Anti-Cosmic, Anti-Life, Anti-Human

A video essay on the Serpentine Dragon as an Ideological Symbol in
Contemporary Swedish Black Metal. Bands discussed include Ondskapt, Grafvitnir, Mephorash, and Watain. The script and content of the video is adapted from a presentation I gave at a recent subcultures conference. Any mispronunciations of Nordic words is unintentional. I'm very open to discussion and criticism and invite constructive feedback on my research.
I highly recommend that anyone interested in theology and religion to check out the youtube channel Religion for Breakfast:
/ religionforbreakfast
Other works cited include
"Satanic Bowels: Medieval Inversion and the Black Metal Grotesque" by Brenda S. Gardenour Walter. Walter, Brenda. (2019). Satanic Bowels: Medieval Inversion and the Black Metal Grotesque. 10.1108/978-1-78756-395-720191015.
"An Instinct for Dragons" by David E. Jones. Jones, D.E. (2003). An instinct for dragons. New York ; London: Routledge.
Music used: "Fall" by Amaltheia, from the self-titled 2022 debut LP.
Timestamps:
0:08 Content warning
0:31 Dissection and the MLO
2:30 Gnosticism and Gnostic cliché
4:23 Early black metal graphic design
4:38 Power metal dragons
5:03 Dragon source material
6:38 An Instinct for Dragons
7:08 The four bands to be discussed
7:36 Ondskapt
9:07 Grafvitnir
10:19 Mephorash
11:02 Watain
11:42 Visual commonalities
15:02 Possible interpretations
16:12 Conclusion
More videos likely to follow on other subjects in extreme metal graphic design and illustration. If you have an idea you'd like me to research, feel free to make suggestions.

[@thitherword]

Anti-cosmic, anti-life, anti-human? This is the most disgusting and juvenile set of attributes, assumptions and qualities possible. Grow up.

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

Extremely confused by this comment. I would suggest you grow up yourself, perhaps then titles of videos on youtube won't upset you so much.

[@thitherword]

@@nuun-metaltheorist660 Believe me, I'm perfectly aware of the ideas on which you've based your research, and I suggest you listen to other types of music and ingratiate yourself with other schools of thought than those endorsed by edgy metal teens. And no, I'm not against metal music. My point here is that philosophical stances such as Gnosticism are truly vile as they assert that the world is an inferior creation of a malign god. There is no more world-denying viewpoint than this. Do you love nature? Do you feel a sense of veneration when you look upon a forest or a mountain? If you do, then you and anyone else who subscribes to these abhorrent ideas is experiencing extreme cognitive dissonance. No one who loves the natural world should be engaging with "anti-cosmic, anti-life, anti-human" traditions. Misanthropy, the occult, Gnosticism--abandon it all.

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

@@thitherword Ah as I suspected, you don't understand the point of the video whatsoever.

[@thitherword]

@@nuun-metaltheorist660 It's enough to dwell on such things. Steer clear of these bands and their ridiculous notions.

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

@@thitherword Sounds like shifting goalposts to me.

[@BlackHermit]

About 6 years ago I wrote a detailed analysis of Reinkaos and its philosophy ("Dissecting Dissection's Reinkaos", you may Google it if you'd like). It's good to finally see some videos about this topic that go in depth and do it justice. Great work!

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

I'd love to read that, thank you for letting me know!

[@MrPepepe666]

I remember reading that! Very cool

[@josec.8578]

Would like to check it out

[@HeathenDance]

In all honesty, the lyrics of Reinkaos are very rich and straight to the point. There's ZERO need for a "detailed analysis".

[@WILD__THINGS]

I read it. It sucks.

[@PlutoTheGod]

These videos are awesome. It’s fascinating how deep the rabbit hole goes with a lot of these bands and their occult views/activities

[@camilaandreabecerraplata4550]

Man, I've been looking for a video like this for years. Finally, someone explains what Anticosmic Luciferianism is about. Thank you ❤.

[@KyleLikesKoRn]

Wow finally someone not just reading a few lines from Wikipedia. Good video

[@21bravopunk61]

I really enjoyed this video. I’m a big fan of mythology, religion, occult history and esoteric subjects. This is also why I love metal music. There is something about these things that ignites my interest and imagination. Thank you so much the diligence and detail that you have provided me. You have a new subscriber.

[@KissSlowlyLoveDeeply-pm2je]

One thread you might want to look into is the organization Order of Nine Angles. There are no direct connections other than Dissection having a song called "Nexion" on their 3rd album, which is an important part of how O9A is organized. Many similar themes between them and various black metal bands. Some could be coincidence for sure.

[@patrickbertlein4626]

Black Funeral is part of that I believe. Dissection, hmm not really too sure about that. Also a pretty clear cut Nationalist group as well. Most would be coincidence due to all being "Left Hand Path" or Satanic in nature.

[@TheModernHermeticist]

I was thinking of doing a video on this, but now I don't have to. Thanks!

[@Tharsismusic]

Your Encyclopedia Hermetica videos have been a great companion to me over the years!

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

Why not make it anyway? I like to make things with metal visuals in mind, and more videos on the topic would be interesting for everyone no?

[@dmitriyvasilyev6408]

It's rare to find a creator making videos about philosophy and ideology of metal waves. Sub.

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

Thank you!

[@eyesontheinside5776]

If you're talking about ofermod - you need to read their interview in Dauthus #3 Appendix. I appreciate you making these sorta of videos - i hope it doesnt stop here.

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

Thanks for letting me know about this!

[@virginstudio120]

Thanx for sharing. I'm new in these concepts & this video has been very interesting. Dissection & Jon opened a new path inside me... 🤘🏼

[@HeathenDance]

"Open Yourself for Chaos!"

[@jerrimenard3092]

You did such a good job with this video! I am a Theistic Satanist who shares many beliefs with thise of the MLO. The only thing that I would add is the Apotheosis/Exaltation as the end goal. We evolve and become Gods. I personally do not believe in any creation by any other being. We have always been and always will be. That is because we are coexisting intelligences made up at our core if pure chaos matter. Death delimits us and leads to a transformation, symblised by dragons and other types of wings (think butterflys ).

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

Interesting, I haven't come across butterfly symbolism. Admittedly this was initially put together for a conference so the research could have been more expansive. I have been interested in making a part two at some point, and the next big project is symbolism of wolves.

[@Xeper616]

Apotheosis is a theme in Dragon Rouge, not in MLO

[@patrickbertlein4626]

Cute.

[@BlackJesusChrist666]

Cringe

[@ColorsIn-jk6lv]

Satanism got me through my teenage years. I had lots of sex, I did what I wanted, and drank a lot. Now I feel like I have transcended and I like working hard and supporting my family.

[@crimsondeath7468]

norse mythology is just as big part of these kind of left hand bands "or atleast Dissection and Watain" as hinduism, kabbalah. the zohar, ancient epytian, Celltic mythology the bible etc etc. GNOSIS is found within all

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

I'm not sure if I understand your point if I'm honest. Gnosis is found in all but Norse mythology has nothing to do with the Gnostic "tropes" which I pinpointed as building blocks of this version of Satanism. That was the point of the video and discussing Gnosticism is context with these forms of theistic satanism. Again, this form of satanism takes ideas primarily from Ancient Near Eastern ideas, where serpentine dragons are identified as manifestations of chaotic power. Among these bands, Norse mythological motifs are rarely used, which was my point. All you need to do is scan through the various named deities and agents of the MLO to see the vast majority are middle eastern. The temple of the black light references figures from history such as Apep, Hekate, Set, Lilith, Tanin, etc. Norse mythological references are almost non-existent. The point of my video was not "Norse mythological does not contain gnosis", the point was about how these specific bands and the MLO primarily reference the Ancient Near east.

[@crimsondeath7468]

@@nuun-metaltheorist660First of all gnosis is a greek word meaning knowlegde of the mysteries. just because there is a group who called themselves Gnostics after the word does not mean the word is owned or invented by them. Most mystics, occultists, magicians etc traditions uses that word. Now to get to the Norse mytologi part its not that much i will or can tell you as each man must walk the path alone to truly gain certain revelations themseleves! These things are occult "hidden" for a reason. But I will give you some clues to what i mean by my claim. In the song Black Dragon many Dragons of the deep are mentioned. One of egyptian mythology, one of Norse one from Canaanite mythology another from hebrew mythology, mesopotamian and probably some i forgot. Yet its not multiple black dragons he evoke but ONE black dragon! Further more i suggest you check out wich planets the many different Gods from diffrent mythologies correlates with and then compare their personality, character and archetype, look past their different names and masks and you might get why i claimed their ideologies are just as much norse mythology as any other. These planets and their gods are also names for our 7 days, other are named after months among much more.

[@kittywampusdrums4963]

@@nuun-metaltheorist660 Yea, the gnostic gospels were found in a cave in nag hammadhi, that's the only link between christianity (God vs satan etc) and gnosticism I've ever seen. The God of Chaos is just the unknowable creator of all things even the creator of the demiurge blind god (Saklas) and really nothing to do with satanism or christianity at all. I tried to find a copy of the MLO material but never found any online. If it exists someone should post a link but it seems like it's just a bunch of mish-mashed together bits of everything.

[@KnjazNazrath]

@@kittywampusdrums4963 There used to be a half-translated version of their main text floating around online via scribd, but as is often the case everyone wanted to read it but no-one wanted to bother finishing the translation.

[@patrickbertlein4626]

@@nuun-metaltheorist660 With the big exception of Arckanum of course. Perhaps the point they were trying to make is the connection with dragon like creatures and chaos in norse mythology. It could also be argued their are many bands who use the same concept from this lens but its not as clearly satanic or anti-cosmic. I know Necrophobic is one who has touched on these themes. Chaos and death is not simply MLO related Black/Death metal! But, their is obviously a very succinct cult like atmosphere with some of these bands the Swedes in particular. I also could have waited a minute before posting this comment, cause yeah you covered most of it. Besides the mighty ARCKANUM!! My damn opinion they were the ULTIMATE, but that is just me.

[@LOLcifer_]

Great video. I'm surprised you didn't talk about Malign, another Swedish band, who I would argue were probably very influential to some of these "orthodox" or "religious" black metal bands.

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

Thanks for suggesting them! I admit the response to this video makes me want to make some kind of follow up further down the line after doing some additional research!

[@phillipjordan1010]

I firmly believe that we Nordic people have the same ancestors as the Persians or modern Iranians

[@wtc5198]

well this is the mainstream view lol. germanic, slavic, romance etc peoples are of the same origin as the iranian and north indian peoples and speak related languages

[@dmitriyvasilyev6408]

​@@wtc5198trve

[@MrNecryptic]

Some of them, sure. Modern Iranians mostly have semitic Arab admixture that our ancestors don't have. Technically the red-haired mummies in ancient China and northern India and the steppes are our and iranian's ancestors, but that was quite a long time ago and a lot changed on the way from there to Europe.

[@MinecraftRick]

That has been scientific consensus for years.

[@wtc5198]

@@MinecraftRick since the eighteenth century, even

[@eric791910]

Thank you for discussing Grafvitnir. No disrespect to Dissection but if i was introducing someone to melodic black metal, id say Grafvitnir is all they need to listen to.

[@DefendersofMetal]

As I was part of the early 2000's scene in Stockholm and knowing both Erik of Watain and Jon of Dissection (post-prison), I would like to add. 1. MLO changed it's name about 2000 years ago to T.O.T.B.L. Tempel of the Black Light. It's not something you become a member of easily. Trust me, you really have to prove yourself. If your interested in their writings then look into The Book of Sitra Achra and the Liber Falxifer books. 2. I also want to make clear that Jon didn't commit suicide out of depression, but as a true Satanist, a ritual suicide. Something you do when you fulfilled your purpose here and go on to the next stage (enter the realm of the dark gods). 3. Erik from Watain was never a Dissection member, but played on some live shows.

[@TheSatanist13]

Shahin Khoshnood-Sharis (Victor Draconi), awesome.

[@whenpigsfly860]

It’s pronounced re-in-chaos, as in reincarnate in chaos.

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

Oh I didn't know that, but thank you for pointing it out!

[@prionjuice]

No, it's "reign chaos"

[@MrNecryptic]

'rayn-kay-os' 'reign-chaos' "the return to chaos and acausal existence."

[@FaerieGoatmother]

Black metal iconography 101 for your Bible study group

[@stoneburner655]

Sea Mosquito is legit love the newest release

[@HeathenDance]

Good video. Subscribed.

[@claviculacardonis]

Careful though, MLO and Dragon Rougue are different in their approach to the Qlipphot and - most importantly - evil and violence

[@albatrossyglossy]

well that was a quick subscribe..

[@KyleWhiteandfriends]

Lilith was not the serpent. She was Adams first wife.

[@WarrenDay-we9do]

Adam was not the first man. Maybe first cyborganism.

[@VirideSoryuLangley]

Oh no, not violence against womyn! I'm gonna faint!

[@ozgun6611]

the spit voice

[@SamuelBlackMetalRider]

Very nice work. Now brother maybe go deeper in the underground? Where the Swedish Dragons are far more active & authentic: check the following band SVARTRIT, Kaos Sacramentum, the Genius composer SVARTADAUTHUZ / Swartadauþuz & « Sir N. » labels ANCIENT RECORDS & SCYTHE OF DEATH Productions. The Dragon Hole goes much deeper Brother, you have just scratched the surface

[@DevilServant11]

There is a lot of Anti Cosmic Heavy Metal in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina. My like for the video is #218.

[@colecarstarphen8743]

Please do a dsbm vid

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

It's a world of bm I don't know too well I admit, but visually, from what little I know, DSBM is very into photography which is very interesting.

[@colecarstarphen8743]

@@nuun-metaltheorist660 dsbm is depressive suicidal black metal and is a subgenres of black metal that explores extreme emotions instead of " hail Satan do crack and abortions" also this genre experiments a lot with genres such as post punk and regular rock

[@Bladesofkaos]

Not a fan of Reinkaos album but still a fan nonetheless

[@Rugz-smoke]

Me too

[@SkarredKage]

Where can one obtain a book written by the MLO?

[@BlackestLyrics]

You can only get them second hand. Ebay or rare/obscure book traders will be your best bet. These books were printed in a very limited quantity that all obviously sold out. Expect to pay anywhere between 200-1000 USD per book depending on condition and where you buy it. You can find the first book that was written, Liber Azerate, online as a .pdf, both in Swedish and in English. This one I can pretty much guarantee you will never be able to find a copy of in real life. Same with Sitra Achra regarding .pdf but I do believe this one pops up from time to time on ebay and similar sites. The Liber Falxifer books are the easiest ones to get a hold of at this point.

[@SkarredKage]

@@BlackestLyricsthank you.

[@Metalheim-f6d]

This is metal. Not kindergarden. No need to warn people that there may be shocking content.

[@BlackestLyrics]

Shitty take. Lots of metal do not deal with as extreme things as Black metal does, nor does any genre has such a dark history so yes, giving people a heads up is completely normal and the decent thing to do.

[@Metalheim-f6d]

@@BlackestLyrics Very anti-metal IMO. Metal and (black metal especially) should be dangerous and menacing. If you really can't handle opinions without a heads-up, please, leave the hall.

[@BlackestLyrics]

@@Metalheim-f6d I agree that black metal should be this way. It should be pushing the boundaries of what can be considered art, it needs to be somewhere in that grey area of being dangerous, controversial, provocative and also sometimes just a little overly edgy for the fun of it as well. BUT! I do not feel metal as a whole needs to be this way. Look at power metal, a sub-genre that generally focuses on heroics, positivity and standing up against some kind of evil. Some people have been through quite horrible things. All they need is to know these things will be talked about to be fine with it, they simply do not want to be blind-sided. Does that sometimes seem a bit ridiculous? Yeah, it can, but I also believe it does not hurt you nor I. The topic is still talked about the exact same way, there was just a heads-up at the very start.

[@amalibenton]

I can't understand any of these but only know that their music is amazing, what's evil about these bands?

[@WarrenDay-we9do]

Nothing.

[@Malegys]

Ha, a Warning on a Metal channel :-D No wonder todays metalheads all have beards, sensible glasses & drive family-friendly Volvos...

[@Lord_Sneetus]

What's wrong with beards lol???

[@Malegys]

@@Lord_Sneetus In Metal? EVERYTHING 😀

[@sant1647]

so now to be a metalhead you need to be clean shaven, have good eyesight and not have a family

[@Malegys]

@@sant1647 Bingo ! 😀

[@billnelson5279]

The warning in the beginning is ridiculous. This music was never supposed to be safe

[@bradleyconnors1268]

Does it matter? Its probably just for the KZbin guidelines or people who can't deal with these themes.

[@UryneCayne]

Imagine being triggered by a content warning. 😅

[@billnelson5279]

@bradleyconnors1268 obviously it's for one of those 2 things. What else would it be

[@billnelson5279]

@UryneCayne it was easily my biggest trigger event of the month. I was completely Beside myself.

[@wemightbealone]

dissection was good melodic black metal which was the somberlain and storm of the lights bane, reinkaos is shit melodic death metal and the best anti-kosmik black metal is arckanum.

[@phillipjordan1010]

Dissection was a great band. However their last album REiNKAOS really fucking sucks. Jon Nordviet knew he was going to commit suicide. He should of at least made a better final record

[@Omnatten9]

That album was great, it was simply different.

[@MrNecryptic]

It's one of the catchiest pieces of music ever created in any genre. The melodies are perfection, everything is clean and tight. What he did was he made the Liber Azerate into the most accessible music he could and it worked because that album actually did do some real numbers, top 200 charts etc. I can get normies to listen to that record, but they wont sit through the Somberlain. Jon knew what he was doing.

[@phillipjordan1010]

@@MrNecryptic I'll give it another listen since you made a good point🤘

[@WarrenDay-we9do]

He committed pseodocide, was in a propaganda play of scripted murder and was never put in prison. A total fake. Probably never even wrote any of the music.

[@quarterpounderwithcheese3178]

I'd say these metalheads should get a hobby, but it seems they have way too much time on their hands for that and should just get a job

[@Xem305]

If you are Anti-Life wouldn't you find humans quite helpful? 😂😂😂

[@kittywampusdrums4963]

I didn't know I was a misanthropic anti-natalist until now! WEEEEEEEEEE!

[@tyriceholliday5844]

Boring

[@GrossePutea5Dollards]

Being a huge fan of black metal (and pretty much all of its subgenres) for as long as I can remember. Do you intend to do an analysis of the link between black metal had with paganism, romanticism, nature worship and glorification of the past. That's could be really interesting. I mean apart from the references to Satanism, Luciferism, occultism. References to ancient polytheistic religions are not lacking in black metal. Especially in Eastern European scenes (Ukraine, Russia, Poland, ect). I would love to have your opinion on this. Keep up the good work.

[@nuun-metaltheorist660]

These are all huge topics that I will likely come across. My thesis has a lot to do with the romanticism of nature you find in black metal. This in itself isn't always just connected to neopaganism but also misanthropy, with the logic that nature is superior and all humans do is ruin it. For a future video I have a few ideas, one of which will be a part one on wolves in black metal, which is the central topic of my thesis. Thank you for engaging with my work, I really appreciate it.

[@MibuTempest]