is good, too!

LittleHarry wrote:urmm...yeah emperor and borknagar should have been there...damn...what now?

What about reopening the topic in the offtopic section? Most people dont even look here

Cradle Of Filth and Behemoth ...

none of them.

gon wrote:none of them.

once again a pool which lacks of such an answer...would be mine too

Well, I am not a fan of black metal, death metal, etc..... too fast and dark for me..... but it doesn´t mean they are not good eh? It´s only my opinion.

out of those the only BM band I like is Cradle of Filth

Opeth is very good, too!

My son started me listening to black metal--its his fav metal genre, but I just like a few songs from each group.

Therion and Opeth are good, although I personally would not classify them as black metal. I would rather call those "progressive symphonic" heavy (or even: death) metal bands.

Of all black metal acts out there, the only ones that I can bear to listen to are Dimmu Borgir (good orchestration) and Cradle of Filth. The latter's song "From the Cradle to Enslave" (from the eponymous EP) is absolute genius. The final part with the strings (that Dm thing) is just magical and quite interesting from a purely musical perspective. The progression and counterpoint are quite powerful (seriously). Just listen to the way the bassline, the violin lead part, and the string backing play different melodic ideas that combine into something quite euphonic. Their guitars, keyboards, and blasts also sound pretty coherent and even soulful (makes one wonder).

As far as other black metal bands go. They pretty much always sound like the aural equivalent of razorblades, and that is not good. I'm referring to bands such as Burzum or Darkthrone, which seem to disregard sound quality with an almost religious fervour. Some of these groups have rather elaborate (though hardly sane) ideologies and intricate lyrics, which tends to prompt the inquisitive mind to experience their musical endeavours. The "music", however, is hardly worth more than a casual half-hearted listen, because it is just so incredibly terrible. Bands like Emperor and Mayhem may be slightly better, but that is hardly an achievement.

Finally, check this out:

http://www.sunnytownrecords.com/blackmetal.mp3

Cheers,

Damien

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cradle rules! I fuckin love them... specially from the cradle to the enslave video

Dimmu borgir rules too

Damien Thorn wrote: The "music", however, is hardly worth more than a casual half-hearted listen, because it is just so incredibly terrible. Bands like Emperor and Mayhem may be slightly better, but that is hardly an achievement.

Listen to Emperor´s Prometheus. Definately one of the best cds i know, although not really Black Metal anymore...

Twilightsymphony wrote:

Damien Thorn wrote: The "music", however, is hardly worth more than a casual half-hearted listen, because it is just so incredibly terrible. Bands like Emperor and Mayhem may be slightly better, but that is hardly an achievement.

Listen to Emperor´s Prometheus. Definately one of the best cds i know, although not really Black Metal anymore...

The theme of and the ideas behind the Prometheus album are brilliant and incredibly interesting. Black metal's modern approach to mythology and strong grasp of Christian and classical material (carefully avoiding the word "myth" here) are one of the reasons why it sometimes tickles my fancy. Emperor is really good at that, I agree, and that's probably one of the reasons why they are generally considered as the founders and originators of that Norwegian and Swedish black metal scene. Of course, Venom was already laying the foundations for the genre in the eighties, but their approach to the music was rather crude - no keyboards, no orchestration. Other bands that deserve to be mentioned are Darkthrone, Bathory, and Mayhem. Burzum is only interesting in view of its rampant atheism and cinematically appealling church conflagrations in Norwegian stavkirken (see Aske). Once again, the ideology behind the musical expression is rather coherent - although it is ultimately flawed - but the tonal textures used to weave the compositions are rather "thin".

Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir form an exception to this black metal code of conduct, and are therefore far more powerful, palatable, and acceptable in my opinion.

They just sound better.

Cheers,

Damien

PS: That entire discussion about Cradle of Filth not being a black metal group, but a mere gothic power outfit, is trite. That's been done to death. They are just stretching the boundaries of the genre, and they should be praised for that effort.

Immortal (R.I.T.)

Dimmu Borgir

The Project Hate have some incredible solos. And Impaled Nazarene have done one cool melodic album, Absence of War. (I guess the Troo fans like that the least, though.)

I'm not into BM so much, as the lyrics don't do much for me, but luckily I can hardly understand them anyway.

IMMORTAL!!!

Out of those: DarkThrone

iron_thunder wrote:IMMORTAL!!!

I'll second that.

DISSECTION