North American Black Metal

One of the scenes rising all over North America is the black metal scene. There have been bands taking influence from the glossier, more commercially viable side of black metal with keyboards such as Abigail Williams and Wykked Wytch.

On the more raw side of black metal, bands such as Leviathan, Xsasthur and Nachmystium are gaining much notoriety. Nachtmystium are beginning to push the creative limits beyond anything I’ve heard personally on their last album “Instinct: Decay” by adding strangely psychedelic sounds from the 70's, and a hint of rock from the early 80's.

Metalcore has interest in black metal as well, with bands like Bleeding Through, The Agony Scene, All That Remains and Invocation Of Nehek adding elements of black metal to their sound. It’s more than likely that there will be more metalcore bands with a black metal influence coming soon, and with their black metal influences turned up much higher. Many bands that started melodic metalcore as a form of art have scrapped their sound for something typically only slightly different, that being deathcore. Some have made other creative left turns, but it could turn out with the genre of deathcore already beginning to dry up, metalcore bands will focus their major metal influences on something else, and right now black metal is looking like good, prime territory due for deeper exploration for the metalcore crowd.

This current rise in popularity in black metal seems to reach further than one might expect. The bass player for the melodic punk band None So Black currently listens to Deathspell Omega. As of this writing, someone on the Converge website (most likely a band member) is searching to trade for Leviathan items.

My personal prediction is that once the North American bands get a firm grasp on black metal, and begin to mutate it to their own twisted creative desires, that a new, even more frightening creature will be born.