I'm counting first and second waves here. I'm not that well versed in
Black Metal, at least as much as heavy/power/thrash/death, but here goes:
Bathory - Under The
Sign of
The Black Mark/Blood Fire Death (We all know this one, I can't really add anything more... other than "A Fine Day to Die" from BFD just about encapsulates metal as a genre in
Eight and a half minutes)
Sacramentum -
Far Away From The Sun (Stunningly beautiful and absolutely sublime. This is the pinnacle of Swedish BM to me; richly melodic, but with the percussive fury to match any BM band [though these guys hardly just existed within the blast-beat zone either] and truly layered, rich song structures. The riffs verge on the beautiful constantly, the songs are sublimely structured, and the all-enveloping, foggy production complements the music in the best way possible. Has an unbelievable sense of grandeur behind it, despite not having the symphonic/keyboard embellishments of a band like
Emperor [that's not a shot at them, BTW]. I'm so fucking glad I decided to listen to this record on Christmas Eve a couple of years back, because it has become one of my favourite metal albums ever)
Mayhem - De
Mysteriis DOM Sathanas (Legendary for good reason. The events surrounding this record are
Absolute irrelevant to me. Outstanding riffs, excellent and varied drumming from
Hellhammer, and
Attila Cshilar's stuningly powerful, weird vocal delivery. "Cursed In Eternity", "Life Eternal", and "Buried By Time And Dust" are absolutely brilliant songs, and the rest is no slouch whatsoever)
Hellhammer - Apocalyptic Raids (Ugly and as crude as it gets.
Hellhammer originally began as
Venom Worship, but they took it SO much farther than
Venom could've ever dreamed of, with a genuinely
Sickening sense of
Darkness to the incredibly simple, straight-forward songs. The riffs are brilliant in how ugly and simple they are, and "Triumph of Death" is damn near THE greatest metal song of all time. I love
Celtic Frost too,
Morbid Tales and To Mega
Therion are brilliant in their own right, but this is the greatest thing Tom G.
Warrior has ever done.)
Immortal - Pure
Holocaust (Let's get something out of the way: I love both of Immortal's eras, they're one of my favourite metal bands, but this has always gotten to me above the rest of their [great] discography. It has such a powerful, triumphant feel to it that I can't deny; the title track is one of the greatest
Black Metal songs ever and essentially defines what made this band's early era so brilliant. The misty, slightly obscured production job is perfect for the band's furious
Assault, and Abbath's croaks struggle to be heard about the sharp riffs and the blasting drums. Again, Immortal's entire career is excellent, but this has always been the record that gets me the most. It's best if you heard it with headphones, IMO.)
Enslaved - Vikingligr Veldi (Rich and enveloping, this record is one of the few that consistently draws me into its
Frozen world. The songs are perhaps a bit long, but the band's
Ideas are so incredible that they justify the songs lengths. The riffs, the rich synth melodies, the superb drumming, and even the bass work all come together to form this masterpiece. Most everybody blows their load over their later records, but this and the Hordane's Land EP are the band at their peak to me)
That's enough for now.
