Modern Day Vikings

Having just finished reading Trafford and Pluskowksi's article on heavy metal's relationship with Viking history and imagery, Antichrist Superstars, I've decided it's the perfect time to make another post.

As a connoisseur viking metal myself, I found the article quite well written, and the authors are obviously well informed - mentioning pretty much every band in the genre that immediately came to mind upon reading the article's title. I do perhaps think more could have been made of the bands' actual philosophical viewpoints, rather than simply focusing on their aesthetics and basic lyrical themes, though the authors' referencing of Lords of Chaos indicates they are familiar with deeper studies of at least a few higher profile viking metal stars and bands.

I also found the way that they characterized all viking metal band's lyrics as essentially focusing on war and death somewhat misleading - indeed, there is often a playful, joyous element to a lot of modern viking metal, both musically and lyrically, generally focusing on mass consumption of alcohol. Similarly, the authors' assertion that viking metal's actual musical substance has little to do with authentic viking music is perhaps overstated, indeed a large number of viking metal bands incorporate classic folk elements into their music, marking them as obviously different from vanilla black metal bands (if I can use such a term), and though it is unlikely that bands like Turisas sounds anything like traditional viking music, a number, if not all of their of their songs have obvious stylistic references in their composition.

In regards to their arguments about vikings as elements of popular culture, and indeed, their adoption into the metal mythos as figures of unbridled masculinity, I agree entirely, and much of what they argued fits quite well with my last post examining album covers and videoclips. That metal bands are defined by the various tropes that they adopt, be they viking or otherwise is an argument well made, and one which would have to figure heavily in any analysis of the subculture.

I was particularly interested in the authors' mentioning of Asatru, given it is a topic I've already dealt with this semester in a religion elective, and have had an general curiosity about over the years I've been into metal. That it crosses the realms of music, religion, society and racism makes it a particularly important and rich source of discussion, and though the article deals with it only vaguely and briefly, much more could be made of its study, and hopefully by the time I write my next blog entry, I'll have more to say about it.

Well, now I'll leave you with something nice and vikingy...I could have gone all Bathory on you, but I'd be doing myself a disservice if I didn't have at least one Vintersorg song on this blog :)