Continuing the History of Metal through short (trivia packed) chapters and accompanying playlists.
Thanks for all the support of Part 1 of these ongoing series! You asked me for more, here it is :)
Work in progress, will be posting irregularly (but...
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In our Collection, we dedicate several playlists to female fronted bands. Why do we even bother? Can't these bands be part of other lists? Yes, and they are. Nevertheless, female fronted bands (in most genres) are still underdogs and it makes sense to focus purely on some female talent. We don't just do this because there are differences between male and female vocals, but also to show that Metal – a scene hellbent on breaking stereotypes as much as preserving them – is welcoming more and more women in its ranks.
Sure, you can that men still make up the vast majority of successful Metal artists. That is true. It is an unfortunate fact that throughout history women have had to fight at least twice as hard to be taken as serious as men, and Black Metal is far from an exception. Nevertheless, more and more women are stepping up in the genre, and we love that. In order to celebrate this evolution, we felt it was more than justified to bring together the Leading Ladies of Black Metal together in this playlist. Black Metal is such a beast that comes in a million flavours and subgenres, making this list quite eclectic. Whether you are into raw old school Black Metal, DSBM, or Melodic and Gothic Black Metal, you'll find a lot of exciting new anthems here.
From the start, let's be clear that we are not talking about the million Symphonic Black Metal bands out there that include a Goth girl doing clean vocals. No, here are proper Black Metal women, not afraid to own their femininity – and in certain cases sexuality – to shriek and roar just as extreme as their male counterparts.
The playlist starts were it should: pioneers Astarte and Demonic Christ who kickstarted this revolution. From then on, we take you on a varied journey along trve kvlt bands like Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, melancholic and melodic outfits like Gedanken Toten Lebens and Opera IX, to end with exciting newer underground outfits like Asagraum and Hulder. There are many female fronted bands out there – so many we decided to limit each band to just one song – and we've omitted a couple with a serious cult following. In some cases, that status was achieved mostly due to a sexual image. There's nothing wrong with that, but the music has to come first. So, you won't see a song from Anguished's fan favourite album 'Cold' in this list. We applaud her and the take-no-prisoners-attitude of that 2010 album, but ultimately feel the album falls short of the quality displayed by the women on this playlist.
Probably the most polarizing artist on this list is Myrkur. Even more so than with other underground movements, the Black Metal scene is quick to turn on successful acts. Let alone overnight success by an Indie Pop singer... Yes, Myrkur changed the rules. And by doing so she has created hauntingly beautiful music. The listed 'Måneblôt' is quality atmospheric Black Metal. Feel free to disagree (but we're right), either way: enjoy the work by these amazing women.
Playlist:
01. Astarte: Doomed Dark Years (1998)
02. Demonic Christ: Witches Fall (1996)
03. Lucifugum: Обновление (Renovation) (1999)
04. Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult: The Dead Hate The Living (2004)
05. Darkestrah: Black Cathedral (2005)
06. Malevonetia: Martyrs (2011)
07. Skuldom: Kill This Fucking World (2011)
08. Karne: Agony (2014)
09. Rituals of Blasphemer: Mors Inumbratus Supra Spiritus (2014)
