Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture

Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture - Natalie J. Purcell, 2003, McFarland & Company Inc., London

Whilst my chosen topic has been the subculture of the Norwegian black metal scene, I personally found it difficult to locate a great deal of source material that detailed insights into the black metal subculture, and when I did find something, it was somewhat brief. I felt that there needed to be some other indicator of the same demographics that surrounded this culture, and of their attitudes, their philosophy and ethics, and their behaviours. I found then, in this book, a highly detailed and in-depth look at the subcultural phenomenon of death metal, and discovered a similarity between death metal's fans, and the fans of metal music in general. I therefore came to the conclusion that this book would rather serve best as a guide to a general overlook of the heavy metal culture rather than one specific subculture such as black metal. It contains a number of interesting statistics, especially regarding demographics, and points out some of the key ideals and themes concurrent in heavy metal. It seems that studies regarding a more in depth look at the black metal scene as an actual subculture have yet to be undertaken in great depth.

Kerrang, Issue #436, March 27, 1993

"We Are But Slaves of the One with Horns..." - Kerrang, Issue #436, March 27, 1993, Jason Arnopp

This "exclusive" article arguably led to the discovery of the Norwegian black metal subculture by the rest of the metal world around 1993, before the most infamous events of the subculture's history were still to occur. Outlandish statements are made by both Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes of Burzum, and Oystein "Euronymous" Aarseth of Mayhem. Kerrang throw around accusing statements such as "...an extreme group of neo-Fascist Devil Worshippers..." and ask the ridiculous question, "Has Heavy Metal Gone Too Far?" Some of the statements made by both Vikernes and Aarseth in the interview back up my view that the black metal musicians indeed knew exactly what they were doing, and used their outsider status and alternative views to conjure up a preconceived idea of the underground movement that was black metal to a press agency and a public that knew nothing about it to begin with. Kerrang, a magazine that prides itself in being the leader of the pack as far as heavy metal goes, shows a great degree of bias here, not even regarding the style of music being played, rather the events and sensationalism that surround it, whereas in an article written a year later in a more repsected publication, Britain's Terrorizer, black metal had an entire feature article and outlined key bands and recordings. I intend to show that Kerrang were merely sucked in by the creativity and twisted "ideals" of two simply put, clever, PR representatives who also happened to have key places in the Norwegian black metal scene.

Until the Light Takes Us

Until the Light Takes Us - Dir. Aaron Aites & Audrey Ewell, 2009, Variance Films

This is perhaps the one example of a documentary surrounding black metal that has been filmed in English for a popular audience. It details the story of the beginning of the black metal underground movement in Norway and, like Lords of Chaos features interviews with key musicians within the subculture, focusing heavily on Varg Vikernes of Burzum and Fenriz of Darkthrone. A review for the film in The Village Voice stated that the film "arrives a decade too late to add much" and I had to agree; the only new information that I personally took away from the film was the personal views of the notable individuals within the black metal subculture; a great deal of the material consisted of what, in their views, was and was not, considered black metal. Much of the documentary consists on the music itself; the style, inspirations and album artwork that surrounds it, and to a certain extent I can use some of this to describe some of the cultural imagery that goes hand in hand with black metal, for example the use of stark black and white images on album covers, mimicked in the above poster art for the documentary. As such, there are no interviews with fans, and the interviewer does not speak, he merely leaves the viewer to fill in the blanks. However, this still remains the most comprehensive documentary that I have found on black metal, and being that it leaves many questions unanswered for me, that in itself remains a problem. 

Lords of Chaos

Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground - Michael Moynihan & Didrik Soderlind, 2003, Feral House, Los Angeles

As far as I have researched, Lords of Chaos is the most detailed book that concerns the black metal scene around the world, and especially in Norway. It features interviews with Varg Vikernes from Burzum, Hellhammer from Mayhem, and Bard Faust from Emperor to name but a few. However concerned the book may be with the history of black metal, it only breifly outlines details of the actual culture that surrounds it, and turns the source material into a true crime book rather than an outline of the subculture itself. However, it does contain a great deal of in-depth interviews that relate to the "inner circle's" manipulation of the media; Varg Vikernes cites quite a few examples of the key players in the black metal subculture in Bergen and Oslo, Norway, manipulating the media with drip-fed stories and rumours to fuel the notoriety of the slowly emerging genre. It details in great depths the crimes that were perpetrated by the individuals involved, but has drawn heavy criticism from a number of the interviewees for misrepresentation and for holding an agenda; Varg Vikernes harbours a strong hatred towards Moynihan for painting him as a sociopathic killer and a Nazi.

It is therefore a key piece towards writing my essay, yet reading this book again, I have found only a concentration on the crimes rather than on the subject of black metal culture.

Introduction: Black Metal and the Media - The Cult Is a Lie?

To start off with, I should probably let you all know a tiny little bit about my chosen topic.

Heavy metal has always been a genre of music spurned for its supposed affiliation with Satan, an unfairly preceived lack of technicality and above all, the association with the uneducated and the ignorant. However, this is NOT the case. Heavy metal requires a great amount of skill and a keen ear for complex and arresting, brutal music. Heavy metal, like other genres, is split into hundreds of smaller subgenres, but a few of the most prominent are Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Grindcore and Black Metal. My topic will focus on the latter; in particular, the Black Metal scene that was centred in Norway in the early 90s.

Bands like Bathory, Hellhammer, Mercyful Fate and Celtic Frost sought to create a harsher, more abrasive and faster style of thrash metal, whilst Venom were accused of being terrible musicians. However, this fact went largely ignored due to the Satanic imagery and lyrics used by the band. Where Venom were just basically a joke band (a sticker on their 1982 album Black Metal declared, "Home taping is killing music... So is Venom."), a small group of Norwegian teenagers sought to take their Satanic imagery and cold sound to bold new heights. Bands like Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor and Darkthrone were the forerunners in what has come to be known as the "second wave" of black metal. However, their views and actions were a far cry from the mild-mannered backstage antics of the first wave bands. The aspirations and beliefs of these young new musicians came to a head with churches being burned in an attempt to uproot Christianity from Norway, and a handful of murders connected to the music scene.

The media panic that surrounded these "Satanic terrorists" was immense; news outlets sprung all over the stories and stories of Satanic conspiracies and a so called "Black Metal Inner Circle" were rife throughout the popular media. However, I have noticed that a great many of the acts and stances that this so called inner circle seemed to be aimed at creating media furore and a greater interest in the genre. Rather than the media having an impact on the black metal scene, it could be argued that the minds behind these black metal bands were very gifted when it came to PR and creating hype. Therefore, my essay will show that whereas the media can have an impact on a music subculture and scene, the reverse is also true.