DSBM and Post-Black Metal - More similar than you'd think

    DSBM (Depressive Suicidal Black Metal) presents one of the strangest cases in modern black metal - stylistically, it's as much of a departure from the grim, frostbitten style of Mayhem as it is bizarre that the style is accepted by black metal fans the world over. It's an intriguing phenomenon that belies a strange inconsistency in the BM community - while bands like Alcest or Lantlôs are ridiculed and ostracized for not being 'true' enough for the scene, DSBM has been a valued (and intensely scrutinized) part of the scene for many years now. While, of course, Alcest and Xasthur are utterly different bands, the problem arises when you consider that there isn't much of a difference between post-black metal and DSBM. The two genres share a variety of stylistic elements - ambient keyboards, and an emphasis on emotion over the fierce anti-Christian zeal of so-called 'kvlt' BM, to name a few.
      So, then, what gives Silencer a free pass? Well, it might have to do with the fact that one of the first artists to use what would come to be called the 'DSBM' sound was none other than everyone's favorite crazy one-man act, Burzum.

       Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, especially the track 'Det Som Engang Var', is a prime example of what is commonly cited as black metal's 'cold' sound. While there is, as usual, the anthemic feel that Varg imbues most of his work with, his pained screams and the haunting synthwork mold together into a profoundly heavy product. But this song isn't heavy in the way you'd expect - 'Hvis Lyset Tar Oss' (the song) is emotionally heavy. It grasps at your soul and drags it down. Everything from the cold white light and dead trees of the cover, to the titles of the songs (Translated as 'Emptiness', 'That Which Once Was', etc.) paint a dreary portrait which BM artists had eschewed in favor of satanic imagery.
       Fenriz (Darkthrone) credits Burzum with introducing an 'inexplicable grimness' to the scene that would never quite leave. Much to the contrary, an entire subgenre emerged around it, but it wasn't until the early 2000s that DSBM began to emerge into its own.
       As with death metal before it, DSBM has its own mainstays in both Europe and North America - Sweden's Silencer and California's Xasthur followed in Vikernes' footsteps in painting stark, lonely music reminiscent of soul-crushingly dark winter nights.

(N.B I love the record 'To Violate the Oblivious' waaaaay more than I ought to)
      'Walker of Dissonant Worlds' is a prime example of the influence Burzum wrought on Xasthur (Malefic has gone on record saying the fact that Burzum was a one-man act inspired him to do the same with Xasthur). Again, we get those haunting keyboards that fade out ever so slowly. The end-result is profoundly depressing music.
      Meanwhile, Silencer's fifteen minutes of fame (in the form of Death, Pierce Me) were a bit more ad hoc. Sure, you have your dissonant synths, but you do have more traditional black metal passages scattered throughout - such as here - even if the end result (and the subject matter) is insanely soul-crushing.
      That being said, Silencer remained far more entrenched in true black metal to effect much change. Death, Pierce Me is, by and large, a mostly unmelodic album, a stylistic choice that comes to mind for me when I think about DSBM as a genre. I think I'm one of the few people who thinks DSBM didn't really get started in Europe until the mid-2000s, when Make a Change...Kill Yourself emerged from Denmark.

       In my opinion, at least, Make A Change... expounded on the Burzum model from the early 90s in that you have that fusion of mournful synthwork overlaid with rapidly strummed black metal guitar, which has come to become a trademark of DSBM as a genre entirely. If you consider some contemporary DSBM - Moloch, for example - you commonly find the two juxtaposed. Thus, while Silencer definitely put some of the gears into place for DSBM to emerge in Europe, the development of the genre formally began with Make A Change...Kill Yourself.
       But now that I've talked a bit about the history of DSBM as a whole, the question remains - why is it okay while post-black isn't? Well, the answer seems to lie primarily in chronology. As I mentioned in my post about Watain's new album, black metal fans take the xenophobia of metalheads to new lengths - the stereotypical trve kvlt fan shuns and despises any sort of music that takes influence from, but isn't exactly, black metal.
        However, there is a corollary to that rule - DSBM gets a free pass because, (a) it came first, and (b) it doesn't usually involve elements of so-called 'hipster' genres, which post-black takes plenty of cues from. You won't find post-rock passages and airy, dissonant shoegaze in any of Leviathan's music. Pretty much the only major musical different between lo-fi 'raw' black metal and DSBM is in DSBM's heavier reliance on creating a sadder, more emotional atmosphere through the use of synths. 'Blackgaze' or post-black metal is oftentimes a departure from the style set down by Celtic Frost and Darkthrone, and for that reason, it earns the ire of black metal fans for not embodying the spirit of the genre it descends from.
         Whatever the case, the arbitrariness of DSBM's being 'acceptable' seems altogether too simple. Just because it's a subgenre that emerged in the early 2000s shouldn't preclude it from criticism, considering lots of bands pretend they live in Oslo in 1993. What do you think? Is there another reason metal fans are less likely to hate on DSBM?