Enslaved is my favorite. Just the essence of black metal real heavy. I really like Agalloch also really dig there experimentation. Burzum to, there just scary dark.

Agalloch are hipster twats of such enormous proportions they actually took the time to note, that, indeed, they had used antlers for percussion. It's boring music that puts novelty ahead of quality, and that novelty is itself limited; what is important isn't what you use for percussion, but how percussion is used. Any band that points out they use antlers (or how "grim" and "primitive" the recording session was, for that matter) miss this important point.

That they are recieving such acclaim is just further proof to me that Black Metal's best days are long gone, and that the genre is approaching irrelevance.

Truly, that the current black metal fan knows more about a few Norwegian's histrionics, as they relate to the genre, than key early black metal bands (bathory, sarco***o, blasphemy, hellhammer) just goes to show how decrepit the genre has become.

If you want to listen to good black metal, start at the beginning and work backwards. Hellhammer, Bathory, Blasphemy, & Sarco***o are essential.

Black metal wise, I've recently become quite fond of groups like Inquisition and Sear Bliss. Cragataska (a relatively obscure artist in the international black metal realm) also has shown insane potential with the EPs I've heard thus far.

Along with some of the more classic acts, I need to dig back into Sigh's 90's output and pick up a few gems I don't have.

I'm gonna be totally un-kvlt and say Alcest. But, in agreement with the previous posts, I do believe that they are unclassifiable.

So, winners by default are Sigh!

^
Alcest is a great sounding band, but I think it's shoe-gaze with black metal roots, way down the line. Songs like "Solar Song" are just too deliciously sonic to fall in the realm of harsh BM. For that I put forward Watain, pure Bathory inspired brutality, with a fair share of melody. They're as good as anything going on today.

I'd agree with so much of this post, far too many modern black metal bands are caught up in the image of being 'kvlt' and 'trve' that they seem to have forgotten that the music is the most essential part. Its a sad state of affairs when a large majority of reviews of new bands I hear feel the need to mention Darkthrone/Emperor/Mayhem, more often than not with the bands in question being labelled as 'copycats/clones'. Its a shame really.

The best current black metal band for my money is Enslaved. They are the ones putting out material that is both true to the roots of themselves and the genre in terms of sound, while still being able to evolve as well. Wolves In The Throne Room deserve a mention I think as well as a new band that isnt cliche and poseurish.

Enslaved are solid. I've "Below the Lights" ('03) & "Frost" ('94), and while the willingness to go beyond genre conventions is more evident on the former, they do so on Frost as well. On the track Fenris, for example, there is an extended moment where the keyboards have a sort of minimalist solo over restrained guitars and some very, very sharp double bass work - and it's not contrived or ill fitting.

That's when reviews mention the music at all. Too often reviews are just biographies, and when music is mentioned it's just offhand references to other bands, "drumming like immolation" or "riffs like immortal' (which make the reviews worthless if you haven't heard reference x).... it seems the average review exists to point out how tr00 the reviewer rather than describe the music.

Oh well.

There are many candidates but my choice would be Emperor.

I like Sigh a lot. My favourite is Gallows Gallery.

:rolleyes:

Black Metal is hardly approaching irrelevance, this is just more douchebag uberkvlt bull**** every metal forum dip**** is spewing. It has grown in influence in the music world and like any other genre it has allowed a degree of accessibility to seep in during the process.

If you want to point the hipster finger, Liturgy is your band.