The first section is certainly the most engaging, but also the one I knew best, as it delves into the actual music scene around Black Metal with a well constructed history of the style from early heavy metal through Venom, Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Hellhammer, et al, up to the late 1980s and the beginning of what became Norwegian, aka second wave, black metal.Īfter the introduction to the genre we get the now well trodden tale of Mayhem and the ‘Black Circle’ as put together based on reports from the time and interviews with many of those involved (those in a position to give interviews at least).
I’ll admit at first I didn’t have a problem with this, however as it went on it did become more problematic. The first tells the story around the band Mayhem, and more specifically guitarist Øystein ‘Euronymous’ Aarseth and Varg ‘Count Grishnackh’ Vikerness, the second looks closer at Vikerness and his motivations for killing Aarseth and his subsequent notoriety and finally, third, a look at the wider world of black metal.įrom early on the authors’, and therefore the book’s, political sway seems somewhat troubling as it is mentioned that they won’t judge the views of the people interviewed but do their best to represent them fairly. The book can loosely be divided into three sections. Going in I knew the film only focussed on one part of the book and that this goes into more depth around both the Norwegian Black Metal scene and it’s associated political and cultural leanings, while also exploring the musical style beyond Scandinavia. After watching the film Lord Of Chaos over the summer I thought I’d finally give the book it was based on a read.
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