Raw black metal is a 'subgenre' of black metal that seeks to return to the early roots of norwegian black metal, opting for an even more primitive, chaotic, lo-fi and bare-bones sounding music, as direct opposition to the more melodic, cleaner and structured black metal bands that had started to sprung up during the late 90's.

Early examples of 'raw' black metal include Ildjarn, Mutiilation and Moonblood.

Most 'raw' black metal bands actively seek to remain as underground as possible, often limiting their releases to only a few hundred copies.

Raw black metal should NOT be confused with black/death metal, also known as war metal or bestial black metal, which is essentially a merging between early black metal, death metal and grindcore.