Is Forest Their Throne?
February 8, 1999
| What two things could be possibly further away from each other, than extreme metal music and environmental activism? At first glance, it seems that they really have nothing in common, as environmental activists are concerned with saving the Earth, while extreme musicians mostly spread ideas of total destruction, misanthropy, Satanism and other unpleasant messages. As a result, one could think that if some extreme musician cared to say something about the Green movement, his words definitely would not be too sweet sounding. In some cases it is true, but generalization is not always a good idea, because as a big river consists of a bulk of smaller streams, so the underground metal scene includes many different styles and personalities, some of which do not have any hard feelings towards the nature and environmental movement. Actually, a lot of musicians even proclaim nature to be one of their main influences, and, as a result, there has been a huge emergence of heavy metal albums with titles and lyrics dealing with forests, lakes, sun, and nature as a whole. But what ideas lie beyond those images and words is often overlooked and misunderstood. As a matter of fact, there seem to be two major directions, or rather trends, in which the majority of extreme bands are now going with their "forest themes": firstly, towards the pure consumerism, and, secondly, towards some kind of the religious worship to the forces of nature. Let's travel deep into the maze of the metal underground to find out more about these two mindsets. As it is already mentioned before, many extreme musicians recognize nature as one of their main influences. A good example is an excerpt from the book "Lords of Chaos" by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind: "In explaining one of his personal sources of inspiration, Varg Vikernes once commented, "I strongly recommend you to try and walk in the middle of the winter night in a Norwegian forest all alone, and you will understand what I mean: it actually speaks." However, such "profound" statements are completely useless in answering questions an environmentally concerned reader could have. Is there anything more than simple admiration of nature? Do those people know that the forests, they admire so much, could be eventually swept away from the face of the Earth? And if they know, do they really care about it? After reading countless interviews with black metal artists, it becomes apparent that these people's relationship with environment is nothing more than a pure consumerism. It is really sad that the same people who heavily use nature in their art practically always fail to mention environmental problems in their speech (that's one of the reasons I admire Empyrium with their 'Save the planet - kill yourself' slogan). Considering that top black metal acts sell a substantial number of CDs and have large fan bases, their contribution to the environmental movement could be huge. More than that, when the interviewer occasionally takes initiative to ask questions even remotely related to nature, the outcome always leaves you unsatisfied and worried about extreme musicians' conscience. Just like in this case: " Question: What can you tell me about your new masterpiece "King of the Distant Forest"? What's the meaning of the title, and who is the "King of the Distant Forest"? Answer: I don't know who is the "King of the Distant Forest", haha. I just came up with the songtitle and that's all." (Chaos, 42). Unfortunately, for these musicians nature is just another type of commodity, which can be used in achieving their goals. The fact that they use not material, but spiritual goods of environment, does not make them look any better, as long as they just take, giving nothing in return. |
On the other end of the spectrum, there is a group of musicians whose adoration for nature eventually grew up to something bigger than that - namely worship. These people bear the vision that nature itself is a powerful force, the force, which is much stronger and more dangerous than anything humans have done so far.
" Question: To me the forests hold something very special : unique, mysterious,
and powerful. Do you agree?
Answer: In daylight the forest is a very relaxing and comfortable place to be, the same goes for the evenings. At night the presence of evil is strong; a very possessed feeling is all I can feel." (Satyricon Homepage)
And their strongest belief is that this enormous power will eventually strike back against its offenders, the belief, which is fully illustrated in the lyrics of the latest Satyricon's opus "Nemesis Divina" (Yep, I keep on abusing old good Satyricon):
"For the great day of wrath is coming and, who shall be able to stand?"
"Mother North (read Mother Nature) - how can they sleep while their beds are burning?
Mother North - your fields are bleeding:
Mother North - united we stand (together we walk)
Mother North - I'll be there when you hunt them down."
Infamous Shamaatee, leader and the sole member of the Black Metal project Arckanum expresses similar ideas. Spending majority of his time in the woods, far away from the modern civilization, he dedicates his music, and, as a matter of fact, his life to Pan (ancient God of Nature) and, meanwhile, prepares for the final battle, which will set the Earth in the eternal Chaos:
" Question: I've read some other interview with you, and you say that you're a
very religious man. I guess that you worship the nature and Pan?
Answer: Yes, I am religious to Pan and Chaos. I've been dedicating my life to Nature and Pan since a long time ago that's why I'm here - to release Pan?s powers. (Webzine "Midnattens Sken")."
Certainly, not a lot of people share such extreme attitudes, and even the majority of listeners who buy the albums of the aforementioned bands often misunderstand the message or simply dismiss it as useless. However, there is a small group of people who are more than serious about these ideas, and it is impossible to foresee if those devotees of the "extreme ecology" are going to wait for the coming of "Chaos" or this occurrence will be closer to us due to their unpredictable activities.
Our planet Earth is the big organism, which consists of huge amount of smaller, correlated parts. No one and nothing can live in this world and do not have any ties with nature. As it is true for any of us, it is also the truth for the people in the music underground. However, as the extreme music scene stands in opposition to the common views about culture and religion, so its twisted ideas about the role of nature in our lives can not be accepted by the mainstream society. It is also no wonder, that two main attitudes, existing in this counterculture, can not also satisfy those, who dedicated their lives to the environmental movement and stand under the Green banner. First of all, Greens profoundly despise pure consumerism of dealing with treasures of Mother Earth as with yet another commodity, which seems to be the dominant attitude towards the nature in the Black Metal scene. On the other hand, extreme ideas of another group of musicians, ideas of nature eventually taking care of itself, are too misanthropic and savage for Greens to share.
Andy, February 8, 1999. |