my band was denied for "not being metal " true we are very keyboard driven , but we released our first cd due to not having a guitar player . we do now , however , and plan to keep it that way . once our next cd is released , octoctor ( hopefully ) then we can reapply ? also there are many black metal band s such as master's hammer , burzum , coven , etc . that are recognized as "black metal " and very similar to our current sound and style . any ideas ?

GraveSideService

It would be best if you wait until your next release, the absence of guitar on a release can really subtract from the metal aesthetic. You would probably have a much better chance of acceptance if you had a recording with full instrumentation in the style of black metal. So wait until you release something with guitars then try again, that's my best advice.

Subtract? More like completely eliminates.

Exactly.

By the way, you can imagine, that I know Master's Hammer very well, and they were always based on heavy guitars, except for Šlágry, which was mostly not metal.

But they have two clearly metal albums and some early metal demos.

They as well as Burzum, are here for their metal releases, not for their electronic or ambient ones.
One metal album is enough, but it must be already released in time of submission.

If you've found a guitarist and your new music makes considerable use of him, yes, you can try again. However, you'll have to wait until you've produced a viable release in your new style (excepting sideprojects, bands cannot be admitted to the Archive on the basis of a release that isn't metal).

Yes, if you're completely absent of bass and guitar. I however was referring to guitar specifically, it is possible to make aesthetically metal music with only bass, though the chances of it sounding as good are slim.

thank you all for your imput .. just to clarify a bit more .. we were totally capable at the time of the first album to have guitar and bass ( the keyboard and drummer can play either guiter ) . these track could have been in the first release , however , since we played live locally for amost 3 years , we didn't people to be mislead . meaning that we would sound different live ( one member can only play one instument at a time ) than on the cd . we are going to go back and rerecord the entire album with bass and guitar at some point . we are 1/2 way through the second album already , and it does have bass and guitar . live these songs will have only guitar , until a bass player comes along . once this is release i will definatly try again , in the mean time i'll be around read and gather more great advice .

ST LUCI , GraveSideService