also known as the "norvegian black metal scene" is a musical movement of bands that strengthen the sound and the imagery of the first wave of black metal from the 80s. the wearing of corpse paint is a standard. black metal artists are bitterly opposed to christianity and present themselves as misanthropic devil worshippers (most of the times). black metal is characterized by lo-fi recordings, exstensive use of blast-beat drumming (fast / frantic drum beats), creepy sounding guitar lines often played in tremolo picking (fast / frantic way to pick guitar strings with a plectrum) and creepy screamed vocals.

• seminal black metal bands:

mayhem, darkthrone, immortal, emperor, satyricon, gorgoroth, marduk, burzum

• important black metal album:

mayhem - de mysteriis dom sathanas (1994)