Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
The New Wave of Unholy Black Metal
These are black metal bands whose primary work has been recorded since 2000.
Ayat – Al Nabi Moujrem, Moughtaseb, Dajjal EP (Sardonic Wrath) & Six Years of Dormant Hatred (Moribund)
Hands down, Lebanon’s Ayat produce the filthiest, nastiest black metal I’ve heard from anyone anywhere. While the EP is an exercise in demonic possession, the full-length album is a relentless aural assault that transforms the band into the black metal version of Brainbombs. Not for the meek.
Craft – Total Soul Rape (Moribund), Terror Propaganda (Moribund) & F*** the Universe (Southern Lord)
Sweden’s Craft mix things up by juxtaposing ultra-fast blast-beats and riffs with slow, heavy, Black Sabbath-y parts. They’re almost the Melvins of black metal, only with a little less feedback.
Merrimack – Ashes of Purification (Nightmare), Of Entropy and Life Denial (Moribund) & Grey Rigorism (Moribund)
This French band got me listening to black metal again when I reviewed Of Entropy for Under the Volcano. I’ve since become a huge fan of their technical, yet song-oriented, evil approach.
Xasthur – everything (various labels)
Malefic‘s depressive, psychedelic black metal attack is as brilliant as Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, in my humble opinion.
Behexen – My Soul For His Glory (Moribund)
This Finnish band combines the technical onslaught of Merrimack with the tempo-shifting attack of Craft for a loud, heavy, brutal sound of their own.
Equimanthorn – Nindinugga Nimshimshargal Enlillara (Metalhit.com) & Lectionum Antiquarum (Metalhit.com)
The black metal version of Throbbing Gristle. Need I say more?
Leviathan – The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide (Moribund Cult)
Wrest‘s first album is pure manic depression set to music.
Sargeist – Satanic Black Devotion (Moribund) & Disciple of the Heinous Path (Moribund)
These Fins completely worship Darkthrone‘s early catalog, but that’s not a bad thing.
Nargaroth – Semper Fidelis (No Colours)
German lo-fi, dirty black insanity!
1349 – 1349 (Holycaust)
Torchbearers of true Norwegian black metal.
