Raw Black Metal

Raw black metal is the deliberately underproduced wing of black metal, defined by thin, treble-heavy guitars, rudimentary drumming, buried or shrieked vocals and recordings made on minimal equipment, often circulated as demos. The French circle *Les Légions Noires* and Norway's *Ildjarn* set the template in the mid-1990s, treating fidelity itself as compromise. Acts such as *Mütiilation*, *Vlad Tepes* and *Belkètre* favoured hiss, distortion and repetition over the symphonic direction taken by many of their contemporaries. Later underground scenes in North America and Portugal, including *Bone Awl* and *Black Cilice*, maintained the approach as an ethic.