although nothing beats Nile

Theres no drummers like Death metal drummers if you ask me.
Another one of my favorite songs

Btw Butt here is Another great black/death metal band from poland

Some good ol' St. Louis music.
Some of you will be clueless to who they are but Uncle Tupelo was a very influential band. They basically started the whole Alt-Country movement that Niel Young set in motion.
As a long time musician it's one of my great pleasures to have been able to jam with both Jay and Jeff back in the day.
After they broke up, Jay went on to form Son Volt and Jeff formed Wilco.

God, I hate getting old. I saw Jay a few years ago but haven't hooked up with Jeff in over 20.

Enjoy.

But, uhm. From the Wikipedia page I listed earlier.
"Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structures."

When I think of Black Metal, I think of bands such as Immortal (mostly because of their videos, to be fair), and it doesn't quite conform to how you describe the genre. To be honest, a lot of the traits feel akin to what I listen to. Eh, whatever, it doesn't really matter, and even though metal is split up into an absurd amount of genres, I guess there's flexibility to be had within each of them.
I just found out that Insomnium released a cd without me knowing, so I'll go listen to that.

Fast =/= heavy though. Black metal may be fast some of the time but its NOT heavy unless its melded with death metal.

Well, sure, but I wouldn't call it especially "cold" either, but that may come down to interpretation. Calm vs Cynical or something like that.

I somewhat disagree about going counter to the norms of composition and recording. Check out The Residents if you want to her something that violates music theory. I think experimental sounds and everything you're talking about are good, but conforming to standards does not make something good any more than not conforming does. There is an infinity of "unconventional but good" that people use to justify the entire "unconventional and bad" scene. Not that I'm calling anything you like bad; I just mean that while the unconventional might be what draws you and keeps your interest, it still has to have that substance that makes it appealing in some conventional sense.

I uh, like this post.

I would just like to point out that I respect experimental artists inherently in the same way that I respect pure research scientists. Experimentation for the sake of learning is something to be admired, even if the result is unlistenable.

Unlistenable is debatable though. And I agree with Bun, but I haven't heard any black metal yet that lacks substance. Except Valefor, they are pretty much bad.

The most notable examples of black metal that don't follow typical song structure or compositional theory:

Deathspell Omega - Wings of Predation

I love how it combines dissonance and melodicism to create a very avant-garde atmosphere. Deathspell Omega are kings of unconventionality.

Burzum - Det Som En Gang Var

I absolutely adore how Varg Vikernes can take two riffs and stretch them to over 14 minutes and make it sound interesting. Vargs use of layering and ambient soundscapes make him (in my opinion, don't **** your pants) the Mozart of the 20th century.

Nyktalgia - Nyktalgia

Nyktalgia is similar to Burzum in that long songs are standard, but the main defining factor is the odd song structures. Nyktalgia doesn't follow the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus that typically plagues rock and pop.music. Not only that but the romantic melodies, the usage of alternating arpeggiated sections bookended by tremolo-picked chaos, is absolutely entrancing and an introspective journey into the soul.

Thy Light - In My Last Mourning

Thy Light, and other black metal bands, employ the "same overarching melody, played in different ways" style that I find intriguing. First slow, with harmonics, then sped up, with arpeggios, and then strummed chords, before it kicks into a distorted version of said riff, backed by orchestral string keyboards. Not only that but the way the song evolves and progresses throughout, could be described as progressive, despite its simplicity. The song is an oxymoron in all aspects. Simplistic yet complex, depressive and suicidal yet beautiful, layered yet raw. It is perfection.

^thats a really good song mountain goats +a

i wonder if butt will find it depressing enough

These old guys can still rock it out.
Just listened to it.

Alice's Restaurant ...and here I thought I was the only person that still knew about that song.

hipster

Play it every Thanksgiving.