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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A growl or a shriek When someone is singing, what should come out? | harsh | 100% | ×3 |
| Heavy. I want to feel it. How much weight do you want behind it? | 8 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| As fast as anyone can play What pace? | 8 out of 10 | 80% | ×2 |
| The beginnings Does it matter when it was made? | 1981 | 52% | ×1 |
| Being young and out late What should the words be about? | Satanism, theatrically, Blasphemy, Speed and violence, Occult imagery borrowed from horror | 0% | ×1 |
| Normal How long should a song be? | up to 5 min | 96% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 81% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 6 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, length 1 out of 10. 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
-
Powerviolence 80%
Hardcore taken to the limit: abrupt tempo shifts, twenty-second songs, blast beats cut with parts as slow as tar.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 7 steps from First wave.
The way into Powerviolence -
Goregrind 78%
Grindcore with pitch-shifted vocals and lyrics from a pathology textbook. Carcass wrote the rules on their first two albums.
4 steps from First wave, meeting it only at Heavy metal.
The way into Goregrind
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
- A growl or a shriek put 78 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Blues rock, Doom metal. Worth 3 of 10.
- 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 10.
- The beginnings put 67 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Folk metal, Metalcore, Nu metal. Worth 1 of 10.
- Being young and out late put 115 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Alternative rock. Worth 1 of 10.
- Normal put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Progressive rock, Krautrock, Acid rock. Worth 1 of 10.
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.