Norwegian Black Metal - My Perspective

First of all, I don't claim to be an enjoyer of the music of Black Metal  in general. I am mostly intrigued by the people involved in the Norwegian BM scene, especially the formative years of the genre.

If you told me you think BM 'sounds like shit' I would not really disagree. But the reasons for people's interest in the genre are many and varied.

Lets start with the most obvious thing people assume draws listeners to Black Metal - Satanism. Surprise! It is the least common reason. While most of the people involved in making BM claim to be some form of Satanist, the audiences are usually drawn to the soundscape, the mythological lyrics, the atmosphere and mood the music generates. To explain the difference between overtly Satanic and irreligious influences I would have to address them band-by-band and I am not going to waste my time doing so.

I am also not going to delve into the thousand or so sub-genres. Lets just say Norwegian men in the early BM scene all wanted to sound basically the same as each other - there were no sub-genres.

Back to the reasons. As mentioned, a major reason is the atmosphere attached to Norwegian Black Metal. Lets exclude Dummy (edit: that should say Dimmu. But I'm leaving the mistake in because lol )Borgir from this right away, as their stuff doesn't have this atmosphere generally. If you don't know how they sound, grab a blender and half-fill it with gravel, and select Max speed. I can't stand the stuff.

Fuzz pedals are normally the go-to for generating the atmospheric guitar sound, especially on early stuff like. Darkthrone's Blaze in the northern Sky or Mayhem's Freezing Moon. Notes are usually lost in a giant wall of fuzz and distortion. This is the point. It's not an accident. Drums are often very fast paced and aggressive, but not always. Bass is almost never prominent. 

Now onto the people involved. It's easier if I list members, not bands, as the Norwegian scene was creatively incestuous and a lot of collaboration occurred. Here are the most notable in no order:

Fenriz Gylve and Ted Skjellum.

Sigurd Wongraven and Kjetil Haraldstad.

Øystein Aarseth.

Varg Vikernes.

Bård Eithun and 'Ihsahn'.

These are all very interesting people, who have founded what is now accepted as Norwegian Black Metal. Notably, Sigurd Wongraven and Fenriz have been the most passionate about altering the sound and mixing in a variety of styles and influences. 

Most of these people have found themselves on the wrong side of the law, or in scuffles with other protagonists , or in Aarseth's case, dead. Theybwere not known to be the nicest of people but I find them quite fascinating. Only Sigurd, Fenriz and Ted could be called genuinely nice people when all is said and done.

Thanks for reading.