Black Metal

As we learned from watching Oprah, Metal leads to the devil. Its funny, because the statement is just not true and grossly over stated, creating a gigantic unneeded hype and fear in parents. Metallica has no-where near the Satanic influence that its ancestors did, like the Rolling Stones, and never once proclaimed to be more popular than Jesus like the Beatles (well, not publicly).
But Black Metal gets a little different, a little more hardcore. Black Metal frequently includes pagan or occult like lyrics. There's some fighting between whether Thor or Ra are more awesome, but there's a pretty unanimous vote that the Christian God is just not worthy of worship. Some of these bands may focus on factual pantheons, like the frequent use of Norse mythology in their music, while there are many bands that also focus on the creative works of writers like H.P. Lovecraft or J.R.R Tolkien. Their music also has a frequent focus on suicide, mass murder, violence, war, and everything associated with those things. The band names were often colorful to the same effect, like Dimmu-Borgir, Mayhem, and Gorgoroth. And to put on a good show, many of the members of the bands had great stage names like Faust, Necrobutcher, and Fenriz (allusion to Fenrir for those who don't know). Over-all, Black Metal shouts out its pagan / occult / anti-Christian nature to the world.
So I wanted to focus some time on some of the great Black Metal Bands out there, or at least some of the ones I have listened to with an appreciatory smile. First, a Norwegian Black Metal band, Mayhem. If you've ever heard a joke about Norwegian Black Metal, or maybe just Black Metal in its entirety, its probably because of Mayhem. Formed in Norway, in 1984, this band wasn't anything special. Minimum of Double bass pedals: Check. Satanic Lyrics: Check. Lead Singer blowing his head off with a shotgun: Check. Yes, after Mayhem had just removed two members of their band for suicidal tendencies, they brought in a new lead singer, Per Yngve Ohlin, better known simply as "Dead" (thats not a pun). Dead was apparently an interesting character who may have believed that he was actually a demon (some band members claiming he was other-worldly). At the age of 22 (in 1991), Dead slit his wrists and then turned a shotgun to his face and bit down. Before this though, he did write a well felt message on the wall, "Sorry for all the blood." Thanks Dead, your remains will hang from your band members neck. Yes, it did just get creepier. Rumor has it that when his fellow band mates found him dead, there first response was to make a stew out of his brains, and use his skull fragments to adorn their necks, and other bits were shipped to other people they felt worthy of owning valuable fragments, mostly other Norwegian Black Metal people. While some of these rumors were later denied, at the time the band soaked in the publicity. This later got another band member, Euronymos, murdered by another Norwegian Black Metal artist, Varg Vikernes (who strangely sold Dead his ammo).
Yes, Norwegian Black Metal is that hardcore.

For a slightly better band, we now look at Emperor (Black Metal bands love their flash page intros, but apparently don't build the rest of their website) If your ears can withstand the brutal beating it will take by listening to black metal, than it will know that Emperor is actually a talented band. With three members, Samoth, Faust, and one of the few amazing drummers who is also a vocalist, Isahn, this band put out more intellectual albums that dealt on retelling mythology, like "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise." Beyond just being better musicians, the band was actually more respectable as humans. While some Black Metal bands were eating the brains of their fellow band mates, burning down Norway's churches, and being convicted of murder, Emperor stood away from it all, and actually condemned some of it. They actually stopped wearing 'corpsepaint,' and giving an over-all feel that Black Metal was simply trying too hard to be noticed. Emperor let their music speak for itself, and when your next door neighbor is listening to Emperor, you'll hear them too.

Another great band is Nile, formed in 1993 in South Carolina. As the name (and webpage if you actually click the links) may insinuate, these guys have an obsession with Egypt. Their lead member, Karl Sanders, is actually an Egyptologist, and this reflects heavily in the music. Much of the lyrical aspect of the music has to do with the Egyptian mythos. There are also many allusions to our good friend, H.P. Lovecraft. If that doesn't hook you, than you'd be well to learn that many of the members of this band are said to be some of the best musicians in their field (well, Death Metal field). The raw talent that it takes to place something 4times faster than every other musician is incredible.

By now though, you may have noticed a slight trend. While these bands all had at a minimum of pagan reference, and at most a band full of incredibly disturbed people...most of these events occurred after the Oprah show. Black Metal, while starting in 1982, was really confined to Scandinavia and parts of the UK. Its not until the beginning of the 1990's that Death Metal (as far as I'm aware of, Death Metal is America's version of Black Metal) shows its face in America. Not even the most gruesome things of Black Metal really show up until the 1990's, such as a series of Church Burnings. America's "Metal" movement at the time was no-where near as dangerous, nor violent, as other going ons in the world.

Necronomicon, where art thou?

Many people have wondered whether or not the Necronomicon is a real or fiction piece of arcane literature, and I'm here to tell you now, no, it isn't. But the Necronomicon has fueled science-fiction, fantasy, and pop culture decades after the infamous book was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1922 short story (although published in 1924) "The Hound". Much of the origin to the tale of the Necronomicon can be found in David E. Schultz's and S.T. Joshi's An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. In this book, the authors claim that the inspiration came to create an untouchable arcane text may have come from Robert Chambers' collection of short stories The King in Yellow (Chambers' book of short stories is also said to have heavily influenced Stephen King's Dark Tower series) The tales in this book refers to a largely unprovided text that drives the protagonists of the subsequent tales hopelessly insane. While this seems to be a sound theory, Joshi and Schultz concede that there is evidence that Lovecraft wasn't even aware of Chambers' work until 1927.
The hoax of authenticity continued largely due to Lovecraft's allowance of other authors using Lovecraftian mythology and alleged texts to give breadth to the universe. After Lovecraft's death a book was published with the unimaginative title A History of the Necronomicon which traces the arcane text's origins from its "authorship" by the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred in 738, to the banning of the Latin and Greek translations by Pope Gregory IX in 1232, to its English translation by real life Elizabethan magician, John Dee.
Further proving the book's lack of authenticity, Lovecraft once wrote in a letter to friends Jim Blish and William Miller, Jr., "if anyone were to try to write the Necronomicon, it would disappoint all those who have shuddered at cryptic references to it" (Joshi & Schultz). But the effect the book has had on popular culture, and cinema especially, is something that is very true. Even films that have no direct link with Lovecraft place themselves squarely in his universe by using the book. As I'm sure we all remember, the Evil Dead series uses the book at great length and is continuously a part of Ash's adventures. Not many people remember that it is the Necronomicon that enables Jason Voorhees to continually cheat his own death as it is implied in Friday the 13th Part 2(the book is seen in Jason's basement in Jason Goes to Hell). These are just a couple of films touched by Lovecraft and his mythos that aren't based on his books, obviousluy there is a wide catalog based specifically on his writings (The Dunwhich Horror, Dagon, Re-Animator). Hopefully this will shed some light on the fake text, but very real effect Lovecraft's Necronomicon has had in Cinema.

Searchers find possible graves at Manson compound

This is kinda class related...

For years, rumors have swirled about other possible Manson family victims -- hitchhikers who visited them at the ranch and were not seen again, runaways who drifted into the camp then fell out of favor... (read more)

hold on to your pentagrams...

Check this out.

Michael Bay's production compnay is in reports to re-make the un-re-makable Rosemary's Baby, as well as classic horror films: Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Discuss away although i'm pretty sure a resounding "why?" would be heard from the entire class...

Contributors to Modern Paganism

We discussed briefly in class modern paganism and the name Gerald Gardner was brought up. It was said he was contributed to the revival of modern witchcraft. However, when doing some research online I found that a man that lived before Gardner by the name of Charles Leland (1824-1903) wrote about Italian witchcraft and many of his writings are hugely influenced in Gardner's work. Leland's most influential books are Aradia and the Gospel of the Witches. Before Leland, no other books existed that contained material from a with practitioner. Leland was a prolific collector and spent most of his spare time collecting Witch lore and purchasing items of antiquity. One of his most prized possessions was the Black Stone of the Voodoos. It is believed that there are only five or six of these stones, or “conjuring stones” existing in the whole of America. The stones are small black pebbles thought to have originally arrived from Africa during the slave trade, and whoever succeeds in obtaining one would become a Master of Voodoo recognized by all other Voodoo practitioners in America. Leland somehow obtained one and this he exhibited at the Folk-Lore Congress in London during 1891.

I posted the youtube video because it shows some great photos of some of these contributors. I will briefly describe each of them and provide links for you to learn more about each if you are interested.

Gerald Garner: Considered a central figure in the Wiccan revival of the 1950's and 1960's. He developed his own coven called Gardnerian Wicca. To become part of this coven involves initiation and works on a degree system. What happens in the initiation is never shared outside the coven. He worked closely with a woman named Doreen Valiente. she disapproved of him when he went public with his coven after England repealed the last of the witchcraft laws in 1951.

Doreen Valiente: The mother of modern witchcraft. She was the High Priestess of Gardner and co-wrote and edited many of his books. Eventually Doreen left Gardner's coven and started her own, Ned Grove. In her later life, she dedicated her time to public speaking to ensure genuine information about paganism and to counter the many misconceptions about it's religion.

Aleister Crowley: We have discussed a good amount about "The Beast", so I will not go into him here except for providing a few links to information concerning him.

Alex Sanders: king of the Witches. He founded the Alexandrian Tradition of Wicca. He claims his grandmother initiated him into the religion having him learn the rite of witches through the Book of Shadows. After she died, he went through depression and fell into the study of "Abra-Melin" magic.

Raymond Buckland: He has studied the occult and the metaphysical for over forty years and has wrote many books the subjects. He also has been a technical advisor for films that involve these subjects. Buckland was the agent for Gerald Gardner and he was the person that introduced Gardnerian Wicca into America. Seax-Wicca was his own personal tradtion of witchcraft.

Lee + Hammer = Height of Horror Films

He has appeared in over 250 films. He has played villains in blockbuster film franchises such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and James Bond. He holds the world record for number of filmed sword fights. He has appeared with Laurence Olivier, and is an Italian aristocrat. He also got famous for doing horror films for the Hammer studios in London. Who is he? He is none other than Christopher Lee.

Christopher Lee has become one of the most successful and prolific actors of our time. The people at Oracle of Bacon counted, and they decided Kevin Bacon isn't the center of Hollywood. Christopher Lee is. Or at least he's number 2, just .00541 points behind Rod Steiger.

Christopher Lee is not only a great actor, he is also probably one of the reasons the Hammer Films in London became as successful as they were. Lee's talent and personal interest in the occult helped to drive the genre, aiding in the creation of some of the great horror films, including The Wicker Man and The Devil Rides Out.

Lee was a bit actor until he got a part in Hammer's first color film, The Curse of Frankenstein, in which he played the monster. Frankenstein was a success, and Lee landed a lead role in another Hammer film, Dracula. This film broke UK box office records, was considered to be the best Hammer film ever, and made Christopher Lee a star. Lee was considered to be one of the finest actors to ever play the role.

Lee was such a big draw for Hammer, that the studio ended up blackmailing the actor to appear in their subsequent Dracula films. According to Lee, the studio would tell him "Think of the people you'll put out of work if you don't do it!" Lee appeared in many films for Hammer in the following years.

Lee himself had a personal interest in the occult, and much of his private library is devoted to occult books. At his insistence, Hammer made two films based on the occult novels of Denis Wheately, including The Devil Rides Out and To The Devil a Daughter. Wheately was so impressed with Devil Rides Out that he gave Lee the rights to all his black magic books.

After To The Devil a Daughter, Lee veered away from the horror genre. Coincidentally, Hammer Films went bankrupt shortly after Lee left horror. It was also around this time that the British horror film itself began to die.

In the end, horror films, particularly British ones, probably owe a debt to Christopher Lee. He is clearly a talented actor. How else does one become the center of the Hollywood universe? It may not be coincidence that the horror film had its heyday while he was around. But it is also clear that Lee owes a debt to the horror film. Without it, he may never have been exposed to the world.

Film Screening Change, Spring Break and Exam

I just can't do it.

I cannot show the truncated version of The Wicker Man when we could have the chance to see a longer version (the extended release version is almost ten minutes longer than the theatrical release version).

However, since I do not have the longer version with me (and I was not aware Media Services only had the theatrical release version), we will postpone that screening until the week after break. Please complete the reading assignment by then. If you have time you might also wish to do a bit of research on the film Don't Look Now which was shown as a double bill with The Wicker Man, or view it if you have the chance. It deals with the paranormal in an interesting way that is certainly relevant to the course, and is a beautiful film besides.

Tomorrow, instead, we will watch Roger Corman's Masque of the Red Death. (Nice little blurb on this here; also see the linked article at right on the Black Lagoon website, which has some excellent short reviews of various occult films.)

During the week of March 25-27, we will watch The Omen. That should get us caught up with everything. We can watch some made-for-TV film clips as time allows.

Also: would you all rather have a take-home exam to be finished by the time you return from break? Or an in-class exam the week we return from break? If enough people weigh in before class tomorrow, I will see what I can do. The difference: for a take-home exam, you can use your readings and notes and have more time; it is sort of like writing four short essays. The in-class exam would require two short essays and a number of short-answer responses.