add a surprising amount of insight to the book as they speak volumes about the scene, the mindset of the people involved, how their world is perceived and why it is the way it is.

Cioran, Gaahl (of Gorgoroth), Frost (of 1349/Satyricon), Fenriz (of Darkthrone), Abbath (of Immortal), H.P.

There are sections that show the beautiful, and sometimes bleak, Norwegian countryside and sections that show the everyday life of black metallers around Norway. Media depictions and dress associated with a black metal live show are all hyped and presented as the way that things are normally” True Norwegian Black Metal shows that there is more to the scene than aesthetics alone. The reader sees all of the gory details, including more real and behind-the-scenes photos. In terms of photo selection, there is no censorship among the photos. It isn’t until after the introductions that you get a look into the real Norway and members of the black metal scene. The first section of photos feature characters prototypical of what many think when you say “black metal””corpse paint, leather jackets, long hair, the works. Short and to the point, True Norwegian Black Metal starts off with black pages using minimal amounts of white text then immediately grabs the reader’s attention with an incredibly stark spread juxtaposing a black metaller breathing fire into the air with the Latin text “in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni” (translation: “we enter the circle in the night and are consumed with fire”) in medieval English typeface. While the documentary is criticized for not being entirely factual, the book garners no such criticism”unlike the film, only bits of text in the entire book are quotes from famous people (both in and out of the scene)”and includes an introduction by Jon “Metalion” Kristiansen, creator of the first and most influential fanzine in black metal ( Slayer Magazine). Peter Beste, the photographer, helped put the VICE documentary together and while doing so became inspired to compile a book of his black metal expeditions.

The book True Norwegian Black Metal is a photo book that spawned from the VICE Magazine 2007 documentary of the same name.

On very few occasions has the Norwegian Black Metal scene been explored from the inside out, free of media pressures. Norwegian Black Metal is an often explored sub-genre and culture of music, but usually looked under intense media scrutiny.

Peter beste true norwegian black metal