EPISODE 434: Norwegian Black Metal: Satan, Arson, Murder, Suicide
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On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the infamous Norwegian Black Metal Scene. Musicians and fans famously went on a church arson spree in the 1990s, but that was hardly the worst that came from these truly dark and twisted bands. There were suicides (both musicians and listeners), murders, arsons, torture, satanic worship (that even called the Church of Satan weak), and white supremacy. And all this was just stage dressing to a new, black type of metal music with evil at its core.
Black Metal was said to start in England with a band called Venom in 1982. From there, a wave of other Black Metal bands such as Bathory (named after the infamous Lady Bathory) and Hellhammer spread. But it wasn’t until it hit Norway in the 1990s that the genre really took off.
A group known as the Black Circle met in a studio in Oslo, and from there many bands were formed. The Black Circle is said by many to be a satanic cult that music spawned from, but others just think it was a marketing ploy. With all the mayhem and violent crimes that grew from these groups, however, it seems far from marketing.
What crimes? Well, where to begin… The musician called Gorgoroth killed several goats and put their heads on spikes and bathed the audience in blood. A man called Ghaal kidnapped, tortured, and blood-let a guy…twice. Varg Vikernes famously murdered his band mate named Euronymous (who himself tried to blow up a church with a bomb some years earlier). Which leads back to the arsons. They say that Black Metal is responsible for over 50 church arsons in in a four year span in Norway alone. So, are these people truly evil Satanists, or are they so swept up in their fictional band characters that they put everything on the table for art? Listen, laugh, learn…
Visit Our Sources:
https://metalinjection.net/lists/top-10-crimes-committed-black-metal-musicians
https://www.nme.com/photos/black-metal-murders-a-history-1413703
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/11/entertainment/black-metal-church-burning-explainer/index.html
https://www.lifeinnorway.net/norwegian-black-metal/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/lords-chaos-horrifying-true-story-norways-black-metal-murders/
Black Mass Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7vw5Wydfi4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varg_Vikernes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Norwegian_black_metal_scene
Scared Sh*tless: 1003 Facts that will Scare the Sh*t out of You. Author: Cary McNeal. Perigree Press, 2012.
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