Black Metal and Norway
 

How did this all go down? I'm a total newbie to this genre but find it amazing that so few bands from such a remote location turned the metal world upside down in such a short period of time.

Any insight on this would be appreciated.

(was it really all about nothing more than extreme revolt and burning churches?)

Until the Light Takes us is a great documentary on the scene that you'd probably enjoy.

Frown: This is the vocalist I was trying to remember last night.



They sound eerily similar IMO.

What Frownland said. Until the Light Takes Us is great. I'd also recommend Lords of Chaos. It's sort of a cross between history book, sensationalist tabloid rag, and Nazi/Odinist manifesto, but it's just about the most entertaining book on music you will ever read. If you wanna know everything you ever wanted to know about Varg Vikernes, and probably a bunch of **** you didn't, then you can't miss it. One of those books that will stay glued to your hands.

Ok, so that's the long version. I'm looking for the short version from you guys in the know.

How did worldwide metal get turned on its ear by a few extremely remote Norwegian bands?

I think that all of the extramusical events surrounding the scene like the church burnings, murders, and the occult related antics helped put black metal on the map. There's always a market for the most 'extreme' music out there and while bm didn't really fall into that category compared to some of the other stuff out there, the actions of the members of the community gave it that notoriety.

And then there's the fact that black metal ****ing rules.

I'm putting the ball in your wheelhouse and you're gonna cop out?

I want your perspective. In the last 6 months since I've joined this place my appreciation of extreme metal has gone up a ton because of you and some of the others here.

Would the genre have survived without that ****?

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I'm ****ing lazy and that's a lot to talk about. Here's a Wikipedia article, just for you.

Early Norwegian black metal scene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, a bit of an answer to a question you asked days ago.

Hey Batty! Why don't you do an "Unknown Soldier" on Black/Extreme Metal? A history of the genre with the best bands in a journal format ... oh right. You're lazy.

You're not really you know: when you're interested in a subject and there's a chance of showing off your knowledge you can really rock. I think this would be a great project for you.

Possible titles: Batlord of Darkness, A Darker Cave, Come into my web, God is not here, Out of darkness comes .... more darkness
etc

I agree Until The Light Takes Us & Lords Of Chaos - the rise of the satanic metal underground are both really interesting retrospectives on the rise of Black Metal.

can someone recommend me something like early bathory or emperor, anything layered/folky in a dreamy way or proggy...not a fan of mayhem or early venom though

Not... really sure what that means, but... here?

Black Metal didn't really turn the metal world upside down in a short period of time. It's only really become popular recently... say 2010 at the earliest, and I'd wager that has less to do with the events in Norway than renewed popular interest in groups like The Swans and My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth, who are stylistically close enough to your Det Som Engar Var's that people who favored those non-metal groups had their interest pique. Further, black metal musicians do not exist in a vacuum, so this increased popularity of said groups affected their output, so you have that...

^he said atmospheric/shoegaze black metal bands became really popular in the last five years and the shit caught on and has prompted an increasing number of metal bands to play with that sound, duh.

Even Trollheart appreciates Panopticon so congrats on being even less in touch than Trollheart, Chula. Just read the wiki article if you're curious, it's all very simple. Lord, this thread is embarrassing
:shycouch:

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Gotta second this reaction......

Also, "The Swans."

.

Phew, it seems like I'm not the only one who is being irritated by this. Reading the 'Swans' thread was a living hell.

:laughing:

Ooh! A backhanded compliment from Engine! :tramp: Seriously, I think/hope I'm trying to expand my metal horizons a little with Metal Month. I have already come more into the likes of subgenres I would never touch and would revile and ridicule (Black/Death/Stoner etc) and am doing my best to give them a fair hearing. Some of the music however just will never appeal to me. Panopticon was indeed a hell of a surprise, as was Draconian and a few others. I'm taking baby steps, at fifty-two years old....

I got nothing else to contribute.

Embarrasing? There's some hard core fans around this place. Figured I'd ask their opinion rather than solely rely on wiki.

NPR

New York Times

The Atlantic

Rolling Stone

...the point being, black metal didn't turn the metal world upside down in a short period of time. It did so over a really, really long period of time, and largely for reasons besides Church burning/killing queens.

Not sure what point those links are making. Are you equating popularity with popularity outside the metal sub-culture?

Sure am.

Then I guess so, but I question whether black metal is any more popular now in any real sense, since I imagine most of the new "fans" are just tourists, soon to abandon the "new" trend when they get bored. I have a hard time believing NPR or Rolling Stone are going to stay interested in black metal in the long term.

In this way metal fans are not dissimilar to the mainstream; the interest in any particular subgenre is fleeting. Today the favored subgenre is Black Metal; tomorrow, who knows, maybe we'll see a revival of interest in Robotic Empire's output?