Oh boy. Icelandic Black Metal. Fuck. I have to say that I've never been as excited listening to Black Metal as the first time I found the genre maaany years ago through YouTube. So, let's talk about why Iceland is the most vibrant place to find Black Metal nowadays.
Ya'll know something about Iceland? Yeah, that small island that is lonely as fuck, filled with Mars like landscapes? The home of Björk and Sigur Rós? Yeah well, lately Satan has been doing some magic stuff down there because the amount of insane bands that have been popping up is just brilliant. I'm not goint to talk about the history of Icelandic Black Metal or shit like that, but I'm pointing out Svartidauði's Flesh Cathedral as the milestone for Iceland's Extreme Metal and the birth of one of the smallest yet best music scenes for this genre in years.
So what's the fuss about Iceland? Well, Iceland is small. Veery small. Which means that the amount of musicians is small. And yet they managed to create this monstrosity of scene, which takes the greatness of 90's Black Metal, mixed with the sounds of more modern bands like Deathspell Omega or Blut Aus Nord, add an insane aesthetic for every single band that has come out (not your typical satanic "i'm going to burn your church" aesthetic, a aesthetic which focus more on visuals rather than ideology or dumb shit) and there you have it.
Sorry Varg, you are not cool anymore.
In a very short span of time (probably 5 to 10 years maybe) Iceland has created the best Black Metal scene hands down. So, now let's talk about bands. As you can expect, most of the bands share members (probably drummers or bass players) as the scene is that small. The scene is so small that most of the bands know each other, and they did created a small festival/gig/art performance called Úlfsmessa, where bands play together new music or music from different icelandic bands. The latest Úlfsmessa was performed in Roadburn festival in Holland, and I'm not sure if they are going to make more Úlfsmessas anymore...
I'm going to give you some artists so you can judge if i'm mad saying that Iceland is that cool or I'm just right.
This band is not technically "Black Metal" it's more Ritual/Ambient music but they are a strong part of the Úlfsmessa collective and I really want to put them here, plus their music is free on their bandcamp.
And what about all those aesthetics you are blabbering about? One of the bands I've showed you, Wormlust, the mastermind behind it (a lad called H.V Lyngdal) is a semi-pro photographer and has made several sets with those bands. If you want to check them out as well with some cool info, here they are:
Enjoy and embrace the abyss...