First Wave Black Metal 

I find your approach charming in that you’re so open about things, not really being an “expert” on black metal. Thanks for posting this, and for including Master’s Hammer and Sepultura!

Really comprehensive video. I really enjoyed it. :)

Also, Ritual from Master's Hammer is definitely one of my favourite BM albums. Amazing riffs and atmosphere throughout and yes, it's very well recorded. Root is also a great one from Czechia.

Great video. THe thrash vs black metal car analogy was so funny, but kind of accurate. That Tormentor is so cool. I actually hear a lot of Iron maiden in the guitar, but often just really fast and crazy and with Atilla's wild vocals over it. Speaking of wild, the reformed Tormentor album from 1998 is one of the weirdest things ever. Not black metal at all. Very hard to describe, but there is eccentric personality all over it that's for sure. The Greek BM sound is really distinctive and unique. As well as Rotting Christ, there's the great Varathron, and the eventually-great Necromantia, and Zemial, and Agatus, and a lot of other really cool bands. And over there in Italy there's also Mortuary Drape of course, who it hink you mentioned early on in the video. They didn't et an album out till 1994 but they had lots of demos and EPs before that, and the albums kept getting better. They just put out a new one actually and I'm excited to hear it. I think bands like this, as wella st he Greek bands, lean a little more on the heavy metal riffs, and you can definitely hear more of the Mercyful Fate-ish kind of thing going with them, both in terms of musicianship and theatricality.

Great overview, this era of metal is the best IMO, nothing was codified, everyone wanted to push the envelope but without obviously copying others styles like today. One of my favourite "1st wave" - if we keep to the 81/91 timeframe - is Samael's "Worship him" (recorded in march 1990), really fantastic. I always disliked the idea of "1st wave" BM grouping of all these bands as they sound quite different to each other. Also, I dont understand when the 2nd wave starts! If you want yo dig deeper there are LOTS of crazy good demos from this era.

Yeah, I’m 52 so I think we’re able the same age. I really dug and still dig Bathory. I never cared for Venom so much. As a guitar player on a technical angle they sucked moose balls. But I respect them for what they did. Bathory seemed like pure evil to me. Which I appreciated. And of course Hellhammer and Celtic Frost ruled.

Hey Peter! Not my genre at all, but as always, I stopped by to give you a thumbs up.

Another fantastic video Peter, I have never been too familiar with the first wave of black metal like Venom, Bathory ext… I got into black metal with the second wave with bands like Darkthrone, emperor, Enslaved. The first black metal band I ever heard was Cradle of Filth with the song Her Ghost in the fog….they are controversial in the black metal scene for being more symphonic but they are near and dear to me been a fan of their music going on 20yrs now

excellent video as always Peter 🙂 the amount of hard work you put in really shows, as does your love and enthusiasm for rock music 🙂 black metal is not a genre of music I'm at all familiar with. Growing up in the UK with the NWOBHM I do remember hearing Venom - it must have been on the legendary Friday Night Rock Show with the late, great Tommy Vance. At the time they I considered them as just another metal band, and I thought of them along with the likes of Demon (whose first 2 albums I bought). Though Demon were a more outright satanic worship type band. I have seen that documentary about Mayhem. they were a very disturbed bunch, with tragic consequences.