11 Best Black Metal Bands From South America

Here are the 11 best black metal bands from South America!

South America served as fertile ground for a plethora of early pioneering black metal acts. Accordingly, some of the outfits we will be exploring began even before the movement became solidified and the term black metal acquired the meaning it has today.

Colombia’s Reencarnación, for instance, would influence the likes of the Norwegian giants Mayhem. Conceived in 1988, Masacre, who tape-traded with Mayhem, may be an excellent death metal institution, but vocalist Alex Okendo told Rise!: “I think black metal is part of our primitive sound.”

Additional black metal and black metal-adjacent groups founded in the ’80s whom we would like to name up front include Necrobutcher, Expulser, Chakal, Holocausto, Necrófago, Cerbero, Hadez, Mutilator and The True Mortem.

South American metallers certainly excel at keeping the vibe hot and oppressively heavy, as exemplified by Goat Semen, Anal Vomit, Perversor and Sodomizer, who eventually moved to Germany. We likewise recommend the supergroup Blasphamagoatachrist, who arose from members of Brazil’s now defunct Goatpenis and the revered Blasphemy as well as Antichrist, both from Canada. These days, however, Blasphamagoatachrist’s lineup is all Canadian.

We send additional shoutouts to Power from Hell, Imperio Nocturno, Dethroned Christ, Hecate, Wrathprayer, The Satan’s Scourge, Black Grail and Thy Antichrist.

Let’s not forget that South American artists have relocated and prospered all around the world: Take Watain’s Chilean-born, Swedish-based collaborator Alvaro Lillo, who is active in the South American black metal band Xalpen. On the topic of Scandinavia, Darkthrone’s legendary Fenriz, a.k.a. “Hank Amarillo,” supports international musicians, and interestingly, his grandmother Elita de Riis came to Norway from Argentina.