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DOCUMENTS
D O C T R I N E S , F I N E A R T S , E T H N O G R A P H Y, V A R I E T Y

T U E S D A Y, A P R I L 2 9 , 2 0 0 8

Euronymous as Kafka
In many interviews,
Euronymous - the
mastermind behind Black
Metal band Mayhem -
expressed admiration for
repressive communist
regimes:

"I know you’re interested in

communism. Have you been
to any communist countries,
if yes, what have been your
emotions about it?

ABOUT ME
I’ve been very interested in communism for a while, especially the
VA LTE R
extreme countries like Albania, Kampuchea, North Korea and so on. I
have to say that I have studied so much that I know that real 'Black in color, with a
communism would be the best possible system, BUT as I HATE people gaping mouth and
I don’t want them to have a good time, I’d like to see them rot projecting teeth and
under communist dictatorship. Ceausescu was great, we need more disheveled hair, clad in
people like him, Stalin, Pol Pot too. I’ve been to Poland, Hungary filthy garments, very smelly, and
and Czechoslovakia in the (good) old days, and was about to go to dwelling in empty, broken-down
Albania, although it didn’t turn out. Poland was quite all right, but buildings'
it could have been even MORE gray and depressing. I like secret
V I EW M Y C O M PL ET E P RO F I LE
police, cold war and worshiping of dictators. I like bugging and
spying on people, torture chambers in police stations and that
people suddenly “disappear”." CURRENT READING

Georges Bataille - The Cradle of

From another interview: Humanity: Prehistoric Art and
Culture
"Another personal question here: now that a lot of things have
changed in this world of ours, have you stuck to your principles, I
mean politically? Euronymous: "As Mayhem is NOT a political band, I DOCTRINE LINKS

don't really like to mix topics like this into band interviews, but @tlas Press
anyway I'm still keeping the faith. I openly admit that I am a Amusia

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Stalinist and I'm very fascinated by extreme countries like Albania Art And Popular Culture Wiki
and Romania in the good old days. I have thought about quitting Ballardian: The World of J.G. Ballard
from the Communist Party though, but this is just because they are Bldg Blog
not brutal enough any more. It was much better in the '70s, when Borges: Garden of Forking Paths
they were very Albania-inspired and the leader even visited
Charles Baudelaire
Cambodia during the Red Khmer period and had dinner with Pol Pot!!
Charles Baudelaire's Fleurs Du Mal
Those were the days!""
Cronenberg Operating Theatre
dans le labyrinthe de l’Acéphale
And yet another interview:
Decoys

"WHY THIS EXTREME PULL TO BOTH MUSIC AND POLITICS (STALINISM)? Eikongraphia
People know we are sick, and we give a fuck. Thats what we live Emil Cioran
(die) for... Stalinism. We hate does 'PEACE, LOVE and DEMOCRACY'- Encyclopaedia Acephalica
ideas. WAR, SODOMY and DICTATION! We support all extreme and Georges Bataille e-library
oppressed states like the old ALBANIA, IRAN , KAMPUCHEA under the Henri Michaux
RED KHMERS and so on. People who are dying and suffering! Hyperstition
Information Warfare Site
DO YOU STILL BELIEVE IN COMMUNISM AFTER THE FALL OF IT NEARLY
Language Is A Virus
ALL OVER THE WORLD?
Maldoror
We have studied so much politics/theory/economy (Marx, Engels,
Michel Leiris
Lenin, Stalin , Mao, Hoxha) that we know that the world will sooner
or later become communistic. Its the marketing economy and Naked Lunch
capitalisms ideas that will be forced forward sooner or later. Maybe Nietzsche Circle
in 30 years, maybe in 300 years. The problem is that communism is Ombres Blanches
fucking good for the people, it's total freedom. Thats why we never Public Domain
wish that it happens. The world can go to hell. We want back the old RealityStudio.Org
Stalinist dictatorship, there its was gray, misery and evil. THE Semiotexte
BERLIN WALL SHALL RISE AGAIN!!
Socialism and/or Barbarism
Surrealism Centre
ARE YOU YOURSELF POLITICALLY ACTIVE?
The Eldritch Dark
We were member of a party who was very extreme, they supported
The H.P.Lovecraft Archive
the old Albania and their former leader who even was in Kampuchea
under the Red Khmers and ate dinner with Pol Pot! Incredibly good! The Whim

But the party turned humanitarian, so we shall leave it." Ubuweb

Urbanomic

Euronymous' statements, crude and

ETHNOGRAPHY LINKS
childish as they may be, reminded me
strongly of Denis Hollier's 1993 book Anthropoetics
"Absent Without Leave. French Blot und Eisen
Literature under the Threat of War". Cybernetic Culture Research Unit
In this highly interesting work, Hollier English Heretic
analyzes Georges Bataille's Ethnographic Thesaurus
paradoxical political position in the
Fieldnotes
nineteenthirties. Hollier's analysis is
Grey Lodge
based on the contrast between

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Bataille's position and that of Sartre. Hermetic Library

History Is Made At Night
Sartre's 1947 book "Qu'est ce que la In The Middle
littérature" ("What is literature?") centers on the crucial Existentialist Linguistic Anthropology
idea of commitment. Hollier summarizes Sartre's argument: "To want
Maitres Fous
literature to exist is first of all to want a world in which literature is
Morbid Anatomy
possible, a world which acknowledges its right to exist. The writer
Project Facade
must work towards the existence of a world that can give him the
Re/Search
means to write and to be read. Committed literature is thus simply
literature taking the responsibility for its own conditions of Savage Minds

possibility. But this analysis implies that literature insists on being Social Fiction
possible." Strange Attractor

Bataille's position couldn't be more different: he insists on literature

FINE ARTS LINKS
being impossible. For Bataille, literature could only have meaning if
it was transgressive, that is if it crossed moral boundaries while Andy Kehoe
affirming them. Literature would only be meaningful if it were Antecedent Death
forbidden. Au Carrefour Étrange
Coal Black Filly
In Communist societies, bourgeois tastes - aesthetic art - would be
French
impossible to defend as long the class struggle is not overcome. For
French Book Covers
this reason, literature is transgressive in Communist societies, and it
Hard Format
has a meaning there it does not have in liberal democracies. In the
Hermann Nitsch
chapter on Kafka in his 1957 book 'Literature and Evil', Bataille wrote:
"If the adult gives a major sense of childishness, if he writes with the Jim Woodring

feeling that he is touching a sovereign value, he has no place in Juxtapoz

Communist society." Hollier: "According to Bataille, this exclusion is La Main Gauche
the perverse and paradoxical reason why Communist society Matt Furie
corresponds better than any other to the secret wishes of a writer Peter Beste Photography
like Kafka - who always harbored a desire for a society that denied Pierre Verger Foundation
him the right to exist". Savage Pencil
Spanish Book Covers
In the repressive Stalinist and Maoist societies that Euronymous
Survival Research Laboratories
lauded in the above interviews, not only were there prescriptions for
The Pendu Organization
artistic work; the regime also attempted to regulate the lifestyle of
The Woodring Monitor
artists. "Socialist realism" was the only acceptable aesthetic, an
aesthetic which was characterized by a militant communist Tibet - Underground Expeditions

partisanship, an idealistic world view, and optimism. Art was denied We Are The Robots
the right to exist, supplanted by party propaganda. Writers, artists Who Killed Bambi?
and performers who did not conform to the prescriptions of party Wooster Collective
propaganda, suffered censorship, prosecution and - certainly in
Cambodia - death.
VA R I E T Y L I N K S

The very societies Euronymous said to admire, would have denied AfroSurreal Generation
Black Metal and Black Metal musicians the right to exist. In two Aversionline.com
earlier posts (here and here), I've written that Black Metal may well

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be the most playful genre of Metal, and that its playfulness attests to B-movies.com
its childlike vitality. Realism, idealism and optimism are as far Cinebeats
removed from the Black Metal aesthetic as can be. There is little Contamination
doubt that if Euronymous had made in a Communist society the music dmtls Merzbau
he made with Mayhem, he would have ended his life in a psychiatric
Esotika Erotica Psychotica
ward, prison, Gulag, torture center, death camp.
Final Girl
Giallo Fever
One might counter that Euronymous' wish for a repressive Communist
Groovy Age Of Horror
society was purely based on a straightforward sadist impulse, or on a
power-mad desire to become a totalitarian ruler. However, an Hammer Smashed Jazz

interview with Euronymous on Swedish radio, probably from February Ideologic

or March 1993, provides further documentation of his position. In the Invisible Oranges
interview, of which you can find the YouTube videos in the 'post Jahsonic
scriptum', Euronymous states: K-Punk
Metal Jew
"From what we have heard there are extreme, fundamentalist Pit-of-Doooom
Christians planning actions against us, which we think is great. We
Poetix
want to see Christians become militant. We hate to see the born
Psychotronic Video
again Christians going around being nice to the whole world. That's
Running The Voodoo Down
extremely annoying. We want so see Christians with weapons coming
Simon Reynold's Blissblog
here to kill us. That's what we want."
Southern Lord Blog
Like Kafka, Euronymous had a perverse and paradoxical desire for a Splintering Bone Ashes
society (Christian or Stalinist) that denied him the right to exist. The Hidden Reverse
The Impostume
However, Euronymous had a practical problem: he lived in a European The Left Hand Path
social democracy, a society which was very unlikely to deny him the The Mire
right to exist. Much of Euronymous' extremism can be understood as
The Wire
an impossible rebellion against a social democrat utopia, as the result
Treshold House
of a desire to provoke this utopia into denying him the right to exist.
Video Watchblog
Isn't expressing admiration for brutally repressive totalitarian regimes
Video Watchdog
a transgression of the values of social democracy? In fact, the
crudeness with which Euronymous expresses his ideas may in itself be Wayne and Wax

a form of rebellion. Wrnld

Ironically, Euronymous met his end

BLOG ARCHIVE
at the hands not of the social
democrat society he provoked but at ► 2009 (85)
the hands of one of his erstwhile ▼ 2008 (172)
companions in evil: Kristian 'Varg' ► December (17)
Vikernes, the man behind one-man
► November (15)
Black Metal band Burzum. Ironically?
► October (12)
In fact, Vikernes had started to
subscribe to a totalitarian (Fascist, ► September (17)
not Communist) ideology, the ► August (12)
ideology which would stamp out

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Black Metal if it came to power. ► July (13)

Vikernes subscribed (and still ► June (14)
subscribes) to Fascism in a straightforward manner, having ironed out
► May (16)
all the ambiguities, perversities and paradoxes that characterized
Euronymous' position with regards to totalitarianism. Because of this ▼ April (17)

straightforwardness, Vikernes' ideological writings do no evoke Euronymous as Kafka

exuberance; on the contrary, the life it evokes is unremittingly Decentred Acquisition Strategy
dreary.
Exotica - Carmen Miranda
Buried Melodies
Nevertheless, there is an important difference between the
totalitarianism evoked by Euronymous and that evoked by Vikernes. Current 93 - Live at the
Where Vikernes' vjsual aesthetic recalls the gaudy and nostalgic Roadburn Festival
pseudo-folklore kitsch of National-Socialism, the anti-aesthetic of Exotica - Yma Sumac
Euronymous revels in the gray and the miserable. It is in fact the gray Paysage D'Hiver (pt. 2)
of the colorless and arid world of the bureaucracies of the pseudo-
Paysage D'Hiver (pt. 1)
justice of Kafka's The Castle and The Trial. Furthermore, where
Vikernes' aesthetic evokes a triumphant totalitarianism, the Exotica - Les Baxter
totalitarianism Euronymous evokes is in a sense a failed Black Metal Exotica
totalitarianism, a totalitarianism which is provoked into brutal David Toop - Exotica.
repression because it encounters something irreducible to its Fabricated soundscapes in a
ideology. And what is it, that is irreducible? It is childishness, the ...
perfect puerility of Kafka and Euronymous.
Georges Bataille - The Sacrifice
of the Gibbon
"It is by childishness that humanity, in its nascent state, shows its
Two From Otto Muehl
essential nature."
Velvet Cacoon - glossolalia
Abruptum - In Umbra Malitae
Ambulabo, in Aeternum ...
Post scriptum Malefic Automobiles (epilogue)

Lair Of The Minotaur video

The interview with Euronymous from Mayhem on Swedish radio,
probably from February or March 1993: ► March (16)

► February (8)

► January (15)

► 2007 (129)

► 2006 (72)

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Aurora Borealis (8)

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Here is a link to an interesting review of Hollier's book.
Lucio Fulci (3)

My post on Dead Raven Choir's album 'My Firstborn Will Surely Be Marcel Mauss (16)

Blind" also explores Euronymous' fascination for Eastern Bloc Marcel Proust (3)
dictatorships. Mark Stewart (5)
Mary Douglas (5)
Euronymous as Kafka, Hitler as Kalki. Maurice Blanchot (6)

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P OS T E D BY VA LT ER AT 9 : 2 4 P M Mayhem (34)
L A BE L S: B L A C K M ETA L, B U RZU M , G EO RG ES BATA I L LE , M AY HE M
Meme (5)
Michael Taussig (10)
Michel Leiris (17)
9 COMMENTS:
Moss (2)
Anonymous said... Noise (5)

Interesting post! I don't necessarily agree that fascism would Occidentalism (7)
stamp out black metal. In WWII, it would have. But in recent Ofermod (2)
years, white supremacists have recognized the value of NSBM Paysage D'Hiver (4)
as a propaganda tool. White supremacy and fascism aren't Performance (film) (3)
necessarily equal, but they and the black metal scene all Possession (21)
involve - necessarily - some groupthink that I don't think is Roger Caillois (13)
incompatible.
Roland Barthes (16)
Sade (7)
Fascism didn't mean the absence of art (e.g., Riefenstahl,
Shock Xpress (65)
etc.). It meant the absence of free expression - which would
Sir James Frazer (4)
negate your conception of black metal as the most free of
metal genres. I agree that black metal has that possibility. In Spektr (4)

practice, though, it generally suffers from a conformity that Spider (8)

would would make fascists proud. Striborg (7)

9: 2 0 P M Sunn 0))) (6)

Tantra (2)

valter said... Trailer (96)

Urbanoia (6)
Perhaps it is exactly because there is some uncertainty that
Velvet Cacoon (7)
fascist regimes would destroy BM, that Euronymous became a
devotee of communist states like Cambodia, Albania,Romania Victor Turner (4)

etc: those are states that undoubtedly would have denied BM Voodoo (16)
the right to exist. Walter Benjamin (15)
Wolves In The Throne Room (2)
BTW: I read your blog on an almost daily basis and also really Xasthur (13)
like your Pitchfork reviews.
9: 2 1 P M
HEADLESS HORDES

Anonymous said...

I think it's highly likely that Black Metal would be prohibited

under a national socialist regime since the music itself derives
from music with black roots (Jazz was viewed as a Jewish
conspiracy by the Nazis, little doubt rock would be viewed
similarly). Then again, as invisible oranges said, people like
William Pierce (National Alliance founder) endorsed NSBM,
but then again others like John Tyndall (British National Party
founder) despised pop music and would highly likely see black
metal in a similar light for its fanbase etc.

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Follower (85) Avanti

As for a fascist regime - I guess it depends on the dictators.
Mussolini kicked Aleister Crowley out of Sicily after all so that
suggests some hostility towards the occult. Fascism is also
extremely collectivist, whereas many black metal musicians
often seek to uphold individualism (though not Euronymous).

11 : 5 7 A M

Anonymous said...

This is probably the smartest article ever written on black

metal, and metal in general. And it is not just pseudo-
Segui
intellectual, but authentically intellectual and insightful.
Good job!!!
6: 2 9 A M PICASA WEBALBUM

Virgil Sandberg said...

While this is an interesting and well-written article, I think

that the connection to Franz Kafka could be more strongly
exemplified.

2: 0 9 A M

Luke said...

By far, this is the best article I've ever read on Black Metal.
documents
Like other said, "it is not pseudo-intellectual, but
authentically intellectual and insightful". I congratulate you.
4: 5 4 A M

george said... Add to Technorati Favorites

The point you have is interesting (and your blog is interesting

as well). Let me add an other euronymous's interview, to
clear things up a little bit!

It's an interview from a greek fanzine, taken shortly after

Dead entered Mayhem. By that time, Euronymous used to give
more spontaneous answers, as he seemed not to care to look
extreme, radical and evil. So here it comes (translated from
greek, sorry for any mistakes):

" - Are you interested in politics?

Well, I'm personally a member of the Norwegian Communist

Party, although i'm not so active as i would like to be, cause
i'm afraid of loosing my USA VISA. Norwegian Communist Party

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is a great party that has nothing to do with fascist politians as

Romania's Ceauşescu Communism is a great system that cares
for good quality of life (well, not so good in the cases of
Albania and North Korea). Well, I know for sure that i would
not be able to run my label in these countries, but that's not
the point. I fully believe in the suppresion of religion and in
having a goverment that gives you everything, so you are able
to live well. Communism's great problems are insufficieny in
dealing with corruption and in having a stable currancy.
Before we start complaining for the waiting lines for bread in
the COMECON system, we should remember that Karl Marx
never talked about waiting in a line for bread. This answer
could be endless, so i have to put and end here."

So, as you can see, in 1988-89 Euro WAS a communist (as one
can see by his epistles that you brought to light), and actually
seemed to hate totalitarian regimes like Romania's. So, with
the entire underground scene knowing his beliefs, what could
he do when he decided to appear radical and evil?? Simply
support cummonist totalitarianism, in an attempt to show
that communism CAN be evil as well. I bet that his communist
past must have been a pain in the ass for Euro, when he
wanted to show himself as misanthropic and evil.

On the other hand, he seems pretty fascinated by Albania in

this inteview, as he states that a tour in Albania (and
Greenland) is "his greatest dream" and he closes the interview
as follows:

"If ANYONE knows ANYTHING about the Death/Black metal

scene of Albania, or can get us in contact with Albanian Death
metallers, please write to me! I will give you a free record as
a gift!"

Keep up the good work! :)

3: 2 7 P M

george said...

The point you have is interesting (and your blog is interesting

as well). Let me add an other euronymous's interview, to
clear things up a little bit!

It's an interview from a greek fanzine, taken shortly after

Dead entered Mayhem. By that time, Euronymous used to give
more spontaneous answers, as he seemed not to care to look

9 di 11 6/27/2021, 11:42 AM
documents: Euronymous as Kafka https://surrealdocuments.blogspot.com/2008/04/euronymous-as-kafka.html

extreme, radical and evil. So here it comes (translated from

greek, sorry for any mistakes):

" - Are you interested in politics?

Well, I'm personally a member of the Norwegian Communist

Party, although i'm not so active as i would like to be, cause
i'm afraid of loosing my USA VISA. Norwegian Communist Party
is a great party that has nothing to do with fascist politians as
Romania's Ceauşescu Communism is a great system that cares
for good quality of life (well, not so good in the cases of
Albania and North Korea). Well, I know for sure that i would
not be able to run my label in these countries, but that's not
the point. I fully believe in the suppresion of religion and in
having a goverment that gives you everything, so you are able
to live well. Communism's great problems are insufficieny in
dealing with corruption and in having a stable currancy.
Before we start complaining for the waiting lines for bread in
the COMECON system, we should remember that Karl Marx
never talked about waiting in a line for bread. This answer
could be endless, so i have to put and end here."

So, as you can see, in 1988-89 Euro WAS a communist (as one
can see by his epistles that you brought to light), and actually
seemed to hate totalitarian regimes like Romania's. So, with
the entire underground scene knowing his beliefs, what could
he do when he decided to appear radical and evil?? Simply
support cummonist totalitarianism, in an attempt to show
that communism CAN be evil as well. I bet that his communist
past must have been a pain in the ass for Euro, when he
wanted to show himself as misanthropic and evil.

3: 2 7 P M

Anonymous said...

I have not known nothing about it and the blog hel me to

understand better this kind of music , so the videos on the
blog are spectacular I am going to searching something
similar.
3: 3 6 P M

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