"until the light takes us" and its b-side

[einride]

for those who don't know (i can't remember if we've talked about it itf before), "until the light takes us" is the only good documentary about norwegian black metal. it avoids the otherwise commonplace sensationalism and speculation for the most part, and consists mostly of relevant people talking about relevant (and some irrelevant) things. it's really interesting.

however

i'm here to tell you not about the documentary as such, but about the second disc of the 2DVD set that came out a while ago. it's got a FUCKLOAD of really good bonus material, overshadowing the main feature by a long shot. most of it consists of a bunch of barely edited interviews. hours upon hours of talking by fenriz, varg, garm, frost, grutle & ivar of enslaved, hellhammer and necrobutcher, demonaz & abbath (my respect for immortal increased immensely after seeing them talk about their music and what makes it tick)

if you have the slightest interest in what black metal was/is and why, then you should probably buy or download this documentary, and disc 2 in particular, at your earliest leisure.

also it's ridiculous how much i find myself agreeing with these guys' viewpoint on music and life in almost every way. and although varg has entrenched himself deeply in the political end of things, while some others care chiefly about the music as such, it's remarkable how solid a foundation there is in terms of underlying philosophy. when they talk about the music as it was, they all say the same words almost verbatim. it's easy to have a clouded view of things today, but norwegian black metal was a really remarkable thing. a really remarkable thing.

 

[Ellestin]

Somehow grateful to these guys for laying some of the groundwork for what black metal would become thanks to the likes of Liturgy and WITTR but do I need to listen to their out-of-fashion ramblings?

 

[einride]

yes you are being tongue-in-cheek but i think their outlook on music, nature, society etc. is actually genuinely interesting, although not exactly new

like

you gotta love a guy who sits dead still in the forest for 30 minutes staring at an owl (who, naturally, stares back at him the entire time, as owls are wont to do) and then goes home and writes two songs in a fit of sheer inspiration

 

[Tranquillian]

Tack för tipset, har tankat ner bonusdvdn nu.

 

[rms]

makes me have less respect to the music every time I watch a black metal documentary

 

[Reign in Acai]

I enjoyed the Euro produced one where they filmed Ghaal in the mountains. 3 months later turns out the dude is spooning some fashion designer. There's nothing metal about man love.

 

[lurch70]

lol @ Jerry ...

I think there is a lot of closet homosexuality in Black Metal ...

the Ghaal in mountains vid I think was done by that NY based photographer Peter Beste for some online video magazine.

can you post a reliable link to this disc 2 Erik? I enjoyed the main doc quite a lot.

 

[lurch70]

this is the Gaahl video in 5 parts ...

 

[einride]

gaahl can shut up


EDIT: also those drama queens from vice tv. OH NO WE'RE GONNA DIE, WE CAN'T WALK UP THIS MOUNTAIN, WE'RE BIG STUPID BABBY AMERICANS BOO HOO

 

[einride]

lol @ Jerry ...

I think there is a lot of closet homosexuality in Black Metal ...

the Ghaal in mountains vid I think was done by that NY based photographer Peter Beste for some online video magazine.

can you post a reliable link to this disc 2 Erik? I enjoyed the main doc quite a lot.

its easy to find the dvdrip on the pirate bay

get the one thats huge, like several gigabytes, that one is the only one that includes disc 2

 

[Vittra]

I'll see about this disc 2, it actually sounds quite interesting. The original doc seems to take every effort to portray Fenriz as a broken and jaded individual, whereas other interviews and videos of him show a very different person. Demonaz and Abbath came off as idiots (a stark difference to what you are describing in the extended uncut interviews), and I really only saw Varg come off in any intelligent manner which brings me to a certain observation:

I felt a lot of people missed a hidden undercurrent that was in the original documentary. Here we have a documentary on the commercialization and bastardization of black metal, yet the creators don't seem to realize the simple fact that the creation of this film is a glaring example of what they are attempting to portray. Varg seems to capitalize on this and mock them. I'd be very interested in seeing the uncut interviews with him on this second DVD.

 

[einride]

Demonaz and Abbath came off as idiots

yeah there's like one clip of them in the actual documentary, and indeed, that one clip makes them look like fools, which i now think was really unfair editing

enslaved was cut out entirely, and there was also only one clip with garm i think – there's a LOT MORE material with these guys on disc 2

fenriz still appears like the lonely guy who's happy-funny 95% of the time and absolutely destroyed by depression the other 5% and that's mostly because he more or less straight up states that's what he is.

I felt a lot of people missed a hidden undercurrent that was in the original documentary. Here we have a documentary on the commercialization and bastardization of black metal, yet the creators don't seem to realize the simple fact that the creation of this film is a glaring example of what they are attempting to portray.

indeed, especially the segment on the so-called "artist" whose exhibition fenriz goes to, i think a lot of people missed the point of including that.

but you know – sure this documentary drags bm out further into the daylight where it was never supposed to be, but it doesn't really matter because there is no more damage that can be done. as a vital and genuine movement it is dead already and has been for quite some time. therefore i don't think there's anything wrong in attempting to at least put out something that's mostly unbiased and based on words straight from the horses's's mouths.

 

[Tranquillian]

I'm wondering why they are calling the movie "until the light takes us". The translation of "Hvis lyset tar oss" is "If the light takes us".

 

[Tranquillian]

Varg is a bullshit pseudo-intellectual who loves the sound of his own voice. Once upon a time he could really write good riffs and melodies though.

 

[einride]

I'm wondering why they are calling the movie "until the light takes us". The translation of "Hvis lyset tar oss" is "If the light takes us".

i think that was intentional

i mean, they've all been pretty much taken by the light at this point and the movie is about what happened up until that point

 

[Tranquillian]

Right.

 

[NAD]

Been wanting to watch this for a spell but my Instank Netfux Queue is generally full of lesbian vampire flicks from the '70s. I'll make a point to watch this soon, what with my love for a substantial chunk of such things. Never really got into Immortal though, no real reason I don't think, just haven't gotten around to them. Most of the other "big" ones I dig.

 

[NAD]

Okay finally watched it, the main documentary. I'll get to disc 2 later. It was very good. Unconventional, and probably confusing to someone without knowing a substantial amount of back story to all this, but I don't think this was meant to sway the unconverted anyhow. Random musings:

The inclusion of Boards of Canada in the soundtrack was fucking strange. Sure I love them, but why was that there? Oh well, it fit just as well as all the non-metal Ulver I suppose.

Varg is a twit. Granted, a highly intelligent one, but he comes off as a spoiled teenager still waging war against his own boredom. That being said, it's high time I pick up more Burzum. Twit or otherwise, the dude is fascinating in a lot of ways.

I almost liked the Norwegian artist. Almost. But not really, and I'm pretty sure Fenriz farts right after meeting that dude, which is quite fitting. The other artist, the tap-dancing faux freak from LA? Fuck that guy. He's everything wrong with the popularity of this music.

My respect for Fenriz was already pretty high, and this documentary only increased that. Seems like a dude who, whilst possibly uncomfortable within his own skin, knows who and what he is (and isn't). I can respect a person who recognizes and accepts their flaws and isn't mired in self-importance/delusion under influence from a massive ego.

Would have liked to have seen Enslaved, but if they are on disc 2 so that's good. If I had to pick a favoUrite band from this scene, it's absolutely them, although I'm falling more in love with Darkthrone and Emperor with each passing day.

Immortal are the only band I know next to nothing about, other than the idiotic internet memes. I should probably scope them out, I've only heard Battles in the North, once, and that was years ago.

Dissection were my gateway into black metal in the mid-90s, although I didn't get really immersed into this kind of thing until the early '00s. And I still consider myself an outsider to it really. But I do love what I know, and I find continued interest therein, so... yes. Indeed. Quite. Rather.

 

[dorian gray]

There are 2 discs? Does Netshitz have both? I only remember watching one continuous documentary.
Anyway, I found it interesting.

 

[NAD]

I bought a copy, because I don't believe that Netfux has the second disc. I'm now on a mission to watch all my music DVDs, because for whatever reason those always remain sealed for years on them thar shelves.

Funny that after watching this, the one album I picked up last night was Det som engang var. Well it's not actually funny, but I figured I'd start with more Darkthrone first. That tale did not come true (yet).