Wolves Among Sheep: History and Ideology of National Socialist Black Metal

by Davide Maspero, Max Ribaric, Michael Moynihan (Foreword)

Compiling a book that deals with polarizing topics, yet which avoids providing the reader with easy answers or readymade interpretations, means to walk a precarious tightrope. Such was certainly the case with Lords of Chaos, the 1998 investigation of black metal that I co-wrote with Didrik Søderlind. The book became immensely popular, but we were also accused of harboring all sorts of nefarious agendas. To black metal fans mainly into the music, we were crime-obsessed; to the doctrinaire leftists, we were crypto-fascists; to Christian fundamentalists, we were advocates for satanic mayhem; and to Varg Vikernes and his followers, we were Jewish lackeys out to make the Aryans look bad. Wolves Among Sheep may elicit a similarly divided reception, for the authors allow the social antagonists who fill its pages to speak without censure. Ribaric and Maspero leave no stone unturned as they recount NSBM’s bloody birth pangs, hyper-malignant growth, and surprising resiliency. They take a morbid curiosity in dissecting the still-living beast of NSBM and searching out its countless tentacles. If you are looking for moral condemnation of the subject matter, however, you’ll need to bring that to the operating theater yourself. Christians will be revolted by the Satanism and paganism. Pagans will resent the misuse of ancient symbolism and the implication that it shares some innate connection with Nazism. Liberals will be appalled that such a genre exists at all (they’ll sleep better if they simply stick the book back on the shelf, unread). Conservatives will be repelled by the tactless - and frequently tacky - glorification of the Third Reich. To a doctrinaire National Socialist, the bulk of NSBM will look and sound like a new form of entartete Kunst. -Michael Moynihan ( Lords of Chaos / Blood Axis) from the foreword to the English language edition of Wolves Among Sheep

Genres: Music, Collections

576 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Kurt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would refer anyone interested in this to read the much better Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Unfocused and sloppy.

[Tony Lastres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una lectura muy útil a la hora de abordar la psique e idiosincrasia de artistas, bandas y proyectos que orbitan en torno al NSBM. A veces tendemos a ignorar o, en el mejor de los casos, hacer bromas con este movimiento, y al leer a algunos de los protagonistas de este, las ganas de bromear se acaban enseguida. Hay gente que va muy en serio, aunque este libro también te enseña a ver que hay muchos que no pasan de la mera provocación.

Otro aporte interesante de este libro es el de discernir "qué es NSMB y qué no". Y es que, cuando procedes a indagar en este mundillo, ves que hay muchas bandas que si bien orbitan en torno a este movimiento, distan mucho de compartir esas creencias e incluso las repudian. Aquí entran todo tipo de conceptos (paganismo, nacionalismo, herencia, etc), pero que no son baladíes ni mucho menos. Este punto del libro me ha parecido uno de los más interesantes, y te recuerda que los matices existen.

También se agradecen las entrevistas y declaraciones a tipos como Hendrik Möbus o Mikko Aspa, por nombrar algunos. Tipos que, si bien están en mis antípodas ideológicas, merece la pena leer para aprender sobre su forma de pensar y proceder.

En cuanto a lo negativo, si bien he aprendido bastante con este libro, a veces se hace pesado e irregular. Sobre todo cuando toma aires más "enciclopédicos", enumerando bandas y trabajos sin ton ni son, algo que se agravado al ser una lectura en inglés. También hay algunos capítulos donde se abordan temas que creo que no tienen nada que ver con el ámbito estrictamente musical, rozando peligrosamente el amarillismo.

Así pues, es un libro que recomiendo sobre todo a la gente muy metida en el mundo del black metal. De lo contrario, puede ser un libro que hastíe fácilmente al lector.

[Andrew Nolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a good book somewhere in here, it's just been buried by a lack of editorial input.

There is some great analysis, but overall Wolves among Sheep suffers from a noticeably inconsistent tone in the writing, far too much overlap between chapters where you will read about Canadians in the American chapter, Norwegians in the Italian chapter and so on, repetition - in case you didn't get the message about the Norwegians in the Italian chapter here it is again in the Norwegian chapter, for one example - and occasional moments that veer too far from the books aim, which is to plot a coherent global history of black metal with national socialist politics.

The sections on the Italian, Russian, and Greek scenes are vital, as is the presence of Hendrik Möbus, but much of the rest is of debatable use and dilutes the effect.

My own personal politics aside it wouldn't particularly bother me if this book was written from a pro or anti stance, though I prefer a distanced view, but Wolves among Sheep does not manage to figure out how to approach it's subjects. At its best it has a clear, critical thrust that is insightful and objective, and then at other times it drops the ball completely, on one page seemingly condemning the politics and actions of its figures of study, and then the next page appearing to rally behind them.

Like I said, a more attentive editor could have fixed some of these issues, which may only be present in the English edition.

[G. Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a while to get through this, as it's a pretty hefty book.

I think the authors did a good job with this, thankfully, since i don't think there will ever be another book on this, considering the subject.

Well researched and documented - the authors did their homework and outline the books chapters as going through the detailed history of NSBM in many different countries.

While certain bands are more covered than others, there really no "deep dives" into some bands. Most people will leave thinking that they may have liked to learn more about a particular band - but I think that is for another time. This book deals with NSBM scene as a whole.

It's a hard read though. Very long book that reads more like a textbook at times - with a ton of info. Also, the book could have used some better editing.

If you are interested in learning more about this subject, then I would recommend this book.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting. Though there were many interesting ideologies and some intriguing stories presented, the meat of the book was wasted on forgettable band discographies, inane quotes, and dull record label and zine history. This book could have easily been half the size.

[Alberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 Stelle se le merita tutte, perché il lavoro compiuto dagli autori per redigere questo testo è letteralmente pazzesco: me li immagino in una buia cantina fumosa a leggere decine e decine di 'zine degli anni '90 fotocopiate malissimo tutte in bianco e nero o ad ascoltare osceni nastri registrati in cantine ancora più buie ed il tutto rigorosamente limitato a 88 copie.

Ironia a parte, il testo denota un'immane lavoro di ricerca, studio, documentazione e catalogazione, veramente svolto con competenza e lucidità, per un tema costituito da una realtà spesso fumosa, indefinita e sfuggevole, senza dei confini definiti che ne rimarchino incontrovertibilmente l'identità.

Sotto l'ala dell' NSBM infatti, negli'anni è davvero finito di tutto, dai suprematisti bianchi americani, ai gruppi pagan folk, passando per tutti quei gruppi che ammiccano ma non dichiarano. Quindi risulta davvero complesso districarsi in una realtà, dove il confine tra la mera provocazione e la reale militanza ideologica, è così labile da dissolversi a seconda dei casi per poi ri-condensarsi magicamente al mutamento delle condizioni accessorie, o a seconda della band nella quale si sta suonando, per cui, può capitare, che i membri del tal gruppo siano convintamente schierati politicamente, ma quando si prestano per suonare nel tal altro gruppo, dichiarino la loro totale estraneità alla politica. Si capisce bene che diventa impresa ardua capire chi dice cosa, ma sopratutto chi ci crede realmente in quello che dice.
Spesso le dichiarazioni di taluni gruppi sono state frutto esclusivamente della voglia di sconvolgere il lettore e dettate più dalla provocazione che dalla reale aderenza ad un ideale politico e/o etico; situazione che si è palesata nel momento in cui il satanismo, ha smesso di essere il male assoluto ed è stato sdoganato come fenomeno di massa, in tale situazione, la natura dissacrante, che è il fuoco stesso che alimenta il black metal, ha avuto bisogno di rivolgersi a qualcosa che fosse ancora più sconvolgente e che, possibilmente, non si prestasse a future strumentalizzazioni e commercializzazioni facili, e quale miglior cattivo se non il Male assoluto del Nazionalsocialismo.

Questo per quanto concerne il libro in se. Per quanto riguarda invece l'utilità pratica di tutto questo lavoro, leggendolo, mi sono chiesto quanto la scena NSBM pesasse effettivamente, al di là di proclami ed esagerazioni, sulla scena Black Metal nel suo complesso. Quindi ho provato a fare una ricerca semplicissima, e probabilmente fallata da variabili che non ho considerato, usando il principale database di musica metal attualmente presente in rete:
https://www.metal-archives.com.

Nel "Metal Archives", ho cercato in base al genere musicale, quante band fossero classificate "Black Metal", ignorando volutamente tutte le derivazioni ed i sotto generi (Pagan BM, Atmospheric BM, Raw BM, DSBM ecc...), successivamente quante di queste avessero come tema principale nei testi il "Satanismo" e quante il "Nazionalsocialismo", quindi ho fatto il "conto del salumiere" e questi sono i risultati:

-Band Black metal su metal-archives:34.233
-Band che hanno il Satanismo come tema principale nei testi: 4.136
-Band che hanno il Nazionalsocialismo come tema principale nei testi: 511

Su 34.233 band, il 12.08% parla di Satana, e l' 1.49% parla di nazismo; quindi, la domanda che vorrei fare agli autori è: chi te lo fa fare di scrivere 560 pagine di libro, per una scena che vale l'1.5%?

[Mateusz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a zine, but it is not intended to be an academic book. Interesting, shedding more light on the politically groundless and inept agenda that I recall as a teenager: extremism, drunkards, sex crazes, blood and gore. Now I'm seeing the whole movement as childish and foolish, albeit murdersome and brain-destroying. Extremists never carry the values and virtues they want to represent on their banners, instead they see others as lackeys, glorifying themselves oblivious to the fact that they are a grotesque of the ideas they want to become. They can fight, they are brutal - true, but they are brainless and never would constitute elites that they've seen in themselves. They can scream "war!" , while attacking a bunch of hippies, then read Evola like schoolchildren with first dirty dreams about their female teacher, then get dead-drunk and vomit all over themselves in the guts of some animal they toyed with a day before. A pathetic sight. When I was pulled into those circles as a 14-18 y.o (after 1999) it looked like a secret monolithic organization, a society of strong men with a reasonable agenda. They proved to be total idiots. On top of that, I regret acquainting a friend of mine with these people, he was later brutally murdered on ideological basis, and the news of his death reached me years after I revisited the country. The only thing I owe to them is a pagan upbringing, which I recultured and civilized onto more reasonable, educated grounds. In other words, I saved my own ass from a criminal record, and if I would not leave to study in the West, I would be dead by now. Observe the "new right", and cognize how less radical idiots are smuggled into right-wing populist politics, now in governmental suits, and what kind of damage they do to the societal fabric, culture, diplomacy, "politeia", in demand of uniformity and encforcing their vision, they spread chaos and discord. History is not a humourless lady, it likes corrupt pastiches. It is only a personal pain in the ass to me, that any Heathenism is associated either with them, or with New Age esoterica.

[Davide Pappalardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno dei migliori libri sul black metal che io abbia mai letto, soprattutto considerando il sotto-genere particolarmente problematico. Riesce a trattare con il giusto distacco l'argomento da un punto di vista musicale, senza lanciarsi in facili moralismi o sottolineando al lettore ogni due secondi quello che dovrebbe pensare (brutto vizio di molti "giornalisti" dal virtue signalling facile), giudicando, sia in positivo e negativo, le band affrontate per il loro valore artistico. Che piaccia o meno, il nsbm è un aspetto della scena black metal che è sempre esistito sin dai suoi albori, e che probabilmente rimarrà in essa, nella sua forma underground, fino alla fine di quest'ultima. Se non ci si vuole bruciare, meglio non avvicinarsi nemmeno alla fiamma (nera) di un genere che non è solo musica, e che comprende (anche) ideologie scomode e pericolose, nella sua estetica negativa e antisociale che va contro molti aspetti della società civile occidentale (e non solo occidentale).

[Sdawgg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough examination of the NSBM genre and its history, and the only one that I know of in English which covers more obscure scenes in countries outside of Europe and the US. It would have been better with a stricter editor and a less conservative translator, as the English version is a little stilted.
An extra star for the interviews, inclusion of zines as sources, and especially the inclusion of cover art from so many albums, since that is often talked about in coverage of NSBM without being shown (for obvious reasons).

Essential reading for people who listen to black metal, are interested in extreme music in general, or who study modern fascist movements.

[Arsen Lazursky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, 2.5. Like someone wrote here, "there is a good book there somewhere", but detailed and exact as this one is, it is also—alas—extremely boring. The Russian translation leaves much to be desired too, but that's beside the point really. In itself, it's a unique and a well-structured study, but failed to deliver on the reading side.

[Kliffan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Covering "all" of what can resemble a scene, there is a lot when all being added up. Naturally going through each country or world-corner there is much very uninteresting. But, fortunately there is some articles interviews and countries which is interesting and therefore worth reading about.

[Stefano Giorgianni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il volume definitivo che spiega nascita ed evoluzione del NSBM-