Second Wave of Norwegian Black Metal

Between 1991 and 1996, a small and closed group of Norwegian musicians rewrote black metal. The first wave, in the 1980s, had been a variation on thrash; the second inverted everything record production held to be correct — deliberately raw recording, continuous tremolo guitars, shrieked vocals and an aesthetic of cold, forest and darkness. Darkthrone and Emperor are among the central names, and Dimmu Borgir would take that base into symphonic territory and to a far larger audience. The period cannot be treated through the music alone: the scene involved church burnings and violent crimes, episodes that shaped its reputation and remain present in any discussion of it.