Customer Reviews

Black Metal Satanica

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This documental it's ok, but in my opinion need more interviews with some elemental bands in black metal, it center more, in the third generetaion of black metal, so if you want to see, just photos of newspapers about what happened in the early days, and the history of the murder of Euronymous and all that mess, it's ok, and well, if you don't understand english, don't buy it, it doesn't have subtitles.

I think this dvd is more for those who are unfamiliar with the black metal subculture, or having just been introduced to black metal music, and would like to know a 'little' more. There's few interesting interviews, of where black metal genera originated. And a bit about the infamous Mayhem/ Burzum story. But it would have been nice to have interviews with many other black metal musicians, rather then back and forth between a few. This is more a dvd, for beginners, or those who view this subculture from the outside, who can have a little insight on how 'gastly' it all is...
haaahaa...

So like the other reviewers I agree that this is good for someone just getting into Black Metal. You learn the history of Mayhem and all that crazy stuff. But most of it is just interviews with the 3rd wave of Black Metal, most the bands featured I'd never even heard of. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the interviews about "Christian Black Metal" (listen to the band Horde for an exampleHellig Usvart), and what the musicians thought about the church burnings of the '90s. But there wasn't really anything about how Black Metal began, it barely mentions Venom's album "Black Metal"Black Metal or Venom at all for that matter. Would have loved to learn more about Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate and all the other 1st wave bands that influenced the current scene. And at the end they go way too long talking about "Suicidal Black Metal," which is just straight up insane!!!

And last of all, where was this "Satanica" in the film? They briefly talk about it with the bands but they don't go in depth as to how much it IS the base of Black Metal. I'm just saying that if you're going to call something "Satanica" it needs a little Satan in it... :)

<strong>Black Metal Satanica</strong> (Mats Lundberg, 2008)

The first thing that hit me about this--it was distributed by Cleopatra Records (at least in the States)? That gave me a couple of WTF? instants, and I wasn't sure how much I was going to get out of it. By the end of the thing, though, I'd seen the best black metal documentary I've come across to date, and I'm still confounded as to what Cleopatra saw in it; there's not an overdressed goth to be found anywhere.

The first few minutes are going to give you the same stuff you've seen in every black metal documentary about church burnings and murder and Varg vs. Euronymous and all the stuff that's been covered in every black metal book and documentary you've ever come across. And then the magic happens: this is the first black metal film I've ever seen that progresses beyond 1994. Hell, most of the interviews are with people who were still in diapers when Varg went to prison (large pieces of interview footage with bands like Shining, Mordichrist, and Watain, and of course live footage as well). Because of that, there's a lot more "what's happening in black metal NOW?" than there is in any of the other docos I've seen (this is my fifth or sixth), and that alone shoots this to the top of the heap. However, it's not the only thing that makes it worthwhile; whereas a lot of other movies focus on history and events, and therefore don't really explore what the makers of this music are thinking about or how they came to make it, there's a lot of state-of-mind discussion to be found here (especially from Shining); it's a much deeper look at the psychology of the thing than we've ever gotten before, though this is not to say it's anything close to an exhaustive psychological examination. Still, this one's a must for black metal fans. ****

i commend the effort to put together the documentary but the people they talk to (outside of one guy, Bjorn) are complete cornballs who are just trying to mental masturbate through their kindergarten level philosophy. it begs the question why anyone would want to listen to these people at all and why they think they need to be heard. deeming yourself an artist shouldnt necessarily 'qualify'. there are far better avenues that critique the things black metal "participants" vaguely touch on, with more developed and deeper thoughts. the whole underlying misanthropy, sweeping (and grossly incorrect) generalizations of human universals and 'human nature' is complete garbage. the "religion creates war" is never actually fully true also and any look into the literature on the anthropology of war will reveal that. black metal "thought" really has foundations in some pop-culture misconceptions.

the historical breakdown of the black metal genre is decent for people venturing into it for the first time.

the Shining singer comes off as a metal version of Bruno explaining his way through his art/actions.

Very embarrassing. Some idiots make a black metal documentary and speak to some loser, peripheral characters and that's it. Awful!

This entertaining documentary is made by people who originate from the same region where the music was first created, meaning Sweden and Norway. For that reason it stays closer to the actual events and climate that led to the black metal boom some 20 years ago. It is easy to sensationalize all this, or put a wrong bias on it, when it was in fact just a bunch of frustrated teenagers who found a new and powerful way to rebel against the special climate in Scandinavian society. The quality of the interviews and interviewees vary, and it would have been useful to hear from some of the few key players in the original scene... but since several of them are dead or in prison, this was obviously difficult. I enjoyed this, it's good for someone with a moderate interest in the scene, while it may not work that well for hardcore, veteran black metal fans (or opponents).