Editing Black metal (section)

=== Politics ===
{{further|National Socialist black metal}}

A wide range of political views are found in the black metal scene. Black metal is generally not political music and the vast majority of bands do not express political views.{{sfn|Moynihan|Søderlind|2003|p=349-355}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trafford |first1=Simon |last2=Pluskowski |first2=Aleks |editor-last=Marshall |editor-first=David W. |year=2007 |title=Antichrist Superstars: The Vikings in Hard Rock and Heavy Metal |url=https://www.academia.edu/521897 |journal=Mass Market Medieval: Essays on the Middle Ages in Popular Culture |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |pages=64 |isbn=978-0-7864-2922-6 }}</ref><ref name=gardell307>[[Mattias Gardell|Gardell, Mattias]]. ''[[Gods of the Blood]]: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism''. Duke University Press, 2003. p.307</ref>  The genre is seen more as "fantastical escapism". Artists usually see themselves as merely depicting the "macabre nature of the world" as opposed to what they see as the "preachiness" of genres like hardcore punk.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Liam Dee |editor1-last=Bayer |editor1-first=Gerd |title=Heavy Metal Music in Britain |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |page=59 |chapter=The Brutal Truth: Grindcore as the extreme realism of heavy metal}}</ref> [[Ihsahn]] of Emperor explained: "I see it much more as an atmospheric and emotional thing rather than a political one. Hardcore bands can deal with political things; black metal is something else".{{sfn|Moynihan|Søderlind|2003|p=354}}

However, some black metal artists promote political ideologies. National Socialist black metal (NSBM) promotes [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] or [[far-right politics]] through its lyrics and imagery. Like [[Nazi punk]], it is "distinguished only by ideology, not musical character".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Musical Style, Ideology, and Mythology in Norwegian Black Metal (Book chapter in: Metal Rules the Globe: Heavy Metal Music Around the World)|last=Hagen|first=Ross|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2011|pages=175}}</ref> Artists typically meld neo-Nazism with ethnic European paganism; however, a few meld these beliefs with Satanism or occultism. Some commentators see it as a natural development of the "black metal worldview". Members of the early Norwegian scene flirted with Nazi imagery, but this was largely for shock value and to provoke.{{sfn|Olson|2008|p=101}} Varg Vikernes—who now refers to his ideology as '[[Heathenry (new religious movement)|Odalism]]'<ref name=burzum.org>{{cite web |url=http://www.burzum.org/eng/library/a_burzum_story07.shtml |title=A Burzum Story: Part VII – The Nazi Ghost |last=Vikernes |first=Varg |author-link=Varg Vikernes |date=July 2005 |work=burzum.org |access-date=4 September 2012}}</ref>—is credited with popularizing such views within the scene.{{sfn|Moynihan|Søderlind|2003|p=303}}{{sfn|Olson|2008|p=103}} Some bands blend Nazism and Satanism by voicing support for fascist satanist groups like the [[Order of Nine Angles]]. Bands that have featured ONA ideology and symbolism in their albums include Hvile I Kaos, Altar of Perversion, Aosoth and Spear of Longinus.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 2, 2018 |title=Orchestral, Occult-Driven Hvile I Kaos Reinvent Black Metal |url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/orchestral-occult-driven-hvile-i-kaos-reinvent-black-metal-9417957 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517084958/http://www.laweekly.com/music/orchestral-occult-driven-hvile-i-kaos-reinvent-black-metal-9417957 |archive-date=May 17, 2018 |access-date=May 16, 2018 |publisher=LA Weekly}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Dylan |title=Black Sky Thinking, Beyond the Iron Gates: How Nazi-Satanists Infiltrated the UK Underground |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/25716-ona-fascism-nazis-folk-horror-underground-occult |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231116150543/https://thequietus.com/articles/25716-ona-fascism-nazis-folk-horror-underground-occult |archive-date=16 November 2023 |access-date=12 July 2023 |website=The Quietus|date=27 November 2018 }}</ref><ref>"[https://thequietus.com/articles/25716-ona-fascism-nazis-folk-horror-underground-occult Beyond the Iron Gates: How Nazi-Satanists Infiltrated the UK Underground] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231116150543/https://thequietus.com/articles/25716-ona-fascism-nazis-folk-horror-underground-occult |date=2023-11-16 }}", The Quietus, November 27, 2018</ref><ref>Tonight It’s a World We Bury: Black Metal, Red Politics, (2023) Bill Peel, Watkins Media {{ISBN|1914420365}}</ref> As of 2018, Hvile I Kaos had distanced themselves from the ONA.<ref>https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/black-sky-thinking/ona-fascism-nazis-folk-horror-underground-occult</ref>

NSBM artists are a small minority within the genre.<ref name=gardell307/>{{sfn|Olson|2008|p=123f}} While some black metal fans boycott Neo-Nazi artists, others are indifferent or appreciate the music without supporting the musicians.{{sfn|Olson|2008|p=99}} NSBM has been criticized by some prominent and influential black metal artists—including [[Jon Nödtveidt]],<ref name=dissection/> [[Gorgoroth]],<ref name=tormentor>Metal Heart 2/00</ref><ref name="kingovhell">{{cite web |last=Škot |first=Mladen |title=Interview with Jotunspor |url=http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/interview_iss50_224.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927131014/http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/interview_iss50_224.php |archive-date=27 September 2011 |access-date=4 September 2012 |work=Maelstrom}}</ref><ref name="infernus1">{{cite web |date=15 March 2008 |title=Gorgoroth Guitarist Infernus: 'I Personally Am Against Racism in Both Thought and Practice' |url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.Net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=93004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422024415/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.Net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=93004 |archive-date=22 April 2009 |access-date=4 September 2012 |work=[[Blabbermouth.net]]}}</ref> [[Dark Funeral]],<ref name=billzebub/><ref name=caligulayoutube>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp_hTvOVSHQ | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211123/Sp_hTvOVSHQ| archive-date=2021-11-23 | url-status=live|title=YouTube – Dark Funeral- Interview (Episode 276) |work=[[YouTube]] |date=5 April 2009 |access-date=4 September 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> [[Richard Lederer (musician)|Richard Lederer]],<ref name=protector>{{cite web |url=http://www.summoning.info/Stuff/PoliticalStatements.html |title=Political Statements from Protector (Summoning) |work=summoning.info |access-date=4 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630125512/http://www.summoning.info/Stuff/PoliticalStatements.html |archive-date=30 June 2012}}</ref> Michael Ford,<ref name=michaelford>{{cite web |url=http://www.fmp666.com/moonlight/blackfun2.html |title=Interview with Michael Ford |work=fmp666.com |access-date=4 September 2012}}</ref> and [[Arkhon Infaustus]].<ref name=billzebub/> Some liken Nazism to Christianity by arguing that both are [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]], [[Collectivism and individualism|collectivist]], and a "[[herd mentality]]".<ref name=dissection/><ref name=tormentor/> Olson writes that the shunning of Nazism by some black-metallers "has nothing to do with notions of a 'universal humanity' or a rejection of hate" but that Nazism is shunned "because its hatred is too specific and exclusive".{{sfn|Olson|2008|p=123}}

Partly in reaction to NSBM, a small number of artists began promoting [[left-wing politics]] such as [[anarchism]] or [[Marxism]],<ref name="StuBru">{{Cite web |title=De Zwaarste Metalgids: 66 metalgenres in één zin uitgelegd |url=https://stubru.be/dezwaarstelijst/dezwaarstemetalgids66metalgenresineenzinuitgelegd |access-date=20 February 2021 |website=[[Studio Brussel]] |language=nl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Gevorgyan|first=Elen|url=https://baec.aua.am/files/2020/09/Elen-Gevorgyan_Music-Ideology-and-How-They-Interact.-From-Sacred-Music-to-Black-Metal-1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://baec.aua.am/files/2020/09/Elen-Gevorgyan_Music-Ideology-and-How-They-Interact.-From-Sacred-Music-to-Black-Metal-1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Music, Ideology and How They Interact: A Journey from Sacred Music to Black Metal|website=[[American University of Armenia]]|access-date=20 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference |url=https://www.academia.edu/38849811 |title=Black Metal Theory Symposium Program |last=Nonjon |first=Adrien |date=2019 |publisher=[[University of Ljubljana]] |access-date=20 February 2021}}</ref><ref name="panopticon">{{Cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/column/161118-if-it-aint-got-no-blastbeat-its-not-my-revolution-panopticon/|title=If It Ain't Got No Blastbeat, It's Not My Revolution: Panopticon|website=PopMatters|date=19 July 2012|access-date=10 May 2016}}</ref> creating a movement known as "Red and anarchist black metal" (RABM).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=73109|title=Unearthing The Metal Underground: The Red and Anarchist Black Metal Underground |date=24 October 2011 |publisher=Metal Underground |access-date=2021-09-02}}</ref><ref name="stormofsedition">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/storm-of-sedition-decivilize/|title=Canadian Crust Punks Storm of Sedition Go Off the Grid on Their Furious New 'Decivilize' LP|website=Vice Noisey|last=Kelly|first=Kim|date=2016-04-01|access-date=10 May 2016|quote=Storm of Sedition is part of the same Victoria, BC anarchist black metal/crust faction that claims Iskra, Not A Cost, and Black Kronstadt.}}</ref><ref name="skagos">{{Cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17741-skagos-anarchic/|title=Skagos: Anarchic Album Review|work=[[Pitchfork Media|Pitchfork]]|last=Kelly|first=Kim|date=2013-04-17|access-date=10 May 2016|quote=The anarchist black metal movement forms a small but fascinating pocket in the extreme metal scene.}}</ref> Many artists have a background in anarchist [[crust punk]].<ref name="panopticon"/> Artists labelled RABM include Iskra, [[Panopticon (band)|Panopticon]], Skagos,<ref name="panopticon"/><ref name=skagos/> Storm of Sedition,<ref name="stormofsedition"/> Not A Cost,<ref name="stormofsedition"/> and Black Kronstadt.<ref name="stormofsedition"/> Some others with similar outlook, such as Wolves in the Throne Room, are not overtly political and do not endorse the label.<ref name="panopticon"/>