Metal in itself is nothing more than a mother with thousands of bastard young, sorta like the Shub-Niggurath of the music world. A new sub-genre of metal is born at least a few times every year. Death metal, progressive metal, tech/math metal, viking metal, blackened Swedish death metal, symphonic black metal, doom/funeral metal, depressive atmospheric black metal, Post-metal, etc., etc. The community like fan-base of metal will always find a way to support these acts, no matter how unappealing it may be to others. And that's one of the reasons (if not just a subconscious mentality) that many people enjoy metal. It can be obscure or straight forward, it can be one guy screaming over a slow repeated guitar riff or a flurry of shredding over top of changing time signatures and tempo shifts, but it will always find a fan base. One style of metal has slowly had it's story told in recent years: Norwegian Black Metal. Technically it could be called 2nd wave Black Metal, but to it's fans it's usually referred to as True Black Metal. This scene includes the corpse paint painted faces of Immortal, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Emperor, and Gorgoroth among many others. To many people it may sound like someone throwing up over top of buzzing overly distorted guitars, but sometimes you have to look a little bit closer with music to get the feeling that is trying to be portrayed when it is played. Norwegian Black Metal may not be pretty or technical or well produced, but it's rich with cultural tradition, and a true love for the music they are playing. These are bands (sometimes of no more than 1 or 2 people) that grew up in the tape trading era where the only way someone in Europe could hear Morbid Angel's new demo was by having a pen pal in Florida trade them for the new Napalm Death LP. And being that Norway is so secluded from the rest of Europe it some what allowed a much different style of music to evolve. Being able to shred up and down on a guitar weren't what was important, neither was making pretty melodies and catchy riffs. Black Metal is about creating an atmosphere, and getting in touch with your inner thoughts. For some it is a cry out against Christianity which pushed Pagan rituals out of Norway. To fight the Christian "God" some Black Metal bands seek Satan to simply be the antagonist. To remember their ancestors some Black Metal bands introduce folk instruments into their songs and sing of viking glory. While others still might just revel in the dark and evil. There are many stories that swirl around Black Metal (murder, Nazism, church burning, etc.), and many of them have been covered in the very well written and acclaimed book The Lords of Chaos. It may not be a genre for everyone, but at the very least one can appreciate the dedication most of the musicians have. One such band is Gorgoroth. Gorgoroth has almost always been followed by controversy. Whether it be getting kicked out of Poland because of happenings during a certain concert, or even more recently when 2 of the members kicked out the only remaining original member who felt entitled to the Gorgoroth name leading to 2 Gorgoroths to exist momentarily. Below I have posted a documentary done about True Norwegian Black Metal in which the interviewers get in touch with Ghaal, the lead singer of Gorgoroth, and try to get some more insight into the band and genres message. It's not the best documentary ever, and it's clear that the guys were only looking for a controversial topic and were not fans of the genre. Not all the questions get answered, and towards the end of the documentary you're likely to get pissed off at the fat ass producer who decided not to bring heavy clothing to fucking Norway of all places and then decides to whine as Ghaal leads the group up to the shack that his grandfather built. I know it sounds like a horror movie plot, but this is a man that generally does not open up to the public at all showing these guys a place that's very special to him, and then the fat ass producer starts crying like a vagina that "they're not there for a nature walk, they are there for an interview". By the end of the documentary it's clear that the group learned almost nothing from Ghaal as they ask what could very well be the dumbest question that could have been asked at that moment and Ghaal goes into some sort of freaky trance. Anyway, watch the videos down below if you're interested in gaining some insight into black metal, or if you just want to watch an interesting anthropological documentary.
Is that fat fucking producer not a bitch or what! And that question at the end. What the fuck was he thinking? The whole time Ghaal's talking about how he wants people to think for themselves and not be sheep and the things that are important to him and his views. Then the retard asks if he's lonely, and then asks Ghaal to lead him better towards a better understanding. Dumbass. I mean, I have no idea what the fuck Ghaal was thinking at the end there, but if the allegations against Ghaal were true, and he really did torture one or two people, who knows what was going through his head. One thing that also threw me off was that they made it seem like Ghaal actually lives there all the time. Bullshit. His band might not be raking in big bucks that'll buy him some fancy house, but I know for damn well he doesn't live there all the time. The dude has his own fucking myspace, my ass he lives alone in the woods with no outlet to the outside world. And yes I'm well aware of the rumors that Ghaal, who somewhat recently decided he wanted to design some clothing, may be a homosexual. I'm not gonna expound upon that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the documentary about as much as I did. I wish it was a little bit better done, and maybe done by people who actually like the music, but whatever. Though if I ever see that fat producer guy, I'm gonna kick him in the nuts for being such a dumb bitch.
Oh, and if you want to watch another documentary about metal in general, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey was a good one. It kinda covered all the bases, and even showed off some of the sub-genres. Black metal was covered in it as well and a certain interview with Norwegian Black Metal pioneers, Mayhem, has gone down as one of the best interviews in the history of documentaries. Beer + Angry Black Metal Members = Greatness.
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