Paul Christensen's Blog - Posts Tagged "black-metal"

Black Metal: European Roots and Musical Extremities by Troy Southgate

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It’s hard to remember now, but Black Metal was once an interesting cultural phenomenon

At some point in the 2000s, however, it was infiltrated by New York hipsters, who sucked the life out of it, then tried to rewrite its history as a rebellion against the ‘right-wing, patriarchal church’.

Of course anyone who was around in the ‘90s remembers it was the exact opposite - a rebellion against the stifling left-wing conformity of the Norwegian state church (known in the Scandinavian countries as the Law of Jante, similar to Tall Poppy Syndrome).

Fenriz of Darkthrone recounts a Norwegian swimming race where, instead of the fastest child being the winner, the authorities picked the child whose time was closest to the average. No wonder the Norwegian teenage metalheads rebelled!

At the same time, the best Black Metal bands were more up the volkisch end of the spectrum than the Ayn Rand end.

This book has some interesting essays, and despite being a bit repetitive, is a lot more insightful than the tacky ‘Lords of Chaos’ book.





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Entertain Us: The Rise and Fall of Alternative Rock in the Nineties by Craig Schuftan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The anti-white self-loathing of this author is embarrassing (albeit somewhat comical), and there is no mention of the two most interesting alternative music scenes of the 1990s, namely Black Metal and the various World Serpent-distributed groups.

One wonders if the whole ‘self-loathing proto-SJW grunge’ vs. ‘sex-crazed 80s hair rockers’ thing isn’t somehow reflective of the protestant/catholic divide, which in turn reflects deeper tendencies in the European soul…I say that because most of the grunge singers are Nordic-looking, whereas bands like Bon Jovi and Motley Crue have southern European genetic make up (Vince Neil is half Mexican).

Simplification, but maybe a grain of truth to it; perhaps someone with time could investigate further?



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