The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Death metal style · 1985–

Second-wave black metal is in part a refusal of death metal made by people who already played it: same underground, opposite values (raw vs tight, shriek vs growl, atmosphere vs r…

Influence
New Wave of British Heavy Metal style · 1979–1983

Venom come from the same British independent-metal generation as NWOBHM: quartet, club singles, leather stage.

Influence
Thrash metal style · 1983–

First-wave black metal is thrash (and near-thrash speed metal) made thinner, colder, and more image-forward: Venom and Bathory still play fast riff music from the same 1982–85 und…

Influence

Black metal

style · 1982–

Kind of Heavy metal

An underground metal style named by Venom’s 1982 album and crystallized as a sound in the early-1990s Norwegian second wave: thin or icy production, tremolo-picked minor riffs, shrieked vocals, and an anti-Christian or pagan public code (Kahn-Harris). Venom, Bathory, and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost are the first wave (still close to thrash and NWOBHM). Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, and Emperor are the usual second-wave core. It is a style of heavy metal, not a kind of punk and not a synonym for “satanic rock.”

Listen

  1. Freezing Moon Mayhem (1994) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  2. Funeral Fog Mayhem (1994) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  3. Transilvanian Hunger Darkthrone (1994) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  4. A Blaze in the Northern Sky Darkthrone (1992) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  5. In the Shadow of the Horns Darkthrone (1992) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  6. I Am the Black Wizards Emperor (1994) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  7. Inno a Satana Emperor (1994) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  8. My Journey to the Stars Burzum (1992) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  9. The Sun No Longer Rises Immortal (1993) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  10. Ritual Gorgoroth (1994) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon

Passed on

Blackgaze style · 2007–

Blackgaze takes black metal’s tremolo stream, blast, and shriek and blends them with a shoegaze wall.

Influence

Death metal → Black metal

performance practicetimbre and productionmeter and groovestrength: mediumwell documented1989–1994recordingoral

Mechanism

Second-wave black metal is in part a refusal of death metal made by people who already played it: same underground, opposite values (raw vs tight, shriek vs growl, atmosphere vs riff-sport). The transfer is the extremity and the scene, plus a negative template. Strength medium: definitional for Norway 1991–94, not for Venom 1982.

Evidence

Darkthrone’s first album as death metal; Mayhem and peers in the same tape world as death bands, then a documented turn (Kahn-Harris, Mudrian).

Debate

Whether a refusal counts as influence. In this corpus yes, when the target’s sound is shaped by leaving a specific neighbor. First-wave black metal does not need this edge; the umbrella keeps it because the style people now mean is the second wave.

Mediators

artist: Darkthrone; artist: Mayhem

New Wave of British Heavy Metal → Black metal

instrumentationperformance practicestrength: mediumwell documented1980–1984recordingoral

Mechanism

Venom come from the same British independent-metal generation as NWOBHM: quartet, club singles, leather stage. They change the public code and thin the riffs; they do not invent the band unit. Strength medium: this explains the 1982 naming and the British club parent, not the Norwegian second-wave timbre (that is thrash plus a refusal of death metal).

Evidence

Venom’s Newcastle circuit and Welcome to Hell / Black Metal as records from the post-1979 British metal world, not from Florida death or Oslo 1992.

Debate

Whether Venom “is” NWOBHM. Histories often park them at the edge of that wave. The corpus keeps them as the hinge out of it, not as a typical Maiden-style band.

Mediators

artist: Venom

Thrash metal → Black metal

phrase and lickmeter and groovetimbre and productionstrength: highwell documented1982–1992recordingoral

Mechanism

First-wave black metal is thrash (and near-thrash speed metal) made thinner, colder, and more image-forward: Venom and Bathory still play fast riff music from the same 1982–85 underground as Slayer. The second wave keeps that skeletal speed and drops thrash’s groove. Strength high on the first wave and still audible on the second.

Evidence

Bathory’s early records as thrash-adjacent; Venom billed with the metal/punk speed world; Norwegian bands citing those records and Slayer (Kahn-Harris).

Debate

Whether Venom is NWOBHM costume metal rather than thrash. Both incoming edges are kept: club-wave from NWOBHM, riff-speed from thrash. The name black metal is Venom’s; the riff dialect is this path.

Mediators

artist: Venom; artist: Bathory; artist: Slayer

Black metal → Blackgaze

timbre and productionmeter and grooveperformance practicestrength: highwell documented2007–2013recording

Mechanism

Blackgaze takes black metal’s tremolo stream, blast, and shriek and blends them with a shoegaze wall. Strength high. The pedal-wall hop is already on shoegaze blackgaze. Second-wave “necro” production is not required of this child.

Evidence

Alcest and Deafheaven against 1990s black-metal blast-and-shriek grammar (Grove).

Debate

Whether this is already black metal. The second-wave scene job is black metal’s; the named 2000s blend is blackgaze’s.

Mediators

artist: Alcest; artist: Deafheaven