Satanic gimmick and headline-grabbing controversy has allowed black metal to be perceived as the proverbial pantomime villain, but Sam McKavanagh argues that there are bands around that keep it close to its original rebellious strain. With a new album and a new source of power BEHEXEN are taking the power back.

For a genre that was meant to be a big fuck-you to the status quo, black metal is becoming somewhat conventional. Slap on some corpse paint; write lyrics about Satan or the occult, record everything so it sounds like it was conceived deep underground in a damp and dirty bunker and you’re almost there.

It is also said that to be a ‘proper’ black metal act you have to be from Norway. Sure, the second wave kicked off there with hordes of painted faces, standing topless in frost covered forests, holding inverting crosses, pledging their souls to Satan and burning down churches. It all made for quite the spectacle, making headline news stories of the corrupted youth. It put Norway on the musical map, but could the genre be facing a the problem in that the now-truest black metal bands are being overshadowed by poster-friendly acts like Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon and … Read More