Behemoth is the biggest rock band to ever emerge from Poland. Over the course of 23 years and ten albums they have established themselves as one of the most important and continually vital blackened death metal bands in the world. Behemoth leader Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski is a huge celebrity in his homeland, having successfully fought charges of blasphemy for ripping up a bible at a concert, recovered from leukemia, wrote a best-selling autobiography, and dated supermodels along the way.

Earlier this year, Behemoth issued their tenth studio album, The Satanist. It has been widely hailed as a masterpiece and the band’s magnum opus. It is sure to be sitting very high up on many critics’ year-end “best of” lists (including mine).

Here with the uncensored video for the first single from The Satanist is Behemoth with “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel.”

Mayhem is the most infamous and, arguably, the most influential band of the second wave of black metal. The band’s debut album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, is widely considered to be one of the most influential recordings that the genre has ever produced. It was an album seven years in the making. Songwriting started in 1987 and by the time the record hit shelves in 1994 two of the band’s most pivotal members would be dead.

Listen to one of the tracks from the album, “Freezing Moon,” here below.

Marduk hail from Norrköping, Sweden. They take their name from a Babylonian god. When the band formed in 1990, they set out with the goal of being “the most blasphemous band in the world.” Over the course of 12 studio albums, 4 live collections, and 6 demos and EPs, Marduk has accomplished that goal in a prolific fashion. They are set to release their 13th studio album, tentatively titled Frontschwein, in early 2015.

Here with “Souls for Belial,” the third track of their 2012 album Serpent Sermon, is the world’s most blasphemous band, Marduk.

Myrkur is the Icelandic word for darkness. Myrkur is also the name of a one-woman black metal project from Denmark, incorporating elements of choral music and ambient post metal.

Watch the official video for Myrkur’s debut single “Natten’s Barn” here below. Also below, I have included the short trailer video for Myrkur’s album, wherein she explains her love of and philosophy on black metal.

Myrkur’s self-titled debut record has only been out a few weeks and has already become incredibly polarizing among the black metal community. Many black metal purists hate the incorporation of any foreign elements into the formula, not to mention that certain factions of the scene harbor an thinly veiled undercurrent of misogyny. Other, more forward-thinking critics are hailing the Myrkur record as a breath of fresh air and are able to see past the pretty face of Amelie Bruun, the woman behind the music, to realize that the Myrkur record is one of the best black metal offerings of the year. Check it out for yourself and form your own opinion.

Deathspell Omega is a French progressive black metal band. A great deal of secrecy surrounds the band. No one is sure exactly who the members are. They have no website, have never played live, and have never been photographed. The only thing that is clear is their ideology. The band has professed to be metaphysical Satanists and has declared that “all other interpretations of Satan are intellectually invalid.”

Listen to Deathspell Omega here below.

Over the course of five full-length albums and numerous splits, EPs, and compilations, the band has garnered widespread critical acclaim and respect in black metal circles. Their sound has evolved from straight black metal to a more progressive form incorporating chanting and ambient textures. Here from their 2000 debut album Infernal Battles, here is Deathspell Omega with “Extinction of the Weak.”