Black Metal is the intense, often forgotten, subgenre of metal. Getting its name from the 1982 Venom release, Black Metal hovered underneath the mainstream radar for many years, passed around the world via word of mouth and cassette-trading. With the church burnings and the murder of Mayhem guitarist Euronymous (chronicled in the excellent book Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground) in the mid ninties, Black Metal appeared in the spotlight, only to recess shortly after. Since then it has remained semi-unknown, though the number of bands has remained steadily the same.
In VBS.tv's series True Norwegian Black Metal one is given a quick history of the genre and an introduction to Norway's Gorgoroth. Interviews with current and former members give a small glimpse into the lives of Norwegian Black Metallers, but the focus on Gaahl, the vocalist, illuminates the beliefs and personality of (according to Terrorizer Magazine) the most "evil man in the world".
The VBS crew caught up with Gaahl shortly after being released from prison at his mountain home in Bergen, Norway. Resting 20 minutes from the nearest town, the quaint building is barely visible through the ever-present fog and rain. The interviewer describes his reluctance and fear before going in to sit and talk with the man that only a year prior had allegedly forced someone to drink their own blood (Gaahl claims that he collected his victim's blood in a glass only to keep it from getting on the carpet). When looking at the house in the background, one can only think, "That looks like a house where someone would be tortured!"
At Gaahl's request, the camera sat on a tripod while they partook of his extensive wine collection and conversed. Watching, one is almost comfortable in the room with them, Gaahl being a commodious host and the subject flowing freely from his beliefs ("Christianity is based on stolen souls and lives... so every trace of them should be erased.") to his music, which is "about the message, not the music", though they rarely print song lyrics. His demeanor is calm, thought-out, and intelligent.
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