You’re looking at a picture of a vaguely familiar place. This could be a park, a playground, maybe your high school, or an office building. You know you have been there before. But there’s something not quite right.

Just off Santiago Canyon Road in the Santa Ana Mountains, there is a favored recreational park and trail. In the winter, when it does rain, there is even a scenic path that leads to seasonal waterfalls. It has a long and interesting history full of tragedy. Because of this, it is also known as one of the most haunted spots in Orange County, California. It’s called Black Star Canyon. It is scenic, beautiful, and, depending on what you believe, full of blood.

The imagery and the sound are haunting and extreme. It is also sometimes beautiful in its own, dark way. If satanism isn’t your thing, a lot of the newer bands focus on things like paganism and even ecology. Some of them are just like listening to a horror movie. Try not to take it too seriously.

If you are a fan of other genres of extreme metal like thrash, death, or doom, well…you probably already listen to or have listened to black metal. If you haven’t: what are you even doing with your life?