Battle Magic!

"mmmmm Satanic...."

Black metal is the most underground metal subgenre. There are probably people who object to that, but I would like to think that it's undisputed. Clearly, the metal genre that has never broken into the mainstream would be the most underground, right?

A genre which contains themes that would make a devout christian family man vomit. Anti-Christianity (gasp!), nihilism, paganism, satanism, things like that. But what confuses me is how the genre can be so diverse, yet still retain all of the negative stereotypes that a few artists have generously obtained.

Here's an example. You have Burzum, one of the most infamous black metal artists, whose lyrics detail the events of Lord of the Rings. Yet Varg Vikernes, the sole member of Burzum, was linked to a string of church burnings and the murder of a fellow black metal musician. This is perhaps the most infamous and well known event that has given black metal a bad image. You also have Faust, former member of black metal band Emperor, who brutally stabbed a gay man in a park. Of course, since he was in Emperor, it was black metal's fault that he was a homicidal maniac. My point is why does black metal have to take the bullets for the misdeeds of a few dumb ass musicians? Of course you have some national socialist black metal bands, who promote nazi themes in their music. You also have the anti-christian bands who promote, ironically, anti-christian themes in their music. But do these bands represent the genre as a whole?

Let's look at the other side of black metal. You have bands like Bal-Sagoth, whose lyrics deal with completely asinine fantasy themes. I wonder if you can tell by their ridiculously titled song "The Dark Liege of Chaos is Unleashed at the Ensorcelled Shrine of A'Zura Kai (The Splendour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire Part II)?" What about the extremely light and relaxing bands whose themes deal with nature and the world? Why is that so bad? I guess what I'm trying to say is, people are really fucking stupid.

By the way, that Eclittica album is very good. You can download if free from their Myspace page so definitely check it out.

"Honour. Commended no longer as virtue.
Yet, shalt be extolled by light's demise."