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Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind: Lords of chaos (book)

10/10/12 || BamaHammer

Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind’s “Lords of Chaos” seems to be a pretty polarizing account of the early days of the Norwegian black metal scene in the sense that no one can decide whether or not the recollections and quotes from the book are actually true or not. Regardless of what you believe, the book does provide an interesting and downright captivating read for the most part. I understand that the general topic of the early-‘90s Norwegian black metal scene is probably a little bit tired and infinitely discussed and argued subject in metal, but for some (like myself), it’s a story that’s fun just to hear time and time again as if it was your favorite fucked-up bedtime story.

There’s plenty of fun and debatable information to be found in here from the get-go. The authors take you on a joyride through the early days of “satanically inspired” rock and roll, which includes a few eye-opening passages about bands like Black Widow and Coven, both far precursors to the evil granddaddies that are Venom and Mercyful Fate and bands that I had no idea ever even existed. Surprisingly, both Black Widow and Coven played the satanism card well and were legitimately creepy then and even come across as kinda-sorta spooky even today (but mainly because they looked like this.

If you read the book as a testament to black metal history and pay attention to how it traces the lineage throughout the early years as the genre was developing, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a more thorough exploration into how something like black metal came about. Black metal has always seemed to be more of an artistic representation of a social rebellion more than anything else really, and “Lords of Chaos” really does a good job of bringing you how it all began in a neat, tidy little story. For instance, black metal wasn’t just about being underground. It was about under underground, and the authors show you some of the differences between those two levels of extremes from the early ’90s.

As the book builds into the classic and notorious church-burnings/Helvete/Varg vs. Euronymous saga and it kicks all those shenanigans into full gear, things get weird. There’s even a lengthy discussion on ancient astronaut theories and UFOs and how they relate to Varg Vikernes’s interpretations of Norse mythology. I told you it’s weird. I’ve also seen in more than a few places that some of the quotes and passages from interviews are disputed and widely believed never to have taken place, but they are very interesting nonetheless. If just half of what you read during that vast segment in this book is legitimately factual, then the black metal scene from that time period is assuredly the most ridiculously awesome culture that ever existed. If nothing else, those of you who actually remember the scene in those days will probably get a nostalgic kick out of the stories and numerous photos surrounding Helvete, Euronymous’s Oslo record store.

The last third of the book really devolves into a finger-pointing session, singling out black and even death metal cultures for the heinous evil that, well, honestly people inherently have inside them to begin with. We’ve all heard and seen this scenario before. People just need reasons to comfort them when bad things happen. They need something to blame. I know that we don’t just listen to metal or just really like metal. We live metal. Some people out there will never understand that, but they will focus on the bad apples. And I don’t care at all. Because, hey, at least they’ll leave us alone.

Pick this book up and give it a read. It’s worth your time.

7,5

Authors
Michael Moynihan
Didrik Søderlind

Information
Released: 1998, 2003
Publisher: Feral House

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