The First Wave of Black Metal… or was it?

Beginnings

I remember the day well.  An incredibly cold, steel grey day, Tuesday, 1st, December, 1981.  I had struggled on to a freezing bus, faced a wind chill factor of -4C on the ferry, and then a twenty minute walk against the piercing wind.  My purpose?  To buy Venom’s Welcome to Hell on the day it was released.

HMV had a small advertising display tucked away on the corner of the shop and there were about twenty or so of the album on two racks.  I arrived by about 10AM and it looked like no one had bought a copy yet.  I grabbed mine, priced £4.99, and braced myself for the journey home.

Little did I, or anyone else for that matter, realise that this album heralded the birth of Extreme Metal.  A little under a year later, 1st November, 1982, came the genre-defining sophomore album, Black Metal, which as we all know, unleashed a breath of hell upon the unsuspecting public.  With this album, Venom kickstarted, what in later years would be called The First Wave of Black Metal, and it is specifically this, that I wish to look at.

What’s in a name?

The clunky term, the First Wave of Black Metal, has always struck me as a silly one, even when I first heard of it in the late 80s.  I suppose the first question is, what does it mean?  Let us begin with a definition or two.  

Firstly, a ‘wave’ (for our purposes, a noun) is defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English as, ‘a sudden occurrence of or an increase in phenomenon, feeling, or emotion’, and furthermore, as, a long body of water curling into an arched form and breaking on the shore._¹

If we accept the first definition, and why would we argue with Oxford University?, then we come across an issue with the whole concept of the First Wave almost immediately.

The First Wave of Black Metal is generally regarded as having taken place between 1982 and 1992, or for approximately, ten years.  The problem is, that there wasn’t a ‘sudden occurrence’ but rather a very steady build up of bands and albums that later on, we would call Black Metal.

Generally speaking, 5 bands are always name-checked by lazy journalists when describing the First Wave; Venom, Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost.  However, a cursory glance at the excellent Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult², by Dayal Patterson, adds another 17 bands to the period: Sodom, Destruction, Creator, Slayer, Possessed, Bulldozer, KAT, Sepultura, Holocausto, Sarcofago, Vulcano, Mystifier, Blasphemy, Samuel, Tormentor, Master’s Hammer, and Von.  Online you can find lists and lists of First Wave bands and one in particular on ‘Rate your Music’ lists an additional 63 bands.  Putting that all together and you get 85 bands.

That may seem a lot, but 85 bands over ten years is quite desultory – 8.5 bands a year on average.  Compare the First Wave with the only other wave to that point in Heavy Metal history; the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.  This sub-genre only lasted five years (1979-1983) but had over 500 bands contributing to it³,  or 100 bands a year on average.

If we go a step further and compare the Second Wave of Black Metal to the First, we get similar results.  In the five year period between 1992 and 1996, we have at least 125 bands, (that astonishingly, rises to over 30,000 black metal bands by 2023)⁴,  and that averages out as 25 bands per year, or three times as much as the First Wave.

These ‘averages’ have nothing to do with the music, but they show us how the First Wave wasn’t that ‘sudden occurrence’.  What we could say, based on these numbers, is that the NWOBHM can be described as a tsunami, whilst the Second Wave of Black Metal clearly fits our definition of a ‘wave’; set against this, the First Wave of Black Metal seems to be more of a ripple gently lapping at the sand.  

Does this matter?  Well, yes, it does.  The ‘sudden occurrence’ of the NWOBHM and the Second Wave of Black Metal are at odds with the paucity of bands and the long gestation period of the First Wave of Black Metal.  

This is particularly evident when we examine the music that these 85 bands were playing.

Just listen to the record

When we look at the ‘Black Metal’ part of the phrase, it becomes quickly evident that no one is actually playing pure black metal music in this period.  Wow, that’s a statement, but let’s look at this in more detail.  To start at the beginning, to call Venom a black metal band, for example, is to ignore how the band saw themselves:

Venom was like rock music and punk music ⁵

I don’t preach Satanism, occultism, witchcraft or anything – rock and roll is basically entertainment and that’s as far as it goes⁶

We’re entertainers. This isn’t Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, this is a rock band⁷

The band in the early 80s never called themselves a black metal band, (that would change after their reunion in 1995) and the closest they got, at the time, was a statement by Cronos trying to articulate the Venom sound:

Venom … was thrash metal, power metal, speed metal, death metal, black metal…⁸

Now this would be a good description of the type of music they played, for you can hear each of the ‘metals’ in the first two albums.  Predominantly, however, the music is a combination of thrash/speed metal with an obvious punk influence.  Cronos’ vocals are reminiscent of Lemmy’s and his growl would become copied by many thrash bands, the guitars still rooted in rock and roll, have the obligatory blistering solos, and the drum barrage is a combination of punk and Motörhead.  

This approach in Venom’s music can be heard in just about all of the 85 bands variously listed as First Wave.  Even with a cursory listen, it’s pretty obvious that most of these records are proto-thrash with a blackened element, and indeed, some bands would become major players in the thrash scene, Slayer, for example.   Other bands, Mercyful Fate, for example, could hardly be termed extreme or black metal, and when I first heard them I thought that they were Judas Priest clones (listen to their records before passing judgement!)  

Furthermore, every critic writing about the First Wave concludes by saying that these blackened thrash bands all moved on to focus on pure thrash, some of it technical thrash, thus, leaving behind the black metal elements of their music.  Take the Germanic thrashers Kreator, Destruction, and Sodom.  Each band produced one blackened album before moving on to pure thrash.  Slayer were the same, although you could argue that their first two releases were blackened.  The Brazilians followed suit, and Sepultura, Holocausto, and Sarcofago all shed their blackened roots after one album. The list goes on showing band after band leaving behind the primitive black metal that infuses their early music and moving on to pure thrash.

Some bands in the late 80s stayed true to the black flame for a while.  Blasphemy, for example, still regard themselves as black metal, but they have only produced two albums and Gods of War came out in 1993.  Samael, who have a case for releasing the first Second Wave black metal album, Worship Him, April, 1991, moved dramatically away from their black metal music in 1994 after only releasing two albums.  Master’s Hammer certainly were a band that called themselves black metal and stayed true to the sub-genre in the early part of their career.  Ritual, also has a case to be called the first Second Wave black metal album after being released in Czechoslovakia, February 1991, but it didn’t get a worldwide release until 1994.  However, even this legendary band only produced two albums and a host of demos before leaving black metal behind with their 1995 album, Šlágry.  Let us not forget Von, a black metal American band that produced raw, primitive black metal in the very early 90s and have been as influential on the Second Wave as any other band in the genre.   The problem was that Von never managed to produce anything other than one demo, Satanic Blood, 1992, before splitting up owing to audience indifference.  They had recorded a second demo, Blood Angel, but that didn’t see the light of day until 2003.  Arguably the first American black metal band, Von produced a barbaric, ferocious black metal consisting of reverb drenched riffing, guttural vocals, and a pounding beat that hypnotises the listener.  Had they managed to produce an official album or EP I have no doubt that they would be regarded as the first proper Second Wave black metal band.  Von were also one of the few bands to focus on atmosphere, which is a staple black metal element.  Many of the bands in the First Wave, instead, focused on the primitive, raw, music which is essentially thrash’s MO.

On the subject of the blurring of trash and black metal in the 80s, Fenriz said:

It’s about extraction; you have to search for the black metal in the albums⁹

We could say then that, if there is black metal in this period is ultimately discovered via a subjective search: what you hear and how you interpret it.  Black metal, as we understand it from 1992 onwards, is clearly not present in the majority of the bands frequently listed in the First Wave.  So is there any true black metal in the First Wave?   In response to this question, Fenriz said:

Listen to The Return… by Bathory. How hard can it be, I still don’t think anyone has listened too much to 80’s black metal, and the more you do it the truer you fucking get!¹⁰

I have to agree with Fenriz, The Return ….. and Under the Sign of a Black Mark, to me, are the only ‘true’ black metal albums produced in this period.  Everything we recognise in modern black metal is present in these two albums.  Admittedly, The Return …… is more of a transition album from the satanic/evil thrash to ‘true’ black metal, but the album laid down the foundations of what black metal would become.  The cold atmosphere on both albums is a remarkable step towards the black metal sound, as well as the ultra-fast riff tempos, subtle rhythm changes, the raw production, vocals that shriek and scream, mature songwriting with an almost hypnotic appeal, and of course the keyboards!

Satan’s voice

However, let’s not forget the satanic lyrics.  What connects all of these bands into a group of sorts, is the satanic/evil lyrical content, as well as the dark imagery.  Indeed, it is the only reason a band like Mercyful Fate is included in this list as far as I can see.  No one can doubt that the satanic approach is what set these bands apart from other thrash bands of the time, and one can easily see how they could be grouped under the black metal banner, thanks mostly to Venom’s album of the same name which seemed to encapsulate everything belonging to the First Wave.

What is interesting about the satanic theme is that from a very early stage, Euronymous, insisted that black metal was all about satanism not the music:

Black metal has nothing to do with the music itself, both Blasphemy and Mercyful Fate are black metal, it’s the LYRICS, and they must be SATANIC. If not, it is NOT black metal¹¹

This is an astonishing statement from the person credited to developing not just the black metal music, but also its imagery and ideology.  If we take this statement literally, it undermines the oeuvres of Burzum, Ulver, Satyricon, and even Mayhem, whilst completely ruling out Immortal and Enslaved from being labelled black metal.  Furthermore, it rules in bands such as Venom, Slayer, Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, and Hellhammer.  Perhaps this is the rationale behind the First Wave of Black Metal, but if that is the case, then the music is almost immaterial.

This contradiction is further blurred by the sheer amount of vandalism against churches, graves, monuments, etc. in the early 90s.  The ‘satanic panic’ that resulted has always been associated with black metal, and even in the 2000s lone black metal ‘fans’ have resorted to burning down churches or attacking priests claiming they did so in the name of black metal. 

Newer bands tend to display up-side down crosses, devil imagery, and pentagrams on their albums and stage sets, but the vast majority of them are not satanists.  Indeed, satanism as an ideological basis for black metal has all but disappeared in modern black metal and has been replaced by a more brutal ethos reminiscent of death metal.  Euronymous had, early on, made the connection between satanism with misanthropic attitudes, individualism, and hostility to the world around him, all the while dressed in black, spikes, and corpse paint.  It is interesting how modern bands take certain elements from Euronymous’ ‘manifesto’ and ignore other elements.  It’s like a pix ‘n’ mix at your local sweet shop.  Black metal presently, I do not believe, can be called a satanic music, it has drifted away from that whilst trying to retain its hatred towards religion, governments, and society as a whole.  But hatred, without an ideology, is quite meaningless and many see modern black metal as diluted and even, in some cases, not black metal at all.  In WW2 the allies had a ‘hatred’ of Nazism and that hatred was channelled into the war effort.  There was a purpose to the hatred.  Without a purpose, what is the hatred of modern black meal trying to achieve?  The explosion of black metal music and culture is still feared by those who do not understand it, but the real fear that was felt in the early 90s had long since passed and modern black metal is living, for the most part, on former glories.  Generally, bands just don’t mean it anymore, to many of the 30,000 black metal bands around today, black metal is just a form of music they like.  There is no real ideological basis for black metal today.  I wonder what Euronymous would have thought of modern black metal!

There are, of course, some bands which have taken satanism to be the fundamental element in black metal, and the three most famous examples are Gorgoroth, Marduk, and Watain.  The vast majority of satanists in black metal are often musicians from the 90s.  When modern bands pronounce themselves satanists it is often seen as an oddity, especially as the scene has fragmented into so many different sub-genres.  Satanism, it seems, is just one subgenre and not a leading factor any more.

Yet, satanism, in the First Wave, was the driving force for these disparate bands and it was that, compounded with the music, which made the period extreme.  The brutality of the music went hand-in-hand with the satanic message, and of course as each band became influenced by those that had gone before, it became more and more extreme.  The Second Wave was, if anything, a focus for these disparate threads, coalescing the various approaches taken by the First Wave and turning them into the greatest subgenre of heavy metal music.

Retro-fitting

So what of the First Wave of Black Metal?  How did it come into being and for what purpose?  It is obvious to anyone that the phrase, and that of the NWOBHM and the Second Wave of Black Metal, are journalistic inventions.  These terms, clunky and mildly silly, try to categorise the uncategorizable.  A period of music, or art, literature, does not suddenly appear on a certain day and end on another.  Life isn’t that neat.  Great bands, like artists and novelists, develop and grow their craft and in doing so produce something different from what has been seen before.  

Mayhem is a classic example of this.  They started as a cover band, playing Celtic Frost and Venom numbers.  Even up to the release of Deathcrush, they were still playing covers of the Dead Kennedys.  However, Euronymous, in particular, had a vision, although one not quite crystalised yet.   The band were to be the most extreme band ever and satanism played its part in that image.  However, the band were never satanists themselves.  Asked whether they were satanists, Manhiem and Necrobutcher replied:

‘No,’ Manheim replies simply.

‘Not even Oystein,’ adds Necrobutcher.  ‘We were looking at the satanic thing to see if there was any possibility to write some good lyrics.’¹²

Mayhem’s first studio release, Deathcrush, 1987, clearly wasn’t a black metal record, containing instead, elements of influences that sit well with the First Wave period – thrash, death, black metal and definitely punk.

When Dead and Hellhammer joined the band in 1988, the music began to change, coalescing into the black metal that would appear on De Mysteriis Dom. Sathanas in 1994.  Gone now was the very British humour that was evident on Deathcrush and the death metal-like gore and horror, to be replaced by a more serious, evil, satanic focus.

The evolution of Mayhem shows the ‘bridge’ between the First and Second Waves, but in order to establish themselves as ‘pure black metal’, Euronymous had to create a lineage, a heritage of sorts¹³, showing the extreme line between the past and the present.  Unable to articulate what black metal was or would become, Euronymous, to begin with, had to name check extreme bands which had black metal elements in them simply to distance themselves from the stagnating death and thrash metal scenes.  How could Mayhem be ‘new’ if they were associated with the ‘old’ thrash and death metal scenes?  The answer, of course, is to create a new history that hadn’t been there before.  Thus, the bands that Euronymous names are bands that never ‘fit’ neatly into the thrash or death metal scenes, becoming in themselves, ‘new’.  Ironically, however, Euronymous had to align himself with bands that were thrash and death metal, and in some cases, simply heavy metal, Mercyful fate, for example.  Of course it is doubtful that Euronymous planned it this way, but certainly it is no coincidence that so many ‘misfit’ bands ended up on his list!

When I was buying what turned out to be First Wave black metal albums back in the 80s, I didn’t even think of the term ‘black metal’ as being a unified subgenre.  To me, and my contemporaries, black metal was the title of a Venom album, and Cronos’ assertion that Venom were thrash, death, black, and power metal, was taken with a large pinch of salt.  To us they were thrashy-punk with a hefty dose of Motorhead, and none-too serious about their satanism.  

I remember both the First and Second Waves of Black Metal terms being talked about for the first time in around 1993.  They were suddenly there one day.  I didn’t understand it then, and I don’t think I understand it now.

Euronymous, however, played the biggest part in their creation.  From the beginning he was asserting what was black metal and what wasn’t.  That set up the ‘us against them’ mentality which is so important to black metal.  His insistence that black metal be about satanism was the clear line that he drew from the 80s to the early 90s.  

Was/is the First Wave of Black Metal a ‘thing’ then?  I would answer, no, it wasn’t/isn’t.  Since that day when I bought Welcome to Hell, I have watched the scene develop organically, and the idea that a band ‘fits’ into one pigeon hole or another is simply crass.  

Play the damned things

The main aim of this article is not just to stimulate debate about how journalists in particular carve up our music and make pronouncements that simply aren’t true, but also to encourage the reader to listen to the great extreme music of the 80s and to enjoy them as much as the established black metal scene of the 90s and onwards.  80s extreme music is an embarrassment of riches, and if you don’t know much about it, please dive in and experience its excellence.  

I’m off to re-play Von, it’s just got to be done.

Cheers!