Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in Scandanavia. Bands like Burzum, Mayhem and Darkthrone emerged in the early 90’s, attracting massive media attention in Norway when it was revealed that leaders of the music genre had been responsible for a wave of church burnings in Norway, multiple suicides, murders, and other evil deeds. The musical sound includes very fast tempos, shrieking vocals, heavily distorted guitars, ultra raw recording and unconventional song structures. The music was largely based on creating audible atmospheres. Artists dressed up in black and white corpse paint and took gritty photographs for their album artwork and merch. The graphic styling of the typography being used was illegible hand-drawn letters resembling tree branches to match the isolated forests that they resided in. Although it seems like this wouldn’t be a music genre that is easily palatable by the mass market, there are now metal band tees for sale at Wal-Mart.
While the mainstream market is consuming all genres of metal shirts, the underground SoundCloud scene is mostly focused on black metal tees. Traditionally, rap and metal are the two genres that have historically caused religious groups, censorship advocates, and parents the most headaches. Both spend more energy meditating on the concept of evil than other genres of music do, and are unlistenable by some audiences. Moshing is a common occurrence at live performances and both genres wear ripped DIY clothing covered in patches. The traditional religious art referenced within Norwegian black metal artwork was intentionally brutal because the churches that commissioned the artists wanted them to depict Hell and sin in the most extreme way possible – in order not to communicate with words but rather with visuals.
Darkthrone shirts are arguably the most popular in the underground. They’ve been spotted on many musicians including Johnrefe, Horsehead and Tracy Minaj. The key figure that popularized black metal shirts within the underground is most likely Bones. He rocked a Burzum shirt often during his major come up in 2014. His long unkempt black hair in front of his face along with gritty VHS visuals were a refreshing blend of the hip hop and black metal genres. Ex-Sesh artist, Dylan Ross aka Rozz Dyliams sings, “I wanna lay in bed with you all day listening to Burzum with the windows open air out the emotion I’m submerged in” in his 2013 hit, “The Girl Who Sleeps Below The Moon.” Fat’se has a really great Nails shirt. YungJZAisdead wears a blue and white classic Mayhem long sleeve. Perhaps underground musicians relate to the black metal themes of loneliness, isolation and darkness. This trend is essentially current DIY musicians paying respects to the most extreme and intriguing outsider musicians of all time.
Florida-based rapper, Robb Banks, claims not to be a fan of metal in general. He does however have a taste specifically for black metal. He was quoted saying, “I always respect the artist that does everything they talk about, so that’s why I fuck with Mayhem and even (Burzum founder and convicted murderer) Varg Vikernes, people who was doing something for a reason. Even if you could look at it as wrong or crazy, he believed in what he was doing. It’s like rap, where you have everyone saying they do shit, but not everyone actually lives it.” Denzel Curry embarked on a “Black Metal Terrorist Tour” in 2016, appropriately reflecting his rap style. The delivery speed of his bars somewhat echo the ceaseless fast paced drumming of classic black metal. His aggressive delivery of vocals over turn-up type beats creates a controlled yet chaotic vibe similar to that of blasting Transylvanian Hunger as loud as you can on a record player.
Some metalheads are a bummed out by the black metal shirt trend. They don’t want anyone wearing a band tee unless they actually listen to and support them. Frontman and metal legend Dave Mustaine of Megadeth was asked last year about his feelings towards rappers wearing their tees. He conveniently skirted the issue, saying: “I like it you know, if I don’t like someone wearing it I’ll keep it to myself.” While black metal has always prided itself in being underground and as isolated as possible, this trend has injected some of it’s most seminal bands into the modern mainstream consciousness. Unfortunately, not necessarily based on their musical merits.
This trend began in the luxury market when Nicolas Ghesquière sent sweatshirts with slogans printed in Iron Maiden’s graphic red font down the runway for his FW12 Balenciaga collection. Band shirts and logos that have the look of a band tee were then a key part of the very first Vetements collections that skyrocketed them to being one of the hottest luxury brands of today. Vetements FW16 collection featured a black sweatshirt with a bleeding flame logo over an intricate gothic skull illustration. Supreme and Black Sabbath released a capsule collection in 2016, injecting even more metal logos onto Hypebeasts and skaters. Luxury fashion supercenter, Barney’s, even sold an exclusive Justin Bieber Purpose tour 31-piece unisex capsule collection designed by cult-loved designer Jerry Lorenzo of Fear of God featuring illustrations by legendary metal graphic artist, Mark Riddick.
Fashion’s current climate is full of with confusion. Many brands are losing and trading creative directors rapidly, and all are grappling with a changing industry that is refocusing on consumer-facing shows and the rippling impacts of social media exposure. Perhaps the black metal trend is the fashion industry’s projection of inner angst. The metal t-shirt trend has become somewhat of a battleground between generations, where ideas of authenticity, image and symbolism are all open to interpretation. For a while, the starter pack of rock shirts consisted of classic acts like AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin available at department stores at affordable prices. Now Iron Maiden and Kiss shirts can be found in all the major fashion retailers including Urban Outfitters, Forever 21 and H&M.
As far as merch goes, Thraxxhouse was one of the first internet-based music collectives to begin selling clothing with black metal inspired imagery. Much of this design work was led by resident producer, DJ and designer Roman Luna aka Yawns, who had gotten a start making merch for the early music collective, .cult. As Thraxxhouse slowly evolved into GothBoiClique, their signature metal-inspired black and white imagery with occasional pops of red aesthetic created by Yawns got a refresh. Yawns now runs a store called Yawnscult with popular LA-based online retailers, The Hyv. Most notably, the iconic GBC branding and signature font, Cloister Black, was so well loved that it has slowly become the most commonly used blackletter font in the scene. Once-underground heavyhitters, SeshHollowWaterBoyz also use the font for their SHWB branding. The merch for Lil Peep’s Come Over When You’re Sober tour is set in Cloister Black and has gone down in history as the font to be associated with the SoundCloud-based music scene. Fallen Angel is the most commonly used illegible black metal font.
Metal design legend, Mark Riddick, who recently created the Justin Bieber Purpose tour merch told Bandcamp, “In my perspective, heavy metal aesthetics in the mainstream reinforces the validity and importance of the visuals associated with extreme music.” Perhaps the black metal t-shirt trend is pop culture’s attempt at expressing itself in a grittier, more aggressive fashion. Seeing someone wear a metal shirt cues another devout metal fan in to notice that there is a shared interest between them. That really isn’t the case if the person wearing the shirt is only wearing it to be fashionable. It’s great that the climate is right for popular culture to appreciate the heavy metal aesthetic, but hopefully more people take a moment to go beyond just the visuals and to the source; the music.