Black metal's first fruitful period culminated in Mayhem's 1994 work of genius De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. This is something a large number of black metallers will agree on. But what came after? The staggering genius of some of the works by Emperor, Immortal, Marduk, and the other first wave masters would be hard to follow. But there did indeed come more black metal.
Second wave black metal was about expanding on the sonic brilliance of the first wave. In Norway, for example, many second wave bands sought to keep the evil aesthetic of the early masters, but added new layers to the sound. This included operatic vocals, textured keyboard passages, and in some cases, folk instruments. Notable purveyors of this style include DIMMU BORGIR, HADES ALMIGHTY, BORKNAGAR, OLD MAN'S CHILD, ANCIENT, ARCTURUS, EINHERJER, and COVENANT (later KOVENANT).
Similar trends took place outside of Norway. In Sweden, bands like DARK FUNERAL, SETHERIAL, SATANIC SLAUGHTER, LORD BELIAL, OPETH, and OPTHALAMIA took black metal to new levels. Finland's ...AND OCEANS added melody and complexity to their black metal compositions, while fellow countrymenCHILDREN OF BODOM added thrash metal riffs and keyboard solos(!) to their blackened sound. The British Isles and France also saw their own black metal scenes flourish with groups like CRADLE OF FILTH, HECATE ENTHRONED, BAL-SAGOTH, THE MEADS OF ASPHODEL, PRIMORDIAL, and CRUACHAN from England and Ireland, and MÜTILATION, BLUT AUS NORD, SETH, ANTAEUS, and ANOREXIA NERVOSA from France.
Another interesting trend in second wave black metal has been the emergence of new black metal scenes in countries where it had not previously existed, or was very weak. For example, an Australian scene emerged with groups like BESTIAL WARLUST and DESTROYER 666, who built on the extreme death/black/thrash of Aussies SADISTIK EXEKUTION. Also, so-called 'third-world' countries began to get in on it as well.
But perhaps one of the most intriguing developments would be the explosion of the North American and eastern European scenes, respectively. In America and Canada, black metal runs the gamut: melodic to atonal, complex to simple, piss-poor production to rich, layered sound quality. Some of the more noteworthy acts include KRIEG, CONQUEROR, BLACK FUNERAL, BLACK WITCHERY, JUDAS ISCARIOT, AXIS OF ADVANCE, FROZEN SHADOWS, SUMMON, USURPER, GRAND BELIAL'S KEY, THORNSPAWN, KULT OV AZAZEL, and AVERSE SEFIRA.
