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Heavy Metal Thunder Progressive Black Metal

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

Progressive Black Metal

What happened when the Norwegian second wave grew up and got curious. Clean singing, odd metres, psychedelia, and occasionally a saxophone.

Active years
1997 – present
Origin
Norway
Family
Progressive Metal
Bands here
13

Start here

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

  1. Isa Enslaved, 2004 The landmark

    The record where Enslaved stopped being a viking metal band and became this. Clean vocals arrive without apology, the songs breathe, and none of the heaviness is lost in the trade.

    Listen to Isa

  2. After Ihsahn, 2010

    Emperor's guitarist alone, with a saxophone on it. Prog in the seventies sense — odd time, jazz harmony — with a black metal voice on top, and it holds together completely.

    Listen to After

  3. Värähtelijä Oranssi Pazuzu, 2016

    The deep end and the strangest record in this family. Finnish psychedelia and krautrock run through black metal, or possibly the other way round. Sixty-eight minutes and no obvious way in — arrive here last.

    Listen to Värähtelijä

What it sounds like

The second wave, grown up and curious. Clean singing appears alongside the shriek, songs run past ten minutes and change character several times, and jazz chords, psychedelia and occasionally a saxophone turn up without apology. Tremolo picking is kept as one colour among many rather than the whole palette. The playing is genuinely accomplished. Compared with orthodox black metal, which also slows down and complicates things, this is exploratory where that is devotional — the mood is expansive rather than oppressive. Enslaved abandoning viking metal for this is one of the more remarkable mid-career changes of direction in the whole of metal.

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

Where the name came from

A descriptive compound that emerged as the Norwegian second wave grew up. Enslaved abandoned Viking metal for progressive rock structures on Monumension (2001), and Ihsahn's solo albums after Emperor pushed further still — saxophone included.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Enslaved Norway
  • Ihsahn Norway
  • Ne Obliviscaris Australia
  • Borknagar Norway
  • Oranssi Pazuzu Finland

And 8 more

  • Arcturus Norway
  • Solefald Norway
  • Vintersorg Sweden
  • In Vain Norway
  • White Ward Ukraine
  • Fleurety Norway
  • Ved Buens Ende Norway
  • Manes Norway

If you liked this

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