Black Metal: An Editorial

January 17th, 2024

Night

The Early Days…

Venom “Black Metal” album art. Courtesy of Wikipedia. Album art owned by Neat Records.

In 1981 a band called Venom released, what many consider to be, the first proto-black metal album titled: “Welcome to Hell”.

This new band took thrash and heavy metal to a darker place. While the second-wave bands of the 90s would take it to its ultimate conclusion, Venom paved the way. Using satanic imagery to invoke shock and utilizing the fast tempos of thrash, Venom was the hardest band to come out in the period. If we listened to it today, we would no doubt just put it in the stack with bands like Pantera, Slayer, and Anthrax; Typical 80s extreme metal fare. But at the time bands like Motley Crue, while also using satanic imagery, were singing about sex, drugs, and parties.

Venom was a new beast altogether. Their debut album “Welcome to Hell” had songs like “Sons of Satan”, the title track “Welcome to Hell”, and “One Thousand Days of Sodom”. These tracks sounded like there was something a little deeper behind them. Were Venom devil-worshipers? Well, no. They just took the shock to the next level. Their arguably primary contribution to the genre would come in the form of their second album which coined the phrase “Black Metal”.

In 1984 Hellhammer came onto the scene. This band offered much the same as Venom, just slightly harder. They also switched the sound up a bit. Their tracks had a more raw tone. They were almost unmastered sounding. This would be something Black Metal would be known for in the future. Largely though, Hellhammer still maintained the thrash metal sound, but with a darker edge. One thing it did add was the raw, sometimes shrieking vocals. The vocalist Thomas Gabriel Fischer, aka Tom Warrior, aka Satanic Slaughter, had that black metal sound.

Bathory is, at least in my opinion, the first real black metal band. The elements were all there in previous incarnations, but Bathory put them together. Venom was edgier thrash. Hellhammer was raw and faster. Bathory was true black metal. Their self-titled album came out also in 1984 along with Hellhammer. This was the era that the genre came into its hellish own.

The vocals were screechy, the guitar riffs were fast and raw, and the production value was very low. While Norway is synonymous now with black metal, this band hailed from Sweden.

The Second Wave

Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth and Per Yngve "Pelle" Ohlin, aka Dead, of the band Mayhem. Courtesy of Wikipedia. Photo Credit: unknown.

Black metal experienced a resurgence in the early 90’s. Bands like Emporer, Burzum, and Mayhem lead the way.

They were also far more controversial than their shock-value-loving predecessors. They were overtly satanic and anti-Christian. They were sometimes racist and fascistic. They were also prone to extreme violence. Anyone familiar with the scene at that time will know about the church burnings. Members of Mayhem, Burzum, and Emperor all were charged with arson at one point. Hellhammer, the Mayhem drummer and not the earlier band of the same name, called for arsons and bombings against other religious sites like Hindu temples and mosques. Or, maybe he didn’t. One thing you’ll discover about these guys is that they like to be showy. Euronymous said he had nazi sympathies, but that’s been called into question. It may have been for shock value (not that that’s any better). Hellhemmer at one point is said to have been against the church burnings but is also thought to have called for more. I couldn’t pinpoint anything decisive on that front.

The call of this group of bands was to banish Christianity and uphold either satanism, nihilism, or paganism. They relied on stark, cold imagery in their album artwork. This was a drastic contrast to the metal bands before them. Their imagery was largely black and white and very striking. There were a notable few exceptions. One of these was the cover of Mayhem’s album “The Dawn of the Black Hearts”. It was a bootleg that was released after the suicide of Mayhem’s singer “Dead”. He had shot himself in the head with a shotgun and, as the story goes, Euronymous found him and took some pictures of the corpse and scene. Then he used one of these images as the cover of the album. There are, again, some rumors that the picture on the cover was fake. However, I believe it to be authentic.

Lore, legend, and uncertainty are common when researching these bands and events.

The Mayhem Killings

Varg “Count Grishnakh” Vikernes and Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth of Mayhem. Photo credit: Flickr user *morboniam_abire_jubere*.

One thing is certain, more than one member of a 90’s black metal band was a murderer. The most famous murder from this period is the killing of Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth by Varg “Count Grishnack” Vikernes.

Varg and Øystein were, at one point friends and bandmates. The original lineup of Mayhem was Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, Jørn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud, and Kjetil Manheim. At first, it was just Euronymous, Manheim, and Necrobutcher. In ’86 Erik “Messiah” Norheim became the lead vocalist. However, Norhiem left and was replaced by Sven Erik “Maniac” Kristiansen. But Manheim and Kristiansen both left after “Deathcrush” was released.

In 1988 Necrobutcher and Euronymous put Mayhem back together with Per “Dead” Ohlin on vocals and Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Bloomberg on drums. They released a few live albums but no studio recordings. On April 8th in ’91 Dead killed himself (previously mentioned). This leads me to believe the cover of “The Dawn of the Black Hearts” is genuine, because after that album cover (and also due to presumed bereavement) long-time and original member Necrobutcher left Mayhem.

Later that year Mayhem was back. This time with Attila Csihar on vocals and the now infamous Varg “Count Grishnackh” Vikernes on the bass. This lineup recorded “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, perhaps their best-known album. Euronymous would not live to see its release.

On August 10th, 1993, Varg went to Euronymous (Øytstein’s) house and killed him. He stabbed his bandmate 23 times. There is much speculation as to why. Varg said that Euronymous had been planning to kidnap and torture Varg and that’s why he did it. He has also expressed no remorse for the killing. The more commonly accepted reason is business disputes. Euronymous was known for being controlling and difficult to work with and Varg was not one to be a push-over either.

Varg spent 16 years in jail in Norway for first-degree murder. During that time he made some music but also developed his white-supremacist and nationalistic persona. He is currently making YouTube videos. He has also been arrested a few more times for insighting racial violence.

This, of course, is a brief overview of the event. There are documentaries, a movie, a book, and a LOT of articles about the murder.

Faust

Bård Guldvik “Faust” Eithun is the drummer for Emperor. He was also a prominent member of the 90’s black metal scene in Norway.

On August 21st, 1992 Faust stabbed a man named Magne Andreassen 37 times, killing him. The reason was basically homophobia. Andreassen had propositioned Elthun earlier at a bar in Lillehammer. Faust then lured the man to a nearby park and stabbed him to death.

The very next day he went to Oslo and told Euronymous and Varg and a few others (Dani Filth, singer of Cradle of Filth was one of them) as a boast. Later Grishnackh, Euronymous, and Faust burned down Holmenkollen Chapel.

Bård was sentenced to 14 years in prison after he confessed. His arrest occurred after the murder of Øystein and the arrest of Varg. He was released in 2003 for good behavior. He served nine years and four months. He says he is thankful for his conviction in a way because it took him out of that black metal scene. He has also said he is remorseful for what he did during the 1990s.

NSBM

“Most all Norwegian bands are more less nazis…Burzum, Mayhem, Emperor, Arcturus, Enslaved, you name them. [sic]” - Oystein “Euronymous” Aarseth.

It may have been true. A lot of them were. Varg certainly is.

Racism and white nationalism are a real scourge of the black metal scene even to this day. NSB stands for National Socialist Black Metal; Nazi black metal in other words. It is such a problem that web pages and many Reddit threads are trying to sift out the fascists.

In a way, I think it was inevitable. The scene set itself up to be deliberately elitist and evil. Weeding out posers and the “other” was a pastime of “The Black Circle” (the main personalities in the second-wave black metal scene in Norway). Even now you can read debates amongst fans arguing about which bands are “true black metal” and which are posers. The prevention and exclusion is a feature, not a bug in this case.

Another factor is that a lot of the music is about rejecting Christianity in favor of more traditional, pagan religions and spiritual systems. These often include Asatru, Norse heathenry, Celtic spirituality, and other European systems. These are not, of themselves, problematic. However, in some circles, they lead to a nationalistic and racially focused mentality. Asatru, for example, is a Norse-pagan religion that has its own white, ethno-fascistic tendencies. One of its main leaders is a known white supremacist. This occurs because, in some, there is a belief that certain practices will only work for those whose ancestry came from wherever the system was developed.

Neckbeard Deathcamp’s overtly AntiFa imagery. Courtesy of Apple Music. Phot Credit: Neckbeard Deathcamp.

Two points on this: not everyone who practices these religions and systems is racist or fascistic. Again, these systems are not problematic themselves. It’s what people use them for. The other point is that this ethnocentric view of spirituality is not the same as a closed practice. Those are two very different concepts.

Having said that, bands like Mayhem, Burzum, Absurd, and several more are to be avoided (in my opinion) as they are known to be NSBM. Again, there are lists that I find useful for finding out who is and isn’t NSBM.

Just as in regular society, there is pushback to hate and racism. There is even AFBM and RABM (Anti-Fascist Black Metal and Red Anarchist Black Metal respectively). Bands that aren’t outright AntiFa often speak out against the problem of racism in the scene. Some bands, such as Wolves in the Throne Room, are known to vet the bands they are slotted to play with at live events and actively avoid the shows that feature NSBM bands.

Neckbeard Deathcamp is a solo project that is solely dedicated to trolling and mocking NSBM and far-right ideology. Feminazgul is a female band that focuses on feminism and fighting the patriarchy. There are also lists of bands that fit into the AFBM and RABM categories.

Opinion time: If you mention these bands and someone says they aren’t real black metal because that’s not what BM is about, highly question their character. They most likely listen to NSBM. Again, this is my opinion.

Takeaways…

If there is any point to be made about all of this, I suppose it is that black metal is a controversial genre fraught with peril. However, I believe it is worth the risk.

The imagery and the sound are haunting and extreme. It is also sometimes beautiful in its own, dark way. If satanism isn’t your thing, a lot of the newer bands focus on things like paganism and even ecology. Some of them are just like listening to a horror movie. Try not to take it too seriously.

If you are a fan of other genres of extreme metal like thrash, death, or doom, well…you probably already listen to or have listened to black metal. If you haven’t: what are you even doing with your life?

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust_(musician)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Norwegian_black_metal_scene#:~:text=Police%20believe%20Varg%20Vikernes%20of,Skjold%20Church%2C%20and%20%C3%85sane%20Church.

https://www.burzum.org/eng/library/a_burzum_story02.shtml

https://www.vice.com/en/article/kz5wp3/neckbeard-deathcamp-antifascist-black-metal-interview-gaylord-split

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/mayhems_necrobutcher_says_he_planned_to_kill_euronymous_himself_but_varg_beat_him_to_it.html

https://blackdeathmetalhistory.wordpress.com/author/mythicimagination/

https://missmephistopheles.wordpress.com/2019/12/10/euronymous-and-varg-vikernes/