First-wave black metal

First-wave black metal
Thomas Gabriel Fischer, vocalist and guitarist for influential first wave of black metal bands Hellhammer and Celtic Frost
Stylistic origins	Heavy metal punk rock crust punk[a]
Cultural origins	Early 1980s, Europe
Derivative forms	Extreme metal[b] crust punk[a]
Regional scenes
Brazil Greece Norway Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom
Other topics
List of bands speed metal biker metal occult rock

The first wave of black metal was a musical movement of black metal which took place between roughly 1982 and 1991. Stylistically distinct from the genre's quintessential later sound, the earliest bands in this first wave played a primordial form of extreme metal that was still indebted to traditional heavy metal. The movement was an origin point for a variety of styles, including black metal, thrash metal, crust punk, death metal and war metal.

Venom initiated the movement, with their second album Black Metal (1982) giving it its name. In the subsequent years, the style was expanded by Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. The thrash metal genre grew out of the style of these bands, with the early works of thrash bands Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and Slayer being a part of the first wave of black metal, as was the early work of death metal pioneers Possessed and Death. By 1987, this wave had largely declined, however influential releases continued to be issued by Parabellum, Tormentor, Samael and Rotting Christ. At this time, the works of Sarcófago and Blasphemy helped to pioneer war metal, while in the early Norwegian black metal scene, Mayhem and Thorns developed the style which come to define the subsequent waves of black metal.

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