Metal navel-gazers such as us here and many of our friends could probably kill hours debating whether “Vampiric Black Metal” is really a genre. It’s certainly a term we see thrown about in descriptions of music, but does it really mean anything?

It certainly has lyrical and inspirational meaning for some bands, who relish tales of the ancient undead and their horrid nutritional needs. Those tales are sometimes rooted in the folklore of an artist’s native region, but regardless of geography they’re also attractive to misanthropes who smile at the idea of human beings as cattle to be consumed, and to people drawn to visions of deepest nights and full moons, to graveyard mists and red eyes shining in the dark.

But the question remains, is there anything we can point to beyond lyrical themes and fonts of inspiration as a way of defining “Vampiric Black Metal”, anything in the music itself? Continue reading »