Black metal can display, but is not limited to, the following characteristics:

• Screeching vocals （黑嗓？？）
• Fast guitars with tremolo picking （raw??hahaha）
• Double bass, blastbeat, and D-beat drumming (really? 我都没注意过)
• Standard tuned guitars (In contrast to death metal which is typically dropped D and down-tuned.) （太专业！！！顶）
• Lyrics that take the form of Satanic, Pagan, or occult themes which blaspheme Christianity.
• Lyrics that celebrate the cold, darkness, forests, and other natural surroundings of northern European countries, reflecting modern black metal's origins in Scandinavia. （Hailz to Nordic）
• Increasingly lyrics are being penned with themes of war, misanthropy, and desolation, sometimes apocalytic, whose causes are rooted in human nature and actions. （就差自杀黑了）
• Relatively thin guitar sound or relatively thick guitar sound—usually not in the middle. （这句话也顶，专业a）
• Limited production used intentionally as a statement against mainstream music and/or to reflect the mood of the music by creating a certain atmosphere. This 'underproduced' effect is often achieved by cutting out low and high frequencies, leaving just the mid frequency range. It is often said that this was due to a low budget, but this often wasn't the case. This production style is often considered an essential element of "true" black metal. （哈哈haha，posers' statement again）
• Fast, repetitive, aggressive drums, often with blast beats. At other times, the drums can take a slower role usually accompanied by a very dry and empty tone—especially for the effect of the atmosphere of the music. On occasion, some groups such as Burzum and Xasthur will dispense with drums altogether in certain song segments. (看吧，不说什么了)
• Occasional electronic keyboard use. The harpsichord, violin, organ, and choir settings are most common, which gives the music an orchestral feel or a cathedral-like setting. Some bands tend to use keyboards very frequently, whether it be as an instrument or even as the basis of their entire sound. They are generally placed under the symphonic black metal label. （这句倒是不怎么raw）
• A distinct "rasped" vocal style, a very guttural rasp, which is reminiscent of a torture. This is basically standard in every black metal, though there are exceptions, such as Primordial, who are still classed black metal without the rasp vocal. Some bands, particularly symphonic black metal bands, incorporate clean vocals, usually of a male choir sound, though this is used for atmospheric purposes. （连清嗓这个问题都说了）
• Cold, dark, sad, melancholy, reflective, tragic, meditative, or gloomy atmosphere.
• Unconventional song structures that are devoid of verse and chorus segments, and contain extended and repetitive instrumental passages, with less use of vocals than other styles of metal.
• Less focus on dynamic rhythm than death metal. Very few black metal bands exhibit the rhythmic complexity inherent in death metal, and even if they do, they usually exhibit at least a few of the above-listed criteria if they are still generally classified as black metal. （haha）
• Many black metal musicians adopt a "neo-medieval" costume style that may include leather, spikes, bondage gear, archaic armor and weaponry, and facial corpse paint. （果然没忘提，neo-medieval" ？？）
• Many black metal musicians choose to adopt stage names, typically patterned after occult and/or fantasy characters; however, this practice is not universal. （？？？which ones）