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typotech's review
3.0
The book is an interesting read on the history of Black Metal and initially does a fine job of exploring the early ties of speed/thrash/heavy metal on the genre. The backstory of those involved is equally exciting to read the establishment of the scene and those notable members in Norwegian Black Metal.
Eventually though it seems to come to a cross road of Satanic and Nationalist/Racist ideologies and goes spinning off the road. While there is certainly a intersection and members of the community which espouse these beliefs, it seems to become the primary focus of the book for a log stretch and also follows Varg Virkenes (an early member of the Black Circle) well beyond his influence over Black Metal and into his later beliefs of heathen and nazi philosophies. The focal point seems to shift and never quite get back on track.
Later in the book, there seems to be much emphasis on crimes committed by other fans of the music and a finger pointed towards it as a catalyst to these crimes and a future of inspired world overthrowing chaos it may cause.
Still overall an interesting read for what it was.
Eventually though it seems to come to a cross road of Satanic and Nationalist/Racist ideologies and goes spinning off the road. While there is certainly a intersection and members of the community which espouse these beliefs, it seems to become the primary focus of the book for a log stretch and also follows Varg Virkenes (an early member of the Black Circle) well beyond his influence over Black Metal and into his later beliefs of heathen and nazi philosophies. The focal point seems to shift and never quite get back on track.
Later in the book, there seems to be much emphasis on crimes committed by other fans of the music and a finger pointed towards it as a catalyst to these crimes and a future of inspired world overthrowing chaos it may cause.
Still overall an interesting read for what it was.
golddustnina's review
1.0
I’m surprised that this is such a recommended book. Very messy writing with a lot of inaccuracies. While reading I felt like the writers were mostly pushing their own opinions into it.
cindytheskull's review
2.0
I bought this book for two main reasons: I am interested in True Crime and I've always wanted to understand how a musical genre could become famous for his (questionable) ideology.
Thanks to this book (which is so randomly structured it's quite a mess) I sadly realized that my prejudice for figures like Varg Vikernes (who has gone through so many names that I will spare you the "a.k.a." listing), for bands like Cradle of Filth and for the "Heathen Revival" in Black Metal has pretty much been confirmed. Even if the author seems to have done quite a good job in just printing what was said in the interviews, famous "representatives" of the genre come off as immature and inconsistent agents provocateurs in search of some reasons to blame their shortcomings on somebody or something else.
I will use Varg Vikernes as an example because he's the most prominent one.
He blamed everything on Christianity first and did or didn't burn churches and inspired angsty youths to do the same.
He then became a Neo-Nazi and blamed everything on Christianity AND the Jews, this time focusing on (alleged) cultural implications more then on the religion itself.
He then got into the whole "Ancient astronauts/aliens" theories, which he doesn't seem to be too vocal about (which is surprising since he isn't easily embarassed by the absurdities that come out of his mouth in any of his interviews).
As far as I know, Varg Vikernes, who today goes by the name Louis Cachét and lives in France with a whole litter of blond "aryan" children and his wife, is now more on the alt-right primitivist reactionary side (and is making videos about how men of 30 should marry girls at 16, because that's when they are both in their primes according to old tradition and biology...DUDE!)
What amazes me the most is that "Black Metal" as a lifestyle/ideology doesn't present itself with a coherent set of values or beliefs. Most of its "charismatic" (and I struggle using this word because I really don't understand the charm) leaders have world views that are neither founded on historical facts nor are presented to the audience in a coherent manner. Many of them ended up in prison for either murder (in most cases due to personal, not ideological reasons) or damage of property (arson/robbery/vandalism).
They somewhat managed to market themselves as MARTYRS for a cause that is nothing more than pure reactionism based on a romantic world view in which "Norsemen" were individualists who lived in perfect harmony with nature, and who were subsequently destroyed by Christianity. You don't need to be a history or archeology major to know this is utter bullshit and quite a reductive explanation of how culture works. The most extreme representatives or associates of the right-wing subculture of Black Metal like to rename themselves after famous Nazi-personalities and claim that they are acting for "the glory of the SS". Whatever that means.
I understand that their edgy-ness may seem fascinating to teenagers in search of an identity that goes beyond watching influencers flex on YouTube, following the 10th edition of a casting show on TV or listening to the latest Trap Music release. They offer you a counter-culture that goes against ANYTHING that is considered acceptable in any circumstance. Which can be fun when you are 15.
What amazes me is that these people grow up to be adults that feed the ranks of white supremacy, neo-nazi or alt-right groups, who then go on preying on the same kind of people they used to be: lost youths in search of a counter-cultural authority that tells them that they aren't the problem. It's society that's fucked up, because somebody is secretly planning on destroying individualism and "the truth". And they tell you that you being born in a specific nation and being white (and male, mostly), gives you more rights than others. You are perfectly fine and valuable as you are. In fact, you are even SUPERIOR to others because of it. Isn't it great? You were just born better than others. A pity this superiority looses credibility the moment you realize it results out of randomly assigned attributes you received by pure luck or chance. But I digress.
This book didn't really do much in terms of analyzing the socio-economic or historical reasons behind the rise of the radical right-wing Black Metal bands and subculture. It's neither an academical read nor pretends to be. It's a collection of articles and interviews from people who are "in the scene" or of supposed experts on "Satanism"(even if Satanism seems to play a very marginal role in today's Black Metal. It's also funny how some of them seem to hate Christianity, but still use a Christian simbology and element to base their worldview on. There's only one musician, Ihsahn, who states that he's a Satanist in LaVay's sense of the term, the others seem to think being Satanist means being OH SO EVIL LOOK AT MY CORPSEPAINT I BURN CHURCHES AT NIGHT AND HAVE AN SS BELT BUCKLE!)
It's one of those books you could have on a shelf in the toilet to casually read while taking a dump. There's no cohesive narrative to follow, and most of the source material for the author's "assumptions", which are quite sparse, are the interviews itself. I find the cases involving Black Metal associates and musicians quite interesting, especially those I could not hear of because they (luckily) didn't reach international notoriety. Besides that, there's not much I got out of this book.
EDIT: After I finished the book I found out that the author IS actually active in some esoteric Heathen right wing fringes and has made many questionable statements in the past. This doesn’t change my review in the slightest, but I’m warning you in case you wouldn’t like to spend a cent on somebody like this for a mediocre book.
Thanks to this book (which is so randomly structured it's quite a mess) I sadly realized that my prejudice for figures like Varg Vikernes (who has gone through so many names that I will spare you the "a.k.a." listing), for bands like Cradle of Filth and for the "Heathen Revival" in Black Metal has pretty much been confirmed. Even if the author seems to have done quite a good job in just printing what was said in the interviews, famous "representatives" of the genre come off as immature and inconsistent agents provocateurs in search of some reasons to blame their shortcomings on somebody or something else.
I will use Varg Vikernes as an example because he's the most prominent one.
He blamed everything on Christianity first and did or didn't burn churches and inspired angsty youths to do the same.
He then became a Neo-Nazi and blamed everything on Christianity AND the Jews, this time focusing on (alleged) cultural implications more then on the religion itself.
He then got into the whole "Ancient astronauts/aliens" theories, which he doesn't seem to be too vocal about (which is surprising since he isn't easily embarassed by the absurdities that come out of his mouth in any of his interviews).
As far as I know, Varg Vikernes, who today goes by the name Louis Cachét and lives in France with a whole litter of blond "aryan" children and his wife, is now more on the alt-right primitivist reactionary side (and is making videos about how men of 30 should marry girls at 16, because that's when they are both in their primes according to old tradition and biology...DUDE!)
What amazes me the most is that "Black Metal" as a lifestyle/ideology doesn't present itself with a coherent set of values or beliefs. Most of its "charismatic" (and I struggle using this word because I really don't understand the charm) leaders have world views that are neither founded on historical facts nor are presented to the audience in a coherent manner. Many of them ended up in prison for either murder (in most cases due to personal, not ideological reasons) or damage of property (arson/robbery/vandalism).
They somewhat managed to market themselves as MARTYRS for a cause that is nothing more than pure reactionism based on a romantic world view in which "Norsemen" were individualists who lived in perfect harmony with nature, and who were subsequently destroyed by Christianity. You don't need to be a history or archeology major to know this is utter bullshit and quite a reductive explanation of how culture works. The most extreme representatives or associates of the right-wing subculture of Black Metal like to rename themselves after famous Nazi-personalities and claim that they are acting for "the glory of the SS". Whatever that means.
I understand that their edgy-ness may seem fascinating to teenagers in search of an identity that goes beyond watching influencers flex on YouTube, following the 10th edition of a casting show on TV or listening to the latest Trap Music release. They offer you a counter-culture that goes against ANYTHING that is considered acceptable in any circumstance. Which can be fun when you are 15.
What amazes me is that these people grow up to be adults that feed the ranks of white supremacy, neo-nazi or alt-right groups, who then go on preying on the same kind of people they used to be: lost youths in search of a counter-cultural authority that tells them that they aren't the problem. It's society that's fucked up, because somebody is secretly planning on destroying individualism and "the truth". And they tell you that you being born in a specific nation and being white (and male, mostly), gives you more rights than others. You are perfectly fine and valuable as you are. In fact, you are even SUPERIOR to others because of it. Isn't it great? You were just born better than others. A pity this superiority looses credibility the moment you realize it results out of randomly assigned attributes you received by pure luck or chance. But I digress.
This book didn't really do much in terms of analyzing the socio-economic or historical reasons behind the rise of the radical right-wing Black Metal bands and subculture. It's neither an academical read nor pretends to be. It's a collection of articles and interviews from people who are "in the scene" or of supposed experts on "Satanism"(even if Satanism seems to play a very marginal role in today's Black Metal. It's also funny how some of them seem to hate Christianity, but still use a Christian simbology and element to base their worldview on. There's only one musician, Ihsahn, who states that he's a Satanist in LaVay's sense of the term, the others seem to think being Satanist means being OH SO EVIL LOOK AT MY CORPSEPAINT I BURN CHURCHES AT NIGHT AND HAVE AN SS BELT BUCKLE!)
It's one of those books you could have on a shelf in the toilet to casually read while taking a dump. There's no cohesive narrative to follow, and most of the source material for the author's "assumptions", which are quite sparse, are the interviews itself. I find the cases involving Black Metal associates and musicians quite interesting, especially those I could not hear of because they (luckily) didn't reach international notoriety. Besides that, there's not much I got out of this book.
EDIT: After I finished the book I found out that the author IS actually active in some esoteric Heathen right wing fringes and has made many questionable statements in the past. This doesn’t change my review in the slightest, but I’m warning you in case you wouldn’t like to spend a cent on somebody like this for a mediocre book.
glenvisceration's review
2.0
Well researched and contains some interesting interviews and snippets of information, and the first half in particular is a pretty well put together timeline of the Norwegian black metal scene and its influence. It's also self-contradictory and at times directionless, and often feels just as sensationalist as the media it so readily implies was fanning the flames by giving so much attention to the black metal scene.
It feels like the author wrote a book, about satanism in relation to this underground music scene, and then did the interviews and dotted them throughout with little regard to the fact that they largely contradicted the author's agenda. This book will interview a bunch of people, who all say something along the lines of "the Satan stuff was just to provoke, what I actually care about is being very racist, homophobic, ect", "it was all a retaliation on behalf of my ancestral religion, I don't believe in satan, a Christian deity. " or "I don't care about satanism, I just want to be as horrible a person as possible" and then moments later we loop right back round to the rise of satanism. There will be an interview with someone actually identifying as a satanist and they talk like well rounded people who seem to want little to do with the attention seeking nerds in the BM scene, and then we're right back to the evils of satanism.
Occasionally we get an interesting view into the political leanings of some of the interviewees where they describe their support for actual fascism, ethnic cleansing, and mass murder, but for some reason less weight is given to that and shortly after, where do we find ourselves, chatting to Anton lavey about satanism? As interesting as some of the content is, the author's obsession in relating it all back to satanism in spite of context or relevance just irritated me.
It feels like the author wrote a book, about satanism in relation to this underground music scene, and then did the interviews and dotted them throughout with little regard to the fact that they largely contradicted the author's agenda. This book will interview a bunch of people, who all say something along the lines of "the Satan stuff was just to provoke, what I actually care about is being very racist, homophobic, ect", "it was all a retaliation on behalf of my ancestral religion, I don't believe in satan, a Christian deity. " or "I don't care about satanism, I just want to be as horrible a person as possible" and then moments later we loop right back round to the rise of satanism. There will be an interview with someone actually identifying as a satanist and they talk like well rounded people who seem to want little to do with the attention seeking nerds in the BM scene, and then we're right back to the evils of satanism.
Occasionally we get an interesting view into the political leanings of some of the interviewees where they describe their support for actual fascism, ethnic cleansing, and mass murder, but for some reason less weight is given to that and shortly after, where do we find ourselves, chatting to Anton lavey about satanism? As interesting as some of the content is, the author's obsession in relating it all back to satanism in spite of context or relevance just irritated me.
craigus_maximus's review
2.0
This book was just ok to be honest and I would say the first half was much more interesting than the second.
The first half details the beginnings of black metal and its rise to prominence which mostly involves Varg Vikernes, Euronymous and their “friendship”.
Whilst I found this interesting you can read mostly everything about them on Wikipedia. That being said, some of the interviews detailed in the book are worth listening to.
I did skip large portions of the second half of the book as it contained mostly a discuss of satanism, ancient Norse religion and then a sort of round the world journey of countries where black metal connected crimes have taken place.
All in all I’d say this is one for the diehards or people who know absolutely nothing about the Norwegian black metal scene.
The first half details the beginnings of black metal and its rise to prominence which mostly involves Varg Vikernes, Euronymous and their “friendship”.
Whilst I found this interesting you can read mostly everything about them on Wikipedia. That being said, some of the interviews detailed in the book are worth listening to.
I did skip large portions of the second half of the book as it contained mostly a discuss of satanism, ancient Norse religion and then a sort of round the world journey of countries where black metal connected crimes have taken place.
All in all I’d say this is one for the diehards or people who know absolutely nothing about the Norwegian black metal scene.
ksweatt84's review
3.0
A very comprehensive look into the Norwegian Black Metal scene in the 1990s. I am a fan of metal music & I like to read any books about this subject. That being said, the story behind black metal is far more interesting than the actual music. The book is put together well & really dives deep into the extremities of this scene. This book fits better into the true crime section than the music section. Although, I would only recommend this book if you are a fan of black metal or true crime. It definitely is not for everyone. I enjoyed this book, it is interesting & disturbing.
lakserk's review
3.0
The history parts (especially the one concerning the Norwegian scene) were great, the (musicians) interviews interesting. But the sidetrack towards far-right groups and ideology was a bit boring for me. On the other hand Appendix 2 (the OSKOREI essay by Kadmon) was really interesting. All in all a historical publication which should had been greatly trimmed.
wunkymatts's review
4.0
I'm changing my review from the first time I read this book, and knocking off a star. I think perhaps the first time I read it I was distraction by the horror of what I was reading and maybe my critical eye wasn't as engaged as it could be.
This book is very thorough and very well researched and the way it pulls different strands together and shows links between musical and political subcultures really is fantastic. That being said I can agree with some of the criticisms levelled against it. Some stuff that I really wanted to be challenged was taken at face value and some of the conclusions sounded a bit blithe and a perhaps, if I was being really unkind, like they were trying to impress their interview subjects.
The subject matter illicits a very strange response from me. These guys are so....cringe. They remind me of some metal guys I've known and they just try so, so hard and you get the feeling when they grow up a bit they'll be as embarrassed by what they say as you are. But then, at the same time, what they did was so horrific it can't be denied or excused, even of they did it for really juvenile reasons. People died.
They give metalheads a bad name.
This book is very thorough and very well researched and the way it pulls different strands together and shows links between musical and political subcultures really is fantastic. That being said I can agree with some of the criticisms levelled against it. Some stuff that I really wanted to be challenged was taken at face value and some of the conclusions sounded a bit blithe and a perhaps, if I was being really unkind, like they were trying to impress their interview subjects.
The subject matter illicits a very strange response from me. These guys are so....cringe. They remind me of some metal guys I've known and they just try so, so hard and you get the feeling when they grow up a bit they'll be as embarrassed by what they say as you are. But then, at the same time, what they did was so horrific it can't be denied or excused, even of they did it for really juvenile reasons. People died.
They give metalheads a bad name.