Issue 12 2009

This week I’m going to talk about a genre of metal I quite enjoy, Norwegian black metal. Some people take this genre of music deathly seriously (literally, but more on that later) but for the life of me I just cannot. Don’t get me wrong, I love the music, but everything associated with it just makes me laugh.
First things first though, what exactly is black metal? Black metal is at the extreme end of the metal spectrum and features fast tempos, unconventional song structure and shrieked or screamed vocals. Black metal is also heavily reliant on imagery, both in their personal appearance and stage props. It is not uncommon to see a stage covered in animal blood at a tro0, kvlt black metal concert and musicians wearing the obligatory corpse paint (black and white make-up which is used to give a ‘corpse like’ appearance).
But black metal in Norway has become more famous for the activities that have taken place outside of the music rather than the music itself. In the early 90s over 50 historically significant, early Christian churches were burned down by members of the Black metal scene. The reasoning behind these varies between the claimants, but it is generally accepted that the burnings were to reinforce an anti-Christian message. Today these burnings are looked down on by some members of the community, such as Kjetil Manheim of Mayhem but others such as Gaahl of Gorogroth support them.
However church burnings seem to pale in comparison to other things that also took place in the early 90s, the first of these being the suicide of ‘Dead’ vocalist for the band Mayhem. Dead was found with a shotgun wound to the head by fellow Mayhem member Euronymous. Deads suicide note infamously read "Excuse all the blood". Before calling the police, Euronymous went to a nearby store and bought a disposable camera to photograph the corpse. One of these photographs was later stolen and used as the cover of a bootleg album. Don’t Google it unless you have a strong stomach. It was later rumoured that Euronymous made a stew with pieces of Dead's brain, and made necklaces with fragments of his skull. Mayhem denied the first, but confirmed the second...
Finally in 1993 Varg Vikernes of Burzum who has been described as the most notorious metal musician of all time, murdered Euronymous by stabbing him 23 times. It was speculated that the murder was the result of a power struggle over record profits, but Vikernes claimed that Euronymous had attacked him first and the large number of cuts were a result or Euronymous falling on broken glass during the struggle. Regardless, a few months later Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison for both the murder and church arsons. In a chilling display, Vikernes smiled at the moment his verdict was read.
On May 22 2009 Vikernes confirmed that he had been released from jail.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Norwegian black metal.