Stale

[Conservationist]

The problem with black metal is that it's totally stale and has been since 1994. There aren't many new visions, and almost none of them came from Europe. Demoncy and Averse Sefira were the only two really different visions.

Otherwise, the basics are established. An incoherent garble of Satanism, occultism, unpronounceable names, fast riffs, melodic minor key descents, and rasping vocals. They're producing it like a mass industry now. It's all crap.

If you want black metal, go back to the core value -- an order of nature -- and forget about the trappings. They're all played and now the indie shithead kids (Krallice, Leviathan, Wolves in the Throne Room, etc. etc.) have imitated them to death.

[wEEman33]

No reason to single out black metal. You could say the same about death metal, thrash metal, speed metal, etc.

[fallot]

Black Metal destroyed itself pretty horribly though.

[WAAAAAAGH!]

Thrash these days consists of songs typically about beer. The kids eat it up.

[Faustian]

Black Metal destroyed itself pretty horribly though.

What genre didn't? Death Metal devolved into parody and lost all its mystery. Thrash/speed castrated itself in the 90's either by doing nothing new, or becoming alt. rock/metal.

[Dinaric Leather]

Thrash these days consists of songs typically about beer. The kids eat it up.

That ain't anything new, lemme name a few bands off the top of my head from the old school days that wrote lots of songs about beer:
FEAR (I'm assuming this is where your signature comes from)
Gang Green
Wehrmacht
Tankard
Fiends

[Heydrich]

Black Metal destroyed itself pretty horribly though.

What genre didn't? Death Metal devolved into parody and lost all its mystery. Thrash/speed castrated itself in the 90's either by doing nothing new, or becoming alt. rock/metal.

All true. But I still maintain that Black Metal did it most spectacularly. Perhaps it is because BM was, if truth be told, already dangerously close to self-parody from the beginning(I remember very well back when "A Blaze..." and the like came out the reaction from most harcore Hessians I knew was mockery - not hails and awe!!), and was the easiest to exploit by the mainstream once it began to gain notice. BM went from dangerous, dark and frightening to mall-goth clownery seemingly overnight. By the time most in America even became aware of BM, its best days were well behind it.  

These days when I attend shows and see some unpronouncable BM band of nobodies in Halloween make-up I literally cringe!  I will take mediocre, though sincere Death Metal over that all day long. Perhaps that's just my tastes though.

[aquarius]

Black Metal destroyed itself pretty horribly though.

What genre didn't? Death Metal devolved into parody and lost all its mystery. Thrash/speed castrated itself in the 90's either by doing nothing new, or becoming alt. rock/metal.

All true. But I still maintain that Black Metal did it most spectacularly. Perhaps it is because BM was, if truth be told, already dangerously close to self-parody from the beginning(I remember very well back when "A Blaze..." and the like came out the reaction from most harcore Hessians I knew was mockery - not hails and awe!!), and was the easiest to exploit by the mainstream once it began to gain notice. BM went from dangerous, dark and frightening to mall-goth clownery seemingly overnight. By the time most in America even became aware of BM, its best days were well behind it. 

These days when I attend shows and see some unpronouncable BM band of nobodies in Halloween make-up I literally cringe!  I will take mediocre, though sincere Death Metal over that all day long. Perhaps that's just my tastes though.

It is a question of spirit over technique, and this applies more to black metal than any other metal genre (consider the latest Burzum failure). Basically bands need to stop being queer. Go back to the masterworks, take something like Joined in Darkness, study every riff and the structure of each song, find out where it could grow, but above all understand its essence.

[fallot]

Not just understand the essence, live the essence. Feel the essence. Hipster metal cannot be good because it is derived from no values, or ones that do not resonate. I thank the gentlemen above for qualifying my statement for me.

The beauty of extreme metal is, imo, most keen when: 1) Message is "revelatory" (identified by the listener as deeply resonant, true) 2) Structure is revelatory (as it must be, since in metal structure is subservient to narrative). The opposite would be music that is expectation; applying both to verse/chorus popular music and modern droning meaningless black metal.

[Conservationist]

But I still maintain that Black Metal did it most spectacularly. Perhaps it is because BM was, if truth be told, already dangerously close to self-parody from the beginning(I remember very well back when "A Blaze..." and the like came out the reaction from most harcore Hessians I knew was mockery - not hails and awe!!), and was the easiest to exploit by the mainstream once it began to gain notice. BM went from dangerous, dark and frightening to mall-goth clownery seemingly overnight.

It was too easy to do "ironically."

The problem with black metal is that because we have all these ironists (and whores) crowding the stage, no one dares do something beyond the norm.

Its best hopes were bands like Summoning, Beherit and Averse Sefira, who were at least able to invent a new mythos than the "orthodox Satanism" that was used to sweep Nietzschean morality, nationalism and anti-modernism under the rug.

Now all you need is three chords, a bullet belt, and lyrics about hating Christianity, and it will allow you to parrot back Christian values directly at your audience. We hate everyone equally! Unless they join us! In agreeing to be equal!