I came across this very revealing documentary on Youtube detailing the catastrophic events that marked the Norwegian Death Metal Scene in the late 80s and early 90s. The music was of dubious quality but the influence the scene had was huge and it was, very importantly, a homegrown scene. There are obvious parallels with grunge in Seattle or punk in London but what separates the Norwegian Death Metal scene was the internal politics and the limits that were broken by the protagonists. Suicides, murders, church-burning - it was a nihilist's wet dream. I am particularly impressed with the insights shown by those right at the centre of it all. They were well aware of the psychology of gang membership and the roles they all played within that.
One thing is quite clear to me, the music is a secondary factor in this film. The music was a catalyst to bring together disaffected, high-IQ teenagers who had trouble expressing themselves in larger society. That's probably true of most teen scenes but that's not to denigrate the music at all. I don't own any Mayhem albums, it's not really my cup of tea although I do enjoy some mathcore stuff and going right back I was fascinated with bands such as Napalm Death and Stormtroopers of Death although more out of curiosity than anything else. Morbid curiosity with names like that!
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