Black Metal

Sarke is a black metal/thrash metal band from Oslo, Norway.  Thomas "Sarke" Bergli began the project in 2008 as a one-man band, with Sarke himself writing all the music and lyrics.  Prior to the recording of the debut album in late 2008, legendary vocalist Nocturno Culto was brought in to lead the  vocal assault.  After releasing their first album and adding some live musicians to their lineup, Sarke played several successful shows in 2009, and it was decided to make the project a permanent band.

Witchrist are a death/doom/black metal band from Auckland, New Zealand.  Formed in 2008, Witchrist shares half their lineup with fellow New Zealand "Doom Cult" members, Diocletian.  Playing a unique mix of blackened death metal mixed with epic doom, Witchrist incorporates the darker side of eastern Asian religions and mythology into their lyrical and artistic themes.  Their 2012 release, The Grand Tormentor, received high praises, and caught the attention of the international metal community.

Zyklon was a Norwegian blackened death metal band formed in 1998 by Samoth and Trym of Emperor, along with members of Myrkskog. Their style has been described as modern death metal with black and industrial undertones. After more than a 2 year hiatus, the band officially split up in January 2010.  Zyklon is not to be confused with Zyklon-B, which was a past side project by members of Emperor, including Samoth and Ihsahn. The two bands are not related in any way other than name-similarities and Samoth's mutual membership.

Sólstafir is an Icelandic metal band, formed in 1995.  Their name translated in Icelandic means "radiating sun beams".  Sólstafirs music certainly lives up to their obscure name.  While their early work featured a heavier sound, along the lines of traditional viking metal and black metal, it has evolved to include more dynamic elements of progressive metal and post-metal.

Withered is an American black/death metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. Both founding members also participate in a crust punk/grindcore band, Social Infestation, which also features Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders.  Formed in 2003, Withered started touring extensively the following year, and has since released 3 studio albums.

Diocletian are a death/black metal band from Auckland, New Zealand. The band is named after Roman Emperor, Diocletian, who is known for the Diocletianic Persecution (or Great Persecution, 303-311),l which was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman empire.

Mgła (pronounced as "mgwah") is a Polish two-piece black metal band.  Mgła means "fog" in Polish.  They formed in 2000 in Cracow, Poland.

Wolves in the Throne Room is an American black metal band formed in 2003 in Olympia, Washington.  According to the band, one of the founding concepts of WITTR is to channel the "energies" of the Pacific Northwest's landscape into musical form.  Wolves in the Throne Room has rejected most of the traditional traits of black metal such as corpse paint, use of pseudonyms and Satanic imagery.  Member Aaron Weaver has said "Wolves in the Throne Room is not black metal, or, more accurately we play black metal on our own terms, for our own reasons.

Sigh is a Japanese extreme metal band from Tokyo, formed in 1989. They are credited as being one of the first Japanese black metal bands, when the majority of black metal in early 1990s came from Scandinavia. They gradually shifted from a more traditional black/thrash metal sound, to a more experimental, avant-garde style.

Deströyer 666 is a black-death-thrash metal band formed in 1994 by guitarist K. K. Warslut. The group originated in Melbourne, Australia and by 2001 had relocated to Europe and is now based out of England and Sweden.