Tonight I’m reviewing “Lords of Chaos” from 2018. This is based on a true story and while changes have been made for dramatic effect I cannot emphasize enough that the reality may be stranger than fiction. This is also a story of additional interest to me as someone that has spent most of their life studying and working around music and musicians, so getting a fly on the wall view of one of the most messed up music scenes in history is fascinating.
Black Metal.
This is the story of the Norwegian Black Metal scene of the early 90’s. It’s focus is Mahem (Band), Helvete (Record Store) and Deathlike Silence Productions (Label) founder Øystein Aarseth, a.k.a. “Euronymous”. The movie is directed by Jonas Åkerlund, with a screenplay by Akerlund and Dennis Magnusson. It is based off the book by the same name by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind. It’s worth noting though Åkerlund is mostly known for music videos, he does have ties to the Black Metal scene as a former drummer of the band “Bathory”. While not part of this particular scene, they were a big influence on it.
Before moving on, I should add that since this is based on a fairly well know true story, most of this review is full of spoilers. So I won’t be pointing each one out, it’s just too hard to talk about this movie without mentioning the events. You have been warned!
Voice Of A Tortured Skull.
The star of the movie is Rory Culkin (Macaulay’s brother) as the notorious Euonymous. In many ways the film is also a bit of a Neo-Noir since it gives the doomed character the role of narrator alongside being the protagonist. In the film, Euronymous is portrayed as having a role in the scene lands some way between the role John Lydon and Malcom MacClaren had in the Punk Scene of the 1970’s. He thrives on being deliberately controversial and antagonistic, but there is a big question of how much of it is genuine and how much is just marketing. The truth of that is something that has been debated since the 90’s, but this movie definitely pushes the idea that he was only ever about the hype and never really believed in any of it.
The secondary character of our story Kristian ‘Varg’ Vikernes (Played by Emory Cohen) is portrayed as a bit of a Sid Vicious character. A fan and scene member that is determined to turn all of the hype into reality. I would call him a true believer, but as pointed out by some journalists that interview him during one scene his beliefs are actually very broad and vague. He’s vaguely a Satanist but also supports the Norse Gods and is vaguely a Nazi. When we meet him, he is embarrassed by having a “Scorpions” patch on his jacket, which he goes home and removes shortly after. He’s basically portrayed as obsessed with what people think of him and determined to be the most Black Metal of the Black Circle (The group of friends within the scene).
Funeral Fog.
If not clear yet, the movie doesn’t have much respect for these characters. The rest of the group is portrayed as mostly stupid and easily lead. There are the occasional exception where someone walks away from the craziness, starting after the suicide of Mahem’s original front-man “Dead” (played by Jack Kilmer). Euonymous’ reaction to the suicide is to immediately turn it into a hype/publicity exercise, taking a series of photos , and creating necklaces with skull fragments, which he would give to circle members. This causes band member “Necrobutcher” to quit in disgust. But for better or worse the incident helped really kick off the scene both in reality and in this story.
When Vikernes joins the group, after some initial mocking (For not drinking or eating meat) he ends up the one that takes things to the next level by going out and burning down a nearby Church. Euonymous attempts to take credit for, for “Inspiring” him. This clearly plants the first seeds of doubt into Vikernes that the scene founder may not be the man he thought he was. The stunt increases the hype surrounding the scene and leads to the circle becoming competitive. From then on each member sets out to try and be the most outrageous on the scene.
From The Dark Past.
Several more Churches are burned down, but things escalate further when one of the members “Faust” commits a murder. Between all this we see Culkin doing a great job of showing a character torn between a desire to stay on top of the scene as the main guy while also realizing he’s way over his head and may not be able to stop what he has unleashed. After Varg Vikernes foolishly goes to the media the rift between him and Euonymous grows to a boiling point. This leads Vikernes to commits the final black act of the movie, killing our narrator and protagonist.
What we are looking at here is how a community can become toxic, where the need to fit in and peer pressure can drive people to do outrageous acts. It also shows how buying into ones own hype can lead to self destruction. In the end, the most infamous act of the scene is the murder of it’s founding member. There is definite poetry to this since in the movie he is portrayed as being obsessed with creating a legacy through infamy. Whether that reflects the real Euonymous or not is something we will probably never know.
Cursed in Eternity.
In regards to the violence in the movie, we’re only really talking about two murders but they are portrayed as realistically and brutally as possible. The scenes are actually quite disturbing and that seems fitting consider we are seeing fictional depictions of real murders.
This is a cautionary tale for sure, warning of the dangers of hype, nihilism, peer pressure and the desire to fit in. This isn’t the only music scene that lead to extreme self destruction from those that couldn’t tell the difference between reality and hype, though it may have become the most messed up generally. Usually the true believers only end up destroying themselves, but sometimes they ruin other lives. If you want to understand how people become extremists and terrorists examining the psychology behind the Early Norwegian Black Metal scene wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
Buried by Time and Dust.
This is a movie both fascinating and disturbing, but also occasionally funny. It’s well performed and has a powerful message. To think this could only happen in one scene would be foolish. Young people, easily influenced and determined to fit in can be very dangerous. If we build a world that encourages narcissism and nihilism how do we expect it to end up? I’m not sure if that is all deliberate commentary by the director but it’s what I took from the movie. Anyway, I’m giving this a 7/10.
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