Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult Read online

  ISBN: 978-1936239757

  © 2013 Dayal Patterson

  Feral House

  1240 W. Sims Way Suite 124

  Port Townsend, WA 98368

  www.FeralHouse.com

  Design by Sean Tejaratchi

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  1 Roots of Evil

  2 Venom

  3 Mercyful Fate

  4 Bathory

  5 Hellhammer

  6 Celtic Frost

  7 The First Wave of Black Thrash

  8 Blasphemy

  9 Samael

  10 Rotting Christ and Greek Black Metal

  11 Tormentor

  12 Master’s Hammer

  13 VON

  14 Beherit

  15 Mayhem Part I

  16 Mayhem Part II

  17 (Re)Birth of a Movement: Norway Part I

  18 A Fist in the Face of Christianity: Norway Part II

  19 Death of a Legend: Norway Part III

  20 Thorns

  21 Darkthrone

  22 Burzum

  23 Emperor

  24 Gehenna

  25 Gorgoroth

  26 Trelldom

  27 The Opus Magnum: Mayhem Part III

  28 The Beast Reawakens: Mayhem Part IV

  29 Cradle of Filth: Black Metal Enters the Mainstream Part I

  30 Dimmu Borgir: Black Metal Enters the Mainstream Part II

  31 Underground Ethics

  32 Les Légions Noires

  33 Marduk: Sweden Part I

  34 Dissection and Watain: Sweden Part II

  35 Shining: Sweden Part III

  36 Politics, Poland, and the Rise of NSBM

  37 Graveland and Infernum: Polish Black Metal Part I

  38 Behemoth: Polish Black Metal Part II

  39 Enslaved: Folk and Folklore in Black Metal Part I

  40 Moonfog and Ulver: Folk and Folklore in Black Metal Part II

  41 The Proliferation of Black Folk Metal: Folk and Folklore in Black Metal Part III

  42 A Turn for the Weird: Part I

  43 A Turn for the Weird: Part II

  44 Sigh

  45 Dødheimsgard

  46 Mysticum: Industrial Black Metal Part I

  47 Aborym: Industrial Black Metal Part II

  48 Blacklodge: Industrial Black Metal Part III

  49 Lifelover: Post-Black Metal Part I

  50 Post-Black Metal Part II

  AFTERWORD

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  EVER SINCE ITS BIRTH in the early eighties—and especially after its rebirth in the early nineties—black metal has proven itself to be the most consistently thought-provoking, exhilarating, and vital of all the many offshoots of heavy metal. Truly enduring, it is a multifaceted beast, at once fiercely conservative yet fearlessly groundbreaking, undeniably visceral yet at times thoroughly cerebral. Its combination of primal, philosophical, spiritual, cultural, and artistic qualities have allowed it to transcend even its own fascinating controversies to become one of the most important forms of modern music. If you don’t already agree with that statement, there’s even more reason for you to read this book.

  I first stumbled upon black metal while still at school, thanks to one of the now-infamous—and, as we shall see, influential—exposés that Kerrang! magazine ran in the early nineties. By this point extreme metal already dominated my listening tastes thanks to bands such as Sepultura, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, and Entombed, but this (apparently) new genre appeared almost disturbingly radical and alien—in fact, I distinctly remember one of the most vocal of my metal contemporaries warning me not to listen to it. By the time I left school he had cut his hair and sold his metal collection, which probably says it all.

  All the same, at the time further investigation was surprisingly difficult; listening to music via the Internet was still a science fiction fantasy, record stores stocked little or nothing from the genre, and actually meeting people who listened to this music was a rarity, at least in a small town. But about a year later—as my attendance at school became somewhat less frequent and I began spending time with some slightly older metal fans from the local college—I was given several dubbed cassettes that would have a profound impact on my listening habits and, I suppose, my life.

  During the years that followed, my friends and I—like many others—not only sought out as much black metal music as possible but also the rare interviews with the mysterious, seemingly wraith-like characters who created it. In that sense, while this tome was officially begun in 2009, in many ways its true genesis dates back almost a decade and a half earlier. From 2004 onwards I was interviewing bands on a fairly regular basis, first for a fanzine I put together called Crypt, and later for magazines including Terrorizer and then Metal Hammer, all of which allowed me to speak to a number of the genre’s key protagonists. Even so, I’ve realized that a major part of my motivation for writing this book was to satisfy my own curiosity and get a more rounded understanding of a phenomenon that has entranced me since my early teens.

  However, another catalyst was—like black metal itself—considerably more reactionary. As time passed and black metal grew beyond the confines of the underground, I noticed that more and more people were covering it in various forms of media, with varying degrees of care or accuracy. At one time it seemed to me that it was better not to have black metal discussed beyond its own perimeters, but by the end of the nineties, it was clear that horse had bolted. The problem was that many of the writers and filmmakers who covered black metal were either misinformed, or focused solely upon a few strong bands and personalities to the extent that they ultimately distorted the bigger picture.

  I’m not suggesting that my perspective was the only right one—indeed, on some issues my opinions only formed as the book progressed—but I knew that if I attempted to cover the genre’s history I would at least be thorough and keep going until I felt I’d captured the story. And while the publishers thought it would be helpful to begin the book with a few words about myself, most of all I hope I’ve allowed some of the individuals who shaped the genre a voice to finally tell their story about the evolution of this remarkable movement.

  1

  ROOTS OF EVIL

  WHEN BLACK METAL first began to really make an impact within the wider metal scene in the early nineties—thanks to a combination of new bands, groundbreaking recordings, and the headline-grabbing “Satanic terrorism” taking place in Norway—it appeared from the outside to be a very new phenomenon. And in many ways it was. Almost overnight musicians had converted to the cause, with bands such as Mayhem, Darkthrone, and Burzum presenting a seemingly unified and self-contained movement with a refreshing new take on extreme metal, as well a genre-defining ideology and aesthetic.

  Sure, the phrase “black metal” was nothing new to metal fans—England’s Venom had given birth to the term with their 1982 album of the same name, simultaneously placing themselves within, and separating themselves from, the general canon of “heavy metal,” a phrase used by the rock press since the late sixties. Yet this emerging “second wave” of black metal (as it would later be known) appeared to have taken the term and given it an entirely new meaning. The gulf between this and the “first wave” seemed immense, both in terms of sound and the years that had passed between the two.

  So where was black metal really born? While many have found it tempting to delve back into the history of music in order to isolate examples of Satanic or occult references, the attempts to tie such references into a neat timeline of the genre are generally tenuous at best. Did it all begin with Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods? Or with blues legend Robert Johnson selling his soul at the crossr
oads?

  Well, perhaps. But in more concrete terms, black metal’s birth can be directly traced to the birth of metal itself. While heavy, blues-influenced rock bands such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin undoubtedly played an important role in this, the general consensus, and rightly so, is that metal as we know it today began largely with Black Sabbath, and in particular their self-titled debut album, recorded in 1969 and released on the auspicious date of Friday the 13th, February 1970.

  Like Purple and Zeppelin, Sabbath was heavily rooted in blues rock—indeed, the debut album contains two covers of blues rock numbers—but all the same, the release was a clear move toward darker and heavier territories. Whether this album marks an absolute year zero for the birth of heavy metal is naturally debatable, but there’s little doubt that it was a milestone recording, effectively kick-starting both the heavy metal genre as a whole and arguably black metal itself.

  It’s not hard to see why the aesthetics of heavy metal godfathers Black Sabbath—not least their 1970 self-titled debut album—did much to inspire the supernatural and Satanic obsessions of later metal bands.

  Setting the scene with an eerie church-bells-and-stormy-weather introduction (a combination that would become a very familiar part of extreme metal scene-setting), the opening, eponymous number, based around the tritone—or “The Devil’s Interval”—immediately led the listener further into the dark. Despite some lighter moments, the record reveled in the macabre and foreboding, with minor-key-dominated compositions coupled with occult-fixated lyrics, the devil himself explicitly mentioned in both the song “N.I.B.” and the title track. As if that wasn’t enough, the original record sleeve came emblazoned with a large inverted cross—not a subtle move to be sure, but a fairly effective one.

  To what extent such interests stemmed from personal involvement, as opposed to lyrical playfulness or even opportunism, is still not entirely clear. An often-reported story tells that a major turning point for the band came when bassist Geezer Butler witnessed a crowd lining up to watch the Boris Karloff horror flick Black Sabbath, and realized that people would happily pay money to be frightened out of their wits. However, by his own admission Butler was also studying subjects such as Satanism, black magic, and occultism. And he was in good company—as the sixties ended and the seventies began, the occult was widely celebrated within rock circles, whether by stadium acts such as Led Zeppelin or more underground cult bands such as Black Widow and Coven.

  In fact, American psychedelic rockers Coven were actually some way ahead of Black Sabbath, releasing their impressively titled debut Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls in 1969 and staking their claim to many elements of the metal archetype in the process. Among these were the use of the inverted cross and the “throwing of the horns” hand gesture, seemingly the first recorded example of either within rock culture. Now seemingly ubiquitous, both in metal and the wider world, the latter gesture remains a sign of heavy metal devotion, having been popularized by Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who replaced original singer Ozzy Osbourne. In another curious Coven/Sabbath twist, Coven actually boasted a bass player named Oz Osbourne, and the album Witchcraft Destroys Minds opens with a number entitled… “Black Sabbath.”

  Judas Priest’s Sad Wings Of Destiny, 1976. Along with Motörhead and Black Sabbath, Judas Priest helped cement heavy metal’s identity during the seventies.

  Still, though fascinating acts, Coven and Black Widow had at most a marginal influence on black metal, which stemmed more from the heart of heavy metal itself, despite the myriad influences it would eventually draw upon. In turn, the seeds of heavy metal and extreme metal were undoubtedly sown primarily during the seventies by an unholy triumvirate of Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Motörhead.

  Inverted crosses and devil horns: The sleeve for Coven’s Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls, 1969, presented many now-familiar elements for the first time.

  Coming from a heavy blues rock background that was similar to Sabbath’s, Judas Priest would do much to refine metal during the seventies, releasing five studio albums during that decade, all of which saw a gradual decline in blues influence while simultaneously upping the pace and aggression. Priest were also responsible for adding the now-familiar dual guitar set-up adopted by many bands that followed, perhaps the most notable being Iron Maiden. Furthermore, Priest helped refine the heavy metal aesthetic through their introduction of leather clothes, studs, and chains, elements still frequently seen in black metal bands today.

  Unlike Priest, Motörhead have tended to shy away from and even explicitly reject the metal label, and to be fair, their sound is often just as close to rock ‘n’ roll or even punk. Nevertheless, the group would also have a huge impact on the genre, introducing a fast-paced, rough-and-ready approach that would pave the way for many of metal’s more aggressive acts. As with Priest, the band are hailed directly by many within the black metal scene.

  Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, 1973. While not necessarily taking a Satanic position in their songs—occasionally the opposite in fact—Black Sabbath were neck-deep in matters of heaven and hell during the seventies.

  An additional and often overlooked ingredient in the birth of black metal was punk rock, specifically the British scene that exploded from 1976 onwards. Raucous, aggressive, and violent, it’s arguable that until the early eighties, punk was the heaviest form of rock music available, at least equal to the aural severity of the heavy metal bands of the time. The crossover appeal of Motörhead had helped trigger the hardcore and crust punk movements, these genres evolving hand in hand with early extreme metal. It’s therefore unsurprising that many pioneers of thrash and proto-black metal would draw heavily from this source.

  A final mention must go to glam metal stars Kiss, as strange as that may seem, if only for the fact that almost every Scandinavian musician interviewed here discovered heavy metal as a direct result of the group’s highly successful merchandising campaign. The fact that so many bands have adopted an appearance similar to the demonically face-painted and blood-spitting Gene Simmons suggests at least an underlying influence, even if it’s simply a trickle-down consequence of eighties groups such as Mercyful Fate.

  While the seeds of black metal were sown during the seventies, it wouldn’t be until the eighties that the first wave of black metal would really take form, though it’s important to bear in mind that the phrase “first wave black metal,” and in some cases even the term “black metal,” have only been applied in retrospect. Essentially, this first wave was a very small collection of bands who pushed metal toward harsher territories in both sound and imagery, and for that reason they are frequently hailed by fans and practitioners of all forms of extreme metal, including thrash and death metal. Nonetheless, while it’s a mistake to consider these bands exclusively part of the black metal genre, the work of these pioneers undoubtedly laid the foundations for the cult, and none more so than the originators of the term “black metal” itself: Venom.

  2

  VENOM

  “Above everybody must stand Venom, who really were the first of all these bands. Hellhammer, Mercyful Fate, and especially Bathory were hugely inspired by them. I have no connection to their later catalogue but those early records, especially the first album, is the prototype for all black metal albums.”

  —Tom G. Warrior (Hellhammer/Celtic Frost)

  “I was into Motörhead … in the beginning of the eighties and a friend of mine said that he had picked up an album that he thought would be right up my alley, and that was Black Metal by Venom. And of course it was the best thing I’d ever heard; the rawest, the toughest, the coolest, everything—the music, the lyrics—was cooler than anything else at that time.”

  —Necrobutcher (Mayhem)

  “Venom were a big influence, probably not musically, but as a whole concept, they really went further than anyone had before. Of course Black Sabbath were doing dark music long before Venom, but they had more knowledge about it. It was maybe not just a gimmick, b
ut maybe a little bit more than that … not for them actually, but for those who received their music, it was pointing the way for something.”

  —Vorph (Samael)

  LOUD, AGGRESSIVE, and not afraid to offend, Venom were not only pivotal in the creation and development of “extreme metal,” they were also arguably the first band for whom such a description could be considered accurate. In that context the music may seem relatively tame by today’s standards, but for a time, Venom were arguably the heaviest, noisiest and most unpleasant metal band on the planet. The iconic trio did much to push the boundaries, not only with their chaotic music, but also their explicitly blasphemous approach, something that would have a massive impact on the metal scene in the years that followed.

  Formed in Newcastle in 1979, the group rose from the ashes of a number of earlier bands, most notably the short-lived five-piece Guillotine. It was at a 1978 Judas Priest concert that the wheels were put in motion for Venom’s creation, when Guillotine guitarist Jeffrey Dunn, waiting at the bar for a drink, found himself chatting to a member of Oberon, another local band who were struggling with lineup difficulties. Recollections differ as to whether the Oberon member in question was guitarist Anthony Bray or vocalist Clive Archer, but either way, the meeting was highly fortuitous for all concerned. Before long, both Bray and Archer had joined the Guillotine ranks and the band name had changed to Venom, following a suggestion from a roadie. Two more lineup changes saw the addition of bassist Alan Winston and, more significantly, guitarist Conrad Lant, who had been playing in a band called Dwarfstar and was working as a tape operator at the nearby Impulse Studios.