Note: This is the last part of a series of articles I've been working on. The first covers the artistic influences that led up to and made up the Norwegian Second Wave, and the second explains the genre's development after that period with writeups of my personal favorites in each style of black metal.
The LLN scene led to France being associated with a depressive atmosphere and production so raw it makes Deathcrush sound high fidelity. While there are certainly still bands playing in that style, modern trends have leaned more towards technicality and experimentation.
Favorite Bands: Belketre, Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Murmuüre, Nocturnal Depression
The German scene has less of a stylistic cohesion and more of a structural one. While LLN releases often felt like they were being played on the spot like Jazz, the German scene has a calculated nature that seems to say, "It was always going to happen this way". Aggression in this scene feels less like the wolves and mythical monsters that come to mind in the norwegian scene and more like cold and impersonal violence in a shark's eyes.
Favorite Bands: Aaskereia, Anti, Bethlehem, Coldworld, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Heretoir, Katharsis, Lunar Aurora, Nornir, Streams Of Blood
This could be thought of as the default black metal sound. Freezing atmosphere and sharp guitar tones, but something about the specific type of rawness in a lot of Norwegian releases that feels like a pitch black night in the woods rather than in a dusty coffin. Folk elements became more common in this scene after much of the Deathlike Silence scene dissolved through artists like Windir and Enslaved.
Favorite Bands: Enslaved, Gehenna, Satyricon, Ulver, Urgehal, Windir
Often focusing on mood and intellectual songwriting over technicality, if I had to describe the Polish sound in one word: Gray
Favorite Bands: Batushka, Blaze of Perdition, Furia, Mgła
Melodic elements are fairly common in this scene as are explicit death metal influence due to the global popularity of that scene.
Favorite Bands: Arckanum, Armagedda, Dissection, Dödsrit, Lifelover, Marduk, Watain
Due to the size of the United States and the cultural diversity within it, there isn't really a common stylistic thread between American bands. It is more reasonable to view each region of the United States as its own scene rather than their being a single United States black metal scene.
Favorite Bands: Abigail Williams, Agalloch, Autumn Nostalgie, Cobalt, Hulder, Lamp Of Murmuur, Mizmor, Nathair, None, Portrait Decay, Spirit Possession, Weakling
Finland, Iceland, Greece, and Ukraine also have thriving scenes that I am not familiar enough with personally to include.
This includes accounts from members of the second wave Norwegian scene. I think that it says a lot about the duality of extreme music in general, as some artists consider their craft to be valuable in itself while others attempt to use music as a vessel for their ideology.
Interviews with DSBM artists Leviathan, Xasthur, and Striborg about their music and personal philosophies from the North American lifestyle magazine VICE.
Interviews with members of Les Legions Noires and the later french scene, primarily Meyhna'ch of Mutiilation.
Canadian channel making new metal album reviews frequently as well as genre guides and interviews with musicians.
Implied to be based in the Netherlands, this channel uploads black metal albums and tracks at the bands and labels request. Watching videos through this channel helps the labels and bands directly, as they are given the funds gained through monetization minus the digital distributors fee if one is present.
American channel making comedic metal subgenre deep dives and top albums of the year lists.
German channel making black metal-related comedy skits along with discussion of albums and artists from the man behind the band Durbatuluk.
American channel covering classic metal releases and newer obscure artists.
UK-based channel making best and worst albums of the year lists as well as discography ranking with a preference towards black metal.
Irish channel releasing Best Albums Released This Week on a consistent basis along with year-end favorite albums lists. Includes many metal subgenres but very keyed in to black metal.
American channel primarily doing new album reviews in long-form discussion format between two hosts. These guys have been very big into death metal since the genre's beginnings but cover black metal as well.
Irish label primarily signing black, death, and doom metal bands.
German label with a heavy focus on black and war metal.
Portugese label primarily releasing primarily atmospheric and depressive black metal, including the band NONE discussed earlier. Their entire catalogue (around 130 releases as of writing) is available to download at name-your-price and for streaming at $25 minimum, I think that is pretty cash money of them.
Canadian label releasing primarily extreme metal as well as some experimental acts with a track record of signing many acclaimed bands. Popularity is a relative term in extreme music, but it was certainly telling that most of the crowd I spoke with at a Spirit Possession show in Iowa had gotten into them because they were signed to this label.
With so many bands having releases spread across streaming platforms, this is an essential resource for extreme metal listeners.