Caroline Lucas

Extreme and black metal is a music genre infused with ideologies of elitism, nationalism and exaggerated masculinity. In this paper, we explore the ways in which four bands from the north of England – Winterfylleth, Wodensthrone, Old Corpse Road and Oakenshield – construct mythologies, heritage narratives and identity through their own reflections on their music, metal and myths. These extreme metal bands in the North of England work inside the symbolic boundaries of their scene and exist within the imagined communities of their region. That is, the bands construct mythologies based around masculinity and around elitism, but also about “northernness.”

In this article, the authors examine the tensions that surround the commercial success of black metal as a global music commodity and the identification of the genre with the conscious revival of myths and ideologies of an ancient northern European history and nationalist culture, via the ways in which an “imagined community” of Nordicness, identified with the original Norwegian scene, has been embraced and adapted by participants in the local extreme metal scene in northern England.

A visual analysis of English black metal (EBM) reveals a mythologised imagining of the nation. This imagery pervades EBM, and the surrounding narratives of ancient tribal history authenticate and affirm notions of a fixed ethnicity. ‘White’ is asserted as the naturalised national identity and domination is authenticated by narratives of ‘origin’ based on the ancient past. The invention and mythologisation of tradition is based upon an essentialist notion of national heritage, which has the potential to legitimise an idealised exclusionary ethnic identity. As such, the political positioning of EBM bands is highly contested, both amongst the musicians and the fans; this has led to the categorisation of some as examples of National Socialist Black Metal. This paper will reflect upon a collaborative project involving EBM musicians, which was undertaken as part of my practise-led research into the construction of English identities in composition. This project reframed EBM within the context of a multi-media performance. It explored the ambiguous elements of EBM (interchangeable notions of English/British/Northern European identities), and the seemingly contradictory influences present in the music (e.g. the assertion of ‘whiteness’ through a style rooted in black music, and the influence of medieval (church) music alongside pagan elements). This study will examine the idea of power in metal, and the potential for applying Foucauldian theory as a framework for exploring power relations within composition. This will facilitate a discussion of the combination of myth-making and power, which authenticates and empowers an overtly masculine ‘white’ identity in EBM.

The appropriation of folk musics in the construction of national identities has a long and widespread history. Composers and musicians have long plundered the resources of traditional musics and the associated connotations of authenticity and purity, either under the direction of the ‘state’ or in more personal modes of identity production. A contemporary movement in Britain’s ‘metal’ scene involves the utilisation of seemingly ‘traditional’ elements and overt references to idealised conceptions of heritage. These are used to promote notions of English or British identities, which are often entangled with ideas of whiteness.

An examination of the stylised imagery presented in the artwork and typography of metal albums can reveal a great deal about the ideologies contained within the music. A deconstruction of these visual representations facilitates the extraction of an additional level of signification, which can enable a more detailed understanding of how the music and image function in the promotion of right-wing politics and the assertion of a white English identity.

This analysis will be contextualised within the broader perspective of the metal scene, the performance and reception of this music and a perception of its position in relation to mainstream culture and politics.