Black Metal-The First Decade.-The North Clan Challenge List-My Journey.

As the final moments of Ulver's Bergtatt play out and fade into the abyss I complete my journey through Black Metal-The First Decade.

This really was a journey too, I experienced a range of emotions; anger, frustration, joy, sadness, disappointment, and satisfaction.  Where the Modern Death challenge list left me apathetic, I was never at a loss for visceral emotional response as I made my way throught the frostbitten, demonic, mystical, and beautiful forest of Black Metal's early offerings.

There was only one or two albums where I was left with a middle of the road sort of feeling. I was for the most part either writing a half star review or a five star review, and to me that's the best sort of art. I wouldn't reccommend every album as a stand alone, but I would reccomend that list as a complete experience.

I also learned a lot about myself and how I relate to this clan. 

I'm a very a-typical Black Metal fan, or at least very much against the grain of the stereotype perpetuated on the internet. I do not come to this music to praise the horned one-while not a church goer I am a very spiritually devoted Christian. I'm not particularly fond of absurdly low-fi production or blast beats-I enjoy them as flourishes or when they add a certain character to the overall product, but I am not on a quest to find the most harsh and abrasive recordings available.

so what am I doing here? 

I relate to descriptions of frozen wilderness and bitter cold. I understand isolation, and misanthropy. I enjoy evil sounding guitar riffs. My favorite albums on this list were 1st wave entries that played like diabolical thrash more than the 2nd wave or true Norwegian sound. The more melodic entries appealed to me. I have always prefered dirty vocals over cleans, so the black metal rasp suites me fine. 

I'm drawn to black metal through DSBM, which I get a feeling is sort of the black sheep (or goat as it were) of the sub-genre. It works along side my adoration for particular funeral doom. I enjoy melancholy introverted heavy music. 

BLACK FUCKING METAL!