Corpse paint
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Immortal.jpg
The band Immortal in corpse paint
Corpse paint (sometimes a single word, corpsepaint) is a style of black-and-white makeup used extensively by black metal bands during live concerts and photo shoots as part of their imagery of evil and decay. Black paint is usually placed around the eyes and lips, and white paint everywhere else, although a great variety of designs have been seen. Despite the possible 'glam' roots of corpse paint, the designs used by many black metal musicians are supposed to make them look more evil, inhuman, or corpse-like (ergo, the term corpse paint).
The Norwegian band Dødheimsgard has experimented with other colors, but in general deviations from the original formula are rare. Bands such as Gorgoroth and Ragnarok also make use of blood-colored paint, as an alternative to the "clean" two-tone monochrome look preferred by Immortal amongst many others.
Celtic Frost were perhaps the first death metal or black metal group to use such makeup, but there are earlier precedents: The Misfits and King Diamond of Mercyful Fate used similar makeup in the early 1980's, and KISS and Alice Cooper may have influenced contemporary corpse paint.
The first black metal bands to come out of Norway in the early 1990s such as Mayhem, Immortal, Darkthrone, and Satyricon are arguably the reason why this fashion is still rife amongst black metal acts today, though many dismiss it as a lack of maturity, or kitsch theatrics (Varg Vikernes of the notorious one man ambient black metal act Burzum is known to have rarely practiced it, even in its glory days, however photo's, one of which can be seen in Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind's book Lords of Chaos, do exist showing Varg Vikernes in corpse paint).
Recently, some "purists" have complained that corpse paint has become fashionable or trendy and therefore lost its original value. Some bands, such as Emperor and Borknagar, avoid it altogether nowadays.