black metal
Let an agent explain black metal, relay musical traits, history, subgenres and controversies from music journalism and scholarship with positions attributed, describe the named styles without amplifying extremist material, and distinguish black metal from death metal, thrash metal, doom metal and gothic rock.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent explain black metal, relay musical traits, history, subgenres and controversies from music journalism and scholarship with positions attributed, describe the named styles without amplifying extremist material, and distinguish black metal from death metal, thrash metal, doom metal and gothic rock.
An extreme metal genre characterised by fast tempos, tremolo-picked guitars, shrieked vocals, blast beats and often lo-fi production, emerging with first-wave bands such as Venom, whose 1982 album named the genre, Bathory and Celtic Frost, and a second wave in Norway in the early 1990s with bands such as Mayhem, Darkthrone and Emperor, a scene marked by church arsons and murders for which members were convicted; later styles include post-black metal, progressive and pagan black metal, Hellenic black metal from Greece, and black noise, while National Socialist black metal names a neo-Nazi fringe that many in the scene reject. The model describes these facts neutrally, attributes characterisations and does not promote extremist content.
What it is for: Musical genre.
It can be explain musical traits and history; relay subgenres; describe controversies with attribution; distinguish related genres.
Distinguishing features
Tremolo picking
Shrieked vocals
Lo-fi aesthetics
Controversial history
What it looks like
Performers in corpse paint and dark imagery; album art often in monochrome.
Physical character
Venom album Black Metal: 1982 year - genre name
Norwegian second wave: early 1990s note
registry parent: extreme metal note
How it is recognised
Extreme metal genre
Black noise, progressive black metal, post-black metal, National Socialist black metal, Hellenic black metal, pagan black metal
Death metal uses growled vocals and technical riffs; thrash is faster rock-based metal; doom is slow; gothic rock is post-punk
Related models
is a kind of - in registry terms
includes -
is contrasted with -
is related to -
In practice
Families and kinds
first-wave black metal
Norwegian second wave
symphonic black metal
post-black metal and blackgaze
pagan and regional scenes
Standards and regulation
Hate speech and extremist content laws for some NSBM material
Platform content policies
Failure modes and hazards
Amplifying extremist bands
Glorifying crimes
Stereotyping the whole genre
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Understand What black metal is.
Attribution.
Definition
Definition.
Definition
Definition.
- What is black metal, and how does it differ from death, thrash and doom metal and gothic rock? definition
- Is the question about music, history, or extremist content, which the model describes without promotion? boundary
Styles
Named styles.
Styles
Styles.
- What are post-black, progressive, pagan and Hellenic black metal and black noise, and what is NSBM in neutral terms? definition
- Which entry fits the specific style? action
Music Musical traits.
Sources.
Sound
Sound.
Sound
Sound.
- How do tremolo picking, blast beats and production create the black metal sound? provenance
- Which references are standard? provenance
Evolution
Evolution.
Evolution
Evolution.
- How did post-black metal and blackgaze broaden the genre? provenance
- Which sources are cited? provenance
History History.
Attribution.
Norway
Norwegian scene.
Norway
Norway.
- What happened in the early Norwegian scene, including church arsons and convictions, as documented? provenance
- Which entry fits early Norwegian black metal scene? action
Extremism
Extremism debates.
Extremism
Extremism.
- How do scholars and musicians describe the NSBM fringe and opposition to it, with positions attributed? provenance
- Is the presentation neutral and free of promotion? boundary
Context Culture.
Context.
Imagery
Imagery.
Imagery
Imagery.
- What is corpse paint, and what does black metal imagery draw on? provenance
- Which entry fits corpse paint? action
Scholarship
Scholarship.
Scholarship
Scholarship.
- How has black metal been studied in metal studies scholarship? provenance
- Which entry fits metal studies? action
What the second pass must settle
- Should National Socialist black metal be treated in a separate entry with extremism context?
- How should music scholarship be linked?
- Should regional scenes be separate entries?