"We are all orcs now" reading that last line was like an arrow piercing my heart. It is surely true that many have become blind, beast like and ugly in more ways than one. But there are those who see glimpses of the transcendentals. Little Bombadil's in a sense. Though the Smog is thick.
Indeed, when I put my young son to bed after reading this and watched him recite the Divine Praises at three years old, and have him hold my hand and kiss it and tell me goodnight, I decided that while this article was fascinating, the doomerism is a tad far (and is usually my issue with internet discussions these days…). There’s still good in this world worth fighting for, we are certainly not all orcs, though aspects of the corruption are seeped into all our lives to greater extents then ever. We are not all orcs yet, and there is still a path to the light.
The Black Metal movement ( especially the Norwegian second wave ) is an excellent case study on how counter cultures, despite rebelling against the " ambient Christianity" of their time, nonetheless attempt a genuine re-enchantment through their strange musical textures, pseudo liturgies and rituals . It is ironic that the black metal scene came closer to a genuine form of experiential transcendence than the plodding, suburban society it so despised.
I find it hard to see black metal as little more than the natural progression of self indulgent, myopic, emotional degeneracy, that for whatever reason thought it had a right to destroy civilization because of it's supposed contradictions, and idealizing a past that, like in their handling of Tolkien, showed they were all too ready to invent an image that satisfied them. What you conclude sounds to me idealistic, even wishful, and far too kind. I have never heard any of the black metal front-men or fans articulate a rigorous understanding of history or Christianity.
Very interesting post Brian. Much appreciated. I'm one of those who have read the Lord of the Rings going on 15-20 times over the years, but haven't explored the cultural spill as you have. Should you have time, it would be an interesting project to formulate a subsequent article exploring the equally fringe but alternatively benign or wholesome response to Tolkien's Legendarium.
It is also important to consider the later development of black metal into atmospheric black metal, which took the aesthetic, developed the paganism and dropped the “Mordorism”. I see is as a dark romanticism, a return to the romantic visions of the 18th and 19th century, though bleaker, expressing nature’s powerful screaming indifference instead of her transcendental might. One might say that instead capturing the lingering embers of Faustian summer, late black metal expresses the turn into the cold Faustian winter.
Wasn't expecting to see an appearance of black metal here. Glad I did.
It's such a rich and textured subgenre of metal. I like to call it a "scaffolding" genre as it seems rife to be mixed with basically any other genre of music: jazz, amibient, 80s pop, all other metal genres, shoegaze, psybient, blues, rock, . . . I haven't heard it properly mesh with hip hop yet, but there's always time.
There's also Christian black metal bands (refered to as "unblack" or "white" metal). The Roman Catholic project Reverorum ib Malacht being a deeply dark, sinister, alluring decent.
Some of the subgenre (and sub-sub genres) is almost comically ridiculous, but there isn't a prevailing philosophy, though many will claim there is, but it has all sorts of influence, from far right to far left political philosophies, atheism, satanism, all forms of religions, nihilism, individualism, paganism. It's moods range from triumphant, to depressive (there is a literal subgenre called DSBM, which you are free to look up), anger, transcendence, psychedelic. Hell, some of it gets catchy enough to dance to.
The whole subgenre is a challenging, at times glorious, at times horrific, at times beautiful, at times, ugly, multitudinous contradiction. One thing for sure is that it is far richer than outsiders tend to think, and isn't completely beholden to its second wave Norwegian scene darkness, and is still going strong since its inception in the 80s.
"We are all orcs now" reading that last line was like an arrow piercing my heart. It is surely true that many have become blind, beast like and ugly in more ways than one. But there are those who see glimpses of the transcendentals. Little Bombadil's in a sense. Though the Smog is thick.
Indeed, when I put my young son to bed after reading this and watched him recite the Divine Praises at three years old, and have him hold my hand and kiss it and tell me goodnight, I decided that while this article was fascinating, the doomerism is a tad far (and is usually my issue with internet discussions these days…). There’s still good in this world worth fighting for, we are certainly not all orcs, though aspects of the corruption are seeped into all our lives to greater extents then ever. We are not all orcs yet, and there is still a path to the light.
A fantastic article - thank you.
The Black Metal movement ( especially the Norwegian second wave ) is an excellent case study on how counter cultures, despite rebelling against the " ambient Christianity" of their time, nonetheless attempt a genuine re-enchantment through their strange musical textures, pseudo liturgies and rituals . It is ironic that the black metal scene came closer to a genuine form of experiential transcendence than the plodding, suburban society it so despised.
I find it hard to see black metal as little more than the natural progression of self indulgent, myopic, emotional degeneracy, that for whatever reason thought it had a right to destroy civilization because of it's supposed contradictions, and idealizing a past that, like in their handling of Tolkien, showed they were all too ready to invent an image that satisfied them. What you conclude sounds to me idealistic, even wishful, and far too kind. I have never heard any of the black metal front-men or fans articulate a rigorous understanding of history or Christianity.
Imagine the putrified thoughts of someone who would burn down those old wooden churches. And thinking they are against zionism.
Very interesting post Brian. Much appreciated. I'm one of those who have read the Lord of the Rings going on 15-20 times over the years, but haven't explored the cultural spill as you have. Should you have time, it would be an interesting project to formulate a subsequent article exploring the equally fringe but alternatively benign or wholesome response to Tolkien's Legendarium.
It is also important to consider the later development of black metal into atmospheric black metal, which took the aesthetic, developed the paganism and dropped the “Mordorism”. I see is as a dark romanticism, a return to the romantic visions of the 18th and 19th century, though bleaker, expressing nature’s powerful screaming indifference instead of her transcendental might. One might say that instead capturing the lingering embers of Faustian summer, late black metal expresses the turn into the cold Faustian winter.
Wasn't expecting to see an appearance of black metal here. Glad I did.
It's such a rich and textured subgenre of metal. I like to call it a "scaffolding" genre as it seems rife to be mixed with basically any other genre of music: jazz, amibient, 80s pop, all other metal genres, shoegaze, psybient, blues, rock, . . . I haven't heard it properly mesh with hip hop yet, but there's always time.
There's also Christian black metal bands (refered to as "unblack" or "white" metal). The Roman Catholic project Reverorum ib Malacht being a deeply dark, sinister, alluring decent.
Some of the subgenre (and sub-sub genres) is almost comically ridiculous, but there isn't a prevailing philosophy, though many will claim there is, but it has all sorts of influence, from far right to far left political philosophies, atheism, satanism, all forms of religions, nihilism, individualism, paganism. It's moods range from triumphant, to depressive (there is a literal subgenre called DSBM, which you are free to look up), anger, transcendence, psychedelic. Hell, some of it gets catchy enough to dance to.
The whole subgenre is a challenging, at times glorious, at times horrific, at times beautiful, at times, ugly, multitudinous contradiction. One thing for sure is that it is far richer than outsiders tend to think, and isn't completely beholden to its second wave Norwegian scene darkness, and is still going strong since its inception in the 80s.
Cheers to you.
Thanks for your comment, Nathan. I'm a big fan of DSBM, and have written about it at length here, in case of interest https://ninapower.substack.com/p/the-colossal-and-abyssal-apathy-of