A review by michplunkett
Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, by Didrik Søderlind, Michael Moynihan
3.0
Something to take into consideration: I've never been one to listen to black metal, but the corpse paint and fanaticism caused me to want to take a deeper look into the genre.
The book provided a very thorough explanation of the themes and trends that created and shaped black metal, at least from my rather naive understanding of the genre. The clash of Viking culture and Christian invasion felt like the most compelling aspect of the book; I wished they would have touched more on that topic, but I'll take what I can get. The main personalities in the culture were also pretty interesting (from Varg to all of the academics that took the time to comment on the scene), even though they could get a bit annoying at times.
All in all, it was a good read, though it did lag at small points throughout the novel. It was a good read and gave me a view of subcultures other than anarcho-punks, which will hopefully give me the ability to get more from the music I listen to.
The book provided a very thorough explanation of the themes and trends that created and shaped black metal, at least from my rather naive understanding of the genre. The clash of Viking culture and Christian invasion felt like the most compelling aspect of the book; I wished they would have touched more on that topic, but I'll take what I can get. The main personalities in the culture were also pretty interesting (from Varg to all of the academics that took the time to comment on the scene), even though they could get a bit annoying at times.
All in all, it was a good read, though it did lag at small points throughout the novel. It was a good read and gave me a view of subcultures other than anarcho-punks, which will hopefully give me the ability to get more from the music I listen to.