Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.

Venom initiated the genre's first wave, with their second album Black Metal (1982) giving it its name. In the subsequent years, the style was expanded by Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. By 1987, this wave had largely declined, however influential works continued to be released by Parabellum, Blasphemy, Sarcófago, Tormentor, Samael and Rotting Christ. A second wave arose in the early 1990s, spearheaded by bands in the early Norwegian black metal scene scene, such as Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal, Emperor, Satyricon and Gorgoroth. This wave developed other scenes at the same time in Finland (Beherit, Archgoat, Impaled Nazarene); Sweden (Dissection, Abruptum, Marduk, Nifelheim); the United States (Profanatica, Demoncy, Grand Belial's Key, Judas Iscariot); France (Mütiilation, Vlad Tepes); as well as leading to the formation of influential bands in other countries including Sigh and Cradle of Filth.

Initially a synonym for "Satanic metal", black metal has often sparked controversy, due to the actions and ideologies associated with the genre. Some artists express misanthropic views, and others advocate various forms of extreme anti-Christian sentiment, Satanism, or ethnic paganism. In the 1990s, members of the scene were responsible for a spate of church burnings and murders. There is also a neo-Nazi movement within black metal, although it has been shunned by many prominent artists. Generally, black metal strives to remain an underground phenomenon.