Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground

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It] benefits immeasurably from the authors’ commitment to long-term study, and the care they’ve taken to convey the contradictions and differences within the scene, demolishing the oversimplified coverage in the sensationalistic press. Maybe I have a too "Finnish" idea of Black Metal, but I think there are many other motifs why Black Metal was born and this is not spoken about enough, in my opinion.

As someone who has never been able to be an atheist, that’s a personal beef, but he also does little to separate the theistic Satanists of the sort like Watain from the kids who “sacrifice” people because they watch too many horror movies.I understand that Vikernes is in large part the subject of the book, but the authors go into great detail about his dumb beliefs- Odinism, white supremacy, hollow earth- and almost treat him with reverence. Whatever your musical or religious outlook, this book has the facts you need to understand what’s going on in Death Metal music. Brilliantly interwoven… Lords of Chaos benefits immeasurably from the authors’ commitment to long-term study, and the care they’ve taken to convey the contradictions and differences inherent in the [Black Metal] scene, demolishing the oversimplified coverage in the sensationalist press. To the people who listen in the dark to black metal and feel themselves in death and the dark (as Vikernes points out that the Odin dark blade is in fact the light) it could be safe and natural.

Lords of Chaos focuses on the scene surrounding the extreme heavy metal subgenre black metal in Norway in the early 1990s, with a focus on the string of church burnings and murders that occurred in the country around 1993. Sweden black-metal rivalries, and the (d)evolution from theatrical Satanic to slightly-more-serious Wotanic Nazi metal, Plenty of interviews-from the late Anton LaVey to Norwegian metal villain Varg Vikernes-make this a mighty entertaining bedtime reader. The writing reflects some kind of ad-hoc skill, but is more often than not overwritten and pretentious.We were in Catholic school at the time, and the book seemed suggestive of occult mystery- everything, that is, that Brother Dan, our school’s strict and unrelenting disciplinarian, opposed. The first few chapters give an outline of the progression of heavy metal from bands such as Black Sabbath, Coven and Black Widow to proto-black metal bands such as Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Sarcófago, Hellhammer and Venom, and finally to the early Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. Also, as I stated earlier, I thought that the authors really lost track of where they were going with the book. This desire for authenticity would eventually lead to a crime wave that still reverberates today, as grave desecrations and church arsons eventually led to murders and a rise of Nationalistic imagery not seen since the heyday of the Nazis. Like Vikernes, the murders are of "I didn't like him" variety and the music to get attention for woes of immigrants moving into their neighborhoods.

I would also follow up on Jon Nödtveidt- as it stands, he’s mentioned alongside a less than flattering quote and then they talk about how he killed someone. It says a lot about this book and movie with the same title when the bands mentioned within wouldn’t allow them to use their music for the movie. To me, this just sounds like a handy excuse for naughty teenagers, complicated by the fact that he refers to this “resurgent atavism” in conjunction with the Nazis- something about the theory that they were Wotan reincarnated. Finally someone has compiled an exhaustive resource regarding the seamy and Satanic side of pop music and culture. I'll also say I thought the movie "inspired" by this book did an excellent job finding a relatable, human angle to follow (though I'm sure scene purists probably hate it).Speaking of dark and twisted reads, Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind’s Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground has everything: wacky Norwegians burning down churches to get back at Christians for stamping out Odin worship, murder, suicide, more than you ever wanted to know about the Norway vs.