Black Metal Rainbows

by Daniel Lukes (editor), Stanimir Panayotov (editor), Drew Daniel (contributor)

Black metal is a paradox. A noisy underground metal genre brimming with violence and virulence, it has captured the world’s imagination for its harsh yet flamboyant style and infamous history involving arson, blasphemy, and murder. Today black metal is nothing less than a cultural battleground between those who claim it for nationalist and racist ends, and those who say: Nazi black metal fvck off!

Black Metal Rainbows is a radical collection of writers, artists, activists, and visionaries, including Drew Daniel, Kim Kelly, Laina Dawes, Espi Kvlt, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, Svein Egil Hatlevik, Eugene S. Robinson, Margaret Killjoy, and many more. Across essays and theory-fictions, artworks and comics, we say out loud: Long live black metal’s trve rainbow!

This unique volume envisions black metal as always already open, inclusive, and unlimited: a musical genre whose vital spirit of total antagonism rebels against the forces of political conservatism. Beyond its clichés of grimness, nihilism, reaction, and signature black/white corpse-paint sneer, black metal today is a vibrant and revolutionary paradigm. This book reveals its ludic, carnival worlds animated by spirits of joy and celebration, community and care, queerness and camp, LGBTQI+ identities and antifascist, antiracist, and left-wing politics, not to mention endless aesthetic experimentation and fabulousness. From the crypt to the cloud, Black Metal Rainbows unearths black metal’s sparkling core and illuminates its prismatic spectrum: deep within the black, far beyond grimness, and over a darkly glittering rainbow!

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Queer, Politics, LGBT

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2023

Reviews

[Left_coast_reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love metal music. Black metal isn't my favorite variety, but I think it's the most interesting in terms of its culture, politics, and aesthetics. Black Metal Rainbows is a collection of essays and art about this polarizing and often misunderstood genre.

For those unfamiliar, black metal is a subgenre of metal which tends to prioritize atmosphere, with harsh vocals, rapid guitar picking (tremolo picking), rapid drumming (blast beats), and lo-fi recording. It began in northern Europe in the 1980s with bands that developed a distinct aesthetic of black and white face paint (corpse paint). Common lyrical themes include Satanism, the occult, death/rebirth depression, war, nature/wilderness, and radical politics.

One important thing to know about black metal: it has a Nazi problem. There are white supremacist bands and racism and misogyny are unfortunately common. Some of it began as bands simply appropriating Nazi imagery to be provocative. Some of it is due to overlap between the demographics drawn to both--young, disillusioned, white men. Some of it is a concerted effort by fascists to infiltrate.

The good news is that many bands are fighting back and there's some awesome antifascist black metal these days and a growing number of women, POC, and queer artists. This book features some of them!

The essays cover a range of topics including politics and philosophy, attempts to push the genre in new directions, interviews with musicians and a black metal sex worker, HIV, Satanism, feminism and witches, the music's inherent queerness, and more. The book is also filled with beautiful artwork.

Some of the essays were very challenging. If I have one criticism it's the inaccessibility of the writing style of maybe a quarter of the book. Authors, please, you don't have to bust out the thesaurus in every sentence! I had to consult the dictionary multiple times in some of these and found myself struggling to take away key ideas. If black metal is for everyone, we should write like it.

Overall, this thing is fucking cool and I'm glad I read it. Smart, weird, macabre, gorgeous, gross, pretentious, transgressive--this book is everything I've come to expect from black metal.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed by this one to be honest. There are interesting, informative and thought provoking pieces in there, but also many I did not enjoy reading. There were multiple articles that I would not have thought would be included in a collection framed and advertised as this book was: An article that talks about not being able to stop laughing and "giggling fits" as reaction to rape allegations against two members of a band, or one just straight up denying the existence of non-binary people, or one really bashing Zeal & Ardor for not being conscious enough about Black music/culture (while not acknowledging 'Wake of a Nation' at all). I don't want to read articles, wherein Varg Vikernes's musical influences are uncritically discussed using interviews with him, in a book as this, there are more than enough texts already that give murderous fascists like him a place in the spotlight. Highlighting "nazi black metal f*ck off!" on your book cover and then including such articles is more than disappointing. I'm sorry tongive 2 stars since contributors like Margaret Killjoy, Kim Kelly, Catherine Fearns, Edward Blair, and Langdon Hickman wrote great stuff included in here, but the book overall is a mixed bag if I ever saw one.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays from various writers within the metal industry, Black Metal Rainbows aim to remove the genre’s baggage behind (racism, sexism, murder etc.) and embrace a future where the association of Black Metal is inclusive and free, especially to those who are a part of the Queer community. I loved what was tackled in this book, from anti-fascist organizing against nazi bands, deep dives into the dialectical satan, a color theorization/philosophization of the infamous photo of Mayhem’s bootleg EP depicting the suicide of their original vocalist. There’s so much in here that I didn’t know one can mesh black metal with, and it makes me look forward to not only where the genre is going, but those who are spearheading a movement within the genre, to make it more free, more safe, and more expressive with our boundaries.

I’d like to add that I notched off a half a star, because I think the editors may have not looked into one of the contributors, named Nina Powers, who’s alignment is pretty terfy and wrote an essay in this compilation somewhat defending incelly dudes like Xasthur. But one essay I vehemently disagree with on all levels does not ruin the rest. As there are plenty of great bodies of work in here. I’ll list my favorites below:

Black Metal Under the Black Flag - Kim Kelly
You Don’t Win a Culture War by Giving Up Ground - Margaret Killjoy
Flamboyant Atrocity: How To Enhance Dead’s Death Depiction - Elodie Lesourd
Bizarre Black Metal - Daniel Lukes
Black Ambiance: Where do Ambient and Black Metal Meet? - Angel Simitchiev
Pretty in Black: The Temptation to Melody and Ambience in Black Metal - Steven Shakespeare
The Dialectical Satan - Langdon Hickman
Queer Traditionalism - Hunter Hunt-Hendrix
Devotion has a Price - Vincent Como

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A completely engrossing collection of writing focused on the queer and weird in black metal. Easily one of the best collections of music writing I’ve read.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A selection of dense occultish/academic/philosophical tracts and personal essays that widen the idea of what black metal is and who the scene represents. Sometimes I felt like I was lost in a thick swamp of words, other times I was frantically nodding my head in agreement, and even more times I was writing down names of authors and bands that I need to look up. Black metal is for everyone and this is a fascinating and head spinning read about the genre. Also I'm slowly migrating to story graph. Join me!

[Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoying music on the edge of acceptability is a delicate and multidimensional activity. But after (and possibly before) reading Black Metal Rainbows I think I can sum up my current feelings on this debate space: STOP TREATING YOUR HOBBIES AS YOUR PRAXIS.

Black Metal Rainbows is a curious collage of queer art, informal conversation, creative writing, anecdote, and opaque critical theory. Despite the diversity of perspectives, it generally treats black metal as a basket of academic resources. Materials for “takes” essentially. Black metal to this book is a set of cultural signifiers – musical, philosophical, aesthetic – that can be freely melded and mutated into limitless iterations of postmodernist expression, the meaning of which is imparted to us by aggressive curation and needlessly dense academic prose (the jargon laden style undermining any calls to end gatekeeping in metal).

Beyond the obvious corpse paint, latent queerness, satanism, environmentalism, and misanthropy, this book has very little to offer someone interested in the philosophy of music looking for a deep dive into black metal. It sees itself as a form of activism rather than philosophy, starting from the premise that black metal has a soul that can be saved and is worth saving insofar as these authors understand it.

But the underlying problem with this book’s general orientation (not all the contributors agree) is an inherent liberalism that makes it incapable of doing any material analysis of why fascism finds a footing within communities like black metal. The “correct” position is often framed as anti-fascism. But anti-fascism is not a coherent political stance, unless it feeds into some concrete political movement or intellectual tradition that directly combats the material conditions that give rise to fascism (of course we broadly mean socialism here). In a rare moment of clarity Hunter Hunt-Hendrix touches on some of these themes in the curious essay ‘Queer Traditionalism’, before devolving it into a rather wordy Liturgy promo (I’m actually surprised at how little she has moved on from banging the incoherent “transcendental black metal” drum).

The performative anti-fascism practiced by some of the contributors views black metal as a form of consumption, and consumption must be moralised. Despite my opening hyperbole, I have some sympathy with this stance. The left can bang on about underlying structural conditions as the root cause of fascism all it wants, but the reality is that the road to structural change is long, hard, and demoralising, requiring persistent membership and agitation within macro political structures, an avenue not open to everyone. In the meantime, why not make your hobby an arena of political struggle? With that in mind, I’ve left an overview of how some of the contributors in Black Metal Rainbows frame this obligation at the end of the review.

But setting aside whether this book fails on its own terms, there is a greater divergence at play here. Black Metal Rainbows places black metal fandom (and engagement with challenging culture more broadly) in the same arena as our relationship to consumer products that facilitate self-expression. The editors are right to assert that black metal is for everyone, but apparently it is also for anything, as long as you can string out some vaguely undercooked “take” on a random facet of black metal in impenetrably lumpy prose.

A lot of said lumpy prose understands black metal as a form of individualism, here interpreted as freedom, a vehicle for individual expression and the rejection of authority. This is indicative of a general unwillingness to engage with black metal on its own terms. And, to speculate wildly, probably a symptom of the fact that the majority of contributors are from the US and the UK.

As a reappraisal of metal at large, black metal evolved out of Scandinavia, South America, Europe sans the UK, and more recently China, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. These scenes established the shared set of symbols and compositional techniques we understand as black metal today. The history and culture of these countries is diverse and complex, and informed how many foundational artists understood metal and their obligation to it.

Regardless of what many of the authors here would have you believe, this space has always been hotly contested and negotiated. The evolution of black metal within these scenes was mediated by a two way stream of communication between an artist and a rich body of source material, both within the genre itself and from the regional folklore, mythology, philosophy, and history it drew upon. This is one of the reasons it appeals to both the far right and far left. It remains one of the few areas of contemporary culture capable of resisting assimilation into into capitalism’s dual demands of selling labour and purchasing consumer goods. With achingly vulnerable (and often farcical) sincerity it asks us to step outside of our relationship with capital.

Black Metal Rainbows eschews this nuance for the sake of unpacking black metal via a series of atomised vignettes on self-expression. This perspective values individual freedom and expression above all else, falling broadly into a Anglo/North American liberal tradition that is anathema to black metal.

The perspective of this critical theory sees black metal as a toybox, giving us license to lift its visual and sonic signifiers piecemeal as a means of self-expression. It becomes an affectation, a pose, a performative gesture toward extremity. But what’s really being communicated is individual identity, self-expression, having a “take”.

That being said, if we receive Black Metal Rainbows on its own terms and in good faith, there is quality writing within its pages. At its best it fires up the progressive base within the scene, demanding room for marginalised groups and reminding people that they are not alone. But at its worst, it casts black metal as a simplistic binary between good and bad actors, with the “good” defined as a playground of individualism, limiting its scope to a treatment of the symptoms of fascism over its causes.

Finally, if we are to insist that “saving” black metal is our praxis, it’s not the progressive base that needs firing up. We need to be engaging with the unconverted, the undecided, uneducated, the apathetic, all of whom are susceptible to the far right’s pull. It’s precisely this arm of the scene needs saving. Black metal’s untamed core is not an inevitable ladder to far right thinking. Unfortunately the dense prose, obscure critical theory, self-indulgent “take” having, the failure to engage with black metal beyond the superficial, all make for a needlessly impenetrable prospect for anyone outside of a tiny intersection of critical theorists and extreme metal fans.

The fact that there are segments of articulate and snappy writing in this book is therefore a shame. Because the people that would benefit most from reading it won’t find their way past the deliberately combative curation. But if you’ve got this far into the review, Black Metal Rainbows is probably worth your attention for all it has to offer thinking metalheads.

Afterward, Black Metal Rainbow activism

Editors Daniel Lukes and Stanimir Panayotov open by immediately positioning black metal as a battleground, with the book’s purpose being to resituate it as bright, colourful, and queer. The needlessly bellicose tone is rather misleading given that a significant portion of the essays are rather dry cultural analysis.

Drew Daniel – who some may remember from The Soft Pink Truth fame – offers an essay entitled ‘Putting the Fag back in Sarcófago’. Clumsy attempt to contribute to the queer community’s re-appropriation of gay slurs aside, the fact this had to take the form of a rather careless pun with a Portuguese word that has nothing to do with queer slang – despite the inherent queerness of Sarcófago themselves – is indicative of a broader issue with this book’s place within the discourse. Black metal’s function as a vehicle for the export of non-Western cultural mores and languages is steamrolled for the sake of a cheap (white) quip.

Stuart Wain’s discussion of anti-fascist black metal raises some interesting talking points, but treats the battlefield as a simple binary of good and bad guys. If enough “good” bands are formed and supported black metal’s soul will be saved.

Margaret Killjoy’s essay almost touches on some interesting points by acknowledging that black metal allows us to engage with the cultural values espoused by fascism in more critical terms, acknowledging that it is not some alien evil but a sliding scale.

Espi Kvlt’s account of their life as a black metal fan and sex worker trails off into a confessional on their obsessive and sexual interest in Pelle Ohlin (Dead). Can music scenes stop tolerating this needless deification of artists? They are flawed (and sometimes disgusting) individuals who will only ever betray the ridiculous expectations we place on them. We will never know, but it’s unlikely that the person Dead would have become would bear any relation to the fantasy.

Daniel Lukes’ own essay ‘Bizarre Black Metal’ pivots on the sole observation that a lot of black metal resembles a carnival, which ends with Lukes just manically naming bands he views as supporting this observation, eschewing the need to develop it into a working hypothesis.

Patrizia Pelgrift gives a superfluous account of her time working for the deranged manbadies Satyr and Fenriz at Moonfog records (I assume we are supposed to be grateful for the tedious anecdotes on these has-beens).

Eugene S. Robinson of Oxbow fame describes a gig where he damaged a venue’s PA system, kicked monitors into the audience, and brandished a mic stand at security guards for doing their jobs, because their set was cut short by ten minutes. This makes Oxbow more evil than King Diamond who they were supporting.

The inclusion of Nina Power on DSBM is unfortunate. This author may start with the noble intention of addressing the epidemic of male suicide. But rather than engaging with the political, economic, or social reasons for this, she delivers problematically vague platitudes about cosmic differences between the sexes and how they impact our experiences of depression and anxiety (no evidence is offered for these claims).

George Parr’s skewering of rape culture in metal is only somewhat blunted by their foregrounding of Venom Prison as fighting the good fight despite being headed by the alleged TERF Larissa Stupar.
Steven Shakespeare’s comparative analysis of melody in black metal has some useful insights, as does Avi Pitchon’s exploration of femininity within the form. Langdon Hickman’s ‘The Dialectical Satan’ is also more substantial than much of the material that surrounds it.

Originally published at Hate Meditations

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 3 out of 5]

So. This project collects together essays about black metal and how it can be inclusive, diverse and welcoming from a variety of contributors. We get fans, music journalist, owners of music labels, band members, artists, satanists and philosophers to name a few. Overall I was confused (What does “With black metal one can practice the retreat into the forest inside the very industrial world and the audio bedroom: the aristocrastism is predominantly representational. For the differentiated man, the position of utter darkness is one where, in discovering the hopelessness of his fight against the modern world he will continue to wrestle with society inside nature as the passage way to supranatural Being…” mean? Why does the book spend so many words telling me that black is the absence of colour and yet the presence of all colours and the pink black metal rainbow within? Why does this seemingly open and respectful book contain the essay of a TURF (Nina Powers)…). However, despite a lot of this book being incredibly philosophical and academic, its overall message is nice: Black metal has a Nazi problem but this is changing and more and more bands and fans are making sure they are not only not racist/homophobic/sexist/trans-exclusionary but are actively anti -racist/homophobic/sexist/trans-exclusionary, in short allies.

To me the book was too long and I only connected with a few of the essays. However, this may mean there will be a few essays for everyone.

My personal favourites were:

• You Don’t Win a Culture War by Giving Up ground by Margaret Killjoy ( “I don’t know whether or not I’m a monster. The decision is up to society. I do know that being a monster is very metal.”) - The woman behind Feminazgul talking about being an anarchist and what it means to her.
• Righteous Violence by Laina Dawes - about how Zeal and Ardor’s music that is “influenced by archived field recordings of rural African American folk, blues and spirituals sung by African American prisoners” but which Gagneux understands in a way that is a bit “confusing, especially when he refers to a musical inspiration. Burzum is a one-man band founded by Varg Vikernes, who, in 1994, was convicted of arson and the murder of a fellow black metal musician… It is unclear what Gagneux’s point was - was he suggesting that slaves should have violently “fought back” to strengthen their rebellion? The comparison between angry young white men who used arson and pseudo-Satanic nihilism and music created by kidnapped Africans forced into servitude, who were often tortured, raped, and murdered, is insultingly weak… Youthful rebellion from white teens, while violent, can easily be dismissed as looking for attention and cannot be compared to the resistance through innovative musical forms that humanised a demographic forcibly brought to America to serve as chattel.” I cite only one aspect of this fantastic essay, that has been living rent free in my mind for days since I read it. I think the author makes such interesting points that are true, thought provoking and an excellent example of “catering to the white gaze”.
• Dox Inferi by Catherine Fearns - about her use of black metal tropes (cliches) in her fiction story about a detective trying to solve a murder case in which a black metal band Vox Inferi are suspects. The novel itself sounds fantastic and the authors ideas about what she wanted to achieve are wonderful. HOW CAN I GET A PRINT COPY OF SOUND BY CATHERINE FEARNS?
Black Metal of the Americas is Fucking Dead by Edward Balir about his black metal zine that aimed to demonstrate that black metal is not only in Europe but also in North and South America
• Rape Culture and Metal by George Parr- about rape culture in metal specifically and again the difference between being a rapist and being anti-rape using the record Nuclear Blast and the scene’s legitimisation of As I Lay Dying’s front man Tim Lambesis (who was sentenced to six years in prison for hiring a hitman to kill his wife) reentering the scene as a prominent example.
• The Machine Mystique: Deep Learning Metal by Bogna M Konior - where the idea of using AI to generate new black metal and how this type of deep learning /faking is performed by objects in society such as women and non-binary people (referencing Sadie Plant “Women, not being fully human (through the eyes of the patriarchy) , could only exist by performing themselves in rituals of femininity… women are like machines because they are simulators. They perform what others want them to be.”) and therefore “What if metal’s encounter with digitisation could be an encounter with femininity?”


If these had been a pamphlet, I would have rated it 5/5, but as these were few and far between I rate this collection 3/5. Worth the read but very hard work.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erik Danielsson of Watain said in an interview published the other day that Watain is breaking up because they feel like a relic of the past and the black metal scene has morphed into something unrecognizable and that they don’t feel a part of. After reading this book, I understand why Watain is breaking up. I say this as a communist.

[Caleb Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I loved the message of the book, many of the essays were written like they had something to prove. I often felt like I was reading about philosophical concepts beyond my grasp when the essay was simply saying that black metal doesn't belong to Nazis. Going into it, I thought I was the target audience—a leftist who loves black metal and feels the need to look up a band's politics before I officially consider myself a fan. However, even the first few essays made my head spin and left me wondering: Who is this intended for?

On the positive side, some of the essays were straightforward and most recommended great leftist black metal that I would not have heard of otherwise. It is also one of the coolest books I've ever read, visually speaking. The cover does it justice, and the pages are also filled with... black metal and rainbows.

[Liam Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a black metal fan it is often difficult to watch a music genre you love so much only be represented by the worst of its members. I can think of no other music genre whose bad actors are as integral to its image and perception. Despite this, it is undoubtably the fact that most fans are just people who are fans of dark, extreme metal music and macabre aesthetics. Many of them (like myself) find solace in the transformative power of black metal. It’s an art and aesthetic that resonates with so many, and those that use it to espouse genuine vitriolic views are the same scum that worm their way into any fringe space where people are vulnerable. This book was a refreshing stance against the outsider misconception that black metal is all bad, and an in depth exploration of the insiders necessary grappling with the legitimate problems of the genre.

Black metal is and should be for everyone. This is a fascinating and dense collection of essays, art, experimental fiction, and interviews from a diverse array of genders, sexualities, political affiliations and philosophies. Not all pieces in the collection are equally good, but all engage with black metal in a way that only opens up the genre further and that in itself is worthwhile. This collection covers topics as varied as queerness in black metal, the philosophical underpinnings of the genre, the political utility of black metal in anarchist and anti-fascist movements, deep learning, AI, and the role of faith (Christian, satanic, pagan or otherwise) in black metal.

[Avon Moltoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dit lijvige en multidimensionale boek vormt een behoorlijke uitdaging. In de eerste plaats omdat het black metal vanuit een bijzonder alternatieve hoek belicht. Het hele opzet van het boek is om het genre te redden uit de klauwen van racisten, fascisten en neo-nazi's die het genre lijken te claimen als 'hun' muziek. Door net vanuit de mogelijkheid van black metal als voertuig tot diversiteit en inclusie te vertrekken ga je een niet gering deel van de liefhebbers van het genre tegen de haren instrijken. Veel fans hebben door de jaren leren leven met de vreemde paradox dat een genre dat komaf wilde maken met regels afgleed naar een wereld met tientallen ongeschreven regels ivm geluid, esthethiek en gedrag. Wat is trve en wat is het niet was lang een verhit debat. Dit boek gaat daar regelrecht tegenin en zelfs voor de meest linksdenkende fan van het genre is dit een behoorlijke mind switch.
Bovendien is het niet één boek maar een collectie van verhalen, essays en opinies. Een kleurrijke collage van meningen en statements die bij eerste lezing vrij overweldigend is. Sommige ervan zijn bijzonder verhelderend, anderen zijn behoorlijk academisch en taai en nu en dan zijn er zelfs bijdragen bij die behoorlijk vergezocht zijn.
Bezint dus eer u begint aan de lezing van Black Metal Rainbows want u start aan een hobbelige en verwarrende reis die vaak meer vragen oproept dan antwoorden geeft. Maar is net dat niet de definitie van een goed boek?

[Synoeca · Rating 3 out of 5]

kinda of a mixed bag for me;; was expecting this to be right up my alley bc of the black metal x continental philosophy crossover; imean, it’s an interesting concept, the overall design & art intermezzos are great, and the list of authors sounded promising, including artists themselves (Margaret Killjoy, HHH…), respected music journalists (Daniel Lukes, Langdon Hickman…), or just straight-up philosophers (mfin Nina Power(!) has an essay included here??)

HOWEVER,,, the collection is quite inconsistent in the actual quality/coherence of theories, critique, and general ideas proposed in the essays;; as you read in other people’s reviews of this book, there’s a lot of (problematic) topics that remain unexplained or unadressed… it just feels sSO WRONG in regard to the whole concept & format of these essays.

Some favs were Angel Simitchiev’s essay on the intersection between bm & ambient music; Langdon Hickman’s essay on dialectics & reimagining Satan; HHH’s essay on her transcendental bm (accounting for the mild incomprehensiblilty that we’re used of her); and OF COURSE that cute little graphic novel by Shyle Zalewski. i LOVED that one, it’s just so cute.

oh yeah also listen to Panopticon’s new record or Miserere Luminis’ most recent one, it’s prbly among the best atmoblack of the year;; also Saidan’s latest for some insane meloblack

[Damon Blanchette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite a book. It certainly made me think about black metal in entirely new ways, and brought new meaning to parts of this subgenre of extreme music I was essentially taking for granted. The book also featured an extremely wide range of writing styles and authors, from a deep fan of the music, to journalists (also fans), to nearly impenetrable (to me) academic philosophy texts. There were parts where I could read a sentence five times and still have no idea what the author was actually saying, and other parts where it caused me to completely rethink things like how the natural world is represented in black metal. I love the idea of black metal rainbows and that this music is for anyone, and the book increased my appreciation for the music. I think for me (just a layperson in this sense) though there may have been a couple too many chapters replete with names of philosophers that had "-ian" added and arguments that I personally just had a hard time following. The arguments I could understand though were thought provoking and well made. I'll be thinking about this one for a good while and I know I'll be referring back to it in the future.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I'm not new to the earth, I am relatively new to black metal, and so I really appreciated many of the essays in here that show how diverse a genre and scene it is. As in any collection with multiple authors, it's a mixed bag. Actually most of the offerings range from good to great, but there are several academic essays that are difficult-to-impossible to read and should not, imo, have been included in a book for a general audience. Still, I learned a lot and really enjoyed many of the essays.

Also--this book is beautiful. Like, it is a beautiful physical object that give me pleasure to hold and look at and read. This is a very rare experience, so hats off to PM Press and the designers for putting the effort in to make the physical book really something special.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays, interviews and works of art to celebrate black metal outside the commonly known parts of it, as a sometimes misogynistic, racist, conservative subgenre of music. Black metal is for all, it's queer, colourful and powerful. Personally I enjoyed the book so much, perhaps there were essays and ideas and didn't agree, but that's the idea, I think, of this compilation, to give voice to a pluralistic view inside a genre that is (sometimes rightly so) accused of being closed and intolerant. Also, the book in itself is gorgeous, so bright and colored and I think it fits extremely well

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black metal is one of the most criticized kind of metal but it's also quite interesting. This book features essays from artists that talks about different aspects and how this type of music is also inclusive and not only the baddie type of metal.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

there’s some really excellent scholarship in here and also some (significantly less academic) fun to read stuff. it’s worth a look, especially if your only exposure to black metal scholarship so far has been Lords of Chaos.

I appreciate its inclusivity and scope, even through my academic snobbishness

[Michael Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of essays highlighting how the rebellious spirit of Black Metal should make for a welcome home to LGBTQ+ artists and fans and anyone that hold antifascist/antiracist leftist politics.

[Guido Segers · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know, this perfectly contextualizes the current expanse of black metal. It contains tons of interesting pieces and even the impossible to comprehend bit by Haela Hunt-Hendrix was cool. Recommend for trve keyboard warriors.

[Rhian · Rating 2 out of 5]

With a few exceptions such as Margaret Killjoy, Catherine Fearns and Kim Kelly, this was mostly just pretentious impenetrable drivel. Painful to get through. Really disappointing, and a missed opportunity.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Withheld one star ⭐️ because Nina Power is included

[Topher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pieces are hit or miss but bonus points for multiple Reza Negarestani refs.

[Ok · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars(rounded to 5)

[Osore Misanthrope]

"You can hate black metal rainbows all you want. All you get in return is a cosmic picturesque indifference." 🔥🕌🌈