Longer black metal songs allow lots of room for creative songwriting to take place. Bands can showcase their skills through instrumentals or by integrating different musical styles into their music. The recent album by Enslaved, 'In Times,' is a great example of this. The 11-minute long title track showcases the band's excellent guitar work and their ability to seamlessly integrate folk elements into their music. Albums need to be concise, in order for them to be remembered and listened to in their entirety. Black metal, like other forms of metal, has no qualms with releasing albums that are over an hour long. Combine the lengthiness of black metal songs and albums and we arrive at a big reason why they're so lengthy: because it's often unnecessary to make them shorter. The length gives artists lots of room for creativity without having to worry about cutting out their best ideas. In black metal, long songs can be a reflection that the artist is young and has not yet found their own distinct style within the genre. Any fan of black metal knows that there are many bands from different black metal sub-genres out there, each with it's own distinct sound. However, as an artist matures, they will discover their own sound and the songs on their albums will become shorter.