Sometimes I wonder whether certain black metal bands are truly practicing black magick, or they are just putting on a show. The band Watain is one, they are probably one of my favorites, but I’ve read elsewhere that they’re just fanboys and like to project an image of savage brutality, etc… They also seem to use several Demonic names in their music. Curious to see if anyone has any thoughts about Watain in particular, or can offer thoughts on black metal and magickal practice in general.
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That
Edit to add: When I knew nothing about magick, I used to listen to a lot of black metal with occult themes, but now I see that the songs were just directed to a target audience, like any commercial product, they didn’t talk about anything occult, they were just sprinkled with cool demon names and images of the world burning, which is something that only first world people who haven’t had their world burning would dream of. I still like some Belphegore songs, because they show that they did some research, but I find it overall fake, as most bands are a caricature of what Christians think that people who work with demons are, and the songs reflect that point of view, i.e “we are evil and Christianity is good”, why would someone pick that idea if not to sell it to teenagers?
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Totally agree with this.
I think it depends on the band, but it’s art, and art is in the eye of the beholder. What you bring to it makes all the difference.
I don’t listen to a lot of black metal. The only band I’ve noticed as having obvious magickal energy is Lord of the Lost. It’s subtle - you have to understand magick to see it - and they’re not black metal, they’re goth industrial metal. I’ve posted about them on here before.
I can’t get into black metal, I’m a lyrics first person and most of it is just shallow repetition of random cool-sounding ‘demon’ names, or very cliche.
I don’t know Watain. I looked up the lyrics of Malefitor… uh, I can see that looking like a stream of UPG, maybe condensed like it took the kennings of many rituals and collected the most sensational bits together, plus a bit of poetic license for good measure. But that’s art for you. Inspirational, not necessarily something to try to emulate.
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Yeah the thing I noticed is that this band Watain, Marduk, etc… Their music doesn’t seem to jive with the energies I get from the spirits they name in their stuff. Definitely feels like a personal gnosis, and /or obsession with presenting themselves as the ultimate and eternal servants of darkness. Although, they may be dealing with spirits, I’m not convinced “Souls For Belial” by Marduk (see video on youtube) is anything more than show.
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I have listened to BM for some years and about 99% of it is for shock value, the same way Slayer was in the 80’s during the Satanic Panic. Watain is no different to me and I believe their lyrics are just based on the research into Qlippoth and general Satanic paradigms. They probably follow athestic Satanism in the same way Behemoth does.
There’s also an early BM band called Dissection that had the vocalist involved in The Misanthropic Luciferian Order, he despised Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan.
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Not black metal but the rapper Sicktanick is an actual practicing occultist and Thelemite.
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I’m not exactly a metalhead, but tunes like this seem much more occulty to me than people screaming random demon names they found on the internet. Even if they do the occasional ritual, for most “black magick” is just Christianity with Lucifer instead of Jesus and “summonings” instead of prayers, and also more piercings and tattoos and generally edgy shit. Not very many people really go deep. There seems to be just about as much drama among demon-worshippers as Christians as well.
I’ve noticed occult themes in fiction, too. The show Billions (season 5 going now, maybe it’s good, the writing kinda dropped off into just pop-culture references instead of real dialogue somewhere in season 3 or 4 tho) features a hedge fund manager whose employees call him an “alien magi” and more of a nation-state than an ordinary person. There is this cool scene where one of his employees is being interrogated by a US attorney, and as he is describing the guy’s super-human feats, there are a few shots of him “meditating” in an icy blue room. The whole conflict between him and the US attorney is very good study material, by the way. It really demonstrates the power of information control and influence.
Damien Lewis is also just a god-damned incredible actor. S1E4 54:45 - go back after you see E5.
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Storm of the Light’s Bane is great and deserves it’s credit, but their debut album “The Somberlain” is underrated and is possibly better in comparison, imo.
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I liked the biographical piece on them in the book Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult and how they wear their band name biker vests in a show of unity. Outside of that, don’t know much about them. Their first release, Rabid’s Death Curse, just sounds run of the mill black metal to me, which is all I’ve heard by them. https://www.amazon.com/Black-Metal-Evolution-Cult-Extreme-ebook/dp/B00E257ZXY/ref=sr_1_2?crid=Y8R0NO1T5YT8&dchild=1&keywords=the+cult+never+dies&qid=1589762439&s=books&sprefix=the+cult+never+%2Cstripbooks%2C203&sr=1-2
To be honest, there are no black metal bands that invoke a sense of infernal power. I dunno if it’s due to the throaty screeching and growling, the fuzziness and poor quality of the instruments, or even the repetitive beats. To me, it’s all for show.
Granted, not all are like that. I.e the band Dimmu Borgir adds symphony and orchestra to theirs, the quality is better and they are melodic, which to me, is more convincing.
I’m not sure if they take their shit seriously, but it’s pretty convincing if they do.
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I like Dimmu
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They’re a great band! I fell in love with them nearly 10 years ago, at an outdoor metal festival called Soundwave in Australia. Me and my companion were walking past their show, and we stopped because they really know how to put on a show, what with the black magic imagery and all that. Now I count them as a favourite.
Now that’s how you invoke the infernal!
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I’ve always thought this Gorgoroth Video projected a nice black metal feel. GORGOROTH - CARVING A GIANT (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube
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Gorgoroth with Gaahl is legendary. Another good-un Gorgoroth - Sign of an Open Eye (w / Lyrics ) 1080HD - YouTube
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I liked that. Thanks.
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Not metal, but I’m gonna go 80% that Mc Ride (deathgrips) is an occultist. Never seen/heard anything to confirm so I’ll only go 80.
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I listen to metal (not the extreme grunting and everybody playing their guitar as fast as they can)
But does it matter if they are ‘real’ magickians or not?
Candlemass and Ghost are two of my top favorite bands, the themes of the songs and the lyrics are awesome but I wouldn’t like the music more if I knew they were ‘true black magickians’.