Until the Light Takes Us

Norwegian black metal holds a special place in my heart and by that I do not merely mean the music (but mainly the spirit). Growing up watching MTV during my elementary school years, I soon became disillusioned by the messages of peace and tolerance promoted by the majority of white artists I was exposed to. After all, all the Negro “musicians” promoted violence and the will to power (albeit, in a way I could never relate to). For me, it was simply a question of, “Why are all white musicians a bunch of pussy hippies?!?” Of course, I grew older and discovered aggressive music on my own but is was not until I discovered black metal that I realized the power (for better or for worst) a music scene could have. I was first exposed to black metal after watching Harmony Korine’s Gummo about 7 years ago, a cinematic experience that changed my life in more than one way (the discovery of black metal being one of those ways). I soon realized black metal was an expression of an atavistic reawakening in the Nordic countries, the European dream that German Friedrich Nietzsche had hoped for, only on a much smaller (and somewhat degenerate) scale. 

The black metal musicians have done much more than most people that simply describe themselves as “musicians.” They burned down churches, murdered homosexuals, committed suicide and even murdered each other. The little Jewish auteur from Tennessee, Harmony Korine, even stated that the black metal muscians killed their Messiah. As a tribute to black metal musicians and their neo-heathen imagery, Korine even exhibited his photography project The Sigil of the Cloven Hoof Marks Thy Path whilst tap-dancing in black-metal-face. Korine’s project can be seen in the 2009 documentary on the history of Norwegian black metal Until the Light Takes Us. Surely, the greatest and most innovative musician involved with black metal is Varg “Count Grishnackh” Vikernes. Varg is best known for his musical outfit Burzum as well as the killing of his musical rival Euronymous, the man Harmony Korine named the messiah of black metal. The documentary Until the Light Takes Us helps to separate the facts and myths surrounding black metal culture.

Aside from the killings and church burnings, the only other thing most people associate black metal with is Satanism. Of course, the media was behind associating black metal with Satanism as Varg Vikernes makes clear in Until the Light Takes Us. The real motivation behind the anti-Christian sentiment associated with black metal is the reawakening of the pre-Christian Nordic soul. As explained by Varg and various other musicians in the documentary, black metal musicians hate Christianity due to the fact that the Christians destroyed their original cultures and replaced it with the religion of Christ. Not only do the black metal musicians despise Christ but they also hate egalitarian globalism and how it is being spread like cancer in a similar manner they feel Christianity was, destroying what is organically theirs and replacing it with “peaceful” universal internationalism. In Until the Light Takes us, Varg Vikernes describes how as a child, when he saw a McDonalds fast food restaurant built in his town, his immediate reaction was to shoot it with a rifle with his comrades. In fact, Varg and his fellow musicians, although taught lies of equality growing up, felt with their truest instincts that globalization was wrong, hence reacting to it in the most violent manner, whether it was by creating raw black metal or catching a church on fire.

Varg in prison

The black metal musician Fenriz sums up the Norwegian soul as one of extreme individualism and isolation. Surely, the modern internationalized world is causing dissonance in the Northern soul with third world immigrants (who are generally collectivist races that lack individualism) flooding into first world nations. As the world gets more globalized and even more groups of people that have nothing in common (both culturally and racially) are cramped together, one can most certainly expect much more violent and powerful resistances to internationalism in the future, for black metal is only the beginning. Since the events discussed in Until the Light Takes Us happened sometime ago, the documentary mainly acts as a reflection of the black metal movement during the early days of a globalized Norway. Recently, Varg Vikernes has even described metal culture as “Nigger Culture” and is now mainly involved with creating dark ambient synthesizer-based (something he has always experimented with) and folkish music, as well as writing books on Heathenism.

The best source for the history of black metal is the book Lords of Chaos written by Michael Moynihan (with the help of Norwegian Didrik Søderlind). Much like the documentary Until the Light Takes Us, Lords of Chaos is fairly objectively done, allowing for the main creators of black metal to tell their own stories. I had already read the book before watching the documentary Until the Light Takes Us so I didn’t really learn anything new by watching it (but at the very least, I was once again treated to the fantastic aesthetic package of black metal). Apparently, Japanese auteur Sion Sono (Suicide Club, Strange Circus) will be directing a film based on Lords of Chaos. For now, treat yourself to Until the Light Takes Us. 

-Ty E