Blerk Mertl

 I’ve never really liked Black Metal all that much. It always sounded like it was recorded in a tube, at too fast a tempo for my brain and ears to keep up with, by people that take themselves far too seriously. Both artists and fans, at least more than other genres, can seem elitist at times. I've always felt that some of them think that their tube music is just too intellectual for the mainstream scum; do I need a doctorate to be able to read your band’s logo? However, I always been aware of the Norwegian Black Metal scene, but not necessarily because of the music. If you’re in the metal scene, you know about the Norwegian Black Metal scene because of Varg Vikernes, church burnings, and other such shenanigans outside of the actual music making. I remember when I got into the Oslo train station in 2011 and I immediately saw five Black Metallers, complete with bullet belts and mega-sized Burzum backpatches; gotta love when countries live up to stereotypes. I really think that certain members of the Black Metal community, like Varg, and fans of Black Metal, have made the genre into a sort of farce. I’m all for a bit of cheese now and then, some of my favourite bands pour paint on themselves and jump around on stage singing about Vikings, but at least those bands know they are being ridiculous.

So if I think Black Metal is a bit of a joke, why am I even talking about it? Well, for one, I think it is the most interesting sub-genre of Metal because there is so much controversial history surrounding it. If there is a documentary about Black Metal, I'll enthusiastically watch it and talk about it to the point of annoyance. I also know how much Black Metal has been an influence on my favourite sub-genres, Viking, Folk, and Pagan Metal, especially with regards to the vocals, and I appreciate Black Metal for that reason above all else. Despite what could be perceived as bashing in the above paragraph, I do like some Black Metal bands like Watain, Darkthrone, and Mayhem. While I enjoy the aforementioned bands, Satyricon is the one Black Metal band that I will always sing the praises of. I had always known who they were, mainly because of Frost's appearance in a performance art piece in the documentary Until the Light Takes Us, but I only really listened to them since they released their new self-titled album in September. I might get groans of “but they're not Black Metal anymore” and “you only like them cause you find Frost attractive”, which is far from the truth, but I stand by with my support. I think Satyricon is quite ingenious and do stick to the Norwegian Black Metal sound even if people say that they are too commercialzed; I'm sorry, I thought the second most important point of being in a band, after making the music you love, is to make good money while making the music you love? Or am I missing something here? But I think that they are able to retain their traditional Black Metal roots while still being able to advance themselves musically and be good business people.

In early September, to help coincide with the release of their first album in five years, Satyricon organized a performance with the Norwegian National Opera Chorus after playing one song with them last spring. When I first heard that Satyricon was doing a concert with an opera choir, I really wasn't sure what to think. I had no idea how the songs were going to meld with the classical singing. Sometimes opera vocals can seem really obnoxious to me, which is the main reason I don't enjoy older Nightwish very much, and combining opera vocals with Satyr's vocals, as well as the traditional fast tempo of Black Metal, could be like an aural punch in the face. I think I listened to Mother North first and as soon as the song started I probably had a look of utter shock on my face because of how utterly amazing it sounded, despite being recorded on a viewer’s point and shoot camera, which I suppose is sort of the beauty of Black Metal, it doesn't sound that much different in shitty quality. Granted, the original version of Mother North, from the 1996 release Nemisis Divina, had chorus backing vocals, so it is a bit more suited to the performance with the Opera Chorus, but the beginning of the song sounds just so epic and haunting with the operatic vocals supporting it. Then I remembered that Heavy Metal is incredibly influenced by classical music, and by default so are its sub-genres, so why shouldn't Black Metal sound great with this sort of support vocals? They've done Mother North with an orchestra before and the song sounds so Wagnerian with the lower brass section booming away at the beginning that it could fit perfect into parts of The Ring Cycle (you might know one of the pieces from The Ring Cycle, The Ride of the Valkyries, that was in an episode of The Bugs Bunny Show); it makes my high school orchestra nerd tremble with glee.

They played other songs from their new album as well as age old favourites like Now, Diabolical, The Pentagram Burns, and my all-time favourite, K.I.N.G., but I think one of the stand out performances was Phoenix, a song from their new album. I know this song has been getting some flack since the album’s release because the guest vocalist, Sivert Høyem does not have traditional Black Metal vocals like Satyr. People over the internet have been saying that the album shouldn't be considered Black Metal because of this song, but I think people need to get their thumbs out of their asses and listen to the songs more, and listen to what the artists have to say about the songs. Had Satyr done the vocals himself, it would have sounded like every other Satyricon song. I think the song pushes the boundaries of being able to call itself Black Metal, but there are so many Black Metal elements still in it that people can’t seem to find a midst Høyem’s vocals. I've played the original for friends of mine that are in no way fans of Black Metal and they've loved it and then are shocked when I tell them which band it is, sometimes I've got to tell them who Satyricon actually is but once the words “Black Metal” come out, they are blown away by the fact that they like the song. Phoenix is that much more brooding in its atmosphere compared to its recorded counterpart and the song oozes ambient Black Metal when played with the Opera Chorus.

Besides the music aspects of this performance, I think Satyricon and the Norwegian National Opera Chorus performing together is really interesting from a cultural standpoint. It's like bringing two worlds together; the high culture of the Opera Chorus and the low culture of a Black Metal band. Granted, the majority of people in the audience were probably Satyricon fans rather than being a mix, but I think something like this shows that high culture and low culture do not have to stick to their respective corners. It would be interesting to interview some of the Opera Chorus members to see their points of view. Some of the performers look very excited to be there and some really don't. Satyr said in an interview for Roadrunner Records that he was fighting a very conservative system when he was trying to arrange a longer performance with the Opera Chorus after the band performed with the Opera Chorus last year, but goes on to say that there are open minded people once you weed through the conservative ones; which I think is something that happens in both high culture and low culture. People get scared when they can't put something into a genre no matter what genre it is that they prefer to listen to. And there's also the terrifying idea of letting “trashy” looking into Opera Halls or the equally terrifying idea of letting people wearing suits into shitty metal clubs or festivals (if you think this way you should probably go read this). The whole point of things like this are that people learn and grow; your influences don't have to agree with everyone's influences.

I recently got to see Satyricon live at Circus in Helsinki on December 17, a belated birthday present to myself. They were just amazing musicians to watch and there was a special feeling about seeing them; maybe it was because I went by myself and didn't have my Canadian concert buddy to talk to, or maybe it was because I've been listening to tons of Satyricon since September, whatever the reason, I was impressed and it is now one of my favourite concerts. Satyr is one of the better front-men I've seen; he made a point of thanking the crowd after every song and was a lot more talkative than I expected; Frost was Frost, too kvlt for everyone there and generally acting like a robot, a Frostbot, if you will. Other than a couple technical difficulties, everything they played was as tight as Varg's hand on the knife that killed Euronymous and the crowd was digging it. I know Satyricon is labelled as “black and roll” now and have gotten flack about being part of commercialising Black Metal, but really qudos to them for being the first Black Metal band to get signed to a major record label (four for you Satyricon, you go Satyricon), but I really like this band and I think that they are amazing performers that still has enormous potential. I think that they are a wonderful band to introduces Black Metal to the masses, which they clearly showed with their performance with the National Opera and their latest album.

Even though I find Black Metal laughable at times because everyone seems to be trying to out kvlt each other with their tube music, there are ways that it can surprise you, like Satyricon playing an amazing show with an Opera Chorus (there are rumours of it being released as a DVD in the future), or Watain releasing a song that sounds like Black Metal and Goth music had a love child. From my standpoint, there are two kinds of Black Metal; the traditional and the stuff that isn't afraid to change. I think that if there are bands in the Black Metal scene that keep surprising us like Satyricon does, Black Metal will become more accessible to everyone. I get why the purists want to keep it underground and how the commercialisation of it is totally against the traditional ideals, but music does come down to creating art for a reason and I think there is a lot in Black Metal that can be shared with the world and stuff that is being released now is beginning to make it less about the amount of corpse paint on your face, bullets on your belt, and how much you hate Christianity, and start to be more about the quality of the music.

I took some photos at the Satyricon concert in Helsinki last week that you can check out here. You can also follow me on Tumblr, Instragram, and Twitter!