Skip to main content
Heavy Metal Thunder Orthodox Black Metal

Genres Heavy Metal Black Metal (First Wave) Second Wave (Norwegian) Orthodox Black Metal

Orthodox Black Metal

Bands who treat Satanism as theology rather than theatre. Dissonant, ritualistic, and far more interested in dread than in speed.

Active years
1998 – present
Origin
France / Sweden
Family
Black Metal
Bands here
13

Before you press play

Explicit content

Graphic lyrics and artwork are a defining feature of this genre rather than an occasional accident — which of violence, gore or sex depends on the band. Worth knowing before you put it on in a room with other people in it.

Start here

Three records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. Casus Luciferi Watain, 2003 The landmark

    The most direct record in a deliberately obscure genre. Watain treat Satanism as a practice rather than a costume, which is either the appeal or the reason to keep a distance — their live shows involve blood and animal carcasses.

    Listen to Casus Luciferi

  2. Salvation Funeral Mist, 2003

    Arioch's masterpiece and the genre's most extreme statement — liturgical structure, scripture read as threat, and a production that leaves no room to stand.

    Listen to Salvation

  3. Tiamtü Ofermod, 2008

    Fifteen years in the making and worth the wait. Slower and more ceremonial than its neighbours, built on Mesopotamian rather than Christian imagery.

    Listen to Tiamtü

What it sounds like

Ritual rather than attack. The tempos drop, the riffs turn dissonant and liturgical, and the songs are structured like ceremonies — long, patient, building towards something rather than assaulting from the first bar. Guitars use unresolved chords and unusual intervals; drums shift constantly rather than blasting. Vocals are declaimed as much as shrieked. These bands treat Satanism as genuine theology, and the music reflects that seriousness: it is far more interested in dread than in speed. Compared with the second wave it is slower, stranger and considerably more difficult, and it demands the kind of attention a listener would give a piece of sacred music.

  • Heaviness 4 out of 5
  • Speed 3 out of 5
  • Aggression 4 out of 5
  • Technicality 4 out of 5
  • Darkness 5 out of 5
  • Melody 2 out of 5

Where the name came from

'Orthodox' is borrowed straight from religious usage — these bands present themselves as adherents of a doctrine, not as entertainers. The term settled around Deathspell Omega's Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice (2004) and the Swedish circle of Ofermod, Watain and Funeral Mist, who described their work as religious practice.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Watain Sweden
  • Deathspell Omega France
  • Funeral Mist Sweden
  • Ofermod Sweden
  • Ondskapt Sweden

And 8 more

  • Malign Sweden
  • Antaeus France
  • Aosoth France
  • Enthroned Belgium
  • Cult of Fire Czechia
  • Acherontas Greece
  • Svartidauði Iceland
  • The Stone Serbia

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.