Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Roots of Evil
Chapter 2: Venom
Chapter 3: Mercyful Fate
Chapter 4: Bathory
Chapter 5: Hellhammer
Chapter 6: Celtic Frost
Chapter 7: The First Wave of Black Thrash
Chapter 8: Blasphemy
Chapter 9: Samael
Chapter 10: Rotting Christ
Chapter 11: Tormentor
Chapter 12: Master’s Hammer
Chapter 13: VON
Chapter 14: Beherit
Chapter 15: Mayhem Part I
Chapter 16: Mayhem Part II
Chapter 17: Norway I: (Re)Birth of a Movement
Chapter 18: Norway II: A Fist in the Face of Christianity
Chapter 19: Norway III: Death of a Legend
Chapter 20: Thorns
Chapter 21: Darkthrone
Chapter 22: Burzum
Chapter 23: Emperor Part I
Chapter 24: Emperor Part II
Chapter 25: Gehenna
Chapter 26: Gorgoroth
Chapter 27: Trelldom
Chapter 28: Mayhem Part III: The Opus Magnum
Chapter 29: Mayhem Part IV: The Beast Reawakens
Chapter 30: Black Metal Enters the Mainstream Part I: Cradle of Filth
Chapter 31: Black Metal Enters the Mainstream Part II: Dimmu Borgir
Chapter 32: Underground Ethics
Chapter 33: Les Légions Noires
Chapter 34: Sweden Part I: Marduk
Chapter 35: Sweden Part II: Dissection and Watain
Chapter 36: Sweden Part III: Shining
Chapter 37: Politics, Poland, and the rise of NSBM
Chapter 38: Polish Black Metal Part I: Graveland and Infernum
Chapter 39: Polish Black Metal Part II: Behemoth
Chapter 40: Folk and Folklore in Black Metal Part I: Featuring Enslaved
Chapter 41: Folk and Folklore in Black Metal Part II: Featuring Isengard, Storm, and Ulver
Chapter 42: Folk and Folklore in Black Metal Part III: The Proliferation of Black Folk Metal
Chapter 43: A Turn for the Weird: Black Metal’s Experimental Era Part I
Chapter 44: A Turn for the Weird: Black Metal’s Experimental Era Part II
Chapter 45: Sigh
Chapter 46: Dødheimsgard
Chapter 47: Industrial Black Metal Part I: Mysticum
Chapter 48: Industrial Black Metal Part II: Aborym
Chapter 49: Industrial Black Metal Part III: Blacklodge
Chapter 50: Post-Black Metal Part I: Lifelover
Chapter 51: Post-Black Metal Part II: Amesoeurs/Alcest, Fen, and Wolves in the Throne Room
Afterword

Promotional Information

posters
radio interviews
reviews in prominent music and Black Metal magazine such as: Revolver, Terrorizer, Decibel and Kerrang.
Goodreads giveaway
author website: http://www.dayal.co.uk/index.html
t-shirts

About the Author

Dayal began writing professionally in 2005, having previously created a self-published music journal entitled Crypt Magazine. Since that time he has contributed regularly to the likes of Record Collector, The Quietus, Terrorizer, Decibel, Classic Rock Presents... and, most prominently, Metal Hammer magazine, whom he has written for since 2006, providing numerous lead and cover story features. He has also written liner notes for releases by high profile bands including the post-punk pioneers Killing Joke and black metal legends Marduk. As well as working with the written word he has also conducted onscreen interviews for magazines, web sites and DVD release. He has conducted interviews with hundreds of bands of various styles from Rammstein, to Public Enemy to Gorgoroth to Alice in Chains to Machine Head as well as actors, directors and visual artists.

Reviews

"Dayal’s knack for a riveting, conscientious narrative – combined with a lifelong knowledge of the scene and a rare level of trust from all involved – leaves behind the sensationalism and various agendas so many authors and documentary makers have brought to bear on black metal, and treats it instead as the still vibrant and turbulent artform all genuine fans will recognise first and foremost, while still providing revelatory insights for fans both old and new." -Metal Hammer

"Anyone who has picked up any UK metal mags over the past few years would recognise Dayal’s writing. And anyone who has ran into him at a gig over the past few years will recognise the burden of putting together a phone-book sized history of a metal subgenre that has thrived on half-truths, legend and scandal. Said burden could have—should have turned Dayal all shades of Senator Palpatine, but it looks like it has gone to press just in time." - Decibel Magazine

"Offering an unparalleled level of detail, and spanning 600 pages, `Black Metal: Evolution Of The Cult’ captures the progress of one of metal’s most dangerous and exciting genres." -Terrorizer

"Author Patterson has pulled off the remarkable trick of covering 30 years' worth of extreme heavy metal, from its garage beginnings to the murderous second wave and finally to the disparate chaos of today.To his credit, Patterson doesn't repeat other book's mistakes by focussing solely on the Oslo scene of the early 90s, though those events (murders, church-burnings and grave desecrations) get their own in-depth chapters. His book adds plenty of previously unread interviews with the main culprits, leading to new perspectives on the original shortlist of innovators (Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer) as much as the modern and frankly confusing wave of bands. It's easy to recommend this book: it's the most ambitious work on black metal so far attempted." - Joel McIver, Record Collector Magazine

Unlike other books and documentaries on the subject, Patterson approaches the genre from an insider’s perspective, providing an exciting account of nearly 30 years’ worth of black metal history, two decades of which he found himself firmly rooted; a purposeful tome meant to enrich, enlighten and “examine the artistic, musical, and spiritual development of the genre and the creative work, ideologies and often colourful lives of some of its most significant bands. - Zero Tolerance Magazine

With the arrival of British music writer Dayal Patterson’s excellent book, we have a collection of the best journalism and photo archival work of the lot. It completes the “unholy trinity” of BM books. It is an extremely diligent and well-informed publication that leaves almost nothing out of the history of the genre, containing many previously unreported facts and stories. This is no lazy collection of old interviews thrown together in haste. It is a modern masterpiece of the declining art of music journalism. - Vice Magazine

It’s a fascinating overview of Black Metal written by a seriously otaku expert on the genre. At nearly 500 pages, it’s instantly the defining book on Black Metal, even a kind of minor masterpiece of the rock book form, featuring dozens of interviews with the luminaries (would that be the right word?) of the Black Metal scene. I got totally lost in it. - Dangerous Minds

"Dayal’s knack for a riveting, conscientious narrative – combined with a lifelong knowledge of the scene and a rare level of trust from all involved – leaves behind the sensationalism and various agendas so many authors and documentary makers have brought to bear on black metal, and treats it instead as the still vibrant and turbulent artform all genuine fans will recognise first and foremost, while still providing revelatory insights for fans both old and new." -Metal Hammer

"Anyone who has picked up any UK metal mags over the past few years would recognise Dayal’s writing. And anyone who has ran into him at a gig over the past few years will recognise the burden of putting together a phone-book sized history of a metal subgenre that has thrived on half-truths, legend and scandal. Said burden could have—should have turned Dayal all shades of Senator Palpatine, but it looks like it has gone to press just in time." - Decibel Magazine

"Offering an unparalleled level of detail, and spanning 600 pages, ‘Black Metal: Evolution Of The Cult’ captures the progress of one of metal’s most dangerous and exciting genres." -Terrorizer

"Author Patterson has pulled off the remarkable trick of covering 30 years' worth of extreme heavy metal, from its garage beginnings to the murderous second wave and finally to the disparate chaos of today.To his credit, Patterson doesn't repeat other book's mistakes by focussing solely on the Oslo scene of the early 90s, though those events (murders, church-burnings and grave desecrations) get their own in-depth chapters. His book adds plenty of previously unread interviews with the main culprits, leading to new perspectives on the original shortlist of innovators (Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer) as much as the modern and frankly confusing wave of bands. It's easy to recommend this book: it's the most ambitious work on black metal so far attempted." - Joel McIver, Record Collector Magazine

Unlike other books and documentaries on the subject, Patterson approaches the genre from an insider’s perspective, providing an exciting account of nearly 30 years’ worth of black metal history, two decades of which he found himself firmly rooted; a purposeful tome meant to enrich, enlighten and “examine the artistic, musical, and spiritual development of the genre and the creative work, ideologies and often colourful lives of some of its most significant bands. - Zero Tolerance Magazine

With the arrival of British music writer Dayal Patterson’s excellent book, we have a collection of the best journalism and photo archival work of the lot. It completes the “unholy trinity” of BM books. It is an extremely diligent and well-informed publication that leaves almost nothing out of the history of the genre, containing many previously unreported facts and stories. This is no lazy collection of old interviews thrown together in haste. It is a modern masterpiece of the declining art of music journalism. - Vice Magazine

It’s a fascinating overview of Black Metal written by a seriously otaku expert on the genre. At nearly 500 pages, it’s instantly the defining book on Black Metal, even a kind of minor masterpiece of the rock book form, featuring dozens of interviews with the luminaries (would that be the right word?) of the Black Metal scene. I got totally lost in it. - Dangerous Minds