Heads up: "Until the Light Takes Us" streaming on Netflix

Jasonic said:
Yeah, I find it absolutely hilarious that they marketed DISCOURAGED ONES on the "Century Black" label. :lol:
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To be fair, Century Black had also released Brave Murder Day in the U.S., and that album hews far closer to the label's supposed aesthetic. The Katatonia style shift was pretty controversial when it happened, and Century apparently didn't catch onto it until after Discouraged Ones was released.
 
I could be wrong, but if I'm not mistaken, CM black was not necessarily dedicated to black metal but rather a US distribution deal with Candlelight and a few other labels, who at the time had Opeth and a bunch of those other bands.
 
johan68 said:
Watched the film yesterday.
I pretty much lived through this whole scene in Scandinavia at the time.

Honestly, we always saw these guys in a bit different light. England and Italy had their soccer hooligans, Germany had the skinheads and Norway had these guys. It was never really about music at all (IMO), but just a bunch of bored, unemployed guys looking for an outlet to spew their dislike of society (like the skins and the hooligans).

I think the Black Metal movement has evolved a hell of a lot since then and these days there are actually bands that are REALLY good.

Play a Watain album after an early Mayhem album and listen... You never want to play that Mayhem album again (IMO)
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Back in the 90s I went to Disney World and at the Norway pavilion I spoke with a guy from Norway who was telling me he saw a church near where he lived burn down. However he also said that the happenings were not as big as the media in the rest of the world made it out to be.
 
AeonicSlumber said:
I could be wrong, but if I'm not mistaken, CM black was not necessarily dedicated to black metal but rather a US distribution deal with Candlelight and a few other labels, who at the time had Opeth and a bunch of those other bands.
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Not positive about Katatonia, but for the OPETH releases, these were indeed the US distro for the albums which initially came out on Candlelight.

I think the Katatonia's came out initially on the Avantegarde label...maybe?
Sorry, too lazy to look it up now.
 
J. Golden said:
Back in the 90s I went to Disney World and at the Norway pavilion I spoke with a guy from Norway who was telling me he saw a church near where he lived burn down. However he also said that the happenings were not as big as the media in the rest of the world made it out to be.
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I love the Viking ship ride at EPCOT!!!!!!!!
 
Like I said before, I saw Until the Light Takes Us a few months ago. I didn't think it was very good, for a few reasons.

First of all, the art tangent was insufferable and inexcusable. In my opinion, a documentary viewer should never have to suspend disbelief, and I absolutely feel that the filmmakers were asking me to do this during the "Fenriz goes to the gallery opening" sequence. It was obviously staged -- there is clearly no place on the face of the Earth that Fenriz wants to be less -- yet this part of the film just goes on forever without really saying anything. And of course, the Frost sequence is utterly ridiculous.

Second, the filmmakers seem to assume that the viewer has prior knowledge of black metal in general and the Helvete scene in particular, which is not necessarily fair to the viewer, especially since this was marketed as an art-house film rather than something that was specifically targeted at metal fans. I've read Lords of Chaos so I'm more familiar with the whys and what fors of what's being described than most, but I can still easily imagine a non-fan wondering what the point of the film is. Along the same lines, the actual music is barely discussed. I get that the lifestyle stuff is easy to show, but they should have spent at least a little time on why the music appeals to people.

And finally, I feel that the filmmakers spent way too much time on their interviews with Varg. I understand that it's a bit of a coup that they got to speak with him when he was in prison, but at no point do they address the fact that there's a mountain of evidence that suggests that he's a pathological liar. He's presented in far too sympathetic a light and his word is forwarded as gospel. The filmmakers are clearly under his spell, and far too little effort is made to question what he says.

I liked the soundtrack, though...
 
1000 Faces said:
Like I said before, I saw Until the Light Takes Us a few months ago. I didn't think it was very good, for a few reasons.

First of all, the art tangent was insufferable and inexcusable. In my opinion, a documentary viewer should never have to suspend disbelief, and I absolutely feel that the filmmakers were asking me to do this during the "Fenriz goes to the gallery opening" sequence. It was obviously staged -- there is clearly no place on the face of the Earth that Fenriz wants to be less -- yet this part of the film just goes on forever without really saying anything. And of course, the Frost sequence is utterly ridiculous.

Second, the filmmakers seem to assume that the viewer has prior knowledge of black metal in general and the Helvete scene in particular, which is not necessarily fair to the viewer, especially since this was marketed as an art-house film rather than something that was specifically targeted at metal fans. I've read Lords of Chaos so I'm more familiar with the whys and what fors of what's being described than most, but I can still easily imagine a non-fan wondering what the point of the film is. Along the same lines, the actual music is barely discussed. I get that the lifestyle stuff is easy to show, but they should have spent at least a little time on why the music appeals to people.

And finally, I feel that the filmmakers spent way too much time on their interviews with Varg. I understand that it's a bit of a coup that they got to speak with him when he was in prison, but at no point do they address the fact that there's a mountain of evidence that suggests that he's a pathological liar. He's presented in far too sympathetic a light and his word is forwarded as gospel. The filmmakers are clearly under his spell, and far too little effort is made to question what he says.

I liked the soundtrack, though...
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I agree 100% that if you did not read the book "Lords of Chaos" you would be a bit lost or had some prior knowledge of the history of the black metal scene. I think they could have at least done a small "catch up" so to say. I agree on they made Varg look almost like a victim and didnt really push any points about what happened. I am sure it was hard enought to get the interview and trust though. Definetly worth watching at least once. I love music docs so this was pretty good....just a few flaws.
 
Jasonic said:
I always had to laugh whenever I saw this CD Comp....
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It's basically screaming, "Hey 13 year old impressionable suburban kid!! This is the scary heavy metal your parents warned you about!!!!"
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Dude - It was a Damn good compilation for the guy in mid 1990s just starting to get his metal knowledge, back when Cm had great bands to licence

Here's the tracklisting:

  1. 1 Emperor - Thus Spake the Nightspirit
    2 Old Man's Child - Soul Possessed
    3 Satyricon - Forhekset
    4 Borknagar - The Dawn of the End
    5 Katatonia - Murder
    6 Arcturus - Wintry Grey
    7 Ophthalamia - After a Releasing Death/Castle of No Repair (Part II)
    8 Einherjer - Naar Hammerem Heves
    9 Rotting Christ - Coronation of the Serpent
    10 Sacramentum - Black Destiny
    11 Ulver - Hymn 1 (from Nattans Madrigal)
    12 Samael - Black Trip
    13 Mayhem - Necrolust (live from Leigzig)
    14 Tiamat - Ancient Entity
    15 Opeth - Nectar

This was back when Opeth were shrouded in total obscurity as were most of these bands.
 
BenMech said:
CM 1990-2000? yes.
CM 2000-2010? Fuck no.
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1990- *. There literally is not a better label as far as I'm concerned for metal. And seriously, if your only refutation of this is pointless metal elitism that nobody cares about, don't even bother. Labels are businesses, not outlets for you to fap to a list of kvlt bands.
 
Diabolik said:
I think saying that you must have a connection there or work for them.
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Oh. Nah, I live on the opposite side of the country from where their office is located and probably wouldn't ever consider moving even if I got a job offer there hahaha (but I'm not going to lie, it would feel good, man). I'd also like to think if I was connected to them in any way shape or form, I'd have known about CM black which Jason corrected me on lol. I was singing their praises since I was in high school. I literally have various CM shirts lying around from over the years. I think there are a lot of really cool labels out there these days that each do their own unique thing (Profound Lore, Inside Out, Sumerian, I can go on) but in terms of putting out stuff that appeals to everyone: true metal crowd, to the trendy scene kids, to hipsters, hard rock/soccer moms, and true hardcore guys -- all while keeping everything relevant, they own it. And that's what a label really needs to be doing in this day and age in order to be successful.

But yeah, that CM black comp rules. So many amazing bands on it.
 
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