Lords of Chaos.

StormWarrior

Has anyone read this? Is it worth buying?

anti-venom

Yeah, it's definatly worth reading for an insight into the rise of Norweigan Black Metal. I don't think the book aims to be a comprehensive overview of the black metal scene; too much of the text is given over to studying Varg Vikernes and his actions. That's understandable seeing as he is one of the most controversial characters thrown up by this scene. Moynihan attempts to trace the roots of black metal from 60s and 70s proto satanic metal, through 80s and 90s thrash and death scenes. It leaves you with little doubt that a lot of the people involved in this scene were taking too literal a view of the theatrical Satanic lyrics of bands like Venom et al. Their naivety really shines through in their interviews and it's somewhat pathetic that some of them went as far as killing each other. The nationalism and racism of some of these bands is very disturbing too.

StormWarrior

I'm mostly interested in Pelle Ohlin - how much of the book is devoted to him? Is there any extra info on him in the book that you can't find easily online? And does the book have pictures?

anti-venom

Plenty of info about Dead. It's mostly gleamed from interviews with people who knew him in the scene. A lot of opinions abut him are contradictory so you have to judge for yourself how accurate that info might be. It seems that the infamous incident of Euronoymous eating parts of Dead's brain is nothing more than rumour. Apparently Euronomyous was an arch publicist and never missed a trick when it came to creating an image or myth about himself, his band or black metal in general. The first thought to strike Euronymous on finding his friend Dead with his brains blown out was to get a camera and take pictures. What an asshole!

The one thing that really struck me about the deaths in that scene ( Ohlin's and Euronymous' in particular) was the callous and indifferent attitudes of their friends to these deaths. Not one of them ever expressed regret, sadness or even acknowledged any sense of loss. It was all matter of fact as if they were discussing the death of some strangers. Really weird behaviour and not a little detached from reality. This book will really reveal to the reader just how cartoonish, fabricated and image conscious most of the black metal bands really are.

Ps.....loads of pictures of the protaganists and burning churches etc, etc.

StormWarrior

Thanks for the info, you have persuaded me to order it!

John

It's a good book, even if there are those who debate its accuracy (I'm in no position to say either way, aside from reading about BM in Kerrang years ago, I haven't really read any other sources). However, as Tony Wilson always said: If you have a choice between printing the truth and printing the legend, print the legend.

anti-venom

Good. Hope you enjoy it:)

anti-venom

John wrote: »

It's a good book, even if there are those who debate its accuracy (I'm in no position to say either way, aside from reading about BM in Kerrang years ago, I haven't really read any other sources). However, as Tony Wilson always said: If you have a choice between printing the truth and printing the legend, print the legend.

One thing this book does not do is make moral judgements about what these people do or have done. That is left to the reader to decide for themselves. In many of the interviews they manage to trip themselves up and contradict themselves. Varg Vikernes' account of the murder of Euronymous is particularly laughable. It was basically a squabble over money but he tried to pass it off as a noble act of self defense. In various interviews he manages to contradict himself on many details of the killing. Whatever 'myth and legend' that still persists around his actions are clearly dispelled by Vikernes himself and not the authors.

StormWarrior

Varg is such an idiot. I read an interview with him when he claimed that the reason he is in prison is because the "Christian-Jewish" forces that are trying to take over the world are holding him as a political prisoner because if he was free he would bring heathen beliefs back to the people of Scandinavia and overthrow Christianity. I really think he suffers from serious delusions.

anti-venom

You're right; he is a total ****head and very, very delusional.

StormWarrior

He also said that humanity is being destroyed by perfume because washing ourselves and using perfume causes pheromones to be weakened, therefore humans are becoming less attracted to each other resulting in less breeding. Pureblood Europeans should therefore stop washing so much and stop using perfume in order to save the European race.

What kind of person gives their suicidal friend bullets to kill himself with and says, "Oh well he would have killed himself without my help anyway so it's not my fault."

He also said it doesn't matter that he killed Euronymous because Euronymous was a Lapp, not a "proper" Norwegian.

anti-venom

StormWarrior wrote: »

He also said that humanity is being destroyed by perfume because washing ourselves and using perfume causes pheromones to be weakened, therefore humans are becoming less attracted to each other resulting in less breeding. Pureblood Europeans should therefore stop washing so much and stop using perfume in order to save the European race.

What kind of person gives their suicidal friend bullets to kill himself with and says, "Oh well he would have killed himself without my help anyway so it's not my fault."

He also said it doesn't matter that he killed Euronymous because Euronymous was a Lapp, not a "proper" Norwegian.

LMAO.....Yeah, he goes on about Euronymous' lack of racial 'purity' in Lords of Chaos too. That didn't stop him from dealing with him before their fallout over money. He also says that white people with brown or green eyes are also racially impure. He'd want to get some grasp on genetics before he opens that sewer gob of his again.

What baffles and worries me is that there is still a sizeable amount of people who take this clown seriously. There's no denying that black metal is still littered with a lot of ignorant, racist and gullible idiots.

StormWarrior

Yeah you could write 20 books on the crap that muppet talks. He said blue eyes are best because the sky and ocean are blue, but brown eyes are rubbish because manure is brown. He also said that although he has respect for the Celts, Celts should not breed with Scandinavians. If you're Celtic you should stay Celtic and if you're Norse you should stay Norse, plus the Scandinavians are at the top of the racial chain, so should avoid mixing with anyone, even other Europeans.

He says men being gay or bisexual is wrong, women being gay is wrong but women being bisexual is natural and fine. I guess that means that he is homophobic but wants a threesome with 2 women. He also reckons women should stay home, not be allowed to study and should have kids non-stop, because contraception is wrong and Scandinavians need to repopulate before they die out. Oh yeah and he said men should be allowed to have more than one wife. Norse women should only be allowed to breed with blue eyed norse men for the sake of racial purity. But men should be allowed to have a brown eyed wife as well as a blue eyed one to help wash out the bad genes.

Karl Hungus

I wouldn't take anything Varg says seriously, he kidnapped a family using a flashlight once, the man really doesn't have all his marbles. He did make some good music, but calling him a a nutcase barely scratches the surface of his particular brand of crazy, and if anyone takes him seriously, they're as much a lunatic as he is.

As for the book, yeah, it's a damned good read.

StormWarrior

Karl Hungus wrote: »

he kidnapped a family using a flashlight once.

I haven't heard about this. What happened?

anti-venom

I think it might have been during his attempted prison escape. He was on a short release and attempted to hijack a car in which to escape. It's one of the reasons he was denied parole recently.

Karl Hungus

StormWarrior wrote: »

I haven't heard about this. What happened?

Sorry, my mistake, I'd read something about him taking a family hostage before, but either that was unsubstantiated or it got mixed up. He hijacked their car using a flashlight, you can read more here.