Norwegian Black Metal: Corpse Paint, Cold Forests, and a Very Dark Chapter

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

The story of Norwegian black metal is two stories tangled together, and any honest account has to keep hold of both. One is about a small group of young musicians in early-1990s Norway who invented a genuinely new and powerful strain of extreme music, cold and atmospheric and unlike anything before it. The other is about arson, and a murder, and a set of real crimes committed by some of those same people. The music is remarkable. The crimes were crimes. Pretending either fact away produces a lie, so this piece holds both at once.

Scandinavian-Metal on vo.rs

Norwegian Black Metal: Corpse Paint, Cold Forests, and a Very Dark Chapter