Your way in
First wave 1981
The bands that supplied the name and the themes, while still playing speed or thrash metal. Venom released the album that christened the genre.
- Heaviness
- 8
- Speed
- 8
- Melody
- 5
- Where from
- UK / Sweden / Switzerland
- Tempo
- 160-220 bpm
- Song length
- 3-5 min
- Written about
- Satanism, theatrically, Blasphemy, Speed and violence, Occult imagery borrowed from horror
- Vocals
- Growled or shrieked
Why this one
| You said | First wave | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both, trading off When someone is singing, what should come out? | harsh | 80% | ×3 |
| Light How much weight do you want behind it? | 8 out of 10 | 40% | ×2 |
| As fast as anyone can play What pace? | 8 out of 10 | 80% | ×2 |
| The dark What should the words be about? | Satanism, theatrically, Blasphemy, Speed and violence, Occult imagery borrowed from horror | 100% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 73% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 4 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, about 1 out of 8. First wave ties with the next, and won on being the broader of the two. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Darkthrone, A Blaze in the Northern Sky 1992
Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky. The production is intentional, not a flaw.
- 2The one to put on first
Bathory, Bathory 1984
Bathory - Bathory. Recorded on almost no budget, and it sounds like another planet.
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is the entry point for Black metal, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come First wave's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Easycore 73%
Pop punk with hardcore breakdowns glued into the middle. Sweet chorus, hammer at the end.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 7 steps from First wave.
The way into Easycore -
Emo 73%
Hardcore in which the lyrics turn confessional and the voice cracks. The term started as an insult and became an entire decade of fashion.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 8 steps from First wave.
The way into Emo
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- Both, trading off put 72 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Blues rock, Doom metal. Worth 3 of 8.
- Light put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Death metal, Brutal death metal, Sludge metal. Worth 2 of 8.
- As fast as anyone can play put 4 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Doom metal, Drone metal, Funeral doom. Worth 2 of 8.
- The dark put 119 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Alternative rock. Worth 1 of 8.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.