Black metal is hated. Hated, because its often misanthropic and anti-Christian attitude. Hated because of its obscure musicians. But most of all, it’s hated because of a lack of understanding and therefore loved by the fans. In the 80’s, the first wave of black metal bands (consisting of bands like Celtic Frost, Venom and Bathory) placed the foundation for what we know today as modern black metal. Shrieking / screaming vocals with high-pitched distorted guitars and beats that literally blast anything away.
In the vein of those bands, there followed an underground subculture, lead by a.o. Mayhem, Burzum and Darkthrone. This second wave as it was called, has no clear beginning- or end date. But the album we’re going to check out is about the third wave of black metal. Scream with me!

The Third Wave contains mostly new bands, bands that outsiders of the black metal genre have hardly heard of. Not necessarily a bad thing, because some of the tracks featured on this compilation album belong to bands of which we’re going to hear a lot in the near future. There’s some three-spore tracks but also well-produced, quality songs. An example of that are LJA’s ‘Et Barn Er Dodt I Bethlehem’ and Mord’s Op‘us VI’; a tight, but classically raw-sounding track that is influenced a lot by the bands of the ‘second wave’. Innovative, not afraid of experimenting and diverse (as far as black metal permits that…).
The aforementioned three-spore tracks have most likely chosen their sound well, since it is almost mandatory for a ‘true’ black metal band to feature no melody and not contain any riffs that might be recognized as such. Sarcasm aside, there are fans who will enjoy the messy sound and aggressiveness a lot, which makes this compilation all the more appealing.

With that said, most of the album has been covered. True, for the hardcore black metal fan, there’s a lot more to hear and if you feel that this is about you, The Third Wave will most likely fit your collection like a monkey fits a banana tree. For all other people, this release might be a little too underground. Maybe that a little Dimmu Borgir, Naglfar or Satyricon can put you in the mood for that what the third wave of this obscure, yet compelling metal genre is going to be all about.