Thought it might be interesting to throw it out to everyone to discuss what they consider to be the first black metal bands from each country. While some opinions may differ on what some early "black metal" actually is, it would be interesting to discuss without getting into petty insult territory. Some picks might seem obvious (Sweden - Bathory, UK - Venom etc.), but even then I might be wrong!

I'll kick it off with Australia -

I'd hazard to say that either Slaughter Lord (1985) or Sadist (the pre-Sadistik Exekution band featuring lead singer Rok, circa 1984) might be contenders, the former being more blackened thrash than any pure BM sound, but still with a necro sound in parts.

Any thoughts on this? How about for other countries?

Current Profile by Country: (will be added to / amended as discussion progresses)

Argentina - Cerbero (1984)
Australia - Slaughter Lord (1985), Sadist (1984)
Austria - Impurity (1990), Korovakill (1990)
Barbados - Conrad (2009)
Belgium - Ancient Rites (1988)
Brazil - Vulcano (1981)
Brunei - Daemon (1988)
Bulgaria - Диктатор (1989)
Canada - Blasphemy (1984)
Colombia - Parabellum (1983)
Chile - Bloody Cross (1986), The Morgue (1986), Death Yell (1986)
China - 异端 (1997)
Czech Republic 666 (1983)
Cyprus - Godblood (1991)
Denmark - Mercyful Fate (1981), Samhain (1984)
Ecuador - C.R.Y. (1987)
Finland - Beherit (1989), Archgoat (1989), Satanic Evil (1989)
Georgia - Diaohki (1999)
Germany - Sodom (1981), Semen of Satan (1981)
Gibraltar - Days of Our Lives (2010)
Greece - Rotting Christ (1987)
Iceland - Flames of Hell (1984)
Indonesia - Grausig (1989), Dry (1990), Khasarath (1990)
Israel - Acheron Gates (1989)
Italy - Bulldozer (1980)
Jamaica - Orisha Shakpana (2004)
Japan - Sabbat (1983/4)
Mexico - Frightful Cross (1986)
Moldova - Witch Desire (1993)
Netherlands - Choronzon (1987)
Norway - 666 (1982)
Oman - Arabia (2000)
Philippines - Deiphago (1989)
Poland - Kat (1979), Fantom (1985)
Portugal - Bactherion (1989)
Slovakia - Nemrael (1990)
South Korea - Sexfuck (1994)
Sweden - Bathory (1983)
Switzerland - Hellhammer/Celtic Frost (1982/1984)
Turkey - Witchtrap (1988)
United Kingdom - Venom (1979)
United States - NME (1984)

Seeing as how I am from the states, I'll choose this country.

A few come to mind. Demoncy formed in 1989, but didn't release anything until 1991. Their early material is somewhat bestial-style BM, with their second album being more Norwegian inspired but still good. Von formed earlier in 1987, but didn't release Satanic Blood until 1992. Of course we all know how they sounded. Profanatica formed in 1990 and released their first promo tape the same year. Doing a quick search reveals that a band called Abomination from NYC released a rehearsal tape in 1988. This band was formed by Paul Ledney, founder of Profanatica. I've never heard the demo so I can't comment on what it sounds like, but my guess would be black/death in the vein of Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost, Morbid Angel etc. I'm not sure if there were any earlier than this, and I'm not going through all the bands the search revealed, but you have to assume there was at least some really obscure band that played pure Bathory styled BM in the mid-late 80s.

So in short, BM has been in America for almost as long as it has been in Europe.

As far as the United States goes, I think NME is a likely contender for the first of the country. They're more of a Venom/Hellhammer influenced band though, though almost all first wave bands were. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isUOvOmkW1w

Agree about Seattle's NME- dark, menacing, evil and crushingly heavy, but like a lot of early black metal, they didn't have the tremolo picked riffs and fast repetitive drumming that came to define the style in the 1990s. Most of NME's music wasn't even particularly fast or thrashy. So, I guess a more succinct question would be, what was the first band to play the style of black metal as we know it today? Venom, for example, were considered "Black Metal" at the time they came out, but someone hearing them for the first time today would probably not consider them as such by today's definition.

In Germany, I think the first couple Sodom recordings would definatly qualify either way, as they share many musical characteristics with 90's black metal.

I don't live in Mexico but was Xibalba the first black metal band there? I can't think of anyone else.

I'm from Argentina. Not a big fan of local black metal (I'm more fond in classic heavy and thrash/death)
There wasn't (isn't) much going on when it comes to black metal. I can name a few proto-black metal bands
from the late 80s that played a gritty, satanic style of speed metal such as Retrosatan and Cerbero.
The first stable, black metal band that became somewhat significant was Artes Negras ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogr4ygmfv1c ) In the mid 90s. Then there was Inferno ( http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Infierno/38093 )

I consider Xibalba as the first BM band from the second wave from the early-mid 90s (BTW, saw them live with Avzhia, man, best BM gig i ever attended)

I consider Frightful Cross as the real BM pioneers in Mexico (i own one their demos)

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Fri ... ross/87381

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsAh8o3Abic

EDIT: Seems there was a band from my hometown (Acapulco) named Satanic Preachers and they used to play Black/Thrash Metal. They were active from the late 80's to early 90s

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Sat ... 3540354199

http://www.reverbnation.com/satanicpreachers

Denmark:

Well, if one consider Merciful Fate for early Black Metal, then they were the first. If not, it is probably Denial of God.
Fallen Angel (later Solhverv, Blodfest etc.) was more death/grindcore back then.

Check this out:
http://www.oocities.org/james_montague/ed4.htm

Good find, definitely what I'd call one of if not the first BM band in America. Really morbid sounding stuff.
Also, in the notes for their MA page it's definitely trve kvlt..
"In April 1986, Kurt was accused of killing his adoptive mother with a hatchet and scissors while on drugs. He claimed that he thought he was a robot. He wanted to open up his mother to see if she was a robot also. He was charged with second-degree murder and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was released early in 1994 and that was when NME's music took a change."

For Canada it's quite obvious: Blasphemy.

666 are considered perhaps the first BM band from Norway, forming in 1982 (Mayhem was 1984 by comparison) - http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/666/87165. There used to be some clips of live recordings (no footage) on Youtube, but I think they might have been taken down(?). I recall they sounded pretty punk/trash infused, I guess in that Venom/Motorhead vein. Any news on whether they are still around?

This is from their page here.

"In 2012 the band was asked to perform a concert for the local CultureHouse alongside other old Tromsø Rock bands. The band hereby reformed, albeit with a new line-up (guitarists Håvard Stangnes and Harald Amundsen). Following the concert, the band members decided to keep the band running, both live and in the studio.

After performing a couple of concerts in 2012 (one of them together with Satyricon and Nekromantheon at the Culturehouse) the band plans to release a single, tour and ultimately release a full-length album."

I've never listened to them so I couldn't say what they sound like, but judging from the Venom/Motorhead influences, probably very punk. I'd be curious to hear an album by them.

To assist the efforts of this discussion, I've begun compiling the profile of firsts by country in the initial post of this thread. It is a work in progress and will be added to / corrected as new info is confirmed.

Surely Sabbat are the first band to play a style of BM in Japan? Even if it is in a trash, Venom-worship kind of way, they are widely regarded as originators from that country to some degree.

Brazil = Sarcófago (1985)?

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Sarc%C3%B3fago/2061

First (and only as far as I know) black metal band from Georgia is Diaokhi, looks like they were formed around 2000 and only put out one really great symphonic-ish album called To Raise the Iron Throne (not a Game of Thrones reference)... That's my contribution to this thread, true Caucasian black metal.

I second this.

I'd say its Vulcano, formed in 1981
Sadly underrated band too, Bloody Vengeance rules.

From Chile I'm sure it's Bloody Cross, 1986 - well, the profile says so

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Bloody_Cross/47135

Apparently here in Panama we have a few black metal bands even though I've never heard of them playing shows or anything. Seems the first one to form was Morttus Spiritus Noctis, back in 1997.

Portugal: Bachterion - led to Filii Nigrantium Infernalium - and Morbig God - which led to Moonspell.
I think this might be a 'correct answer' to your question
But correct me if you see necessary, please

Since US is taking ill go with Greece and say Rotting Christ. There is a band called Vomit that started 2 years before them but they never released anything.

Never heard of Psychonaut 4 or Im Nebel I'd take it?

The first mainland Chinese BM act would appear to be 异端 forming in 1997, playing a black/thrash style before changing to symphonic BM later on. http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/%E5%BC%82%E7%AB%AF/9946

Um...what about these bands?:

Hecatombe http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Hecatombe/36162

Antaro http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Antaro/6503

Finland: Beherit

First black metal band from Finland to have demos and a 7" out. Impaled Nazarene, Barathrum, Archgoat and others emerged from the abyss later in 1991...

Who the fuck are Sadist? Calling Slaughter Lord black metal is also a stretch.

Before Satanic Evil? http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Satanic_Evil/24891

Rok's band before Sad-Ex. Re. Slaughter Lord, they're certainly in that black-thrash mold, when you count the harsh vocals, the imagery (photos with inverted crosses etc.) and considering others in this thread are mentioning bands like Sodom.

Fair enough. Its a very loose label, especially for Slaughter Lord. Definitely more thrash than black.

I've heard that there was a band named Hellstorm or something even before Satanic Evil and Beherit existed. Well, it could have been some stupid teen project only. Certainly not of same importance as Beherit for example. Don't really know anything about it. It's not even in the Archives apparently.

Excellent choice. It's worth noting that this band was on hiatus for a number of years while its lineup contributed to death metal (Incantation, Revenant).

There is no specified time mentioned for Satanic Evil. Beherit's first demo was out in February 1990.

Hellstorm never released their demo back in the day for what I know. Agathon (from Gloomy Grim) only later claimed it to be the first black metal band from Finland and there are no proofs or anything to back this up. I don't think it actually matters if they recorded something back in the day but never released it (in other words, it's not there as reference in the history of those days).

The bestial sounds of Deiphago mark the earliest BM out of the Philippines (even though they're situated in Costa Rica now). I had to laugh that one of the other earlier BM bands was called Gorgoroth, forming in 1992, the same year as their main competitor...

In South Korea it is probably a toss up.

Oathean formed as Odin in 1993 as a death metal band, but in 1997 changed their name and style to a oriental folk music-infused melodic black metal.

Sad Legend formed in 1997 as a melodic black metal band.

In 1993, Deathrasher formed and quickly released some demos...likely to be S. Korea's first extreme metal band. In 1996, they changed name to Moonshine and started releasing melodic black metal.

In 1994, Sexfuck formed but did not release demos until later...which were in a black/thrash style.

In 1996, Kalpa formed playing epic black metal.

And in 1997, Imoned formed playing early Dimmu Borgir-influenced stuff.

Am I the only one who thinks this thread is kind of pointless if we accept Mercyful Fate as black metal?

I can accept Venom as proto bm, but Mercyful Fate? Come on.

If satanic lyrics and playing some form of metal are enough to qualify for this list then most of the entries are incorrect anyways.

The list is a work-in-progress, so suggest a better option and it might be considered. I agree Mercyful Fate don't sound like what we think BM to be, but they are often considered a contributor to the BM genre, if more for the lyrics, appearance (King Diamond's "proto-corpsepaint") and general influence on other bands to come. And let's face it, the first wave of BM had a lot of disparate bands, many of which sounded nothing alike, laying building blocks for what we think of the genre today.

Yeah but from a purely musical standpoint it would be damn near impossible finding a link between Mercyful Fate and black metal that is greater than, say, between W.A.S.P. and black metal. A more realistic pick for Denmark would be Samhain/DesExult who played the kind of speed/death metal that black metal has its roots in.

About Rotting Christ, are they really the first? Because while formed in 1987, they only started playing black metal around 1991

We are applying loose standards here. Sodom didn't play black metal either. Anyways, Sadistic Noise, formed in '87, played this in 1988: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAfburu7RNo

Btw