Pagan Terror: The Role of Pagan Ideology in Church Burnings and the 1990s Norwegian Black Metal Subculture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.33472Keywords:
church burnings, Norwegian black metal, Paganism, Satanism, anti-Christianity, Pagan terrorism, cosmic war, Czech black metalAbstract
The church burnings wave of the early 1990s in Norway, connected with the emerging black metal subculture of the time, is often associated with Satanism, and the burnings are sometimes labeled as “Satanic terrorism.” Instead, the text argues that some arsons may be rather seen as Pagan terrorism, since some of the leading figures in the early Norwegian black metal subculture (especially Varg Vikernes) have indicated that their acts were inspired by their own personal versions of Paganism. These church-burners have described themselves as the successors of the Vikings of old and as “Pagan warriors” continuing an age-long war against Christianity and its culture. Using Mark Juergensmeyer’s terms we can understand such actions against Christianity as a type of cosmic war, employing public performances with high shock value.References
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Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York: New York University Press, 2003.
———. The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology. New York: New York University Press, 1992.
Granholm, Kennet. “Ritual Black Metal: Popular Music as Occult Mediation and Practice.” Correspondences vol. 1, no. 1 (2013): 5–33.
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Kahn-Harris, Keith. Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge. Oxford: Berg, 2007.
Kupka, Petr, Martin Laryš, and Josef Smolík. Krajní pravice ve vybraných zemích st?ední a východní Evropy. Brno: Mezinárodní politologický ústav, Masarykova univerzita, 2009.
Lahdenpera, Esa. “Northern Black Metal Legends: Interview with Euronymous.” Kill Yourself 2 (1993). http://www.fmp666.com/moonlight/mayhem.html.
Mareš, Miroslav. Terorismus v ?R. Brno: Centrum Strategických studií, 2005.
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Moberg, Marcus. “Popular Culture and the ‘Darker Side’ of Alternative Spirituality: The Case of Metal Music.” Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis: Postmodern Spirituality 21 (2009): 110–28.
Moynihan, Michael, and Didrik Søderlind. Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Venice, Calif.: Feral House, 1998.
Mørk, Gry. “Why Didn’t the Churches Begin to Burn a Thousand Years Earlier?” In Religion and Popular Music in Europe: New Expressions of Sacred and Secular Identity, edited by Thomas Bossius, Keith Kahn-Harris and Andreas Häger, 124–44. London: I. B. Tauris, 2011.
Patterson, Dayal. Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult. Port Townsend, Wash.: Feral House, 2013.
Phillipov, Michelle. “Extreme Music for Extreme People: Norwegian Black Metal and Transcendent Violence.” Popular Music History vol. 6, nos. 1–2 (2011): 150–63.
Rosendahl, Jussi, and Tuomas Forsell, “Anti-Immigrant ‘Soldiers of Odin’ Raise Concern in Finland,” Reuters, 13 January 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-finland-idUSKCN0UR20G20160113.
Steinke, Darcey. “Satan’s Cheerleaders.” SPIN vol. 11, no.11 (1996): 62–71.
Strmiska, Maxmilián, Terorismus a demokracie: Pojetí a typologie subverzivního teroristického násilí v soudobých demokraciích. Brno: Masarykova Univerziita v Brn?, Mezinárodní politologický ústav, 2001.
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Vikernes, Varg. Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia. London: Abstract Sounds Books, 2011.
Vrzal, Miroslav. “‘Satan, Ódin, Hitler’: Spojení satanismu, pohanství a ultrapravicové ideologie v black metalové subkultu?e.” Sacra vol. 8, no. 1 (2009): 8–24.
Weinstein, Deena. “Pagan Metal.” In Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music, edited by Donna Weston and Andy Bennet, 58–75. Durham: Acumen, 2014.
Zelenka, Jakub. “V ?esku se formují Ódinovi vojáci, Teplicemi už prošla hlídka. Kv?li muslim?m” (In the Czech Republic, Soldiers of Odin formed, begin patrolling in Teplice, in response to Muslims), Lidovsky.Cz, 15 July 2016, https://tinyurl.com/A160714-171425.
Film
Metal: Headbanger’s Journey (2005). Directed by Sam Dunn with Scot McFadyen and Jessica Wise.
Satan rir media (1998). Directed by Torstein Grude.
Until the light Takes Us (2008). Directed by Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell.
Discography
Bathory. Bathory. Black Mark/Tyfon, 1984.
Burzum. Aske. Deathlike Silence Productions, 1993.
Graveland. In the Glare of Burning Churches. Witching Hour Productions, 1993.
Graveland. Thousand Swords. Lethal Records, 1995.
Taake. Noregs Vaapen. Karisma Records, 2011.
Cowan, Douglas, and David Bromley. Cults and New Religions: A Brief History. 2nd ed. Chichester; Malden: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
Dani. “Samoth interviewed by Dani.” Undated. http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/diner/4488/samoth_int.htm.
Dostálová, Anna-Marie. “Czech Neopagan Movements and Leaders.” In Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe, edited by Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson, 164–81. Durham: Acumen, 2013.
Dro?d?ak, Artur. “Kraków. Dominik M.: to nie ja spali?em ko?ció?ek na Woli Justowskiej.” Gazeta Krakowska, March 15, 2017. https://tinyurl.com/a-11883442.
Dyrendal, Asbjørn. “Satanism and Popular Music.” In The Lure of the Dark Side: Satan and Western Demonology in Popular Culture, edited by Christopher Partridge and Eric Christianson, 1–21. London: Equinox, 2009.
Gardell, Mattias. Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822384502.
Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York: New York University Press, 2003.
———. The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology. New York: New York University Press, 1992.
Granholm, Kennet. “Ritual Black Metal: Popular Music as Occult Mediation and Practice.” Correspondences vol. 1, no. 1 (2013): 5–33.
——. “‘Sons of Northern Darkness’: Heathen Influences in Black Metal and Neofolk Music,” Numen 58 (2011): 514–44. https://doi.org/10.1163/156852711X577069.
Hensley, Chad. “Legion of the Night: An Interview with Emperor.” EsoTerra 6 (1995). http://www.esoterra.org/empor.htm.
Juergensmeyer, Mark. The New Cold War?: Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
——. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. 3rd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
Kahn-Harris, Keith. Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge. Oxford: Berg, 2007.
Kupka, Petr, Martin Laryš, and Josef Smolík. Krajní pravice ve vybraných zemích st?ední a východní Evropy. Brno: Mezinárodní politologický ústav, Masarykova univerzita, 2009.
Lahdenpera, Esa. “Northern Black Metal Legends: Interview with Euronymous.” Kill Yourself 2 (1993). http://www.fmp666.com/moonlight/mayhem.html.
Mareš, Miroslav. Terorismus v ?R. Brno: Centrum Strategických studií, 2005.
Miky. “Pohanství a islám.” 18 September 2016. https://pohanskykruh.wordpress.com/2016/09/18/pohanstvi-a-islam/.
Moberg, Marcus. “Popular Culture and the ‘Darker Side’ of Alternative Spirituality: The Case of Metal Music.” Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis: Postmodern Spirituality 21 (2009): 110–28.
Moynihan, Michael, and Didrik Søderlind. Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Venice, Calif.: Feral House, 1998.
Mørk, Gry. “Why Didn’t the Churches Begin to Burn a Thousand Years Earlier?” In Religion and Popular Music in Europe: New Expressions of Sacred and Secular Identity, edited by Thomas Bossius, Keith Kahn-Harris and Andreas Häger, 124–44. London: I. B. Tauris, 2011.
Patterson, Dayal. Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult. Port Townsend, Wash.: Feral House, 2013.
Phillipov, Michelle. “Extreme Music for Extreme People: Norwegian Black Metal and Transcendent Violence.” Popular Music History vol. 6, nos. 1–2 (2011): 150–63.
Rosendahl, Jussi, and Tuomas Forsell, “Anti-Immigrant ‘Soldiers of Odin’ Raise Concern in Finland,” Reuters, 13 January 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-finland-idUSKCN0UR20G20160113.
Steinke, Darcey. “Satan’s Cheerleaders.” SPIN vol. 11, no.11 (1996): 62–71.
Strmiska, Maxmilián, Terorismus a demokracie: Pojetí a typologie subverzivního teroristického násilí v soudobých demokraciích. Brno: Masarykova Univerziita v Brn?, Mezinárodní politologický ústav, 2001.
Strmiska, Michael. “Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives.” In Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Michael Strmiska, 1–54. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2005.
Vikernes, Varg. Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia. London: Abstract Sounds Books, 2011.
Vrzal, Miroslav. “‘Satan, Ódin, Hitler’: Spojení satanismu, pohanství a ultrapravicové ideologie v black metalové subkultu?e.” Sacra vol. 8, no. 1 (2009): 8–24.
Weinstein, Deena. “Pagan Metal.” In Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music, edited by Donna Weston and Andy Bennet, 58–75. Durham: Acumen, 2014.
Zelenka, Jakub. “V ?esku se formují Ódinovi vojáci, Teplicemi už prošla hlídka. Kv?li muslim?m” (In the Czech Republic, Soldiers of Odin formed, begin patrolling in Teplice, in response to Muslims), Lidovsky.Cz, 15 July 2016, https://tinyurl.com/A160714-171425.
Film
Metal: Headbanger’s Journey (2005). Directed by Sam Dunn with Scot McFadyen and Jessica Wise.
Satan rir media (1998). Directed by Torstein Grude.
Until the light Takes Us (2008). Directed by Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell.
Discography
Bathory. Bathory. Black Mark/Tyfon, 1984.
Burzum. Aske. Deathlike Silence Productions, 1993.
Graveland. In the Glare of Burning Churches. Witching Hour Productions, 1993.
Graveland. Thousand Swords. Lethal Records, 1995.
Taake. Noregs Vaapen. Karisma Records, 2011.
Published
2018-03-07
Issue
Section
Special Section: Paganism and Politics
How to Cite
Vrzal, M. (2018). Pagan Terror: The Role of Pagan Ideology in Church Burnings and the 1990s Norwegian Black Metal Subculture. Pomegranate, 19(2), 173-204. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.33472
