some theses from Lundin's stance below:
QUOTE
There is an element of dogma in black metal. Obviously, there is the argument to be made that the acceptance of Satan and the darkness which surrounds the idea of an antichrist as an acceptance of a Christ and Jesus as the first coming of the Messiah. Do you feel a frustration with how black metal musicians reject the other side of this dogma while fully embracing one half?
Let's put it like this. Guitar sales are waning. Big manufacturers have huge debts. The market is saturated. Face it. The guitar hero is a dying idol. But no, not in black metal. Riffs reign supreme. There are terrorist threats over Brussels, but Satanists gather to celebrate a joyous festival by waving their guitar-weaponry, headbanging in rhythm to some cool riffing and harmonic melodies, drunk. Black metal, heavy metal riffing guitars since 1982. "Strumming my pain with his fingers."
What losers fail to realize: black metal is an art-form. A comprehensive expression of religious beliefs. Praise. The visual, typically layout, is an auxiliary semiotic mode to the primary sonic dito. Sound, put simply, is less harmony. More timbre and rhythm. Melodies express very little, if anything of the fundamentals in the art-form of black metal.
I find it hard to respect a group of instrumentalists entering a studio to record their allegedly black metal input, failing to realize that 99% of their unique expression is lost in their basis on heavy metal riffing, another 99 in the fact that their only chance of a filament of unique expression they've already put in the hands of another man's studio, an external producer and someone else to do the layout. Period. Your instrumentality is not black metal. Second period.In short. Malacht scorns your incestuous black metal family. Malacht scorns your internal admiration. Malacht scorns your melodies. But most of all, Malacht scorns your pseudo evil pseudo theology. Fuck. your. satan.
Malacht is Roman Catholic black metal. By this entails by obligation an intrinsically religious art-form based on the trust in one supreme divinity as professed by the holy Roman Catholic church. Malacht is in this sense an orthodox band, whose mission is to further the acknowledgement of Christendom as the default source of data on who the ultimate divinity is.
We piss on your fucking festivals. We piss on your ridiculous band photos. And we piss on your fucking instrumentation. But not because you assemble in group or because you meet to enjoy company, socialize or play organized melodies in rhythm with each other. Because you believe that this has anything with devil worship to do. Give your praise to God, continue to gather in collectives, and meet to take group selfies, but fuck me, do not call this an expression of YOUR religion. You are surrounded by the grace of God. Just simply acknowledge that. Don't pretend to be evil. Simply, you are not. Hypocritical shit.
So. Is it right to be angry? I'm no kind fucking meager asshole who cares for your prejudice impression of Christianity. Sure, your childhood was bad and all that. But grow up. Clear the temple. There's a time to breastfeed and there's a time to think. Just acknowledge the first for what it was and praise God for those riffs you like. I know I certainly won't.
Malacht is dark. It sounds alien and it is dirty as fuck. No. We rarely have audible riffing, nor do we care if we do. But we portray the depths of human despair and darkness. Not because it is good, but because herein lies the key to redemption. Face the world for what it is. Therein lies the fruit of salvation. Here is our worship. At the foot of the cross. Our good is dying. This is the banality of evil. Allahu akbar.
So defend your black metal morals, defend the fundamentals of your vain metal codex. Profess what is and what is not, but don't come to me with professions if the basis of your assessment rests on anything but rational dialectics.
I repeat myself. Black metal is a religious expression, alas, be it an emission into a great void of lukewarm hearts in denial of its core-essence. Of absolute truth. We throw bright pearls to lingering serpents, for at least someone has to preach in hell. This is our apostolate. Not to renew black metal, or to defend it as an idol, but neither to deny its religious fundament. No! To counter the ridiculous claims that the essence of black in here is anything but an external constant, an irrelativisable transcendence, ultimately guiding to god. For only the colour of black is scientifically proven. The rest is belief, subject to scrutiny.
We have no quantifiable means of measuring black in black metal. It’s all reason, but its ontology a presupposed axiom to our art. There is black, the acknowledgment of whose metaphysical existence is inherent to the art-form's raison d'etre. Of this, black metal can never be void, for if it is, it ceases to be black metal, if it ever was.
Yet I am open to acknowledge any black metal that doesn't deal with metaphysical darkness to not be black metal. But I know to date of no professed black metal act whose art is not poor of artistic qualities and inapt to be called thus because of a heretic and incoherent theology concerning what is truly dark.
To the point, fuck your forests, landscapes, make-up, clothes and symbols. Fuck your shows and concerts, your friendship and fun. But not because it's forests, landscapes, make-up, clothing, dashes, social gatherings, friendship and fun. All of this is great. Praise the Lord!
In my humble creed, I deny the existence of Satanists more than I can see these self-proclaimed Satanists being able to escape the grace of god. But go on, I will never take it from you. I share your joy. Yalla! gather and rejoice. But think there in-between. For the gratitude is due to whom gratitude is due. When you hear a riff in your venue, praise the lord. When you like a song in your solitude. Praise the lord. When you gather to socialize. Hallelujah! For as little as you manage to flee God, as little do you escape. For whither shall you go from his spirit? whither shall you flee from his presence? (etc., cf Ps 139; Vulgate 138)
So be grateful of the grace and give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Christ was murdered, but he lives again. His love endures forever.
Guest appearances, cover songs, homage albums, session features, shows, stage theatre, mid-talk, the fans in love coming to see you live, the love of records, the social interaction between fans online, the metal parties enjoying music, the metal newspapers, down to this interview and all those things related to the metal culture and of which so many seem to enjoy sharing in. It's all good gifts in the grace of God. For those who enjoy it, It's a bliss. Things that make the life so much more worth living, or even enjoyable for millions of people worldwide.
I myself only made brief guest appearances in many aspects of this metal culture, and didn't enjoy many of them, so I left voluntarily. And although the scale of what is "hard", or "aggressive" music is largely understudied (there seems to be some kind of layman-consensus around the traditional metal instrumentation), studies support that "hard" music makes life happier for those who enjoy it. This of course is no surprise, as there are multiple concerts and festivals the recurring crowd of which empirically supports this hypothesis, but together with the above mentioned social aspects of the metal, or black metal scene, the positive emotional impact of this culture on its fans would appear hard to deny. Now, this is the largely subjective sentiment of the fans. But.
This vastly similar, greatly detailed theatre gives joy to many. Praise the lord.
I once showed the lyrics of "Freezing Moon" to a literature professor at Uppsala University. "Interesting", but when she reached the second line of predicates in the elliptical clause: "but [it's] also so dark and mysterious", her comment was very sound, meaning it to be clumsy, "this is that which should have been made obvious by literary means [literary skill] and without need to be stated plainly."
No matter how much you call your concert harvest, ritual, darkness and mysterious, it will remain a kindergarten for humans to enjoy, laugh, meet, chat, gossip and have fun. And I'm sad on your behalf, but it doesn't matter if the bands themselves with much confidence have stated themselves to be very dark and mysterious, too. People - and on this point I agree with the most strenuous of self-proclaimed Satanists - don't fucking give a shit. It's sad. The fact that a band like Malacht can even get a single person outside a confessional Christian denomination to enjoy the record - not because we don't claim to be dark and mysterious - would be enough to validate parts of this claim. Malacht, Orchestra maxime contempta, today a joke. We are not the most hated band in the world. People are people. Most of them with a good heart, who simply come to enjoy your theatrical performance of your beloved instrumentation. Panem et circenses. They drink their bread. You are their circus.