QUOTES FROM BLACK METAL MUSICIANS

Logo by Ozan Erkmen

Black metal has always been a contemporary art that holds a deep intellectuality behind. As it is mostly inspired by the negativity and dark arts, this genre can be counted as the influencers of this dark mysticism, philosophy and alternative life style, which is generally opposite to anything. Existentialism finds its darker shade in black metal while individual anarchism and nihilism walk hand in hand right beside with black metal.

This genre has various sources from literary arts like Edgar Alan POE, Lovecraft, Clive Barker, Kafka, Dagerman, Baudelaire, Lord Byron, and Tolkien to philosophers like Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus, and Schopenhauer. Musicians themselves have given intellectual contribution by their lyrics, which are dark poems actually, and by their own words. Here you see the outstanding words spreading all over by black metal musicians from my interviews done for Filhakikat.net, Headbang Bookazine, Bataklık Zine and Black Metal Chronicles e-zine recently.

Some words are in poetical aspect by dark philosophic touch and the others are very critical to world, urban life, religions, nationalities that are realistic point of view. From negativity to passion, darkness to wine or addiction. May be the black metal is the foremost addiction overall, who knows? Here you are the black metal quotes.

 

MELANCHOLY… WELTSCHMERZ

I never enjoy music that is happy. In addition, I am not a very melancholic person I have to admit in my real life. However, I think what I do is I strive for balance through living this melancholy and more darker emotions in my music. For example, if you go to the mental hospital where the people are really fucked up, they would sing halleluiah and pray the Lord and happy cheerful songs. I think it is because we strive for being complete. And that is why Empyrium always has these heavy songs, which have deep emotions because I really strive for finding perfect balance in my life.

Markus/EMPYRIUM

Melancholy is for me a kind of feeling that happens between some peeks of activation. I see melancholy as a necessary feeling that is useful to recover the mind again. It is like a harvest: there are times to put the seed into the earth, and times to get the grapes of your effort. 

Protector/SUMMONING

As far as I can remember, I have always been attracted to darkness and the sombre aura, so the whole melancholy concept, which dwells upon SMFN, really comes natural to me.

Erik Unsgaard/SO MUCH FOR NOTHING

Melancholy is my salvation.

Furcht/FROST NOIR

Melancholy is a natural German expression given with the mother’s milk. Although I am not too common with German literature or philosophy I could imagine this is coming from the times Germany completely was covered with huge and dark forests, sagas like the “Nibelungen” and strong mythology in general. In addition, that any kind of heroism always got betrayed by mankind which made it impossible to escape a supernatural destiny. Therefore never could live a self-determined life. A good and also the worst example could be the “III rd Reich” in 1933-1945. Even democracy is going absolutely wrong and been based on feelings of guilt or foreign domination. This eternal kind of oppression exclusively causes melancholy & depression. There is no other chance, never was and never will be.

Jürgen Bartsch/BETHLEHEM

There have been darker times in my life when melancholy has reflected in my music as well. In many cases art is indeed born from torment

Werwolf / SATANIC WARMASTER

I’d call myself a melancholiac. It’s a feeling that was and is always there, doesn’t matter if I’m happy, sad or whatever, so also my art is and will always be melancholic.

Wahntraum / KARG

A great deal of Watain's music is defined by melancholia. I'm not talking about sobbing teenagers who hate their worthless lives. I am talking about a arcane and profound sense of detachment. There is a Portuguese word which describes this very well; "Saudade". It means longing for a home that you have never seen, a sort of inborn sense of loss and sorrow which has no remedy.

Erik/WATAIN

I can barely think of any art I perceive that isn’t rooted in weltschmerz in one way or another. Art is emotional expression, thus always driven by what affects you. If I wouldn’t feel the way I do about the world, its human inhabitants and their failures, I wouldn’t scream these lyrics, wouldn’t play this music.

Chris Noir/ULTHA

Dark side… Some people experience with violence, someone else drugs or whatever. For us it is coming with music. Actually when I am happy, I couldn’t compose, when I am sad, I can compose so that make me happy so it is a kind of balance, pyschological situation.

Sakis/ROTTING CHRIST

RELIGION…

I am a pure atheist and like to quote on the most misunderstood lines “opium of the people”. Unlike the later distorted version of that line “opium for the people”, this quote meant, that we live in a cruel, cold world, while religion offers the people all the warmth and hope they never get in the real world, and therefore need religion to heal their wounds and soul.  It does NOT mean that anybody shall prohibit people their religion or any of their symbol; such suppression never worked, neither under the regime of Stalin, nor under the regime of Ataturk. The more you suppress religion, the more it causes resistance against this kind of suppression. And I am as a person who grew up with metal music, dressed in leather-jackets with long hair, knows perfectly what it means if some state or person tells which cloths to wear and which attitude I shall have.

Richard/SUMMONNING

I do not see why all the Black Metal bands have to oppose religion or be anti-religious because religion is one of the biggest fucking evilest things in the world. It causes pain, it causes death.

Niklas Kvarforth/ SHINING

People like Dave Mustaine considered themselves as new born Christians, something very common that you see that might be cast to do destroying minds people like used to take drugs and real bad situation. When they cut everything out, they just find out the God. It is very common in Europe, USA, take drugs, do very bad acts, then discover God just for secure feeling. It means that he is very fundamentalist and those reactions definitely have no place in metal attitude, metal scene. We are here to fight against any kind of religion, beliefs, and any organized stuff cause so many things. RC would be here always saying non-serviam

Sakis/ROTTING CHRIST

SUICIDE…

I think this is a very individual matter; when and why people commit suicide. But of course, it’s some sort of passion… There is a reason why they want to leave this world, so they probably have a passion for suicide, right? I guess both love and death are two really emotional topics, and the thought of one or the other can probably be too much for some people. Of course you have the lack of love which can lead to death, but also the love of death – the curiosity of what’s on the other side (even though I personally don’t think it’s anything waiting for you there) or those who somehow fall in love with the thought of dying, as they can’t stand this world anymore.

Erik Unsgaard/SO MUCH FOR NOTHING

Suicide is very individual in some cases; people just kill themselves because they can’t stand living, that’s sad because I would like them to suffer more instead. Living the life is living into suffering but in Dead’s action is different thing because it’s religious act. I support that as well.

Niklas Kvarforth/SHINING

From my personal experiences with it, suicide basically was an expression of triviality. Celebrated without a cause. And to just complete the life circle in a preferred manner.

Jürgen Bartsch/BETHLEHEM

The whole suicidal and nihilistic image became a cliché over the years and as a consequence, I think it has lost the dangerous power it had back in the days. I think all artists go through some very dark times in their lives, with higher highs and lower lows than regular people do, but I always said that this does not mean that someone is constantly depressed or pissed-off. These days I would say I am very disillusioned and most of the time I am quite a loner, but this does not mean I am necessarily depressed. I am beyond that point in life, I got used to things going wrong most of the time, no big deal.

Herr Morbid/FORGOTTEN TOMB

BLACK METAL…

Marduk has always been the main focus, takes my whole life, I would say that this is what I live for, my devotion, sacrifices are going, so keep on doing what we do.

Morgan/MARDUK

Black metal is not a jouissance for me, it’s a necessity. I cannot imagine my life without music in general and black metal is the only music I can play. I learnt classical guitar when I was young, but BM is definitely my style. I do not feel any pain, suffering or isolation or hatred against anything. The BM is my light.

Patrick/KHAOS-DEI

Music never can be a therapy. A therapy of what? I am neither sick nor mentally ill and if I need a therapy, I would join a doctor. My life indeed is balanced. Not because of music. This is just what it always was: a passion. Although I have experienced all kind of music in the meantime my home base is Heavy Metal because it still allows the best possible interpretation among all other musical directions. That is what makes Heavy Metal so strong and unique and I always want to stay part of it. And will do anyway.

Jürgen Bartsch/BETHLEHEM

Despite the fact that nature has always had a certain level of impact on me, the core and the primal force that reflects into Black Metal through me is Satan.

Werwolf / SATANIC WARMASTER

To me Black Metal always was another word for freedom… It was always music from maniacs for maniacs. Individuality as highest bid.

Wahntraum / KARG

To me Black Metal -regardless of which "wave"- has always been about the channeling of diabolical energy, the transmission of infernal shockwaves, the praising of spiritual liberation, the opposition of law and order.

Erik/WATAIN

Just take a look directly at the early beginning of the second wave, or even just at the catalogue of Deathlike Silence Productions - experimentation with other sounds and styles wasn’t the exception, but the rule! None of these bands sounded like Bathory or Celtic Frost, but took the basic ingredients and transformed them into something extremely unique.

Chris Noir / ULTHA

NEGATIVITY…

The world always needs an opposition.

Kim Carlsson/LIFELOVER

I get discussed because people are people and they piss me off and I wanna kill them all but I know I can never do that and that’s a very childish thought as well but it’s very hard to describe.  I was actually thinking of becoming a fundamentalist when I was younger but I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to destroy but I saw that would never be a reality because of my mental problems. I started making music and started to say “hey, maybe I can use my music as a weapon against people, against humanity”. That is what I did. We had a lot of negative reactions from Shining, oh, I am happy and I know that it makes difference.

Niklas Kvarforth/SHINING

SELF-DESTRUCTION…

I have never had any addiction. However, I have had an obviously unhealthy attitude towards the world of intoxicating substances in my youth, which still exists widely in the world around me. It was definitely a very interesting way to get to know the limits of yourself and others. After all, if you are going to destroy yourself, why any limits? There are always boundaries to break or shackles if you may.

Kim Carlsson/LIFELOVER

Started when I was very young of course. I started experiment in misusing my body by burning, cutting, beating or stuff like that. Then it became an essential part of Shining stage performance. Now I do not do it very much but sometimes it happens but never premade.

Niklas Kvarforth/SHINING

Well, not all music inspires destruction, though in Metal, Punk and other aggressive music-styles it’s certainly an important element, both in terms of destroying the common fake values instilled by society as well as lingering within self-destructive activities, both things that I’m pretty talented at.

Herr Morbid/FORGOTTEN TOMB

You know that what brought me the metal music as well, that dark side of the things and the self-destruction, feeling and listening something dangerous and different from normal guy next door. That is what makes metal so attractive I think. It gives desire of wildness and nowadays I must say that metal often is very tame way. Sometimes I really love to listen to very old black metal stuffs like Mayhem which is a very destructive band and I am blown away by the negativity of it. It is amazing! You know how you can bring so much negativity into music? It is definitely a form of art. It should be respected as that. It is the music, which I grow up that I still love to listen. And I think I really enjoy the wildness and the self-destructive part in the darkness still in there.

Markus/EMPYRIUM

Self-destruction is helplessness. People are helpless; they have no other choice so self-destruction gives them relief.

Furcht/FROST NOIR

DARK LYRICS…

 

One day there came the idea to put lyrics in one of the language Tolkien created over the song and of course, the black language was the most attractive one and so I asked a friend from the band Greifenstein to help me to work for lyrics written in this black speech and the result was really breathtaking and after we had the lyrics we still got the next problem how to sing this lyric. I tried many different pronunciations but many things I tried just did now work well and in the end I just made the singing as aggressive as possible and did mixing of my vocals with some orkish scream samples. 

Silenus/SUMMONING

The lyrics are a bit more hostile and generally more aggressive in their nature than what people might be used to, however I will not discuss these in depth here and as I am currently working on the third edition of “When Prozac No Longer Helps” which will explain the content further.

Niklas Kvarforth/SHINING

If you read the lyrics of “Temple of Ahriman”, you’ll find that the story is a mix between myself, my own feelings and thoughts, combined with the actual Ahriman in Zoroastrianism.

Lord Ahriman/DARK FUNERAL

When the bad feeling come to me, I start writing as it makes me feel better.

Furcht/FROST NOIR

Actually we have this kind of song called “In the gutter of this spring” about feeling guilty because you are not feeling the same as other people and it is spring, everybody is enjoying the light coming back, the cheerfulness, the nature, being bloom.

Markus/EMPYRIUM

The concept behind the “Springtime Depression” title was born during one of those early spring days in March/April, when nature is blossoming but it is raining and there’s a grey, empty sky; I thought I like that grey sky against the serenity of the green leaves on the trees, like sensing some kind of mistake, some kind of stark contrast. It was like being aware that while the world was cheering, I felt the opposite inside of me. Those are details that most of the common people do not really think about or are able not to feel.

Herr Morbid / FORGOTTEN TOMB

DARK INSPIRATION…

Take yourself beyond the civilized world and you will find the greatest artist of all.

Kim Carlsson/LIFELOVER

Poe has so beautiful the writing, the way he chooses the words, it is like singing, like a melody, choosing very carefully every word and he is a genius in the perspective. And Lord Byron, he is very romantic and at the same time always having the cynism towards other people, kind of little bit like a misanthropia which I really relate at the time as well.

Markus/EMPYRIUM

I am and have always been into authors like Bukowski, Henry Miller or some Austrian ones like Stefan Zweig.

Wahntraum / KARG

Lovecraft…  Since his way of describing fear as something lurking, threatening yet vague without directly confronting the reader with its actual reason at first, is a huge influence on us when it comes to creating this certain atmosphere in our songs. Ralph and I are huge fans of Lovecraft’s work.

Chris Noir / ULTHA

Yes, I like to read a lot, and I guess I am always in search of that diabolical nerve within any form of art. Any time I come across something that shows a new facet of darkness, it adds another jewel in my Masters crown. Within literature, my favorite authors are probably Cormac McCarthy, Nikanor Teratologen, Huysmans, Poe, Lovecraft, dark and profound stuff like that... 

Erik/WATAIN

WAR…

Wars mean controlling. You have to scratch to surface to see who really controls the war to see why these all the way that are which country rouses up which means that there are so playing, playing behind, for real information everyone have to notice to find out. I would like to say that World War 2 and biblical issues are still my inspiration. I read so many different works, I mean religious, history as well, and I read 6-7 books on the same time. Probably people do not even know what had happened 20 years ago because nobody really cares, they only care about typical modern stupid things so older people might know something but most of the people no more care.

Morgan/MARDUK