Wait a minute... there's no Paradise Lost on this thread? No wonder people are talking about non-existing genres and dubious clothing styles.

Paradise Lost - Enchantment
Paradise Lost - Embers Fire
Paradise Lost - True Belief

I do get that. You want me (and others) to take on your restricted approach from a math-/tech viewpoint (I'm gonna call it that way, sry if that's not accurate for you). I'm not the person to do so and even if I could, I wouldn't want to.
The problem occurs as soon as you dismiss any other approach from a different viewpoint as not valid and wrong.

I have no idea why or for what reason you choose Viking Metal over Black Metal. Mercyful Fate is widely seen as being Black Metal before Black Metal existed (true or not) and they certainly don't fit your definition of "a random noise, on the drop D or C tuning, recorded in a backyard", at least not in my book, sry.
Maybe it was popularity or that Viking Metal brings technically more to the table than Black Metal did, I don't know, neither do I really care for your choice.
However, taking a different approach by checking the market, how many books do you find written about Black Metal? How many about Viking Metal? Now take a guess which one had the bigger impact or influence on Metal as a whole...

You see the problem? From a math-/tech viewpoint you may be absolutely right and true, I grant you that without checking. But looking at it from a different viewpoint, you get a different picture which is also very much right and true.

This is where you make a critical mistake. You take a 2D picture of a scene from your viewpoint and claim it to be the only one valid. Someone else looking at the same scene from a different viewpoint, gets a different picture that only partially match with yours.
Yet you're the one proclaiming your viewpoint being right and everyone seeing it differently being wrong - nope, you are because you took a one-sided approach, dismissing any other point of views. You can see yourself here as confident and strong in your beliefs as much as you want, you will have to accept others seeing you as arrogant and stubborn.
Because to get the whole picture, you have to take different point of views and you obviously didn't do that at all.

In fact, that's what's driving creativity and innovation - take something and approach it differently. Taking a different viewpoint (even obscure ones), giving it a spin in another direction. You're one-sided math-/tech approach simply fails here.
How was Hard Rock created? Artists defying existing definitions and do it differently. Heavy Metal? Artists defying existing definitions and do it differently. Trash Metal? Artists defying....
Every category / sub-genre / whatever, both the ones you listed as well as the ones you rejected, was born the same way.
Yet your definition will stand the test of time, whereas every other written before simply became obsolete...
... I'm sry, but I don't think artists work that way or give a fuck about your definition. And they are allowed to call their music whatever the hell they want and aren't bound to your point of view (or anyone else's).

You basically just dismissed Grunge from happening. Yet it did and it was a fuckin' tidal wave, smashing Hard Rock and Heavy Metal against the next wall, leaving the former shattered in pieces and Metal shaken to it's very core.
No matter how you feel about it, if you liked it or not, Grunge took every previously carefully established and hand-crafted definition, category and it's restrictions, every guideline written about being a rockstar and blasted it to pieces.
Yet you're now so bold to proclaim your definition holding up against it and that something like that can't happen again? Nor that it didn't change the way Metal's being played today fundamentally? If so, I do disagree.

The most hilarious part you keep missing however is, that your restrictive math-/tech approach is very much the same the fucked up music industry is taking. Everything is calculable and has to be standardised, to be successful. We see where this shit has lead us...
You want more standardisation to get to the music you like? I'll keep just clicking through this thread and deepen on the ones I like. So sry (again), I'm gonna side with Korn on that one in Y'all want a single, say fuck that.

Last but not least: once again, your viewpoint may be 100% accurate and true. I have no problem with that. But as soon as you dismiss any other viewpoint as wrong or invalid, because it's not the same as yours, then stop asking for mature and constructive discussions, as you're the one limiting the discussion to yea-sayers.
... and you'll get me up close and in your face for reasons pointed out - so we'd probably shouldn't go for a beer anytime soon.... ;)

Again, your keywords: you, your, you're, yours, bla bla. Nothing of the real substance to add into this discussion, but rather keeping it on the personal level of arguments.

Mercyful Fate is known as one of the influences on the development of Norwegian Extreme music, mostly because of their shocking image, lyrical content and stage performance. In no way, shape or form Mercyful Fate sounds like any of the Norwegian Extreme "music" they inspired. Mercyful Fate sounds exactly to King Diamon, a singer of both bands, who continued his solo career after Mercyful Fate split up. King Diamond is not labeled as "black metal", yet they do sound almost exactly like Mercyful Fate, just a bit more sophisticated and experienced. Mercyful Fate did have impact on the attitude, lyrical content and image of the Norwegian Extreme "music" bands, but so did Rock band Kiss. Does that make Kiss "black metal"? Nope. In fact, King Diamond, the singer of the band Mercyful Fate got his image from Kiss as well. That doesn't make his band Rock, though. Mercyful Fate belongs in the cathegory of the Heavy Metal bands which use power chords, rather than playing tremolo picking like those Norwegian pandas. Power chords are a thing Black Sabbath made as signature of Heavy Metal music, and Mercyful Fate belongs to the sub-genre of Classic Heavy Metal, along with the bands which play the same style like 80's Dio, Black Sabbath, Accept, 80's Ozzy Ousbourne, King Diamond, Megadeth, Cirith Ungol, among others. They focus on using power chords as the main song structures, while Norwegian pandas use tremollo picking. I am pretty sure you have no idea what tremolo picking is. If you did, you would never compare Mercyful Fate to bands like 80's Bathory, or Immortal, or any of their likes.

Bathory is considered to be the very first band to play this low budget, raw, high-pitched growling noise known as "black metal". They are the pioneers of that Extreme "music" style. They are the ones who started this "garage sound quality" when it comes to their Extreme "musical" style. The only thing subjective about my view here is the thing that I refuse to refer to their "music" as music.

Funny that you mention Bathory. If you knew anything about them, you would have known that not only they pioneered Extreme "music", but they switched to Heavy Metal music in the 90's. What happened in the 90's was something that shaped Heavy Metal music, and too different approach to what was played by that point. In an interview Quorthon did many years back, he explained why Bathory took such radical shift in their song writing. Quorthon said his drummer was a huge Manowar fan. In the 80’s Manowar introduced lyrics based on Scandinavian mythology. Examples of such songs would be Gates Of Valhalla, Each Dawn I Die, Battle Hymn and Thor (The Powerhead). While not all of these explicitly implied the Scandinavian mythology, it certainly was inspired by Scandinavian folklore.

I will quote Qorthon from the link I posted, since I can hardly expect from person like you to read stuff ban members said themselves. You seem to be one of the “Wikipedia told me” guys. Even though Manowar did use Scandinavian mythology in some of their songs, the music still remained in pure Power Metal style – fist-pumping, hammer, energetic, bombastic music, with Classic Heavy Metal riffs, with much more technically demanding guitar solos. Bathory on the other hand focused more on the atmosphere, rather than playing in the same style of Manowar. As Quorthon said himself – he didn’t want to copy Manowar, but to create something in accordance to the traditions of his ancestors, something that will capture the soul of Scandinavia in his music. So, he came up with songs in which he didn’t growl, but started to chant. His music was no longer chaotic mess of the cheap production and mindless tremolo picking, with edgy teenage Satanic lyrics. He started using proper Heavy Metal guitar sound. With the standard line-up of the instruments used: electric guitar, bass guitar and drums, he started combining it with the folk and orchestral ambient in the background. So, the difference between the Viking Metal and Folk Metal is the fact that Viking Metal bands do not have permanent band members with folk instruments like accordion, violin, kentele, and such. Viking Metal goes after the epic atmosphere which can be played with multiply keyboard tracks mixed in the background as well. In my personal opinion, Finish Heavy Metal band Ensiferum captured the essence of Viking Metal the most perfectly.

On the example of the same band I will give the comparison of the two sub-genres, Viking Metal and Folk Metal, played by the same band – Ensiferum:
An example of the Viking Metal album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K52KQUWnkcA&list=PL4OszwrclvjgEa7vSQ-amEEmAvZQzoZsP
An example of the Folk Metal album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vurD0kxkFbI&list=PLA5128B61A1024CE6

Viking Metal is not defined by its lyrical content. Lyrical content never defines musical genres and sub-genres. This is Ensiferum’s song done in the Viking Metal style, while the lyrics are about a cowboy in the Wild West. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTDkVhexweg

Once again you brought nothing, but your rant and emotional instability.
Everything about your attitude confirms this, so I can take this is the only true statement you made here. Since you do not want to debate the music, but rather make arguments on the personal level, you might as well stop replying to me. I did not ask for your opinion on my attitude, and that was not the topic of my very first comment. My comment is about music genre – Heavy Metal, while you turned this into outbursts of your emotional impulses on a personal level. Again you go on and on talking about me, while my topic of this discussion is and always will be the music itself. How hypocritical of you to tell me to stop imposing my “opinion” (which is nothing but summed up facts) onto others, while you are trying to do exact same to me. In my original comment I did not ask for your opinion on me, and since you don’t care about discussion, but care about trying to frame me into your socially acceptable norms, you might as well stop replying to me, because I don’t need you to tell me what can I write and what I can not write in Gog forums. You are not the admin.

I didn't. You did.

Nobody asked for your (or anyone's) opinion about pigeonholing musical categories. Neither is that the topic of this thread nor it's content for the past 69 pages - until you forced it on everyone, claiming to have the impeccable solution of it.
Maybe start your own thread about that?

Seems neither are you. But I concur. From now on I shall pass you in your ivory tower build with impenetrable walls of arguments on the path around unhindered - just as everyone else does.

You did mention Bathory, or are you oblivious or blind or both? Like I said, since you had nothing constructive to begin with, you should just drop this. You are not competent enough to talk about this topic. 3 replies later, and you still have not managed to focus on the real topic - Heavy Metal music. You rather insist on the rant about me. That is shallow and vague. You can't lecture others how to behave, since you do not practice what you preach. You must be one of the liberals. I did not ask for your opinion on me, nor am I interested in it.

This one fits your mentality perfectly. Chasing after people on the forums. From Tom Araya with love: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bph9QWagjer/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Top right of this message board, click on search, type in "bathory", click go.
No I didn't and I certainly didn't edited it out afterwards - fact.

The first half minute of this song reminded me of Slept So Long from the soundtrack of Queen of the Damned. The film kinda sucks (especially if you know the Lestat from Anne Rice's books), but I love the soundtrack!

Squires and Ladies, please calm down.
The thread is about enjoying and sharing enjoyment of music, not dissecting its definition in popular culture.

The OP didn't care if something was fitting definitions or not, just chill and enjoy the sound. Keep it loose, we don't want a thread lock do we?

Last post from me before you claimed that I mentioned Bathory, was edited yesterday - i.e. at least 24 hours earlier. Your post about Bathory - posted 4 hours ago.
So much for your facts.

I already stated that I concur and will pass you from now on. So stop trying to drag me back into it?

I have started replying to your comment yesterday, shortly after you wrote yours before editing it. Since I was not interested much into finishing the entire comment, as you can tell it was pretty lengthy, and I had to elaborate a lot, which I did, I decided to copy it in a word file, and finish the comment when I posted it. So, you did have more than enough time to edit that part out.

Is this what you have turned into the debate now? Is this how you debate people on other topics as well? With the inability to come up with valid explanations for your view, which are not yours in this case, but a result of misinformation indoctrinated by the mainstream media shills who co-operate with the record labels, you resort to the personal level arguments. You are feeling the frustration for not being able to debate the topic with valid claims, so you attack the messenger instead. And if that cheap tactics was not enough, now you proceed to use other means of pointless distraction and thread derail, by going deeper and deeper into the irrelevant stuff in comparison to my original comment.

That is one big poor show all in all.

I edited it for typos, something that I do a lot. Not once I mentioned Bathory, a band as important and influential it may have been, I barely have any knowledge about beyond that it existed.
If I'm wrong, I admit it. I could bring you several examples just on this board here where I did - but doing so would be useless, as you'd dismiss it, like everything not fitting into your one-sided point of view.

With that I finally bow out, no matter how you reply on it (you probably will, as you're loosing the last of the 2 people bothering to engage with you at all).

You do admit you know nothing about Bathory, yet you were very entitled and opinionated while talking about "black metal". And I did say you knew nothing about the tremolo picking, which is commonly used thing in "black metal", rather than standard power chords. Compare the sound of 80's Mercyful Fate to the sound of the 80's Bathory. There are no similarities between the two, whatsoever.

And I do not need people who resort to personal arguments, due to the lack of their debating skills, to stay true to the spirit of the well mannered discussion.

I expect your fourth comeback after you "concur" this one as well.

I was listening to some Christmas songs, but the mood wasn't right.
Then I rembered a band I like a lot a couple years back and with the right soundtrack, my pile of homework decreased quite a bit.

So thank you, Power metal and Timeless Miracle. :D

Oh, hello, Mr. Werewolf. :)

- Timeless Miracle - Curse Of The Werewolf:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEMVPtUc-q0

- Timeless Miracle - Return Of The Werewolf:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX-pzBkL6Zg

This lion should be a good playmate.

- Stormwarrior - Lion Of The Northe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0yC4zogcRE

P.S. I know of the expression "rock on", is there an equivalent for metal?