Black Metal History Month -the Top 50 Black Metal Albums of All Time 10 to 1

Everyone loves top 10 lists so here we are in the top 10 of the top 50 Black Metal Albums of All Time. Most of these are ranked in accordance to how much I have listened to them, sometimes this has been altered if say one band influenced another then they would typically have to be ranked higher. Though black metal may be hard and fast, there are not hard and fast rules in how these are ranked, sometimes I had to make tough calls, but that is why I get paid the big bucks , to be the gatekeeper of black at least in this little corner of the inner webs, there is the chance you do not see your favorite album on this list, if that is the case I suggest killing yourself. It is the most black metal option.

  10-Burzum- "Belus"

Varg needed the 11 year break to bring new sense of sonic depth. It has more of a throb than his earlier work. Still very black metal it sheds the bulk of the blast beats. This is an album I can leave on and let play all afternoon. Yes, another from the 2010 club.

9 Mayhem - "Deathcrush"

This one was tough, this 1987 ep was the first recording from what become the Norwegian black metal scene. If I was doing more than one album by each artist I would have liked an Atilla album on here , since I think he is a better vocalist than the spastic Dead, but it is what it is and wanted to get this done rather than torture myself in this debate.

8- Gorgoroth - "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam "


 This is their 7th album which was released in 2006, so they had shit dialed in and this is the sound of a band at the top of their game. I like all of their stuff but really need Gaahl to be fronting the band for it to feel like Gorgoroth to me. I think this album captures both excellent songwriting and the fiery anger that embodies black metal.


 

7-Dimmu Borgir- "In Sorte Diaboli"



 Production Value stepped up while this could fight with the other ICS Vortex albums for the top spot in their discography, I think these songs hook you in more. This in many ways feels like an angrier album than they have had since "Stormblast". Hell Hammer's drumming is the shit on this and it would also be in the top 50 metal albums of all time not just the top 50 black metal albums , though I guess that could be said about all the albums in the top ten.



 

6-Agalloch-"Ashes Against the Grain" 


The post-rock elements begin to edge out their older folk influence on this, but the songs are their best. Sonically powerful with all the metal punches in the right places. The mix of clean vocals to harsh vocals is the right balance.Pretty much you name it and they got it right on their 2006 album. 

5-Watain "Lawless Darkness"

 Sure by this point these guys were still carrying a major torch for Dissection. However some a song writing perspective these tight anthems are so well written this fact almost becomes a mute point. Of all their albums I have gotten heavier play time out of this one that really found them coming into their own as song writers thus allowing on further releases their overall sound to expand from there. Yet another member of the 2010 club. 

4-Dissection-"Storm of the Lights Bane" 


 This 1995 album was way ahead of it's time. Sure bands like Mayhem were already doing their thing in Norway. But Jon and the boys took the classic metal / thrash sound and amped it up into these mean anthems to primordial darkness and black dragons swallowing the universe.Jon would later go on to prove how seriously passionate he was about his beliefs as a further reminder that they were never playing around and you can hear that in these songs.

3-Darkthrone- "the Cult is Alive "

 While the earlier blast beaten albums are great, I enjoyed hearing this band's evolution. They go down a rawer punk road for this album and at the end of the day the songs benefited from it as they hold a more rock n roll structure rather than just being interchangeable drones. Another 2006 album which is looking to  be another big year for black metal. 

2-Emperor- "Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk"



 A beautiful album that is as well recorded , performed and orchestrated as any Iron Maiden album. These guys are a helluva lot angrier and darker than Maiden owing more to King Diamond in the romantic cinematic mood this album carries. They prove black metal can be played by musicians with chops that hold up against any other bands.

1- Mercyful Fate- "Don't Break the Oath"


 The first real satanist I became aware of as a kid.I think this is important as the conviction in ones beliefs is what sometimes drives an artist to a more isolationist. This creates the spirit of black metal.  King Diamond shaped black metal in more ways than his corpse paint and there will be few black metal bands who won't claim his profound impact on the genre and those who do are too young to know what they hell they are talking about. This came out in 1984, so if you want to hear what black metal sounded like in 1984 this is the answer.This might also be in the 1 spot for greatest metal albums of all time as it stands next to 'Number of the Beast" and "Reign in Blood".

Black Metal History Month -the Top 50 Black Metal Albums of All Time : 20 to 11

Now we are cracking the top 20 of our Top 50 Black Metal Albums of All Time list. It's interesting to notice the trends in release dates and regions these albums are coming out of as we work our way down the list. Most are ranked according to how much I have listened to these albums, with a few exceptions when it comes to certain albums that many of these releases owe their existence to. If you are a regular reader of this blog then you know blast beats alone do not fly with me. These are not just musicians who made great black metal albums , these are musicians ho made great music that happened to be called black metal. Some of these albums even came before black metal as we know it today. So here you go ...

20-Liturgy -"Aesthethica" 


This band has gotten a lot of shit due to Hunter's ramblings, but the bottom line is with their 2011 album these Brooklyn hipsters took black metal somewhere very different. It's bright rather than dark. Normally this is something I would not be down for , but somehow they made it work due to the jarring sonic dissonance and how they took things like blast beats and almost gave them a jazz like spin.

 


19- An Autumn For Crippled Children- "Lost"

This band from the Netherlands not only does post-black metal, but they do it with a more convincing nastiness and gaze out into sprawling beauty. The eventually began to rein it in, with the vocals sometimes being the heaviest component .  This 2010 album finds them at the peak of their powers and making beautiful music with feral abandon.

18-Bathory-"Hammerheart"


 I don't like this project's earlier work because of the lo-fi punk like quality. Once the production improved and a bigger viking like sound came then he caught my ear. The earlier stuff if more popular with a more hipster crowd for the very reason I do not like it.This 1990 album has more actual singing on it and it came down to me trying to decide between this one and "Twilight of the Gods". What it came down to was this album is black metal , while "Twilight of the Gods" is more epic pagan metal. "Hammerheart" might not be as refined, but it is darker and meaner.


 

17-Enslaved -"Isa"

While their earlier work might be more traditionally black  metal, this album came ten years into their career and finds them at the cross roads of who they were and what they became. The sung vocals are not as dominant here. The pagan sensibility it blended with a more post-rock or even rock n roll sense in the song writing and they had not yet gone out into total Opeth territory.



16- Tombs- "the Path of Totality"
This 2011 album finds Mike Hill and friends getting darker and more sonic. While I like all of their albums this was the first one I got into and I think it still holds up even against the more goth tinged stuff, which having grown up a poor goth child I would normally be more inclined to favor. This album is equal parts aggression and atmosphere thanks to the incredibly smart song writing and the band working as a machine.


15-Totalselfhatred- "Apocalypse in Your Heart"

I keep returning to this album time and time again. They prove black metal can have stellar guitar and doesn't have to stick to static tremolo picking. This 2011 album is a classic when it comes to depressive black metal. It doesn't wallow in it's emotion but is like depression turned inwards and becomes aggression. I keep forgetting these guys are from Finland as that is not what comes to mind when I heard them, but it does invoke alcohol fueled depression.
 



14-Nachtmystium - "Addicts : Black Meddle Part 2

It was hard to pick between this one and "Assassins" what made my mind up was listening to it again and here how gritty and real the anguish is as Blake Judd was obviously having a hard time with his addiction and this album is a raw honest look at that. You don't get that personal in most black metal which is why it almost feels like depressive black metal.

13- Immortal- "All Shall Fall"

This 2009 album would be the band from Norway's last. It is big and if the word epic was ever going to be used to describe something this would be the time. The guitars are just massive on this album which is why I chose this over "Sons of Northern Darkness" Blizzard Beasts"

 12- Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion"

When this album came out in 1985, black metal had yet to come to fruition. Black metal as just an album by a punk fueled metal band in the growing thrash scene. This scene found Tom Warrior and friends clawing at it with a more dynamic and darkly romantic offering that is "To Mega Therion".

11-Shining- "the Eerie Cold" This band from Sweden has something in common with Celtic Frost as they both went through a cock rock phase. Here is the sound of the band in the thick of what they did best and a another example of depressive black metal going beyond crying in another failed suicide attempt set to music. The atmosphere of this album is very dark to the point of creating a beautiful oppression. It has the cold chilling feel you expect from black metal.

Black Metal History Month -the Top 50 Black Metal Albums of All Time-40 to 31

Here we go further into the countdown of the top 50 black metal albums of all time. Before I sat down at my computer I confessed to someone that I do not know why I continue to subjecting myself to the work that goes into making these lists. You my faithful reader seem to like them as the numbers don't lie so in honor of Black Metal History month I will press on. Obviously when ranking these I am looking for what I have listened to the most. Many of these I owned long before I had a Last Fm page to help track what I listened to and going with my gut. Best is not the fastest. Best is not even the most satanic though that gets these bands more points than just relying on speed. What has stood the test of time and I continue to return to are the most important qualifications. So here we go...

40-Inquisition- "Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm"

My rule is when in doubt go with the album that got you into the band in the first place.Aside from the weird production choices on this album this rule stands pretty solid with these guys. It also is yet another black metal album from 2010. This album they kept the SATAN up front, they come across as an evil version of Immortal. Granted with the production on this album they are not as big and thundering as Immortal or as big and thundering as the albums that follow, but there is just something about these songs that earns it this spot.


 





 

39-Wolves in the Throne Room - "Black Cascade" 


 Here is another one where I have to go with my gut. The more organic guitar sound of this album, elevates it above the others. These guys have been known to get distracted by the atmosphere and wander away from their camp fire. There is atmosphere to this album and I think it occurs in the most natural way possible.

38-Ulver-Nattens Madrigal -


 Ulver might not be a black metal band now, but they once were. I prefer their mid-period where the two sides of the band were balanced, they also have many albums from this era where half the album is instrumental so picking what is best can be tricky, so with these guys there are a couple of album's I might have listened to more, but this is the black metal album I have listened to the most. For black metal the guitar solos on this one prove solos can work on a black metal album.

 37- Blut Aus Nord- "the Work Which Transforms God"

 These guys are similar to Ulver in the fact that they might have album's I am listened to more, but those album's are not black metal. So the rule is just because a band starts off as black metal doesn't grandfather later albums in by default. I think as far as their black metal albums goes this one is the best because it is so dark it borders on being depressive suicidal black metal. Their tendencies towards atmospheric experimentation are still firmly intact for this 2003 album and they set the bar for French black to follow them.


 

36- Hail Spirit Noir-" Oi magoi" 

 This Greek band takes a progressive approach to bringing their brand of darkness. The execution is flawless and they refuse to play by the rules.They do have the occasional blast beat, but sound like they are just as influenced by Deep Purple as they are Darkthrone. There are sections where it feels like they are wandering off into a jam, which is something you never hear in black metal.For a genre that is all about freedom and being a non-conformist, black metal all too often adhere to closely to playing in the confinements of being true rather than taking risks and this album celebrates the risks they take.



35- Lifelover-"Sjukdom"

 The band broke up after this album was released due to the overdose of their guitarist. They were not always black metal in the strictest sense by the time this album rolled around. I think the mood and the other influences brought to the table expanded what black metal could be. Like most of the depressive black metal, the emphasis is on an emotional heaviness. Sometimes this translates over into a metallic heaviness. Not burdened by an overabundance of blast beats, they sometimes veer into a more black n roll realm. I think this is a fitting picture of their full realized musical vision.

 


34-Twilight- "Monument to Time End"

 This supergroup made an astounding album of forward thinking black metal, when they tried to mess with the formula and bring Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth into the fold, things went sour. But this album is a monument before that time ended. The guitars on here bring a indie rock sensibility and layers of melody. It is an album that is as heavy sonically as it is metal.

 

33 Arckanum-"Helvítismyrkr" 


 One of the amazing things about this album is it was created by one person. While this is less uncommon in black metal due to the misanthropic nature of the artists who play it, this album feels very organic like it is four guys jamming in a room. The drums are just as well played as the guitar parts to there is not the uneven feel of programmed drums that sound too thin for black metal. This doesn't follow the blue print of most Swedish black metal and owes little to Dissection.

32 - Moonsorrow-"Varjoina_kuljemme_kuolleiden_maassa" .

This 2011 album is so epic even the band themselves could not touch it when they tried to follow it up five years later. While it could also be on the top 50 pagan or viking metal albums list...if I ever get around to doing it or am even able to think of 50 albums worth a damn from those sub-genres. This album is dark enough to earn it's place here. Epic has become an overused term when it comes to metal, but if I had to pick one album on this list to use it for it describes the cinematic quality of what is going on here. Often the vocals are the most black metal element on the battle field, but I think this incredible album pushes the boundaries of what black metal can be. The folk elements are very well done and add to the over all sound rather than being a Middle Earthen distraction.


 

31-Marduk- "Plague Angel"

When mentioning bands from the second wave of black metal these guys are in the big 4 along side Darkthrone, Mayhem, Emperor and Burzum. Sure they might have albums that are more cvlt, but the songs are what matter and here they come off of some of the more spastic bursts of aggression to throb with a darkness that carries a more convincing feeling.A little more of an intimate feel to this album than what would happen on "Wormwood" and everything that follows.


 

Black Metal History Month -the Top 50 Black Metal Albums of All Time 50 to 41

While making these lists can cause a mild form of obsessive compulsive insanity for me, if I am going to attempt it. Black Metal History month is the only time that makes sense. I am including all eras and forms of black metal. I only include something that is blackened from what ever genre if it feels more black metal than death, prog or whatever. Since this list is being made by this blog their won't be an abundance of raw black metal and more depressive or experimental black metal since that is what I prefer. Typically speaking they are ranked by what I have listened to the most. I did make judgement calls in some cases when one band would not exist if not for the out put of another so I made adjustments that fairly give proper perspective to the bigger picture.I am only listing one album per artist. I am sure some of your favorite black metal albums might not be included. There are a few that are considered classics in the wider world of metal, but in some cases their most popular albums are not the ones I feel are the best. So these are the albums that have not only made an impact upon my when I initially heard them but are ones that I find easy to return to time and time again as that is what truly makes an album great. So here is the first installment of the top 50 black metal albums of all time.


50-Valdur- Raven God Amongst Us

This is the only album I have been totally behind by this American band.Later on they got a little too much death metal creeping into their sound. Another album to prove how great of a year 2010 was for black metal. The goal of every American black metal band is to sound like you are not from American and they achieved this as going back to listen to this I would guess Poland. While the vocals go into deeper growls this album has the sonic dark of black metal.

49- the Great Old Ones - Al Azif



The 2012 album by this French band, might not be their heaviest work, but it masterfully fuses shoe gazing post-rock passages into black metal with a meaner, darker edge than Alcest does.Any album with a Lovecraftian theme gets points in my book.

48-Cultest Des  Ghoules -"Henbane" 



 Not sure what it is about Poland that makes black metal bands bring so much death metal to the table. This 2013 album adds horror movie atmospherics to craft an album that can be jarring and unhinged with a great deal of atmospherics and hooky riffs which wink at classic metal.
 

47- A Forest of Stars -"Opportunistic Thieves of Spring"



This British band pursued an odd vision of progressive steam-punk tinged black metal. The elements in this equation have varied in the albums that came after this 2011 gem, which made it way on this list because of the balance they found here that made them something truly unique.

 

46-Craft- "Void"


They don't make black metal as hateful as they did in 2011. This band from Sweden was nihilistic and embodied the attitude black metal should have. They took this attitude and injected it into their music. Unlike punk they did not rely on that attitude to compensate for a lack of songwriting prowess, as these songs are equally raw and catchy, a combination most bands of this ilk do not get right.

 

45-Istapp -"Blekinge"


Yet another 2010 album, this one comes from another Swedish band, are we seeing a trend here? These guys play a thrashy version of black metal that incorporated clean vocals to create some viking metal with a black metal bite. The follow up to this one could not compare.


 

44- Peste Noir-"l'ordure a letat pur" 


 This French band has never disappointed me, but there is something about this album that was fucking gangster. I could picture them pulling guns on people while wearing ski masks in the streets of Paris. Both raw and progressive this was one of 2011's best black metal albums.

 

 43-Borknagar- Universal


 he albums that followed this 2010 album, were not as heavy and more progressive viking metal than this one. ICS Vortex's brought his soaring vocals full force. This is a good gateway drug to bridge you from Dimmu into other forms of black metal. It is also good to show that not everything from Norway has to sound like Darkthrone.

 

42-Urfaust- "Der freiwillige bettler"


 This band from the Netherlands will always hold a fond place in my heart as I love the fact they use sung vocals that border on being operatic, with none of the power metal cheese to them, and yet playing uncompromising dark metal that carries at atmospheric throb. I think this album showcases this fact and displays them at the height of their powers. It also comes from 2010.

41- 1349 - "Demonoir"


 If you are a regular reader of this blog you could be confused as to how I can love black metal but not be the biggest fan of blast beats. I do not have a problem with them when they are used as a dynamic blended into the larger context of an album. But there are exceptions to any rule These guys are heavily into their blast beats , but are able to make you a believer. Having seen them preform these songs live they are deadly serious about what they do and crank this out with 100 percent conviction.It was a hard choice between this one and "Hellfire" their 2005 album, but album is darker and has a wider range of sonic colors.