peter beste true norwegian black metal book

The fjords, glaciers and mountains that make up its majestic landscape have inspired singers and poets for thousands of years. Norway is the 4th richest country in the world, one with an incredibly high education rate and an overall high quality of life. Hoest of Taake, Bergen, 2003 As the black metal scene developed its own ideology in the late 80s/early 90s, a few adherents decided to turn their disdain for Christianity into action. Bands with their roots in the events of the early 90s now regularly reach gold and platinum sales and sell concert tickets in the thousands. The same subculture that initially embraced obscurity, solitude, and its inherent marginality instead has reverberated around the world, trickling into the mainstream and becoming Norway’s largest musical export.

The spectacle of tabloid journalism and the well-documented violence of the early 90s fail to explain the constantly expanding, worldwide appeal of this movement. Everyday Norwegians have responded with shock and loathing while the mainstream has responded with abject horror and tabloid outrage. Leather, spikes, face paint, and brandished weapons are standard and go along with a clearly stated stance of outsider-dom. Sonically, it is heavy metal pushed to its maximum: Blitzkrieg pace, guttural vocals, and visual and lyrical subject matter embracing what most people try not to think about. In the early to mid-1990s, members of this extremist underground committed murder, burned down medieval wooden churches, and desecrated graveyards.īlack metal music and its visuals comprise the most extreme rock ‘n’ roll youth movement to date.

Its roots stem from a blend of horror movies, heavy metal music, satanism, pagan mythology, and adolescent angst. Over the last two decades, a bizarre and violent musical subculture called black metal has emerged in Norway. Intro from True Norwegian Black Metal, 2008

Peter beste true norwegian black metal book