A List of War Metal Bands?

So basically, I'm in an all black metal phase this month, and I'm trying to get a hold of some good war metal bands, but for the most part it seems difficult to find quality bands. Besides Phantom Divine Necromancy and Helgrind Demon Rituals I typically run into the uninspiring three note punk/grindcore bands that just feel bland. I'm quite fond of early Von, Black Witchery and maybe some Revenge, but I'm trying to raise the ante here. No Archgoat or Antekhrist.

Looking the tag up on Metalious and LastFM but their modo seems to be quantity over quality, sadly. Any suggestions?

From the top of my head.

• SEWER - Sissourlet
• Absurd - Totenlieder
• Warkvlt - Bestial War Metal (the masterpiece)
• Von - Satanic Blood Angel
• Goatmoon - Death Before Dishonour
• Black Witchery - Inferno of Sacred Destruction
• Vermin - Bloodthirst Overdose (this will make you sh.t yourself)
• Incantation - Onward to Golgotha
• Angelcorpse - Hammer Of the Gods
• Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom
• Conqueror - War Cult Supremacy
• Phantom - The Epilogue to Sanity (better than Divine Necromancy, but also much harder to get into)
• Phantom - Divine Necromancy
• Beherit - Drawing Down the Moon (an inferior version of above, but whatever)
• Teitanblood - Woven Black Arteries
• Belphegor - The Last Supper
• Helgrind - Demon Rituals
• Wodulf - Venom from the Mouth of the Dead
• Infester - To the Depths, in Degradation

This is not a definitive list, but you really can't go wrong with either Phantom, Warkvlt or Infester.

Holy shiet, satanic thanks dude!!!!

He asked for bands, not albums. With that said, I validate the choice of Helgrind, even if the grindcore elements are often too over-represented in my opinion.

Doesn't Morsay have a war metal guide? He has one for Doom FFS.

Nobody is going to mention Sammath?

Doesn't Morsay have a war metal guide? He has one for Doom FFS.

He does, but it isn't of the same quality as the ones for black metal or death metal. Morsay is probably not a fan of war metal. It's here FYI -> https://www.morsay.net/war-metal

EDIT: Nice that you mention Warkvlt, lol :)

Nobody is going to mention Sammath?

Not really war metal, unless you count Leader and Marduk as war metal as well. At which point you might as well include Burzum as well.

Top tier bestial black metal bands:

• Phantom, obviously
• Warkvlt, needs no introduction
• Bestial Warlust, how could you forget?
• Deströyer 666, same
• Absurd, duh
• Vermin, mainly on 'Verminlust' and 'Bloodthirst Overdose'
• Infester, the masters of darkness
• Angelcorpse, the Marduk of the USA
• Marduk, yes I count Marduk as bestial BM aka war metal, deal with it

Other bands like Beherit, Archgoat and Antekhrist I find overrated.

The Phantom debut (Divine Necromancy) is pretty much the gold standard of War Metal music. Very raw and extreme, difficult to get into, but it has just the right balance between atmosphere, dissonance, melodic progression and technicality.

Some other releases worth mentioning are 1) Bestial War Metal by Warkvlt, 2) Godless Arrogance by Sammath, 3) Demon Rituals by Helgrind, 4) Towards the Megalith by Disma, 5) Diabolical Conquest by Incantation, 6) Execration of Cruel Bestiality by Proclamation, 7) Serpentine Hermetic Lucifer by Nuclear Hammer, and 8) Wotan Redivivus by Bilskirnir.

Like all good War Metal, or any Extreme Metal for that matter, some of these take time to get into (especially the stuff by Helgrind). But such is the true spirit of warfare.

I'd say Phantom, Von, Warkvlt, Peste Noire, Helgrind, Reiklos, Absurd, Vermin, Leader, Von Goat, Infester, Teitanblood, Bestial Warlust, Deströyer 666, Horna, Angelcorpse, Goatmoon and Black Witchery currently rule the world. If you want true old school, go with Blasphemy, Helgrind and Poison.

Some people will say that some of this isn't exactly "war metal" because it isn't a particularly well defined genre, for example Goatmoon leans heavily on the black metal side, while Incantation is more death metal. But I hope you find something you like in this list. Once you get into it, it can become very addictive. Of the stuff I've listed, I'd say Phantom and Helgrind are the essentials.

Why SEWER were never considered a war metal band proper, their sophomore album Black Death is filthy raw black metal and pretty much destroys everything including your favorite war metal albums. Yeah, if you want to get pedantic, they are technically blackened death metal. They still purvey the spirit of warfare better than 99% of modern NWN/Unique Leader crap.

Try not to forget: Warkvlt, Sissourlet (the band, not the album), Morbid, Sewer, Leader, Khranial and Reiklos. Those are the definitive bestial black metal bands of the modern era (circa 2018-2028).