Does Black Metal have a philosophy of its own? This lecture asks whether the genre is a case of spoiled cultural self-absorption, or whether it expresses a genuine longing for meaning in a disenchanted, spiritless world.
The lecturer starts with the second wave of Black Metal, which emerged in early 1990s Norway, in the shadow of the oil boom. Drummer Fenriz of Darkthrone described it as ‘prosperous and tormented art that came from exhaustion with easy living’. The talk looks at the genre as a cultural reference point, a historical product and a social symptom, and as a revival of an aesthetic tradition that reaches much further back than modern subculture.
The lecturer researches anxiety and night motifs in literature and culture. The event is based on the book Skriget ved historiens ende, co-edited by the lecturer, with contributions from across Scandinavia and from German artist Martin Eder. It is published this autumn by Multivers.
