think about what kinds of metal has achieved critical-intellectual acclaim beyond metalheads - mostly Sunn O))) type drone, and black
both about as far from rock as metal can get, and largely devoid of soloing or other heavy guitars residue
drone's critical case is obvious, it might as well be downtuned La Monte Young
black metal's case is a bit more interesting - all the single note tremolo picking reminiscent of Middle Eastern traditions (i.e. half-Lebanese Dick Dale bringing tremolo picking into surf rock) in place of down-tuned palm muted power chord riffing. the complete lack of verse-chorus-verse structures. the almost complete absence of scalar frenzy. metronomic blastbeats similarly devoid of fills. everything is treble, piercing - no low end at all, no crunch. all of the "drama of masculine prowess" blissblogger's on about is, at least sonically, largely absent. it's more palatable to people who prefer shoegaze, post-rock, etc as evinced by the large number of black metal bands - Alcest etc - who have easily drifted in that direction.