Lords of Chaos

A couple of days ago, slowly melting from the heat, I found a funny video on Youtube on how to make Norwegian Black Metal. Then, on a whim I typed Lords of Chaos (2018) in the search field and to my surprise found the whole movie and decided to watch it.

Lords of Chaos (LoC) is a film based on a book, Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, published in 1998 and reprinted in 2003. It concerns the dramatic events surrounding the 90's church burnings and murders in the Norwegian black metal scene.

The movie is directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who between 1983 and 1984 was a member of the Swedish black metal band Bathory. Bathory is considered by some to be the second black metal band in the world, with Venom starting the whole thing. Åkerlund got out of the black metal scene when he thought the scene was becoming too out there. Instead he focused on film making, directing amongst other things the acclaimed video for The Prodigy's “Smack My Bitch Up” and Madonna's “Ray of Light”. He has also worked with U2, Rammstein, Metallica, Lady Gaga and others.

Lords of Chaos styles itself as a semi-fictional horror-thriller, in fact it states outright that it deals in both lies and truth. I have read quite a bit about the goings on in the black metal scene during that time, and as such the film held no surprises for me. It seems to stick pretty closely to the general facts. One of the main protagonists, Varg Vikernes, called the film “made-up crap”, and I have no way of disproving this, but considering that Vikernes is a convicted murderer, arsonist and right wing pundit, I don't take his opinion too seriously.

Before we go into the meat of the matter, I want to point out that the cast is excellent, with great performances from Rory Culkin, Emory Cohen, Jack Kilmer, Sky Ferreira and Valter Skarsgård. If names like Culkin, Kilmer and Skarsgård seem familiar, well they should. Rory is the younger brother of Macaulay Culkin, Jack is the son of Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley and Valter is a member of the never ending Skarsgård clan of actors.

So the main character is Øystein Aarseth, better known as Euronymous (Culkin). He and his friends have formed Mayhem, and are busy inventing Norwegian Black Metal. They need a singer and find Swedish Per Yngve Ohlin, known as Dead (Kilmer).

This part of the film shows their fractured friendships, and their early performances, including Dead's rather insane behavior, which includes huffing dead animals and cutting himself on stage. This part culminates in Dead's suicide, which was a pretty damn gruesome scene. As a whole, this part felt a bit rushed and disjointed, I don't know if that's just how it turned out or if it's intentional.

We then move on to the opening of Helvete (hell), Euronymous's record shop in Oslo. They sell records, work on their music and party in the basement. It's here that Varg (Cohen) arrives on the scene.

Euronymous enjoys being the Lord of his Domain, deciding what is as they said TRVE KVLT, i.e. legit black metal, and what is for posers. He clearly loves being the central figure, but Varg challenges him by actually doing what Euronymous only talks about. Things escalate until several churches have been burned down and people have died, ultimately wrapping up the story. LoC is a good study in what happens when a group of people live in a bubble and egg each other on, until events spiral out of control.

What's important to remember is that these events really happened, though individual details are hard to verify. The biggest deviation from the truth is the inclusion of Sky Ferreira's role, Ann-Marit who becomes Euronymous's girlfriend. Apparently he didn't have a girlfriend when he died. Oh well...

I found the film is enjoyable over all. It feels authentic, not just in a “documentary” sense but in a psychological sense as well. The young men who, like all young men, all want to be fierce and are dramatic to the point of cringe, feel so real. What set them apart from the norm was actually burning churches and committing murder.

Interestingly enough, there is little actual black metal in the film. Åkerlund stated that he wanted to avoid it as it's hard to listen to unless you really like it, and I think audiences would agree.

I kind of hesitate to recommend this film as such. I really did enjoy it, but I don't think all that many would enjoy it. If you come across it, do give it a watch though. It's really well made. If you want to know more about these very dramatic happenings, Wikipedia is your friend.

That's that. Until next time, have a great week!