Black 'n' roll, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Heavy metal 1970
It split off from hard rock and blues rock when Black Sabbath tuned down and wrote riffs on the tritone. Volume, riff and a code of its own - every branch below starts here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Black Sabbath - the song Black Sabbath. The first thirty seconds are the genre's birth certificate.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970) - 2 Then
Black metal 1982
Tremolo picking, blast beats, shrieked vocals and deliberately cold production. More an aesthetic than a technique - atmosphere matters more than clean sound.
Growled or shrieked. Unintelligible without a lyric sheet. The thing most newcomers bounce off.
Put on
Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky. The production is intentional, not a flaw.
Darkthrone, A Blaze in the Northern Sky (1992) - 3 What you asked about
Black 'n' roll 1997
Black metal with a rock and roll groove. Darkthrone turned this way on their own after 2006.
Growled or shrieked. Unintelligible without a lyric sheet. The thing most newcomers bounce off.
Put on
Kvelertak - Kvelertak. Produced by Kurt Ballou, and you can hear it instantly.
Kvelertak, Kvelertak (2010) - 4 Where to go next
Instrumental prog metal 1995
No vocals: the melody is carried by guitar or keyboard, and the structure can be as complex as it likes.
Instrumental. Usually no vocals at all.
Put on
Animals as Leaders - the debut. Tosin Abasi plays eight strings as if it were normal.
Animals as Leaders, Animals as Leaders (2009)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Black 'n' roll descends from, in order. Black 'n' roll has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.