Thesyre Vocalist Comments On Lords Of Chaos Movie
Vocalist Eric Syre of Canadian metallers Thesyre has issued the following statement about the upcoming movie based on the Lords of Chaos book:
"A few people contacted me recently, inquiring about my feelings on the forthcoming Lords Of Chaos movie.
"Being a long-time Burzum enthusiast, a supporter of Varg Vikernes, after being slightly involved in burzum.com and its following online community (filosofem), as well as appearing on the only 'official' tribute album I guess my two cents meant something to someone.
"Whatever, here's my take of the phenomenon:
"The book this movie is based on was, to begin with, a huge pile of crap. Most of its content is built around interviews excerpts, more than often put out of context and focusing mainly on shocking topics without giving it any additional background.
"The very reason why this book was published was, I guess, to capitalize on the booming phenomenon that was Black Metal at the time. The autors sensed there was something to exploit and, knowing Michael Moynihan's links to the underground, figured the idea sounded lucrative in some ways. It surely was a good idea as a lot of people bought the book (surely expecting a lot more out of it, as I did myself back then). The book stirred some controversy in the Black Metal scene, helped to fracture even more the pro-con-Varg clans and all in all failed to serve as a fitting document on what really happened in Norway in the early 90s. I've read a few chapters of it last week and I still think it's a sensationalist book with little relevance today. Seems like some producers think differently...
"The movie, whatever its producers might say in press releases, will fail at shedding more light on the events it relies on. According to producer Stuart Pollok, the movie (to be directed by Sion Sono) is slated to be a teen film and a psychological horror movie. This is what triggers my fears. What are they looking to achieve with such a movie? If they're aiming at making a new Twilight out of it, turning it into a teenfest based on the evil Varg rebelling against society and being portrayed as a lovely but angry rebel with a cause, we're in for an invasion of all stores by raving teens ready to buy any merch produced to promote the movie. I doubt this will happen. My fears are directed at an eventual success of the movie that will only bring back those events on the surface and that a lot of people will use them to discredit what Black Metal used to be about. All of a sudden, so-called specialists will pop-out and comment the whole thing like if they knew everyone involved personally. We might even see reports basing themselves on the book and still pile-up more lies on the whole thing. My fears are that people will just concentrate on the shocking nature of the events and forget to dig deeper in the matter and try to understand what motivated the young musicians of Norway to go to such ideological extremes... None of this will be done.
"What should be done about Norwegian Black Metal is a lengthy, aptly funded and well planned documentary focusing on hard facts and featuring in-depth interviews with the musicans directly involved in the events. We've seen a few of those and, for me, most of them failed to reach the very core of what Black Metal is/was at the time. I'd like to think that the producers behind the 'Until the light takes us' documentary will be able to acheive this (but I still have doubts).
"Understanding Black Metal: This is not a phenomenon you can investigate while strolling the streets of a urban area. It's not about interviewing priests who will only see a way to fight back and attract public compassion. It's not about interviewing kids who'll desperately look for free media exposure for their silly corpse-painted bands. It's not about trying to make a sensationalistic, fast-selling novel out of it...
"Trying to document what Black Metal was/is/will be is trying to expose the very core of mankind's rottenness and expecting people to understand that this overwhelming darkness can be used as a constructive force, based on the idea that when all is black you can see the stars much more easily. The public cannot grasp this concept. A book cannot do it and a movie can't even hope achieving it.
"Maybe shat should be done about the history of Black Metal is: nothing!
"All we'll ever get is pure, senseless entertainment.
"Mankind likes to be entertained, not educated."
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1. sean stone writes:
Until the Light takes Us is the document that you want of this era. It brought back the feeling of the old days, something I was not expecting. It's not sensationalized. Fenriz is the main guy in the movie, along with Varg, also a few others in smaller sections, and they are the exact two that I would have made the main focus. Along with Euronymous. They have Hellhammer talking about him. Also Fenriz and Varg. You get to see what they are really like and you see how much Fenriz cares about black metal and music. Varg is fascinating to watch. Whatever you think of his opinions on things, he makes some smart points, but you can also see that he went too far. Overall it seems like they took a lot of time to get to know them and made a documentary that shows them as people, not as evil charicatures. Which is what Lords of Chaos did. utltu is about the origins of black metal, but I thought it was interesting that it was also about how and why it changed, and it seems to open that idea up to other things too, like with sequences with Harmony Korine and other artists who use it in a different way. Everything changes and is changed and Fenriz genuinely seems upset about that, he says at one point "what can I do - it's out of my hands now" and you can tell that he really wishes it wasn't. I can't wait to see it again. As far as the music they used, some good classic bm picks. Some electronic music that I could take or leave, but it actually worked pretty well.
As far as the Lords of Chaos movie, since it is based on a book that so many people know is full of garbage, I don't know what to say. Fenriz isn't even in that book. What? Bogus.