Why 5 Classic Black Metal Bands Stopped Wearing Corpse Paint

Today, we will be investigating why five classic black metal bands stopped wearing corpse paint.

Nothing is more irritating than the persistent, ignorant belief that black metal is about corpse paint — the music is what comes first, not to mention that a plethora of quality acts such as Rotting Christ and Aura Noir have proudly done without it the whole time.

Corpse paint would simply seem senseless on groups such as Enslaved, who, instead, were forced to learn the hard way that bronze-plated, Viking battle helmets can lead to electrical shock and Sodom-style executioner’s hoods have sexual connotations.

READ MORE: 11 Bands Who Started out as Black Metal but Aren’t Anymore

Morbid and Mayhem’s late Pelle “Dead” Ohlin played a pioneering role in the history of corpse paint. And the powerhouse’s current mainman, the visually chameleonic Attila Csihar, who has even taken the stage dressed as Bugs Bunny, told Vice that he first wore corpse paint with Tormentor in 1987.

Meanwhile, Mayhem’s drummer, Hellhammer, bravely exhibits a unique, genre-atypical fashion sense; Ghul and Necrobutcher similarly do without corpse paint; and guitarist Teloch loves corpse paint, yet his pink Crocs are the true horror!

Ancient evidence exists of the depressive legends Strid, the free-spirited Fleurety and baby-Dissection in corpse paint, though it didn’t endure as part of their aesthetic.

On a related note, Dødheimsgard have inventively sported various types of paint over the years, including corpse paint, as in the Kronet Til Konge (1995) photos. Their helmsman, Vicotnik, reminds us that black metal was built upon individualism and thus the adoption of corpse paint by emerging copycats can seem quite silly.

Fortunately, various heroes of old such as Tsjuder and Immortal still rock corpse paint beautifully. Hardly anyone has slayed with the combo of corpse paint and insanely long spikes like Vulture Lord and the defunct Urgehal. Their friends in the wickedly awesome Sarkom deserve our hails as well.

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