Dissecting Black Metal part I: Religion

This posting has been due for 9 months now. I've avoided posting anything else as a way to force myself to finish this one, but that just resulted in no posts at all. So from here on I will probably post on a wider mix of topics rather that sticking to one at a time. Anyway, on to the main event:

Black Metal is religious music - often it's just a facade or image, but looking past the more commercial bands you will find people that are wholeheartedly dedicated to the worship of Satan, something they attempt to express through music. The flavours of satanism within this genre are many, as there is no established path like protestantism and catholicism within christianity. Sure there are organisations like the Church Of Satan, but that's like the kindergarden of religion, it's feeble nonsense. Instead, most "serious" black metal satanists appear to cook up their own beliefs, perhaps shared with band members and the record label, but not necessarily so. Among the more fanatic bands, publications from Ixaxaar and similar seem to be popular, but while I haven't read these things, I can't help thinking that it looks very much like a gloomier take on new-age. I mean, sorcery? Witches? Magic?

But the real problem here isn't that grown men think they can learn to cast spells from a book they bought on the internet - that bit is just sort of harmlessly cute. The problem is that any acknowledgement of Satan also acknowledges christianity, and thus also God and Jesus Christ as being the son of God. This isn't too impressive for a genre who largely proclaims itself to be anti-christian, now is it? Some bands have realised the paradox in this standpoint and have instead embraced christianity as the religion of opression and fear that it can rightfully be said to be. The Swedish band Funeral Mist even sport christian crosses in their band photos and frequently quote the bible in their lyrics. So if you're all for the oppression of mankind, this totally makes sense. But they don't quite follow through with it; their band logo contains both an inverted cross and a pentagram. And lyrics like "Shine through me Satan" (Track 3, ""Holy Poison", on their album Salvation) gives the impression that they can't quite make up their mind. So even the more ideologically advanced bands adhere to a flawed logic; In fact, I have yet to come a cross a band whose standpoint appears waterproof.

A classic escape route used by satanists when these types of arguments against Satan come up, is to redefine was Satan really is. It could be that Satan is just a word that represents the "true nature of man" (which then allows them to cunningly shift the debate over to the definition of what that is), or that Satan represents the antithesis of religion, that he (?) is some sort of anarchist, that he's the chaos that will prevail over the structure that religion tries to impose upon us. But if that is the case, then why call it Satan? Why the inverted crosses and pentagrams? The answer is obviously the same as for the cause of all forms of teenage rebellion; It's the result of a strife for identity in combination with a feeling of being an outsider. Combine this with a fascination with religion and it all comes together.

Ironically, a lot of the religious aesthetics of Black Metal are derived from the catholic church, the very same which also serves as the arch nemesis for many black metallers. Catholicisms strict dogmas and authoritarian hierarchy is frowned upon (to say the least), while at the same time, Black Metal often deals with lyrical and ideological concepts that revolve around Satan using them (the artists) as his tools, hence essentially adopting the very same structures and logic as catholicism. How can anyone keep a straight face while bashing christianity for abstructing free thought, while at the same time preaching total submission to Satan? All you get is a "my god is stronger than yours", sand-box level argument that lacks any trace of intelligence and reasoning. If the Black Metal crowd was really so intellectually superior as they try to claim, you'd think that surely they could squash christianity with logic. But since their whole faith is founded on the existence of christianity, they can't shoot it down. But then again, where would they go if they had done away with their enemy? Christianity is a necessity for Black Metal to exist. It's a symbiosis.

The few bands who try to solve these problems intellectually are either badmouthed for not being "true" to the ideals of black metal or compose such ridicilously complex lyrics that noone can really decipher any real meaning from them. Complexity for the sake of complexity (or obscurity) won't solve anything, kids.

Then there are the black metal bands who distance themselves from devil worship alltogether, and instead focus on the core ideas and values that often manifest themselves in satanism; a hatred for humanity. But I'll deal with these fellows in another post.