National Socialist black metal

National Socialist black metal (also known as NSBM or Nazi black metal) is a political movement within the black metal music scene that promotes neo-Nazism, neo-fascism, and white supremacist ideologies.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> NSBM artists typically combine neo-Nazi imagery and ideology with ethnic European paganism, Satanism, or Nazi occultism, or a combination thereof, and vehemently oppose Christianity, Islam and Judaism from a racialist viewpoint. NSBM is not seen as a distinct genre, but as a völkisch movement within black metal. According to Mattias Gardell, NSBM musicians see this ideology as "a logical extension of the political and spiritual dissidence inherent in black metal".<ref name="Gardell">Mattias Gardell, Gods of the Blood (2003), p.307</ref>

NSBM artists do not always explicitly express their political beliefs in their music, instead, they express their beliefs offstage.<ref name=reichsrock>Template:Cite book</ref> Artists who hold far-right or white nationalist beliefs but do not express them in their music are not considered NSBM artists by artists who participate in the greater black metal scene, but they may be considered NSBM artists by outside analysts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some black metal bands have also made references to Nazi Germany purely for shock value, much like some punk rock and heavy metal bands. While some black-metallers boycott NSBM artists, many are indifferent or claim to appreciate the music without supporting the musicians.Template:Sfn

The emergence of NSBM coincided with the rise of the early Norwegian black metal scene in the early 1990s, particularly through the band Burzum, whose sole member, Varg Vikernes, developed his anti-Christian beliefs into an increasingly white nationalist and neo-Nazi form of Heathenry. The German band Absurd further developed the burgeoning scene with explicitly neo-Nazi lyrics and artistic themes. The United States bands Judas Iscariot and Grand Belial's Key also became involved in the by-now international NSBM movement (the former has since distanced themselves from the movement). As the movement grew internationally, it started to overlap with existing white power musical forms such as Rock Against Communism, hatecore, and the far-right faction of Oi!. The neo-Nazi record label Resistance Records started releasing NSBM recordings and even purchased Vikernes' label Cymophane Records. The associated United States political organization National Alliance white supremacist William Luther Pierce also became interested in the movement, and assisted Absurd frontman Hendrik Möbus when he fled to the United States to avoid arrest in Germany. In 2012, the NSBM Asgardsrei festival was established in Moscow, Russia, and then in 2014 relocated to Kyiv, Ukraine.

Black metal

Template:Main Black metal originated in the 1980s from the work of thrash metal bands such as Venom (whose 1982 album Black Metal coined the term), Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Slayer, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Sodom.<ref name="Stylus Magazine" /><ref name=":8" /><ref>Moynihan & Soderlind, 2009, p. 10</ref><ref name=":10">Template:Cite book</ref> These bands did not form a scene of their own, nor did they have a common musical style.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite news</ref> A lyrical focus that is anti-Christian, Satanist, neopagan, or a combination thereof, is often considered a prerequisite for the genre, and originally the term "black metal" was synonymous with "Satanic metal".<ref name=":8">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":10" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A stricter definition still requires Satanism for a band to be classified as black metal. Non-Satanic bands from the same surroundings originally used other terms for their own music, such as pagan metal or Viking metal. In the late-1980s and early-1990s, the early Norwegian black metal scene, developed by bands such as Mayhem, Thorns, Immortal, Darkthrone, Burzum, Emperor, Satyricon, and Ulver, established a more specific sonic template that came to define Norwegian black metal<ref name="Stylus Magazine" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":10" /> and subsequently a great part of black metal in general, although other styles of black metal, like war metal, still exist. Common traits of Norwegian black metal include a fast tempo,<ref name=":11">Patterson, Dayal, 2013, p. 151</ref> blast beats and double-bass drumming,<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":15">Template:Cite book</ref> a thin, shrieking vocal style<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":10" /><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":15" /><ref name="metalsucks">Template:Cite web</ref> heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking and power chords,<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":10" /><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":15" /> either lo-fi or well-produced recordings,<ref name="Stylus Magazine" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":10" /> an emphasis on atmosphere,<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":11" /> and an "unholy" aesthetic.<ref name=":11" /> Keyboards are sometimes used, as are elements of neoclassical, folk, and ambient music.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":15" /> Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms. Many black metal artists prefer to be underground, inaccessible to the mainstream, and even intentionally push away audiences and demonstrate anti-social behavior.<ref name=":8" /><ref>Venkatesh; Podoshen; Perri; Urbaniak, 2014, p. 371-372</ref>

History

Origins in the Norwegian black metal scene

Template:Further In the early 1990s, the early Norwegian black metal scene developed black metal into a distinct genre.<ref name="Stylus Magazine">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The scene members were fiercely anti-Christian — most generally presented themselves as misanthropic devil-worshipers who wanted to spread hatred, sorrow and evil, though some wrote about pre-Christian Scandinavia and its mythology. Among some members of the scene, the antagonism toward Christianity turned violent, and arson and attempted arson was perpetrated against a number of churches from 1992 through 1995. Among the perpetrators were Varg Vikernes of Burzum and Mayhem,<ref name=":4">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":7"/> Euronymous of Mayhem,<ref name="onceuponatime">Template:Cite video</ref> Samoth of Thou Shalt Suffer and Emperor,<ref>Lords of Chaos, p. 100.</ref> Faust of Thorns<ref name="Lords of Chaos, p. 94f">Lords of Chaos, p. 94f.</ref> and Jørn Inge Tunsberg of Old Funeral, Immortal, and Hades Almighty,<ref name=grude>Template:Cite video</ref> some of whom are among the most prominent musicians in the scene. In January 1993, Vikernes spoke with a journalist from Bergens Tidende. The loft where the interview was conducted was filled with Satanist and Nazi paraphernalia, along with weapons, and Vikernes declared he was at war with Christianity, had already burned eight churches, and would continue his terrorism.<ref name=":7" />

The violence and misanthropy in the scene also included murder. In August 1992, Faust killed a gay man — Magne Andreassen — who had propositioned him in Lillehammer.<ref name=":7" /><ref name="LoC111">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name=":12">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":9">Template:Cite book</ref> Faust was not caught for a year, despite his actions being an open secret known to many in the scene.<ref name=":7" /> Many have attributed the murder to homophobia;<ref name=":18">Clifford-Napoleone, Amber R. 2015. p. 88-89</ref><ref name=":19">Dyck, Kirsten, 2017. p. 59</ref> however, Gaahl, a vocalist from the band Gorgoroth, is now an openly gay man who was voted Gay Person of the Year in 2010 in Bergen,<ref name="Trelldom interview">Template:Cite web</ref> and believes that the killing of Andreassen by Faust had nothing to do with Andreassen's sexuality.<ref name=":18" /> Likewise, Faust himself, along with bandmate Ihsahn, have claimed that Andreassen's sexuality was irrelevant, and Faust simply had a murderous impulse.<ref name="LoC114">Template:Harvnb</ref> In August 1993, Vikernes, with Snorre Ruch from Thorns and Mayhem as an accomplice, killed his bandmate Euronymous and was arrested shortly after.<ref>Lords of Chaos (2003 edition), p. 125-130.</ref> Vikernes was convicted in the spring of 1994 for arson, murder, and illegal possession of weapons.<ref name=":7" /> Vikernes insists that he killed Euronymous in self-defense,<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> although while in prison claimed that it was also because Euronymous was gay and communist.<ref name=":9" /> Euronymous was interested in communism,<ref name=":13" /> even professing to be a Stalinist in 1992,<ref>Patterson, Dayal, 2013, p. 367</ref> and in the 1980s had participated in the Marxist–Leninist youth group Rød Ungdom, which he later disavowed,<ref name="LoC74">Lords of Chaos (2003 edition), p. 74.</ref> but there is no evidence that he was a gay man.<ref name=":9" /> Despite Vikernes' later claims, the killing is not believed to have been politically motivated, which even Vikernes claimed at first, and is generally thought to have been because of a personal dispute.<ref name=":13" />

There is an undercurrent of ethnic nationalism in black metal,<ref name="Gardell" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and racism is not uncommon in the scene even though most black metal and other extreme metal musicians disavow neo-Nazism and racist ideology.<ref name=":16">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":17">Template:Cite book</ref> Within the Scandinavian scene, several musicians made racist statements and utilized Nazi language and paraphernalia — yet, black metal is also highly performative, intentionally contradictory, and artistically transgressive, and many of its musicians cultivate an evil, ultra-right-wing image as an aesthetic.<ref name=":9" /><ref>Venkatesh; Podoshen; Perri; Urbaniak, 2014, p. 379-380</ref> Many of the artists who flirted with fascism, totalitarianism, and violence in their artistic themes did not find a political connection with that imagery.<ref name=":17" /> Still, a minority in the scene, in their opposition to Christianity and reverence for a pre-Christian past, stepped into fascist and racist ideas, particularly Nazi occultism.<ref name=":16" /> Euronymous in a personal letter in the early 1990s made the sweeping claim that "Almost ALL Norwegian bands are more less nazis [sic]. Burzum, Mayhem, Emperor, Arcturus, Enslaved, you name them."<ref name=":12" /> Similarly, scholar Kirsten Dyck has described the Norwegian scene's "Black Circle" as neo-Nazi. According to her, the Black Circle melded Nazi occultism, anti-Semitism and the conspiracy theory of a Jewish plot for world domination, homophobia, and xenophobia with Nietzschean philosophy, Satanism, and Scandinavian neopaganism, which then contributed to the violence perpetrated by some of the musicians.<ref name=":19" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1994, Hellhammer, the drummer for the Norwegian band Mayhem, said of the genre's links with racism: "I'll put it this way, we don't like black people here. Black Metal is for white people".<ref>Lords of Chaos, p. 351.</ref> When Mayhem re-formed after Euronymous's death, they began releasing merchandise bearing World War II-era Nazi symbols.<ref>Mayhem Frontman Says Varg Vikernes Is 'Very Polite And Kind'. Blabbermouth.net. 26 January 2010.</ref> However, in a later interview, Hellhammer said "I don't give a crap if the fans are white, black, green, yellow, or blue. For me music and politics don't go hand in hand".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1995, Gaahl described "niggers" and "mulattoes" as "subhuman" and stated his admiration for Vikernes and Adolf Hitler. However, he too has since distanced himself from these statements.<ref name="rockhardgaahl">Template:Cite web</ref> Vikernes also wrote some lyrics for the album Transilvanian Hunger by Darkthrone, another key band in the Norwegian scene. It was released in 1994 with Norsk Arisk Black Metal ('Norwegian Aryan Black Metal') printed on the back cover, and issued a press release stating "If any man should attempt to criticize this LP, he should be thoroughly patronized for his obviously Jewish behavior."<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":20">Template:Cite book</ref> After the ensuing controversy, Darkthrone claimed that "Jew" is simply a Norwegian word for "stupid" and that they were "not a Nazi band nor a political band".<ref name="MusicMight biography">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":20" /> In a 2007 documentary, bandmember Fenriz claimed he was once arrested while participating in an anti-apartheid demonstration and later had a "phase of being really angry with ... other races" before he became "totally unengaged in [political] shit".<ref name="billzebub2">Zebub, Bill (2007). Black Metal: A Documentary.</ref> Scholar Keith Kahn-Harris argues that it is almost impossible to believe that Darkthrone did not know that a pejorative use of the word "Jew" was offensive, and the denials from Darkthrone that the members had racist or fascist sympathies was disingenuous, given the statements made.<ref name=":20" /> But, Kahn-Harris also notes that Fenriz has made more jocular references to racism and fascism, and has interacted well with black metal enthusiasts from Israel, so Kahn-Harris believes that the actions by Darkthrone were intentionally contradictory as a form of transgressive artistic discourse and not expressions of a sincere ideology.<ref name=":20" /> Axl Rosenberg from the website MetalSucks notes that after these offensive actions from the band in the mid-1990s, Darkthrone has not repeatedly demonstrated racist behavior. He opines that the band members are far older now and that "it’s feasible their worldviews have changed; it’s feasible they were being provocative for the sake of being provocative when they made Hunger and have since seen the error of such sophomoric behavior."<ref name=":12" /> After his release from prison, Faust stated regarding the arson and murder he committed that "I was never a Satanist or fascist in any way, but I put behind me the hatred and negativity. Those feelings just eat you up from inside."<ref name=":12" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Similar statements were also uttered by scene members from other countries. Michael W. Ford of the American band Black Funeral mentioned that Nazi occultism was very important to him,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> called his former band Sorath his "old SS Death squad"<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and claimed "you have to be white to play Black metal".<ref name="killyourself-p36">Template:Cite magazine</ref> We was the American leader of Cymophane, an organisation started by Vikernes.<ref name="killyourself-p36"/> He would later disassociate himself from Nazism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to the authors of Lords of Chaos, in 1995, three Swedish black-metallers (including Mika "Belfagor" Hakola of the band Nefandus) went on a "niggerhunt" in Linköping. Wielding an axe and two machetes, they "terrorized" a black man.<ref>Lords of Chaos, pp. 308–309.</ref> Nefandus were later "considered to be Nazi sympathizers", though Belfagor explained: "This could not be further from the truth, but I guess this has to do with some of the controversial comments I made in various magazines in my youth, when I still aspired to play in the most hated band in the world. I used a lot of provocative language back then. But to sort things out: I associate with people of all creeds and colours. ... So to be labeled a Nazi or a racist is very offensive to me".<ref>Terry Demeter: Ofermod. Breath of the Dragon. In: Unrestrained Magazine, no. 39, p. 74.</ref>

Vikernes and his project Burzum are generally seen as the main catalyst in the development of the NSBM movement, although Burzum was never explicitly political.<ref name=":13" /> Although Vikernes has claimed to not be a neo-Nazi, he has participated in neo-Nazi activities and his statements have expressed neo-Nazi views and antagonism toward Muslims and Jews.<ref name=":4" /><ref>Venkatesh; Podoshen; Perri; Urbaniak, 2014, p. 383</ref> According to an interview in Blood & Honour magazine, Vikernes contacted neo-Nazi organization Zorn 88 in 1992<ref name="Unheiligepage277">Unheilige Allianzen, p. 277.</ref> and joined White Aryan Resistance before he killed Euronymous.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While in prison, "Vikernes began to formulate his nationalist heathen ideology"<ref>Goodrick-Clarke, p. 204.</ref> and wrote a manifesto called Vargsmål. It became available on the internet for a while in 1996,<ref>Lords of Chaos, p. 159.</ref> and in 1997 it was printed by a Norwegian publisher.<ref name="hist">Template:Cite book</ref> Once imprisoned, Vikernes abandoned the black metal scene and started touting a neo-Nazi variety of Heathenry.<ref name=":7" /> According to Vikernes, he stopped playing metal music because of its origin as "Negro music", and argued that "the 'metal heads' tend to behave like a bunch of 'White Niggers', so to speak, with their sex, drugs and rock'n'roll culture."<ref name=":3" /> Vikernes also has claimed that the scene had begun "as a nationalistic (Norwegian-centric), racist and anti-Christian revolt" but was "hijacked" by the "Jew-dominated music industry".<ref name=":14" /> He claims the industry made it into another tool with which to destroy Europe, by promoting bands who embraced "everything sick and anti-European on this planet, from porn and promiscuity to drugs and homosexuality".<ref name=":14">Vikernes, Varg. "How to revolt in practise II Template:Webarchive". Thulean Perspective. 7 March 2013.</ref>

Development of National Socialist black metal

One of the first explicitly NSBM releases was the 1995 demo Thuringian Pagan Madness by German band Absurd. It was recorded while the members were imprisoned for murdering a boy from their school. On the demo cover is a photograph of his gravestone and the inlay contained pro-Nazi statements.<ref>Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity. NYU Press, 2003. p. 206.</ref> Bandmember Hendrik Möbus stated that NSBM was the "logical conclusion" of the Norwegian black metal movement and interpreted the church burnings as a "cultural atavism".<ref name="Möbus" /> Other bands deemed to be part of the early NSBM scene include Graveland and Infernum, from Poland.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Rob Darken of Graveland in particular was a very central figure in the development of NSBM in Poland.<ref name=":1" /> The burgeoning black metal scene in Poland was far more pronouncedly racist, and The Temple of Fullmoon, of which several Polish bands were members, turned into a far-right organization.<ref>Patterson, Dayal, 2013. p. 362-364</ref> Similar to what happened in Norway, the scene became increasingly violent, and three of the four members of the NSBM band Thunderbolt were imprisoned for arson and murder.<ref>Dyck, Kirsten, 2016. p. 62</ref><ref>Patterson, Dayal, 2013. p. 364</ref> According to Gunnar Sauermann, in the 1990s, some of the earliest American black metal bands—like Grand Belial's Key and Judas Iscariot—joined an international NSBM organization called the Pagan Front, although Judas Iscariot's sole member Akhenaten left the organization.<ref name="mh82007">Gunnar Sauermann: Special: Black Metal in den USA. Schwarzes Amerika. In: Metal Hammer Germany, August 2007, p. 88.</ref> Thelemnar, the drummer of German band Secrets of the Moon, said he got to know him "only as an intelligent person and never as a Nazi".<ref name="mh82007" /> The United States project I Shalt Become was another pioneer in the nascent NSBM scene.<ref name="I shall become">Template:Cite web</ref> NSBM came to dominate the black metal scenes in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia.Template:Sfn

In 2012, Alexey Levkin, frontman of the band Template:Ill, along with others, started the NSBM music festival Asgardsrei in Moscow.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> The event is named after the 1999 album of the same name by Absurd.<ref name="newyorker">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The festival was relocated to Kyiv in 2014 when Levkin and the other organizers relocated to Ukraine to join the Azov Assault Brigade.<ref name=":0" /> Steelfest is a Finnish annual black metal festival that has been held since 2012. Steelfest is notorious for hosting a venue for National socialist black metal bands, and bands and audience have done mass nazi salutes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ideology

NSBM typically melds Neo-Nazi beliefs (such as fascism, white supremacy, white separatism, white nationalism, right-wing extremism, antisemitism, xenophobia, and ethnic separatism, with some National-anarchist tendencies and admiration of Adolf Hitler) with hostility to "foreign" religions. Bands often promote ethnic European paganism, occultism, or Satanism. Hendrik Möbus of Absurd described Nazism as the "most perfect (and only realistic!) synthesis of Satanic/Luciferian will to power, elitist Social Darwinism, connected to Aryan Germanic paganism".<ref>Stormblast, Nr. 2-3, 1999. Cited in: ak – analyse & kritik – zeitung für linke Debatte und Praxis / Nr. 428 / 8.7.1999 Template:Webarchive</ref> Members of the band Der Stürmer (named after the antisemitic newspaper edited by Julius Streicher) subscribe to Esoteric Nazism, leaning on the works of Savitri Devi and Julius Evola.<ref name="LEGEONES">Template:Cite web</ref> Famine of Peste Noire stated in an interview that he prefers Italian Fascism instead of Nazism as an ideology.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Anti-Christianity and antisemitism

Typically NSBM musicians regard Christianity as a product of an alleged Jewish conspiracy to undermine the Aryan race by eliminating their Artglauben and their "original" culture.<ref name="akweb">Template:Cite web</ref> These musicians usually reject the legitimacy of Christian antisemitism as well as the German Christians movement, which celebrated and promoted Nazi ideology in the context of an unorthodox Christian theological framework. Hjarulv Henker of the band Der Stürmer said: Template:Blockquote

White supremacy

NSBM musicians such as Varg Vikernes of Burzum and Famine of Peste Noire have expressed a white supremacist concern about "race mixing" and preserving the purity of the white race and the traditional cultures of white European nations.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Dyck, Kirsten, 2017. pp. 59-60.</ref> Somewhat perplexingly, NSBM has been popular in Poland and other Slavic countries, despite the fact that, historically, German Nazis viewed Slavic people as subhuman racial inferiors and intended to eliminate them.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This contradiction is either masked, relativized or excused as a historical mistake. A conspiracy theory says the Jews would have prevented an alliance between Nazi Germany and other Eastern European countries.<ref>Unheilige Allianzen, page 239</ref> Knjaz Varggoth, singer and guitarist of the Ukrainian band Nokturnal Mortum, gives the following explanation for the contradiction: "Goruth of the Russian band Temnozor sees the Slavs and Germans as a part of a Hyperborean Aryan race and nowadays differing due to its degeneration."

The Vietnamese-American band Vothana<ref>Vietnamese for "atheist"</ref> is unusual in that its members are not ethnically European, however the band’s lyrics (which are performed in Vietnamese) still express racialist and fascist viewpoints and the band has performed at festivals alongside NSBM bands.<ref name=hotshower>Template:Cite web</ref>

Paganism

Template:See also As part of their anti-Christianity, anti-Semitism, and the idea that White Europeans should return to their "native" ways, most NSBM bands promote ethnic European paganism. Benjamin Hedge Olson argues that NSBM is "indelibly linked with Asá Trŭ and opposed to Satanism, which gives it a 'blood and soil' attraction to many young Neo-Nazis looking for identity in their distant, ancestral past."Template:Sfn Hendrik Möbus interpreted the church burnings in Norway as: Template:Blockquote He argues that later on they would have realized the meaning of these emotions, begun to identify with paganism and taken "an active interest in Nationalist politics designed to preserve and to cultivate this very heritage".<ref name="Möbus"/> The booklet of the Absurd EP Asgardsrei depicts the Knights Templar, the Teutonic Order and the Waffen-SS as warriors of the "Asgardsrei", which the bands define as a term for an alleged godly and Germanic group of warriors.

Satanism

Besides pagan beliefs, part of the NSBM scene embraces an interpretation of Satanism. Satanism is a common theme even in apolitical black metal, but in NSBM Satan is depicted as an ancient Aryan counterpart to YHWH, the god of the Jews and Christians. This view is often called "völkisch Satanism"<ref>Wintry Night Nonstop/Aenaon Skotos Anosion, published around 2000: Frost/Sadorass [Interview with Sadorass]. Cited in: Unheilige Allianzen, p. 202.</ref> or "Aryan Satanism". Chraesvelgoron of The True Frost sees Nazism as the political appearance of Satanism and the collective deification of man as a social animal, as godliness instead of humaneness.<ref name="true frost">Szene-Almanach 1998, page 48; Strength through War, issue 4, Summer 2003, o.S.: Frost. Interview answered by Chraesvelgoron. Cited in: Unheilige Allianzen, p. 202.</ref> His bandmate Sadorass calls the same ideology a development of blood and soil ideology, diverse occult teachings, and the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche in connection to Darwinism.<ref>Flagellation, No. 2, 2001, page 29. Cited in: Unheilige Allianzen, p. 203.</ref> Greek black metal musician Magus Wampyr Daoloth (of Necromantia and Thou Art Lord) said in an interview for Lords of Chaos: "If you consider that fascism and Satanism have a lot of similarities as they both advocate power, spiritual and physical excellence, responsibility, survival of the fittest, elitism, etc., it's logical that some bands advocate both".<ref>Lords of Chaos, p. 308.</ref> However, many pagan and far-right bands see Satanism as a part of Christianity or Judaism.<ref>Gammadion, No. 1, 1997, o.S.: Capricornus. Cited in: Unheilige Allianzen, p. 241.</ref>

Connections with broader white nationalist movements

Many white nationalists have warmly received NSBM for its lyrical content and ideals. However, some have not, due to the music style as well as the genre's perceived association with the rock & roll lifestyle.<ref name=uh280>Unheilige Allianzen, p.280</ref> However, Lords of Chaos notes that alcohol and illegal drugs never played a big part in the Norwegian black metal scene.<ref>Lords of Chaos, p.327</ref> Bård G. Eithun, on the other hand, stated that many in the early scene "were almost alcoholics".<ref name=":7"/> Some also reject black metal musicians and fans since many of them have long hair, which they associate with hippies and left-wingers. Dayal Patterson writes that "NSBM has become a movement in its own right," one which has reached Western Europe and the Americas and overlapped with fans of more traditional far-right music genres such as Oi! and Rock Against Communism.<ref name=":6">Patterson, Dayal, 2013. p. 365</ref>

The record label Resistance Records, a Canadian record label promoting white nationalism and white separatism, purchased Vikernes' Cymophane Records and began releasing black metal recordings, many through a sub-label, Unholy Records.<ref name=":6" /> William Luther Pierce, founder of the white nationalist National Alliance, sought to promote NSBM as well as other forms of white nationalist music through Resistance, believing that music would "make the National Alliance rich and spread its message most effectively".<ref name="pierce">Template:Cite web</ref> To this end, he accommodated Absurd frontman Hendrik Möbus while the latter had fled to the United States to evade German authorities. Although Pierce appreciated the ideological mindset of NSBM and Resistance Records, as well as the financial gains, the music did not personally appeal to him, and he attacked the "sex, drugs & rock'n'roll" and what he called "negroid" influences.<ref name="pierce2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Asgardsrei festival, which has established itself as the major festival for NSBM, has been noted by analysts and journalists to function as a meetup point and pan-European and transnational networking hub for neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other far-right extremists.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to the concert organizers' connections to the Ukrainian nationalist Azov Assault Brigade, Ukrainian far-right political party National Corps, and Russian-Ukrainian neo-Nazi movement Wotanjugend,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> members of the German neo-Nazi party The III. Path, the United States-based neo-Nazi terrorist organization Atomwaffen Division, the Italian neo-fascist movement and former political party CasaPound, and the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have all participated in the festival.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> Members of neo-Nazi forums and chats such as Iron March, Stormfront, and neo-Nazi chat servers on Discord have attended and praised Asgardsrei,<ref name=":2" /> and the American white nationalist Greg Johnson posted a review of the 2019 festival on his alt-right publication Counter Currents.<ref name=":0" />

Connections to black metal scene

NSBM artists are a minority within black metal, according to Mattias Gardell.<ref name="Gardell"/> They have also been rejected or strongly criticized by many prominent black metal musicians – including Jon Nödtveidt,<ref name="Dissection"/> Tormentor,<ref name="Tormentor"/> King ov Hell,<ref name="kingovhell2">Template:Cite web</ref> Infernus,<ref name="infernus2">Template:Cite web</ref> Lord Ahriman,<ref name="billzebub2"/> Emperor Magus Caligula,<ref name="billzebub2"/><ref name="caligulayoutube">Template:Cite web</ref> Protector,<ref name="Protector">Template:Cite web</ref> Erik Danielsson of Watain,<ref>Doomsdayzach: Watain – Erik Danielsson (first one) Template:Webarchive, 24 July 2007, accessed on 31 March 2013.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Ronald Ziegler: Merchandise whorery, accessed on 31 March 2013.</ref> and the members of Arkhon Infaustus.<ref name="billzebub2"/> Some black-metallers liken Nazism to Christianity in that it is authoritarian, collectivist, and involves a "herd mentality".<ref name="Dissection">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Tormentor">Metal Heart 2/00</ref> It also conflicts with the misanthropic views of many artists; Benjamin Hedge Olson writes that the shunning of Nazism within the scene "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".Template:Sfn Joakim of Craft said, "I don't think national socialism mix[es] with the ideology of real Black Metal in a way, but that doesn't go further than labels. I only think NS Black Metal is an inappropriate label for the music".<ref name="darkside">Thomas Legros: Craft Template:Webarchive, accessed on 31 March 2013.</ref> While some black-metallers boycott NSBM bands and labels, others draw a line between the music and the musicians, as they only care for the music. Some have criticized this as passive support for NSBM. The bigger print metal magazines tend to ignore records by NSBM bands.<ref name="akweb" /> Christian Dornbusch and Hans-Peter Killguss's 2005 book Unheilige Allianzen caused a short debate, leading Legacy magazine to stop printing ads for NSBM labels. Another debate happened in the "letters" section of Rock Hard magazine following the article Der rechte Rand im Black Metal (Black Metal's Far-right Border).<ref>Mühlmann, Wolf-Rüdiger: Der rechte Rand im Black Metal. In: Rock Hard, No. 241, June 2007, pp. 58–61.</ref> According to Unheilige Allianzen, völkisch pagan metal and neo-Nazism were the current trends in black metal and in turn, were affecting the broader metal scene.<ref>Unheilige Allianzen, p. 290. Template:ISBN</ref> Stewart Voegtlin likewise wrote for Stylus in 2006 that "with a 'nationalistic' wave of violence and hatred spreading from Scandinavia and infiltrating France and Germany, the unfortunate exploits of a few will likely continue to supersede the music itself."<ref name="Stylus Magazine" />

Denial of identification

Some bands have denied being labeled NSBM, and assert that they are either pagan or instead prefer the label "nationalist black metal." Official statements against this label have been made by bands such as Graveland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Akitsa, a group sometimes rumoured to be NSBM, made strong statements against the Nazi ideology and the whole NSBM genre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ukrainian band Nokturnal Mortum has made efforts to distance themselves from the movement, but still continue to occasionally partake in some NSBM practices such as playing at festivals held for the genre.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

While some bands made statements which the scene and critics has taken as genuine statements condemning Nazism, other bands' statements has, by many critics, been viewed merely as a tactic to be able to play live gigs or not have their music banned, such is the case with Graveland, among others, who has continued to openly support white supremacist organizers after making statements about being "unpolitical".<ref name=":13">Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• List of National Socialist black metal bands

Further reading

English

• Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: White Noise and black metal in: Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity (S. 193–213). New York University Press, 2002, Template:ISBN
• Mattias Gardell: Hail Loki! Hail Satan! Hail Hitler! Darkside Asatrú, Satanism and Occult National Socialism in: Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. (pp. 284–324). Duke University Press, 2003, Template:ISBN
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

German

• Christian Dornbusch, Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Allianzen. Black Metal zwischen Satanismus, Heidentum und Neonazismus. Münster, Unrast Verlag, 2005, Template:ISBN
• Johannes Lohmann, Hans Wanders: Evolas Jünger und Odins Krieger – Extrem rechte Ideologien in der Dark-Wave- und Black-Metal-Szene in: Christian Dornbusch, Jan Raabe: RechtsRock – Bestandsaufnahme und Gegenstrategien. (p. 287–311) Hamburg/Münster, Unrast Verlag, 2002, Template:ISBN.