Giuliano D'Amico

“ In this article I shall focus on black metal‟s appropriation of literary and mythological discourses — and the other way around. Following Chartier, I wish to show how the borders between „high‟ and „popular‟ culture often become blurred, and to help raise a debate on black metal as an art form, a debate which is „sorely needed.‟ [3] In fact, unlike many other forms of popular music, black metal has hardly been the object of scholarly interest: Cornelius Jakhelln‟s activity as both writer and musician looks like a unique case in point for raising attention. ”

“ Gudenes Fall, where one is to find many of the characters who appeared in Jakhelln‟s poems and in Solefald‟s albums (for example Adamat from Yggdraliv, The Silver Dwarf from Black for Death, and of course the Norse gods) . After the dawn of Christendom in Norway, the Norse gods did not disappear, but had to move underground. They lead quite an apathetic life, playing blodball, a rather violent version of rugby, smoking cigars, discussing philosophy, having sex and playing music. Odin is planning a comeback on the Earth together with his friend, the silver dwarf Hornbore. ”

“ Although popular culture and music are widely researched and taught in scholarly institutions, their very definition has not managed to shake off their dependency and inferiority to „high‟ culture. The two traditional models, as suggested by Chartier, work well as long as popular and high culture function as two impenetrable and separate systems. Problems arise when popular culture starts dealing with discourses traditionally belonging to high culture. Thus, Chartier introduces the concept of appropriation, which „involves a social history of the various uses [...] ”

“ One could even stretch the argument as long as saying that much of Jakhelln‟s literature gets lost without a knowledge of black metal music: „high‟ and „popular‟ culture have mixed, and black metal has become a constitutive part of a literary project. ”

“ The second song of the album, in fact, is entitled Mont Blanc Providence Crow, and deals with a bird-like figure which can be clearly identified with Odin‟s raven Munin. Following Jakhelln‟s typical „cosmopolitan‟ taste, this crow dwells on Mont Blanc in France, and acts as an „observer to the Midgard of Men‟, controlling mankind. The band also shot a music video, which is a very good example of Solefald‟s „red music with black edges‟, with its juxtaposition of harsh, black metal passages with Hammond organ and clean vocals. ”

“ In any case, Norwegian black metal was also Jakhelln‟s primary source of inspiration as a musician — a source which he distorted, changed and finally returned to, releasing two albums of tru nårvidsjen blækk metæll. [38] If one considers the quotations above in the broader context of Jakhelln‟s production, a circle seems to close, intertextuality to have reached its peak. Modern, ancient literature and black metal are one in Jakhelln‟s work. He has been constantly bending towards literature when playing black metal, always towards black metal when writing literature. ”

“ Some of the føkking sjittmettallera wanted to add keyboards to their bands; among experts, they are called „vimps‟ and „påosers‟. These expressions have no positive connotation. Having keyboards in a føkking sjittmettell-bænn, or even worse in a blækk føkking sjittmettell-bænn makes you lose recognition and prestige. In ublækk metal keyboards mean that you play too well. In blækk metal they mean that you play too bad. [33]
In the essay I mentioned at the beginning of my article, Keith Kahn-Harris has tried to describe the black metal scene by using Pierre Bourdieu‟s concept of „field‟, i.e. ”

“ But there is a difference: [...] the ublækk metaler contents by acting as extremely tough, while the blækk metaler has to sit in jail to be extremely tough. And I don‟t mean sitting in jail because you‟ve driven to fast, oh no. Blækk føkking is about sitting in jail because one is bad. ”