Blackened Death Metal

There are many extreme metal bands whose music blurs the line between death metal and black metal. The bands that do this usually want more creative freedom with their brutal music, and are subsequently known as blackened death metal bands. 

Each blackened death metal group is fairly different. Each band in the subgenre takes what it wants from both subgenres. For example, some bands may choose to keep death metal song structures, but use shrieked black metal vocals and cold black metal undertones. Other bands may do the exact opposite, using black metal song structures, but deeper vocals and more gory death metal themes. Blackened death metal is a liberal subgenre with a wide amount of variation.

Blackened death metal was hinted around by various bands throughout the 1990s. However, it didn’t really become an established subgenre until the late 1990s. At this time, Behemoth’s Satanica was the crowning jewel of the subgenre. Behemoth is a Polish band that was an above average black metal group during the mid-1990s. Upon releasing Satanica, Behemoth became massively influential in the heavy metal underground. Satanica is at heart a death metal album, but the strong black metal influences on the record forced critics to create the new classification of blackened death metal. 

Around this time, other blackened death metal bands started to appear as well. Most notably, Belphegor, Goatwhore and Akercocke released their debut albums, which all followed in the vein of Behemoth. These bands have since matured their sounds and they are all now well established heavy metal bands. 

Blackened death metal is a growing subgenre today and a much more common classification than it used to be. Nowadays, when a new extreme metal band is formed that blurs black metal and death metal together, it is quickly classified as blackened death metal. The subgenre has a strong following, and many blackened death metal bands (particularly Behemoth) are very successful.