advertisement


National Socialist Black Metal - how is it still tolerated?

Hasn't Neofolk got a similar problem too? I mention it only, because it's a style of music that appears on similar sites, such as Cold Spring, as the aforementioned Black Metal. It's not that it's inherently fascist, but it appears to have been hijacked by like minded people.
 
wylton said:
Hasn't Neofolk got a similar problem too? I mention it only, because it's a style of music that appears on similar sites, such as Cold Spring, as the aforementioned Black Metal. It's not that it's inherently fascist, but it appears to have been hijacked by like minded people.
Click to expand...

Cold Spring has always released music by unapologetic fascists, that's why I'll never buy a release from them. Pretty shameful that otherwise decent musicians are prepared to share a label with open nazis, but the neofolk/industrial/metal scenes have long been full of people who should know better refusing to call out the far right because of some daft libertarian confusion.
 
I was very disappointed, and made to feel rather naive, by my discovery that the musically rather excellent Ukrainian black metal/neo folk band Drudkh are involved in this sort of thing - although they remain schtum on the matter and don't even publish their Ukrainian lyrics - an allegiance with Ukrainian ultra nationalist groups is heavily implied. Whilst these groups were imprisoned by the Nazis and fought against them, they were profoundly racist and willing to espouse anti semitic ideas if it served their cause, which has since been taken up by any number of rather unsavoury contemporary groups.

I have mentioned here previously that I used to personally know a member of a UK industrial band called The Grey Wolves that also flirted with this kind of symbolism. Knowing them personally, I know for sure they were not actual nazis or anti semites, but their use of this symbolism in their publicity and shows was discomfiting. But, then, I suppose that was it's intention in that context and Throbbing Gristle, amongst others, have also used similar shock tactics.
 
sideshowbob said:
Cold Spring has always released music by unapologetic fascists, that's why I'll never buy a release from them.
Click to expand...

I just realised I have a (posthumous) Coil CD released on Cold Spring. I've never really paid much attention to the label - my interest in angry middle-aged white men shouting over noise is pretty limited tbh.
 
foxwelljsly said:
I was very disappointed, and made to feel rather naive, by my discovery that the musically rather excellent Ukrainian black metal/neo folk band Drudkh are involved in this sort of thing
Click to expand...

That's exactly why I've pretty much given up on black metal. Trying to work out which bands aren't racist assholes is just too much work. Other music genres are available.
 
My older daughter is a lifelong metal fan. Very occasionally, she tries out a metal CD on us via the car's CD player. Despite her assurances that 'this one's really different' they all sound the bleeding same to me. A couple of tracks in and Mrs H usually demands the music be turned off.

Recently she decided to sell the car. It was parked outside our house, and she asked us to check it over before she sold it. 'Better make sure there's not a CD in the CD player' she said. There was, as I found out when turning the thing on and being blasted out of my seat by some shouty Yank.
 
sideshowbob said:
Cold Spring has always released music by unapologetic fascists, that's why I'll never buy a release from them. Pretty shameful that otherwise decent musicians are prepared to share a label with open nazis, but the neofolk/industrial/metal scenes have long been full of people who should know better refusing to call out the far right because of some daft libertarian confusion.
Click to expand...

Yes, I thought as much. I once worked with a guy who was a self confessed Nazi. He often bought stuff from the Cold Spring site & tried to convince me that the music was not far right, but I was always suspicious.
 
Joe Hutch said:
Recently she decided to sell the car. It was parked outside our house, and she asked us to check it over before she sold it. 'Better make sure there's not a CD in the CD player' she said. There was, as I found out when turning the thing on and being blasted out of my seat by some shouty Yank.
Click to expand...

I was nowhere near there, I swear.
 
paulfromcamden said:
That's exactly why I've pretty much given up on black metal. Trying to work out which bands aren't racist assholes is just too much work. Other music genres are available.
Click to expand...

Who cares what their belief's are. Enjoy the music if you like the sound of it.

The vast majority aren't singing about "racist" topics. The classic stuff from Emperor, Immortal, Enslaved, Mayhem, Satyricon, Darkthrone isn't in the least bit controversial in any way. Varg is clearly a complete zoomer but none of the classic Burzum stuff could be considered racist either. It's all about bleedin' Lord of the Rings.

Sorry I find that a strange approach to working out what music to listen to. I could understand if we were talking about Skrewdriver or shite like that but basing it on the personal belief's of band members is a bit much for me. As I said earlier if I was to choose which music I liked based on whither I would be pals with the musicians as opposed to do I like the sound of their music then I'd be doing away with a lot of good music.

Nearly every musician of the 60s and 70s had sex with young teenage girls - Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Elvis, The Who in the bin.
Everyone from Vince Neil to Bruce Springsteen has been done with drink driving - that's me by with them.
Eric Clapton once went on a racist tirade 50 years ago, whilst probably out his face on drink and drugs - Never listening to Cream again.
James Brown and John Lennon both liked to beat up their girlfriends - not listening to them ever again.

Where do you draw the line? Is being a racist worse than having sex with a 13 year old? is getting in a car drunk and killing someone worse than beating the shit out your girlfriend? All rather pointless questions when compared to do I like the sound of this music.
 
Just had a listen to some of this shite on Youtube. Not coherent or intelligible enough to be categorised politically.. and not remotely original or groundbreaking if you are more than 10 years old. We've heard all of this before.

So..whatever the politics may or may not be.. from a musical perspective it is derivative, pretentious and tedious. This stuff will not be troubling my record racks.. I had quite enough from assorted 'heavy metal'/'progressive' bands 50 years ago.

More to life than power chords/Lemmy wannabe voxes, predictable drumming and 'loadsadistortion'

:p
 
White Zombie said:
Who cares what their belief's are. Enjoy the music if you like the sound of it.

The vast majority aren't singing about "racist" topics. The classic stuff from Emperor, Immortal, Enslaved, Mayhem, Satyricon, Darkthrone isn't in the least bit controversial in any way. Varg is clearly a complete zoomer but none of the classic Burzum stuff could be considered racist either. It's all about bleedin' Lord of the Rings.
Click to expand...

The viking/pagan thing is where I start to get uncomfortable tbh. Not because I have anything again pagans(!) but for some bands it seems to be about a pre-christian white ethnic nationalist worldview that can cross over into anti-semitism and the far-right - see Graveland etc. (see also some neofolk!)

As soon as I see a band doing the pagan bit I find myself asking whether they're racists. Crazy. But I'm not alone - I just found someone posting online asking for a list of non-nazi pagan metal bands. Indie rock or jazz funk fans don't have to tread so carefully!

Darkthrone are/were great (I still have an original test pressing of A Blaze In The Northern Sky) but as I'm sure you know Transilvanian Hunger initially had 'Norwegian Aryan black metal' printed on the sleeve and came with an anti-semitic press release that Peaceville distanced themselves from.

Fenriz has since said he held racist views at the time and now regrets it. A number of the classic Scandinavian bands said some very stupid things early on. I see a difference though between the ignorance of small town teenagers in a pre-internet age and grown men holding racist/fascist views in 2021.

So I agree - the vast majority of black metal bands aren't total nazis, and nether are the vast majority of the listeners. So why do they put up with the badduns? Why is a label like Nuclear Blast putting out records by a band that had to fire it's guitarist for repeatedly giving nazi salutes on camera? I don't get it.
 
It's not just about being a racist. Being a nazi means actively supporting and promoting genocide, it means denying the reality of the holocaust, it means you are quite happy murdering and enslaving millions people because of their ethnicity or religion. Being a fascist is many orders of magnitude worse than being a casual racist, and fascists should be shunned. Being a fascist is even worse than being that lazy old fart Eric Clapton, the most tedious guitarist in the history of white man blues.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top