Fascism in Black Metal and How to Spot It

[@itsboundo.]

Lol I misspoke, Varg burned churches in Norway, not Sweden. Other than that happy with how this turned out.

[@AvalancheReviews]

So Behemoth is NSBM because they don't like Antifa??? I'm sure I'm misinterpreting that. There's no way that's a take.

[@itsboundo.]

In hindsight there are absolutely a lot of lines I should've made clearer. I've considered making an addendum or redoing the video as a whole, but at this point I think I'd rather just let the video lie. It's my least favorite I've done, but a great learning experience. I still love the music of a lot of the bands I talk about, I should've made that more clear, my point in making this video was how to do basic research into the bands you listen to, and why you might want to do that for this genre specifically. I seriously regret not including a section about deciding what to do with this information once you have it. For me, it just means finding ways to listen to the music without financially supporting the artist, for some others it may mean blacklisting, or it might mean just not recommending them to friends. Sorry for piggybacking your comment for my explanation but these are thoughts I've had on the video in hindsight for months lol

[@JonSudano]

It's worth mentioning that Mikko Aspa is not the sole lyricist or songwriter for Deathspell, he's just there to fill the vocalist duties. The rest of the band don't align with his ideologies or politics and they've confirmed it a few times. So while that may or may not make any difference, it's worth taking into consideration before "cancelling" the band as a whole.

[@skoigoth]

8:17 Small but important correction: the black sun is distinct from other kinds of sun wheels and is NOT an ancient symbol at all. It was designed specifically for Heinrich Himmler as a floor ornament in castle Wewelsburg, which was intended to serve as SS headquarters basically. If someone is using that symbol, they are most likely a fascist.

[@captainahab1533]

Great video, but I tend to disagree in the weighing of the different symbols here. Obviously a swastika is an outright nazi-symbol, but I wouldn't necessarily be so absolute about the Iron Cross. The Iron Cross is a symbol that also predates the Nazis significantly. (That alone doesn't mean that a symbol is necessarily separable from their ideology) The first of these medals were issued in 1813 and the Iron Cross is the emblem of the German army to this very day. (It wasn't in WWII btw., back then they had the "Balkenkreuz", looks similar and has the same route, but the symbols have different connotations. Use of a "Balkenkreuz" by a band for example, would be deemed an immediate red flag by me). So it really depends on the wider context, if the iron cross is a nazi-symbol. What really surprised me is that you seem to view the black sun (or "Schwarze Sonne" in German) as being in somewhat of a grey area. This is a hard disagree for me, as it's one of the most prominent symbols of Nazism. I would argue that even though it also predates the Nazis by millennia, today it's inseparable from its SS context. In my opinion, use of the black sun is not much different from using a swastika.

[@crosafix]

Awesome job, thank you so much for the information. I recently joined the Chicago Black Metal band Matianak. It wasn't until I watched this video did it dawn on me that I might be the only Black dude playing these gigs and should probably research bands we play with. Stay well and thanks again

[@thespleenenator]

Really disappointed you didnt talk about labels, in my experience that is the best way to figure out ties. Other than that, good video.

[@milesbrown3487]

An anecdote on handling fascist artists: I have a family member who I love very much who unfortunately found his way into some fascist ideologies a few years ago. I could have ostracized him and separated myself from him, but I think that would have worsened his underlying issues with isolation that probably pushed him in that direction in the first place. Instead, we have dinner once a week and sometimes talk (or argue loudly) about our disagreements. I have no intention of changing his mind in an argument, but only to maybe plant certain seeds of logic, delivered by someone who genuinely cares about him, in the hopes that they might help him out of that funk one day. I don’t know if it’s helped or not, but I do think he’s mentally healthier than he used to be, and I think I’m doing the right thing. Also, if he started a band, like Deathspell Omega let’s say, that didn’t itself have anything to do with fascist ideologies, I would enthusiastically support it as a healthier outlet for his misguided frustrations than his fascistic stuff. With that potential scenario in mind, I fully support projects like that, even if members have ideologies drastically different from mine. Ostracizing those people often makes things worse. Supporting a new path can maybe make things better.

[@GeekyEleanor]

I'd recheck about Behemoth if I were you.

[@itsboundo.]

I won't be doing a redo or deleting the video but I will say publicly here that I fucked up on Behemoth. Definitely the biggest criticism I got in the video and while I do think nergal seems like a bit of an ass personally, I shouldn't have included him in the video. Cheers.

[@GeekyEleanor]

@@itsboundo. That's fair, fuck ups happen, don't worry about it. In defense of Nerval though, I would highly recommend his biography/interview that came out a few years back, it's enlightening about his thought process. Most if not all he does is about shaking things through controversy, and it's usually aimed to Polish people, so for us living outside of Poland he can look a little dickish, but he's one of those fight fire with fire people.

[@BrunitoRammstein96]

Will you give me permission to add spanish subs to this video? There is a lot Black Metal fans in Latin America, but not knowing english, almost leaves all of them out of this topic, because not all of the people out there knows english. I've been listening to Burzum since i was 15 years old, and i recently dicovered behemoth. Im more into Thrash and Nu/Groove Metal, but Black Metal is one of the metal genres i most enjoy listening to. It really brokes my heart realizing the huge amount of nazis and white supremacist thay exist in this particulat scene, because i really enjoy the music and it makes me ferl guiltu about it. On the other side, you video is excellent!! but.... have you ever seen the video of the muslim girl playing burzum?. I think that, somehow, we can deconstruct what we know about this genre, and give it another whole new dimension. It is impossible to avoid the norwegian black metal if you want to begin with this, but the music is out there, and i think it all comes to the point where we must learn how to consume this genre, and beign conscient about what we're listening to.

[@mako6441]

White supremacy ?! You might want to call it white metal then 🥁

[@D-Town-7639]

It would have been helpful for you to define fascism. I say that because everybody throws around that label these days without understanding what it really means. I would just like to know if you are one of those people that call every single person on the right a fascist..... Other than that this is a pretty well made video.

[@lordjustinian2913]

I think this is very important because we don't want Black Metal to have too many fascists but I will add a small thing. Bathory is considered a Viking Metal Band and so some of the symbols maybe associated with fascism that are more Nordic in nature might be represented in some Viking Metal but it will sometimes have a more Nordic meaning rather than a fascist meaning. But you should still look deeper because it most likely will be revealed in interviews with the band whether the runes represent the Norse meaning or the Fascist meaning.

[@xXaltowolfXxmp3]

God damn I am so happy you gave a shout out to Summoning, one of my fav and most underrated bands

[@Rotheric]

Awesome video, I'd like to add two things: 1) Based on my experience with similar problems in the Goth scene in the past, I'm gonna add one thing. If a band is asked during an interview, if they are white supremacists / Nazis / etc or are confronted with sus lyrics of theirs and they respond with, "We are against all forms of extremism." or "Radicalism is always bad." or something similar - this is a HUGE red flag and, as the video says, time to start digging. Why? Because no one normally does this - except maybe politicians. "Do you like fascism?" - "No." That should be an easy answer. Anybody that feels the need to start waffling about "other forms of extremism" is obfuscating the question. Probably either because they don't want to show their flags, or they don't lose a portion of their fans. Just about every Goth band that answered like that eventually went mask off later on. 2) The images of the "Sonnenrad" that you show - the middle one is the Black Sun. It is not an ancient Germanic symbol (even if Nazis like to claim that to obfuscate it's use). It was created by the Nazis themselves in mosaic-form in the Wewelsburg in Germany. It is probably inspired by the Sonnenrad, but it is explicitely a national-socialist symbol. I've seen Russian viking reenactors use it on their shields, claiming it was an ancient symbol. It's not (and it turned out they weren't just harmless reenactors).

[@djshriekz608]

That's why I always preferred DSBM. DSBM is mostly apolitical in it's message of suicide in general and most of the artists in this subgenre could care less about race. Ps: the circle with the cross is also used as the elemental earth sigil in Magick so it can definitely be hard to tell why it's being used. And I mean the circle with the cross that doesn't extend outside of the circle

[@saulinsky86]

I would love to hear some more info that I might not have heard on Nergal. As far as I can tell, he’s an impulsive shit stirrer, but he also seems to align with liberalism. I personally wouldn’t say he’s fasc for that one shirt. But is there something I’m missing?

[@wyattxhim]

TLDR Congrats on learning what doing basic research can do

[@strelokgaming924]

What songs are playing in the background?

[@darthboxOriginal]

There are several problems. One is the influence of Varg, who never grew out of his stupidity and never was exposed to a diverse world by gigging and touring. Another is that everyone has gotten more politicised over the last decades where they may not have been before, and unfortunately not only do conservative politics infest our media and leadership, it also infests the dark corners of the internet making people think they're being cool and edgy by finding it, but being too stupid to realise they are playing into the hands of those in power. It's a huge irony. For a genre that pushes boundaries, it's bizarre how conservative many members are. Conservativism is a cowardly position for obvious reasons, and for me it seems that the people targeted by it are often those who are different for some reason, and anything different from the norm should be celebrated by artists like this.

[@Gilberto90]

I kind of feel that this is a sisyphean task as the scene has always been about kvlt and edge and what is more kvlt and edgy than political views that are oftentimes illegal to express. I say this as someone who doesn't listen to NSBM, the furthest I go is Burzum and that's just because Varg makes bangers. I don't tend to pay attention to most lyrics written in Norwegian anyway. Also, I should add what I think about the conclusion: make sure that it's good music you make; not just whatever is 'politically correct' for you - like I said I listen to Burzum because it's good music despite Varg's major failings.

[@DugiDevetCarabolium]

There is also RAC festivals where most bands are nazi because RAC stands for Rock Against Communism, and what will you see there is not anti political bend, instead pure nazi bands, there also might be and some Black Metal bands since RAC festivals are in general mix genre of music festivals. Mayor is Skinhead Punk but if you are nazi band and Play Black or Thrash metal, there is no problem to be on that RAC Stage.

[@CureOptimismForHumanity]

It's a larger element of the scene than I first thought, and it's a shame. I don't tell people I meet that I predominantly listen to black metal out of fear they'll think I'm a neo-nazi. Honestly I wish people were a little more open minded. I get that a lot of bands are iffy, but there are tons of fans who hate Nazi ideology but love the sound and the feeling the music gives you.

[@MagicarpOFFICIAL]

I listen to like maybe two borderline black metal bands and I still stuck around for this whole thing. Great video dude, I love this

[@brunodiaz4726]

I genuinely think powerviolence and dbeat/grindcore sound and looks more brutal than any black metal or hardcore band but hey, great video, it feels great that someone can put aside monetizing just to educate the people about something you like

[@momentumspace]

Black metal is difficult. It is murky, at BEST. It has VERY dark corners, where all types of sketchy shit takes place. Cheers to you for helping the community help others discern the human waste from the gold. BM is difficult, yes, but so worth it, if you're willing to really dig.

[@engracken4743]

Thank you so much for making this video. I know it took a lot of time and research, and this is extremely valuable information. I genuinely hope the ignorance of fascism dies, and the idea of it getting mixed in with the beautiful beast that black metal is infuriates me.

[@Septiksiren666]

black metal as well as any form of extreme metal has always been controversial, it started when bands like rush and led zeppelin were demonized by christians in the media as "satanic bands" when they werent, so other rock and metal bands started going by satanic and occult lyrics and themes as more of a mockery of what christians were saying about the music. Over time, bands started taking the themes more extreme to the point of NSBM and even more extreme genres. Many Brutal death/grindcore bands have consistent themes of ultraviolence towards women, but in the realm of extreme metal, it's always been about testing and going beyond the limits of what can be imagined and lyricized. Many bands portray controversial and problematic themes for attention and to intimidate or piss off people, but speaking as so many bands carry these problematic ideologies, many fans take it seriously whether a certain band means what they write or not. im not the biggest fan of black metal and stay far away from NSBM, but the metal community consists of alot of nihilistic and hateful people, and certain bands under this category have influence on such indiviuals. but if the aim of metal is to explore the boundaries and exceed the limits, why create music based off hateful and unoriginal lyric concepts? if the metal scene wants to stay alive, these types of genres and bands need to stop. It is dangerous.

[@papasquat3882]

ngl this is one of the reasons i prefer doom metal cause i dont feel like i have to worry when i find a new band

[@cliffordthevinylcheapskate351]

Good job! I was doubtful going in but you did a good job. I feel like the it's getting less prominent as more people get into black metal. It's sad that so many old pagan symbols have been stolen by fascists. I have a couple friends that are anti fascist and Black Metal nerds I just ask them.

[@xerxomanar1756]

It's nice to see the real socialist rise in the Black Metal Scene. I discovered Black Metal mostly through concerts of antifascist and anarchist bands in the local leftist culture center of my hometown. At that time I had already been in the punk and HC scene for several year and also part of the local antifa and anarchist movement. So I am in the privileged situation that I have never listen to sketchy bands and started with only RABM-Bands. I also share the opinion Black Metal is one of the interesting subgenres of Metal and extreme music and like I said I am glad to see the growing influence of antifascism in it.

[@freddiefartface1870]

The real socialst. What exactly is "socialist" about this Boundo guy? Is it that he hasn't got any clue or relationship to the stuff he is talking about here? Is it because he isn't sure whether he's a girl or not? Is it him playing videogames or having an account on capitalist twitter, capitalist KZbin or is it because he wants to get cash via petreon? What socialist stuff does he do? Does he travel to Venezuela and North Korea to help with their agriculture? Or to tell them they should start supporting trans issues because "muh socialist" and/or because they don't do that in communist countries?

[@xerxomanar1756]

@@freddiefartface1870 I meant with "real socialism" that National Socialism isn't socialism because it doesn't dissolve the class conflict it only appease them. And for your understanding there is more to socialism than Marxism-Leninism and left leaning libertarians (which in most cases even don't consider themself as socialist).

[@freddiefartface1870]

@@xerxomanar1756 Mhm. You're welcome to explain this "more to socialism" so I can better understand how It's Boundo is a "real socialist" and how this or any other thing he does will help to solve the "class problem" (or any other problem) like socialism as an idea is supposed to do.

[@xerxomanar1756]

@@freddiefartface1870 I didn't speak about Boundo because I didn't know him. What I want to express in my original post is my joy about the rise of bands with a socialist agenda or socialist ideas in the Black Metal Scene. No single person nor a music related subgenre will ever solve a social issue but subcultures shouldn't be a safe space for Nazi scum. And beside the stupid idea of state socialism there is the idea of total liberation through anarchism.

[@freddiefartface1870]

@@xerxomanar1756 Great. So applauding for "socialist agenda" while rejecting "state socialism", basically just clinging to a vague, undefined idea of "socialism", which you then name "real socialism" while at the same time confabulating about "total liberation through anarchism", which is even harder to define and - contrary to socialism - hasn't even been tried anywhere. Except of course in war zones, where there simply is no state and where the strongest automatically rule by force and violence, which then again is the very definition of fascism. But at least you cleared up that your comment wasn't directly connected to the guy in the vid.

[@AnxietyWizard]

Loved this - super helpful and informative. Thank you for taking the time to create this.

[@dankflyingv6345]

I’d love more black metal videos from you man, this one is great. I’m trying to get into black metal atm but it’s hard navigating both the non-racist bands and also ones I actually like the sound of

[@zakkmiller8242]

Who was the band with the Kentucky flags draped across their amp?

[@philippkramer6116]

How refreshing to see someone putting the educational purpose over being monetised. Great Video.

[@Meige24]

What song at the end?

[@ΣτάθηςΒαρλάμος]

All of these clowns say that they're huge Black Sabbath fans, and how BS influenced them.....but they dont know that Geezer gladly would punch the hell out of them!

[@danny9405]

Awesome video. A large reason I’ve never fully got into BM is because of this issue. Need to wash out fascist filth like the punk/hardcore scene did back in the day.

[@kalesyps764]

Hey great video! Thanks for resources for this! I feel like I can finally get back into it!

[@unhallowed45]

Fascism is definitely a cancer in black metal scene. Great video. Cheers

[@markmiller6423]

This is fascinating to me.

[@tonyjohns7203]

dude the message at the end, and the video as a whole, was extremely well said. really made the nazis mad with this one, good job.

[@darthboxOriginal]

This is a great video. I've gone down this rabbit hole a few times myself, having to research these goose-stepping morons. Also, my own BM project is absolutely anti-nazi, and is absolutely a safe space for everyone (except nazis). So I agree that creating more music is the best way to fight. One thing to point out is that people can change. What someone thinks when they're young and stupid can be unlearned in later life through exposure to other people. So there is hope, and education and exposure are the best weapons to fight right wing bullshit in general.

[@rynoclanker]

Very helpful vid and spoken well to boot! Good job Boundo!

[@VenenoLuna]

useful vid man... do you know zeal & Ardor?

[@izabellaromana7527]

This is such a friking great video! thanks for researching this, I will definitely pay more attention to the bands I listen to

[@adrianayala5985]

God damn it varg

[@neeossenbeck8234]

This is a really good and important video. Some pretty good research hacks and I liked how balanced and unapologetic it was. I had a similar problem in my twenties when I was massively into Neofolk. Tbh sometimes you have to search for the unproblematic bands in this genre. Most times the bands singing about kinky subjects are your best option, because for some reason sex and politics rarely mix in some genres. I put the band's name and Antifa into the search engine to see whether there had been any controversies or statements by local Antifa-groups that made sense to me. Nowadays there are nice people on Spotify who curate lists like "Antifascist Black Metal" or "Antifascist Neofolk", but these are private users, so you still have to do your own research.

[@Andromansis]

Yo, I watched some kid on youtube playing black metal riffs and the next day the youtube algorithm had put a bunch, and I do mean a whole bunch, of right wing talking points on my feed. Took me like 2 hours of bonking channels and telling it to stop recommending stuff for it to get back to normal. So how do you spot it? You literally just watch some black metal on youtube and youtube will serve up the fascism directly to you.

[@LordChevonlier]

Thank you so much! I recently got into a metal kick and I've been looking to expand beyond the classic 1970s/1980s metal bands. And wikipedia even mentioning nsbm scared me away from black metal as a genre

[@thegentl3matt242]

This was super helpful! I’ve been thinking of trying to make some kind of black metal music with friends, but I had no idea that fascism was so prominent in the community. Thanks for giving tips on spotting it though, now we can do our best to steer away/actively combat it!

[@bulldogfront666]

Dude. I just realized you’re the same guy from the Ween AND Jeff Rosenstock videos I watched recently. You’re cool as hell and I really respect you and this video especially. You’re taste in music is clearly amazing. Because it’s almost the exact same as mine. Worry is the best album ever, your list of Ween albums is spot on, fuck fascists, rock on!

[@CrippledPrincess]

Please correct me if i am wrong, but isn't Summoning 50/50. They're are two members (i don't remember names), one is clearly anti-fascist but the other has stated that is heart beats on the right? I've just seen contradicting things about Summoning. Also, hasn't one of the members been in a nsbm band?

[@christophercrowder872]

Great vid. I'm not even a fan of this genre of music and I was interested and engaged for the duration.

[@TheHelsinkiForager]

Thank you so much for making this video. It’s genuinely really well made, and it kept my interest the whole way through. I haven’t heard of Black Metal until now, and I think I’ll try to get into it thanks to this.

[@SaladPizzaRestaurant]

@@TheHelsinkiForager Their music is really good if you can look past the politics

[@TheHelsinkiForager]

@@SaladPizzaRestaurant define "the politics"

[@SaladPizzaRestaurant]

@@TheHelsinkiForager ns

[@TheHelsinkiForager]

@@SaladPizzaRestaurant what is ns

[@SaladPizzaRestaurant]

@@TheHelsinkiForager national socialist

[@redhandsoftheviii588]

I really like this video, you did a fantastic work. While I won’t disagree with the nazi shit in music I love, I think it’s more complex issue. I would also say some anti fascist music is also pretty questionable at times All I’m gonna say most people wouldn’t even pick up the bullshit and don’t care about their political learning Also growing up with late 90’ and early 2000’s extreme music alot of bands would evoke this shit because they want to the evilest, extreme and darkest black metal band just because it’s a image or stick. Once again, I’m agreeing with your points and I know there a lot of knuckle dragging people in the scene.

[@kieranskelton5254]

I love black metal but im anti facist but idk i kinda feel like if they arent singing about it u can still listen to it also maybe some of them changed but if im still in the right i feel like its fine its still stupid asf thou.

[@goopgrips354]

yikes... I've definitely seen some of those symbols as patches on jean/leather jackets before. Gonna have to screen my punks more thoroughly in the future

[@goopgrips354]

also, please make "I'll see you in the mosh pit" your sign off every time you end a video.

[@mattlyle11]

Really excellent stuff - well done.

[@marxmeesterlijk]

There is so much great metal to pick from to listen to in this day and age that I have no interest in bands that aren't explicit Anti-fascist. Bands sitting on the fence and being coy about it isn't enough anymore. If they are too cowardly or fashy to speak up against it, then fuck 'm. Ain't nobody got time for that shit.

[@kostaskazantzis4106]

Your video is top notch and brings to light a very important issue. I used to love the genre. Sure there are some bad apples I used to say. Although not in a black metal band, after Pantera's Phil Anselmo shouted nazi shit in a concert, I knew I was done. Because if Pantera was white supremacist, one can only imagine how crazy things are at the more extreme side of metal (which was way more sus). Sure thats a big logic leap, but every single goddamn black metal fan I have ever met is straight up nazi. Now I mostly listen to more chill bands like Gojira or Jinjer, cant be bothered searching through the shithole safespace that black metal has become.

[@GDino33]

Holy crap I had no idea there was far left or anarchist Black metal bands , bro you earned a sub.

[@eddievanrijs7584]

thank you for talking about this, its a an extremely overlooked issue

[@DirMrsHQoftheScreamingGhouls]

This is excellent. Starting with BM, which is probably one of the easiest places to hide means that if applied to other genres and even different arts and culture entirely these methods will do nicely. I'd love to see a discussion in the community about (perhaps a video) about older influential bands like slayer. It's part of our history and it's never going to go away. People are for the foreseeable going to come to metal through bands like Slayer. That means we're attracting people who may already be alt-right,fash,manosphere leaning. So we really need a strong opposing view. We don't want to be responsible for furthering anyone down that pipeline.

[@RyanMichero]

Good on you for making this, man.

[@masterklaw4527]

I just subbed. More people need to see this.

[@NickajackP]

Damn that's tight, thank you for sharing I had no clue I had so many fasci friends in the BM scene.🙏💛

[@noviatoria2436]

Great video! Gonna start making an antifascist black metal album now

[@seamonser8038]

Panopticon falls under that category!

[@origamifan5515]

@@seamonser8038 Wolves In The Throne Room too, I think!

[@stevekelso8386]

Wolves in throne room is awesome

[@benphish]

I've been using the rabm subreddit for a minute it's super helpful. I'm not the biggest back metal fan, but every once in a while someone will post a leftist hardcore or thrash band on there that bangs.

[@timmysharp9572]

Of course my favorite music genre is popular with the worst human scum. 🙃

[@talansalsbury8381]

Minenwerfer fans profusely sweating

[@ceilingfan6969]

Tysm for this

[@michaelsantangelo7997]

thanks for this video. Down with NSBM!

[@Marcustrh]

Facebook is defiantly not dead in the public consciousness especially in Canada and America. this video should be way bigger amazing topic that needs so much light on i. ps i subed too ;)

[@selenicamusic]

Great video.

[@tabi1823]

amazing vid. fascism has no place in bm.

[@Illstatefishing]

More anarchist black metal!!

[@DrHeroe]

thanks! great content

[@bh1935]

wow this is great. i knew very little about this.

[@Mvg2134]

Great work

[@33adamrocks]

Grim! Cheers

[@matthewpowell2527]

I like this

[@HydraTU]

Great video, thank you for posting! It really is the solution to make anti-fascist black metal, so let's pick up those instruments guys!

[@th4tus3rname]

Great vid dude, you got a new sub

[@inkarn8915]

Great video. Subbed. Bash the fash.

[@Inhaleblackexhaleblue]

Thanks for this video. 2

[@danielskimagix]

I am4 minutes in. Thanks for speaking up. Let's just love metal. Thanks.

[@ericalexandervoolaid1354]

Good vid