Infamous for the bloody spectacle of their live shows, Swedish black metal heroes Watain rage just as hard in the studio, adding the swaggering riffs of '70s hard rock to the brutal high-speed assault of classic Scandinavian black metal. Formed in 1998, the band's early albums blasted through ultra-raw black metal inspired by the genre's first-wave pioneers, but Watain quickly grew louder, heavier, and more ambitious, indulging their love for complex prog arrangements and classic heavy metal grandeur without sacrificing their trademark blackened and brutal attack.