Screwtape2 said:
I must know what this is.
This gives me an excuse to prattle on about metal.
Context is important and I don't expect many Interferencers will know it. Black metal arose in Norway as a response to the perceived imposition of Christianity on Norwegian culture, hence the name: black being the opposite of white, the Christian holy and pure colour. Many people associate it with Satanism (often a very misunderstood concept in itself), but black metal's origins are more in a celebration of traditional pre-Christian Norwegian culture and an often militantly anti-Christian stance.
Now, some say that black metal is inextricably intertwined with this background. Others say that's bullshit; it is a musical sound, an aesthetic, and that you can't base a genre on ideology or lyrical content (especially a genre such as black metal, where the hoarse shrieks and wails of the vocalists are rarely even remotely comprehensible and function as another instrument). Those who say it's bullshit include Jayson Sherlocke, a Melbourne metal musician who was the sole member of Horde. In response to the anti-Christian lyrical themes common to the genre, Horde recorded an album with the black metal style that favoured the Christian God.
This album was called Hellig Usvart, "holy unblack" in Norwegian, and it caused quite a controversy - including death threats against the record label. Some Christian black metal bands already existed, most notably Norway's Antestor, but Hellig Usvart was
the album, and since then, Christian black metal - often considered an oxymoronic term - has also been referred to as "holy unblack".
As an aside, I just mentioned Antestor. Euronymous, prominent member of seminal black metal band Mayhem (who was murdered by bandmate and racist fuckwit Varg Vikernes, best known for his Burzum project), said that the black metal scene would force Antestor to split up. Quite the opposite happened - Mayhem's drummer, Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg, has drummed on Antestor's last two albums!