Burzum and Lords of Chaos (the movie)

Today's news is two related articles originally posted at Thesyreisms regarding Burzum.


"Varg Vikernes has finished writing nine songs for Burzum's new album, which he hopes to release next year. He tells Norway's Dagbladet that several record labels are interested in issuing the band's first LP in eleven years. "I want take my time [with the album], so that I can get it the way I like it,"Vikernes says. "It will be metal, and the fans can expect to hear some real Burzum."

I am a little surprised to see Varg musically venturing again on metal territory but, I guess, it will rejoice everyone to know he's planning a comeback. I only hope the album will stand on its own merits and avoid spoiling the Burzum legacy. I doubt Varg would jeopardize his past accomplishments with a poor comeback album (Beherit did real well too with their own recently), he knows better than this I am sure.

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A few people contacted me recently, inquiring about my feelings on the forthcoming Lords Of Chaos movie.

Being a long-time Burzum enthusiast, a supporter of Varg Vikernes, after being slightly involved in Burzum.com and its following online community (filosofem), as well as appearing on the only "official" tribute album I guess my two cents meant something to someone.

Whatever, here's my take of the phenomenon:

The book this movie is based on was, to begin with, a huge pile of crap. Most of its content is built around interviews excerpts, more than often put out of context and focusing mainly on shocking topics without giving it any additional background.

The very reason why this book was published was, I guess, to capitalize on the booming phenomenon that was Black Metal at the time. The autors sensed there was something to exploit and, knowing Michael Moynihan's links to the underground, figured the idea sounded lucrative in some ways. It surely was a good idea as a lot of people bought the book (surely expecting a lot more out of it, as I did myself back then). The book stirred some controversy in the Black Metal scene, helped to fracture even more the pro-con-Varg clans and all in all failed to serve as a fitting document on what really happened in Norway in the early 90s. I've read a few chapters of it last week and I still think it's a sensationalist book with little relevance today. Seems like some producers think differently...

The movie, whatever its producers might say in press releases, will fail at shedding more light on the events it relies on. According to producer Stuart Pollok, the movie (to be directed by Sion Sono) is slated to be a teen film and a psychological horror movie. This is what triggers my fears. What are they looking to achieve with such a movie? If they're aiming at making a new Twilight out of it, turning it into a teenfest based on the evil Varg rebelling against society and being portrayed as a lovely but angry rebel with a cause, we're in for an invasion of all stores by raving teens ready to buy any merch produced to promote the movie. I doubt this will happen. My fears are directed at an eventual success of the movie that will only bring back those events on the surface and that a lot of people will use them to discredit what Black Metal used to be about. All of a sudden, so-called specialists will pop-out and comment the whole thing like if they knew everyone involved personally. We might even see reports basing themselves on the book and still pile-up more lies on the whole thing. My fears are that people will just concentrate on the shocking nature of the events and forget to dig deeper in the matter and try to understand what motivated the young musicians of Norway to go to such ideologicalextremes... None of this will be done.

What should be done about Norwegian Black Metal is a lenghty, aptly funded and well planned documentary focusing on hard facts and featuring in-depth interviews with the musicans directly involved in the events. We've seen a few of those and, for me, most of them failed to reach the very core of what Black Metal is/was at the time. I'd like to think that the producers behind the "Until the light takes us" documentary will be able to acheive this (but I still have doubts).

Understanding Black Metal: This is not a phenomenon you can investigate while strolling the streets of a urban area. It's not about interviewing priests who will only see a way to fight back and attract public compassion. It's not about interviewing kids who'll desperately look for free media exposure for their silly corpse-painted bands. It's not about trying to make a sensationalistic, fast-selling novel out of it...

Trying to document what Black Metal was/is/will be is trying to expose the very core of mankind's rottenness and expecting people to understand that this overhelming darkness can be used as a constructive force, based on the idea that when all is black you can see the stars much more easily. The public cannot grasp this concept. A book cannot do it and a movie can't even hope acheiving it.

Maybe shat should be done about the history of Black Metal is: nothing!

All we'll ever get is pure, senseless entertainment.

Mankind likes to be entertained, not educated.