Norwegian Übër-Bläck-Mëtäl Devotees Captured In New Portrait Book
( Image above by Peter Beste. You're welcome! ) The LA Weekly has a feature up about a new book with portraits of very serious Norwegian Black Metal dudes. In True Norwegian Black Metal, photographer Peter Beste captures the "blackest of the black: apolitical and anti-Christian separatist self-preservationists who’d sooner make a lampshade out of their own skin than to try to convert fans." Snip from Siran Babayan's piece:
Take, for example, Immortal singer-bassist Abbath strolling through the woods surrounded by moss-covered emerald trees (“That’s essentially his backyard”), or Gorgoroth singer Gaahl standing in front of a snow-capped log cabin. Every turn of the page is a moving postcard of brooks, lakes and forrests. Which begs the question: With all the serenity and breathtaking views, what’s to rebel against? Apparently, Mother Nature makes mean Vikings out of little boys. If Black Sabbath were a product of bleak, industrial Birmingham, it should be no surprise that music this extreme thrives in a country with such high precipitation and so many months of either uninterrupted daylight or darkness.Images of Satan (LA Weekly), and there's a terrific slideshow here (NSFW). Here's the Amazon link if you'd like to buy the book. (Thanks Richard Metzger)So don’t let the scenery fool you. These are some disturbed and disturbing fuckers, whether it’s guitarist Ymon of Perished with his arms covered in branding marks, or Nattefrost of Carpathian Forest smoking heroin off tin foil or a nude female model being painted in cow’s blood before she’s about to be hung from a cross for a Gorgoroth show in Krakow. Nearly everyone is wearing a scowl, corpse paint and spikes. And Beste’s grossest moment has him shooting Nattefrost smeared in his own shit.
Of all the bands featured, Beste focuses on the Tolkien-inspired Gorgoroth and its lead troublemaker Gaahl, who’s been arrested twice for alleged assault and torture, and whose face, with its sunken cheeks, looks even creepier without makeup. And that Krakow gig in 2004 not only included human crucifixes but sheep heads mounted on sticks. (Dude, one photo of decapitated sheep heads would’ve been enough.)
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I would love to go see Mayhem in Oslo! That would be AWESOME. And Burzum, too. Grrr.
That pic deserves a Unicorn Chaser!
To anyone laughing at the thought of these people- you obviously have no idea what some of them have done. Burning churches were real.
Gaahl is frightening- someone had him in an interview once (search for the video)- he comes off as, well, enigmatically evil to say the least.
These guys take black metal very seriously, and they do have a reason behind it. A lot of it is pure hatred and rebellion against Christianity directly, as it has taken over in Norway, and subjugated what men like Gaahl consider the true soul of Norway- paganism.
Seriously, find the video of Gaahl's interview. It'll creep you out.
VBS.TV has a great film on this:
http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=3009727001
Bastardnambam:
The second half of the VBS doc is that interview. Gaahl's silence in response to the interviewer's last question is goosebumpin'!
Lol...Fenriz, Furze, Vrangsinn, Kvitrafn...it's either a Norwegian death metal concert or the Ikea spring catalog.
The DVD of the documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey has a bonus documentary dealing more specifically with Norwegian Black Metal.
http://www.metalhistory.com/
Also see Michael Moynihan's Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground http://feralhouse.com/titles/music/lords_of_chaos.php
It's not a fun read by any means, but deals with the topic in depth.
Xeni, you vicious monster, where's our unicorn?!?!
Isn't that Lars Umlaut from Guitar Hero?
#6 FTW.
The only people I have ever met in my lifetime who described themselves as being Satanic or in allegiance with Satan and so on, were little more than exhibitionists. Young, angry boys will indulge in such nonsense because it makes them feel dangerous and powerful. Older adults who seriously believe in Satanism usually have a very immature and underdeveloped sense of comprehension about these matters.
If you want to know what Hell looks like, find a holocaust survivor and ask them. Find someone who lived through the Great Depression in the US, and ask them. Ask a Vietnam vet. Or, more conveniently, find someone who has done a tour or two of combat duty in Iraq or Afghanistan and ask them what they saw. Read about what happens in the various conflicts on the African continent. You will find Hell there.
What you see coming out of Norway is no different than past responses to past controversial bands, from 2Live Crew to Black Sabbath to NIN. This is simply the next logical step in supplying outrageous media to angry young boys with disposable income.
I was getting excited about this story until the headline continued after "Norwegian Über-Death-Metal Devotees Captured"
I was wondering what they did to have deserved (or not) such a fate.
To 1#
Forget Burzum, he's just a sad little racist. He received a few well placed elbows in his face during a volley ball game in prison pretty soon after he got there, so now he doesn't leave the cell anymore...
Death Metal is very different from Black Metal. You should fix the heading.
I pray to the puppet god that Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog will somehow intervene.
Lords of Chaos was fascinating, albiet chilling. The guys from Mayhem came home one one day to find "Dead", their lead singer, well, dead from a self-inflicted shotgun blast. First thing they did was run to the store for camera film, and the photo they took is in the book.
@Anonymous --
Death Metal is very different from Black Metal. You should fix the heading.
Oh dear, speed error. I do understand the difference. I've corrected the headline and added more umlauts.
I would have said:
"Get me a unicorn chaser! Stat!" but #2 beat me to it.
Instead, I'll just go with Monty Python's Mr. Creosote:
"Better get a bucket. I'm going to fro up."
We're sorry, we were going to have a unicorn chaser, but the subjects of the portrait book decapitated and devoured the still-twitching unicorn raw.
(you can see the photos starting on page 36!)
ADVICE: Don't fuck with Norwegians.
But honestly, did that guy have to apply body oil. I mean, you can only take it so far.
All well and good but what about the price on Amazon?
According to Amazon.com the book is USD38 but on Amazon UK it's £60! That's GBP25 to GBP60 or USD38 to USD100 depending on the direction of the conversion. And these prices are before postage!
Outrageous price gouging - grrr..
Hello from the publisher of "Lords of Chaos":
I'm happy to say that a narrative feature film based on Lords of Chaos will be filmed in Norway in a few months. The director will be Sion Sono, who also made the amazing "Suicide Club."
I co-wrote the script with Hans Fjellestad and Ryan Page.
Adam Parfrey
So...Gaahl lives in a fairy tale cabin on his family's ancestral Norwegian mountain forest land, sits at home painting, naval gazing and drinking fine red wines from his cellar and then once in a while goes on world tour in South America and what not?
Sign me up!
I have this book. It's super awesome. I got it at a Powerhouse Book party in Dumbo. It's huge and thoroughly impressive. I recommend it. Whether or not you buy into Black Metal culture (I don't) is unimportant. As a series of photos the book shines. You have picked a funny photo that is not totally representative of the book overall and the slideshow doesn't really do the book justice.
Check it out. It's definitely not for the squeamish.
Re: Gaahl Fly your freak flag, girl!
I would just like to say for the record that there are many black metal bands and fans that aren't into satan, corpsepaint, racism, or Norse paganism. Some people just like extreme music, and some, like Wolves in the Throne Room (from Olympia, Wa), espouse a "back-to-nature" philosophy - essentially saying that modern society has alienated mankind from the natural world, which they consider sacred. Hard to argue with.
Plus, they fucking rock.
This is a lovely coffee table book to have for when your extremely christian future in-laws come to visit. But seriously, I have to hide it along with the lube whenever they come over. It's bad enough that I'm a jew.. having this book out would really convince them that we use christian baby blood to make our passover matzohs, and we can't let that secret get out now can we.
It really is too bad that Burzum is such a little twerp, I do enjoy his gloomy solo prison synth metal so.
This is just more evidence to the theory that guys will do anything to get laid.
Dude, your mascara starting to run..had a little weep, did we ?
I'm sure he just needs a hug. Or something.
Ordered! Perfect Antichristmas gift. :D
He's doing the metal horns wrong. Poser.
Check out this photo in the fan gallery of the Gorgoroth website:
http://www.gorgoroth.org/gallery/fan_gallery/large/fan_44.jpg
Does it get better than that? I think not. More proof that if you take black metal bands at face value, you will deservedly be despised by them.
"Oh dear, speed error. I do understand the difference. I've corrected the headline and added more umlauts."
Oh dear, yank lame alert.
He's doing the metal horns wrong. Poser.
Maybe he's really trying to sign. Nothing says "I wuv you!" like a chubby, greasy death metal fan in tear-away mesh boyshorts.
Oh for the love of.. There are good rock bands in Norway as well.
#11 had the right idea. Sad, sad people most of these. We had one in my hometown who'd go walking around the city in his black, hooded outfit with a goat in tow.. I swear this is true. He was even interviewed by a local newspaper.
Aaah, Black Metal. I read Lords of Chaos a while back, when I was in a Death Metal band.
Interestingly, by the way, these two subcultures rarely overlap ; from what I've seen, DM fans and musicians see BM fan/musicians as crazy and pretentious, while DMf/m see BMf/m as stupid, drunken apes.
Plus, come on. It must take that guy about 2 hours to perfect his makeup before a concert. Two hours in the bathroom, when you could be lounging backstage having a beer ?
Pansies.
So... a bunch of metal types who look angry that their KISS makeup got smeared, and a naked lady covered in cow blood. Gotcha.
Late to the party here, but...um....what? I can't wrap my head around this. I know it's all personal preference, but dang, I really find that unappealing.
"sooner make a lampshade out of their own skin than to try to convert fans"
Please. I find the concept that they don't like the attention reaped from being as controversial as possible hard to believe. Look at me everyone! Look at me!
These guys still put on their clown makeup one brushstroke at a time.
I have just one word, for Left4Dead afficionados:
"Boomer!"