A Blaze in the Parisian Sky
Roger Caillois, Georges Bataille, the Collège de Sociologie and the Socio-Politics of Neo-Folk and Black Metal
By Brian Booty
For this issue of Amarantos I want to devote some
considerable space to the ideas of both Roger Caillois and the Collège de
Sociologie. I will leave a more generalized overview of the Collège to the
other articles in this issue. For this essay, I want to focus on why I feel
that it is important to devote two issues to Caillois, Bataille and the Collège.
We are approaching the 75th anniversary
of the beginning of the Collège de Sociologie, for all intents and purposes it
was heralded as a failure and is long dead; worse, for some it seemed to come
too dangerously close to fascism. The Collège lasted a mere 2 years, if the war
did not end the Collège it is likely that it would have folded due to internal
politics, so why is it relevant? As you will note in a few of the essays
re-printed here, Talcott Parsons thought them notable enough to be worth
mention in an over view of French Sociological groups, and others have
commented on how Adorno and Horkheimer, attendees of the Collège, were
influenced enough to replicate some of their ideas in their Dialectic of
Enlightenment. Though it is true that Adorno and Horkheimer were still somewhat
critical of the Collège, especially in regards to fascism and their perception
of the Collège’s goals. It is also important to mention the influence that the Collège had on the Tel Quel group in the
late 60’s which became the wellspring for Post-Structuralist and Post-Modern
thought, having influenced such distinguished members as: Roland Barthes,
Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Phillipe Sollers, Maurice Blanchot, Umberto
Eco, and Pierre Guyotat amongst others. Furthermore, The College also
influenced the likes of Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard; All together, no
small impact. ¶
Though the Collège had such an influence, it is interesting to note
that when Denis Hollier collected the lectures, essays and various bits and pieces
together into a book in 1979 it was thought to be a hoax. Through out it all,
including harsh criticisms from the Existentialist and Western academics at the
time, the appeal of this group and the influence of the Collège still resonate
to this very day. Numerous critical works have continued to be written on the group since Hollier published his collection
of their writings in 1979; and since 1988, when Betsy Wing translated Hollier’s
book into English as The College of Sociology 1937-39, there has been a
continuation of inquiry into this group and their ideas in English. ¶
In her 2002
book Sacred Revolutions, Michelle Richman revisited the Collège and readdressed
their importance by delving back into the ideological roots that lead to the
formation of classic French Sociology, she gives a reappraisal of the Leftist,
revolutionary intent of Emile Durkheim’s work which was then carried on by his
nephew Marcel Mauss which then directly influenced Roger Caillois, Bataille and
thus the Collège. Caillois and Bataille then sought to explore this
revolutionary potential of a Sacred Renewal in the modern West through their
own Nietzschean filter. Richman takes this line of inquiry through
these theoretical threads and picks apart the criticisms that were leveled at
the Collège by many theorists from the 40’ through the 90’s, which stemmed from
a devotion to Liberalism and Humanism. The unabashed and slavish devotion to a
rampant individualism and traditional Western academics would be fairly
sensitive to the Irrational and Heterogeneous dynamics discussed and championed
by the Collège. Especially given the fact that many of these earlier critical
theorists had so recently witnessed the horrors that Fascism brought to 30s and
40s. The importance of Richman’s book is to refute the fascist criticism of the
Collège as well as Hollier’s equivocal charge against the Collège. (Hollier’s
assessment can be seen elsewhere in this zine.) There is another important
aspect to Richman’s analysis that is also rather key for our purposes here, it
is what Richman calls Durkhiem’s “Ethnographic Detour” which was his shift in
research to the religious practices of the Aborigines, “The most bizarre or
barbarous rites and the strangest myths translate some human need and some aspect
of life, whether social or individual.” (Richman, S.R. p.47) Durkheim’s
investigation of the sacred through an ethnographic lens would be the first of
its kind to identify specific cultural phenomena and analyze it for its
potential to illuminate not only so-called “primitive” cultures but modern
societies and Western culture as well. By understanding the motivations and
dynamics that propel cultural manifestations of specific ethnographic
phenomena, one can trace these dynamics within any society as the needs of
individuals within a social body. ¶
The insight that the Collège had and the motivation of their research
to combine French Sociology with a reappraisal of the Sacred in Modern Western
culture as seen through their particular lenses is shockingly acute. These same
forces, dynamics and ideas that had such a profound impact on both Caillois,
Bataille and fellow members of the Collège continually call to us now.
The same critique of Western Culture and Modernity that the Collège had lodged
in the 1930’s are uncannily similar to the criticisms lodged at it today by
many sectors of society. When we look at the tenants of the Collège we can see
remarkable similarities to the desires and motives of people working and
devoted to both Black Metal and Neo-Folk today. Interestingly enough, one can
also see that the very same criticisms that were made of the Collège are also
made of people who are involved with both Neo-Folk and Black Metal now. Of
course, it is true that some of the criticism of Neo-Folk and Black Metal are
entirely valid. Many people involved within these scenes are directly
influenced by fascism and fascist ideology and espouse racialist ideas. But for
those who were drawn to these musical genres from other ideological camps, the
stigma is applied carte blanche. So, for those who do not espouse racialist
ideas, nor desire to create some sort of Fourth Reich or modern fascist
party/society, I think that a delving into the successes and failures of the
Collège will be highly illuminating. It would also provide a particularly acute
appraisal of the dynamics behind the motivations and drives of the people and
groups today that feel that the modern world has become sterile and that modern
Capitalist Democracy fails us in many ways. Furthermore, that this Capitalist
Democracy has created a leviathan, a mega monoculture that seems to fail in
fully addressing the deep-seated needs that we, as individuals and social
creatures desire. ¶
Recent studies in trying to define authenticity and our quest for authentic
experiences and profound connection highlight this
fundamental schism between our needs and our fulfillments in this Modern world.
I have no doubt that the fashionable popularity of Black Metal will wane with
time as the vacant hordes desiring for something “authentic” or “new” gets
sated or replaced with the next “new thing.” The pendulum swings back and forth
from action to reaction from one interest into another, as one idea or fad
grows weary from over saturation and commodification, public opinion swings
into another direction. In some ways this hints at Hegel’s dialectic. What
remains as a constant embodiment of Hegel’s oppositional forces within the
dialectic are what I think has been woefully overlooked in Robert Hertz’s study
of Left (impure) Sacred and Right (pure) Sacred. What Bataille and Caillois saw
as Heterogeneous and Homogenous elements of the sacred. ¶
Allow me pull apart a few threads one piece at a time. Robert Hertz was
a disciple of Emile Durkheim, he was killed on the front lines in World War I
dying shortly after the start of a promising career as an anthropologist. Hertz expanded the notion of the dualistic
conception of the sacred that Durkheim developed in {The Elementary Forms of
the Religious Life}. Hertz’s bifurcation of the Sacred into Left Sacred and
Right Sacred are described below. What I think is fascinating about the ideas
of Caillois and Bataille, and the Collège de Sociologie in general, is the
elaboration and exploration of Hertz’s ideas of both Left and Right Sacred as
requisite motivations of the human condition. We desire Effervescence, a sense
of belonging and also transcendence beyond ourselves, to be part of something
more than what we are. But Effervescence is made of the bifurcated elements of
the Sacred. This leads, as Caillois and Bataille would contend, towards
Attraction and Repulsion, or Heterogeneous and Homogeneous manifestations of the Sacred. Caillois and
Bataille, maintain that Hegel’s view of history and the confluence of shifting
forces of social history intersect with both Emile Durkheim and Robert Hertz’s
ideas of the Sacred. It is the quest for Left Sacred that kindled the flames of
Black Metal, people have been drawn to it to satiate their need for Left
Sacred. To a similar extent, Neo-Folk and the styles that fed it have also been
influenced by Left Sacred but the tabloid history of Black Metal have made it a
bit more popular or fashionable of late. I believe that the intersection of
Caillois and Bataille’s intellectual quest to understand the draw of Left
Sacred and the Hegalian Dialectic are of critical importance to not only the
lure of Black Metal and NeoFolk, but also manifestations of Left Sacred in
societies in general. ¶
The popular understanding of G.W.F. Hegel’s Dialectic is that an idea
(thesis) gives rise to a reaction, (antithesis) which contradicts or
negates the idea(thesis), the resolution of which becomes the synthesis. But
these terms are not Hegel’s, rather they are more in line with Immanuel Kant
and to a greater extent the writings of Johann Fichte. Hegel used the terms
Abstract-Negative-Concrete, as opposed to Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis, for this
three-valued logical model, where the Abstract/Thesis suggests an inherent flaw
and lacks the negative of trial, error and experience. For
Hegel the Concrete or Synthesis must always pass through the phase of the
Negative, that is mediation. The overcoming of the negative through this
mediation Hegel called Aufhebung, which can be translated as “sublation” or
“overcoming.” In this way, the Helical (spiral) nature of progress indicates a
preservation of the useful portion of an idea, thing, society, etc., while
moving beyond its limitations. For our context here, the lure of Left Sacred
draws the interest of a group of people to something, until that draw gets
co-opted, commodified or over saturated and thus in some ways becomes
transformed or corrupted from the Sacred to the Profane, which then leads
toward the search for another representation of Left Sacred, the initial draw.
The operative word here is hinted at, but a description of Hegel’s Dialectic is
important to the writings of the Collège as it is foundational to a whole
subset of ideas proffered by Bataille. First we must discuss a general
understanding of what the Collège terms the Sacred. ¶
Durkheim proposed that a general understanding of the Sacred is that
which points to, or embodies the social ideal; furthermore, to
counter the “profane,” mundane tasks that one goes about in everyday tasks of
living, one must balance these “profane” activities with transgressive moments
in which we experience “collective effervescence.” Those activities that
traditional societies called “Sacred” were essentially activities where social
cohesion and group membership were/are reinforced. Collective
effervescence was defined in his book The Elementary Forms of the Religious
Life in 1912, where counter to the profane acts of everyday life, there are
those moments when the whole group gathers together and through a collective
event where high levels of energy in the event transform profane people or
objects into sacred. There is a wide selection of types of activities that can
fulfill this effervescence, and people require satisfaction of these desires in
varying degrees. ¶
In “primitive” or traditional cultures, the Sacred embodies both Left
Sacred (Heterogeneous/Impure) and Right Sacred (Homogeneous/Pure) not to be
confused with Left wing or Right wing political ideologies. Right Sacred
consists of elements that we might normally associate with the term Sacred, but
Left Sacred is perhaps easier to describe, it is the taboo; or activities,
behaviors or elements that are dark, malevolent, criminal, revolting or
deathlike components. We desire both Left and Right sacred. Robert Hertz describes
his concept of Left/Right Sacred thusly: ¶
“Supernatural
forces are not all of the same order; some exert their power in consonance with
the nature of things, possess a regular and august character which inspire
veneration and confidence [Right Sacred]; the others, to the contrary, violate
and trouble the universal order, and the respect they impose is especially one
of aversion and fear [Left Sacred]. All of these energies offer the common
trait of being opposed to the profane; for latter, they are all equally
dangerous and forbidden.” (Richman, S.R. p.143) ¶
Furthermore, we also desire the transformation of the two types of
Sacred. We are fascinated when Right Sacred is shattered or ruptured into Left
Sacred, and likewise we also like to see and feel when Left Sacred transforms
into Right Sacred. Looking at any tabloid, or spending any amount of time
watching mainstream news and television, it is obvious how people are drawn
into “shocking news,” people love to prattle on with gossip “Can you believe
that this person did …” and peoples visceral attraction to look at accidents
are all manifestations of our need to integrate and desire to resolve Left and
Right Sacred. In a very Dialectic way, we desire Left Sacred, Death, Murder,
the Taboo or the Occult to help us define and experience Right Sacred; moments
were we come together, or do good for other people, or even where we might find
a simple kinship in some way. In Audre Lorde’s essay The Erotic as Power, we
can sense Right Sacred through her definition of the Erotic as a way of
bridging the heterogeneous state of self by a direct physical encounter with
another through a homogenous sharing of an intense erotic state together, which
is one form of Effervescence. But further, she describes the Erotic as those moments when people share a deep, and in her thought
feminine, connection when doing something difficult or intense. Though she does
not use the terminology I am suggesting, these moments of shared endeavor are
manifestations of effervescence and homogenous desires, as well as embodiments
of Right Sacred. ¶
The lure of Black Metal and NeoFolk is an example of the manifestation
of Left Sacred and our desires to resolve Left/Right Sacred in Modern society.
Bands within Neo-Folk, which has also been known as “Apocalyptic Folk” would be: Changes, Current 93, Death in
June, Fire + Ice, Sol Invictus, to name a few. Both Black Metal and Neo-Folk
are heavily influenced by Left Sacred: Death, apocalyptic themes, Thelemic
Magick, the Occult, Satanism, Lucifer, Serial Killers, and Charles Manson. They
are also influenced by not only atonal and distorted sounds, but certain themes
within Chöd religion, Hinduism and Buddhism which are all Heterogeneous and
“Impure Sacred,” all of which are massive influences on these genres. It would
be impossible to imagine either genre without reference to some of these
interests. These genres of music have risen out or our collective and
individual need to wrestle with Left Sacred and our current Modern lives where
these elements have largely been banished or have been perverted into neurosis
and psychosis; or worse into commodified mass cultural phenomena such as sports
events or modern “festivals” like spring break weekends or weekend warrior bar
hoping. These later events do to a certain extent fulfill our need for Left
Sacred, but obviously are not sufficient or “sacred” enough for all people. ¶
Though we try, we cannot escape death and it shadows our technological
development and thusly has been a lure of the underground since the dawn of
Modernity, which I would argue would be since the birth of the Avant Garde
which some have argued dates back to the German Romantics and the Sturm und
Drang group of the 1760-1780’s. Left Sacred has only been “demonized” since
religious beliefs systems have perverted it or relegated it outside “normal”
life. But a sufficient exploration of either of these last statements falls
outside the limits of this article. Rather, I want to set up an understanding
of how Left/Right Sacred works within our society before going on further to talk about the relevance of the of the
writings related to the Collège and our current interests as members of the
Black Metal and Neo-Folk scene. ¶
So what were the interests of the Collège? In Caillois’ introduction to
the Collège, he states their purpose: “There are certain, fleeting, and violent
moments of his intimate experience on which man places extreme value. From this
given the College of Sociology takes its departure, striving to reveal
equivalent processes at the very heart of social existence, in the elementary
phenomena of attraction and repulsion determining this existence, as in its
most marked and meaningful formations such as churches, armies, brotherhoods,
secret societies. Three principle problems dominate this study: the problems of
power, of the sacred, and of myths.” (Hollier. C.O.S. p.11) ¶
Given these three “problems,” of which Caillois speaks, can one think
of any other more important set of three themes than these in Black Metal and
Neo-Folk? I think that it is safe to say that these three themes dominate that
which is explored by these two genres. It is also worth note the importance of
Brotherhoods and Secret Societies, which were key concerns for the Collège, as
we find that they are fairly rampant in both Black Metal and Neo-Folk. In
Norway you had the Inner Circle based around the Helevete shop, as well as
France’s Les Legion Noires, California’s Black Twilight Circle, Russia’s
BlazeBirth Hall, Argentina’s Southern Elite Circle, as well as Slovakia’s UMBR group
just to name a few. In Neo-Folk, you find these groups more within regards to
Ásatrú Kindred. In both genres, there are also those groups that have their
basis in magical orders stemming from the Golden Dawn and the O.T.O. The desire
to form and be part of these selective and voluntary secret societies and
brotherhoods fulfills the desire to transform Left Sacred into Right Sacred,
but also in the face of a sterile, Modern society to reinvigorate the sacred.
The intent or lure of which would be the performance of secret rituals or forbidden acts/rites with the goal of social cohesion,
either through these acts of transgression or through personal/group spiritual
transformation. ¶
That the Collège was also interested in armies as a meaningful
formation of the Sacred is also reflected in a wide selection of both Neo-folk
and Black Metal bands interests. The powerful shattering of homogeneity through
the violence of war and intense Left Sacred manifestations as such, have been
cornerstones of many bands output. In particular, Marduk have seriously mined
this realm which is perhaps best embodied in their seminal release Panzer
Division Marduk, which contains copious amounts military images and features
samples between songs with gunfire, soldiers screaming, boms, tank and airplane
sounds. In this fashion, the whole subgenre known a War-Metal evokes this
fascination with this particular embodiment of Left Sacred. Neo-Folk as well
has also delved into militaristic themes and war imagery, though more often
through the lens of latent Right Sacred elements that are also paradoxically
present in war. Comradeship, the propaganda of solidarity, battle songs,
wartime speeches and other elements utilized during wartime to sway public
opinion towards war efforts and solidify resolve of the populace. In many ways
these elements, especially those that focus on the soldier and his relationship
to war evokes Audre Lorde’s “Erotic,” the connection that exists within the
bonds that are shaped through comaraderie in war. Perhaps best typified through
the work of Death in June who fully delve into the latent Homosexual themes
thusly expressed in this context. One can also see similar Right Sacred themes
in the music and ideas that motivate Jes Joyaux de la Princesse, Der Blutharsch
and Toroidh, but certainly not limited to these groups alone. There are a
variety of types of effervescence in all the various elements of war, from the
horrors that soldiers face in the midst of intense battle, the loss of fellow
soldiers, the morale boosting and propaganda that swells the pride of people to
support the war effort or lead soldiers into battle. War has often been a
cohesive element to bring together disparate people and communities as they
rally together against a common “enemy.” ¶
I can think of no other group besides the Collège that not
only wanted to devote serious intellectual study of the importance of Left
Sacred within culture but also wanted to specifically engage with Left Sacred
for its revolutionary potential. To arise out of the nihilism that comes when
one strictly resides within Left Sacred alone, but also not fall into the trap
when one focuses exclusively on Right Sacred. These are crucial considerations
for the continuing study of this group. What is also important about the
Collège is that it was not aligned with a specific path of illumination, being
essentially Nietzschean it rejected the notion of being a slave to any
particular ideology but the desire to search out of Self Mastery and personal
transformation. ¶
Caillois’ delineation of the important distinction between a Luciferian
ideology as opposed to a Satanist one is a fascinating precursor to Laveyan
Satansim that would develop in the mid-sixties. Caillois’ Luciferian idea also
predates similar interests that lead to the development of the Process Church
and their own interesting conception of Satan, Lucifer, Jesus and Jehova and
four separate entities working in harmony. These writings speak to both the
Master/Slave relationship as outlined in Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit
and also Nietzsche’s self mastery of the Übermensch. Where Baudelaire was
content with a sort of rampant dilettante nihilism, Lucifer represents a
directed reappraisal of Left Sacred that is not limited to strict nihilism but
is directed, nobly, towards transformation and self mastery not content to
wallow in bacchanalia, but to know the importance of Left Sacred and its role
in transforming the self and society into something greater, Caillois’s
embodiment of Right Sacred. For Caillois, I believe that Lucifer is a symbolic
representation of a rebellious spirit that was not limited to a specific
religious ideology. Where Bataille wanted to join the Mystical world through a
sort of non-tradition specific shamanic immersion, Caillois was content to
examine the roles that Left Sacred played within society and acknowledge them
through a personal worldview. In this way, you can see the basic differences
between the way the two approached their interests in what they were studying.
Caillois took Kojève’s criticism of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice to heart, where
Bataille still felt the lure to delve into a spiritual tradition which balanced
both types of Sacred. ¶
This distinction between Bataille and Caillois is also pronounced
within the scenes being discussed, Black Metal and Neo-folk; people are still
drawn to re-kindle the Sacred within Modern life and people still find
themselves confronted by how one goes about this. For some, they are content to
merely study the Occult from a distance, the “armchair’ enthusiast. Where
others commit themselves to specific Western Occult groups, such as joining the
Golden Dawn. Within Black Metal, there are specific people such as Michael Ford
from Black Funeral, who are crafting their own occult rituals and in ways,
taking nods from Kenneth Grant and his merging of several paths together in his
series of books entitled the Typhonian Trilogies. These books owe heavily to
Austin Osman Spare’s automatic style of Magick, which is essentially the birth
of Chaos Magick. For Grant, Lovecraft “received” the Cthulhu mythology in a way
similar to how Crowley did with the Book of Law. For Michael Ford and others
furthering this line of Chaos Magick, it is matched to specific dark threads of
the Occult, but also the symbolic and atavistic literary threads as a received
communal knowledge bubbling up from the unconscious, which can be utilized for
personal transformation. ¶
Shamaatae who is the main person behind Arckanum is a practicing
Chaos-Gnostic which in a similar way develops the under currents of
both Western Occult threads with Norse mythology, In particular he is
interested in the Giants and how the study of them within Norse mythology
provides him with inspiration. He is interesting in that he is fairly critical
of German Paganism, Odinists and Heathenists that try and replicate a sort of
homogenizing and Right Sacred washing (for lack of a better term) by the
elimination of Left Sacred from Norse mythology. For him, the importance of
understanding Norse mythology is not in a balancing of Right and Left Sacred in
the sense of some sort of overarching tranquility but as dynamic force and
interplay of the two and for him a resolute siding with the Left Sacred of the
Giants. ¶
In some ways, I feel that this approach of selecting strands of thought
from various sources and applying them to some overarching system is somewhat
evocative of the path that Bataille wanted to pursue with Acéphale. Where as
Bataille’s mission was a bit more anthropological and not following any
specific theological path, Ford’s mission is more in line with a symbolic
associative mixing of traditional Satanic threads with dark threads from
various aspects of the occult and the Left Hand Path; while Shamaatae focuses
on a Gnostic illumination through his specific exploration of Norse Mythology
and the Left Hand Path. ¶
Orthodox Satanism was developed by a selection of individuals who
wanted to focus Black Metal back to a pursuit of purely Satanic themes feeling
that Black Metal should be nothing other than a music in praise of HIM (Satan/Lucifer.)
Some bands that could be considered Orthodox Black Metal are the following:
Antaeus, Funeral Mist, Watain, Ondskapt, Heresi, Ofermod, Aosoth, Malign and
Katharsis. In my opinion, the best representation of Orthodox Black
Metal is Deathspell Omega. Through their lyrics, graphics and songwriting, it
seems that they are unrivalled in the dedication to a High Art manifestation of
Orthodox Black Metal and devotion to HIM. The core of their releases, since the
band reformed with Mikko (singer of Clandestine Blaze and owner of Northern
Heritage Records) on vocals, has been a Trilogy starting with Si Momumentum
Requires, Circumspice (SMRC); Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum; and
Paracletus. There have been a couple releases in between which have been
outside of this Trilogy. Namely Kénôse, a split with S.V.E.S.T. and a song on
the 3lp/cd compiltion Crushing the Holy Trinity. For our purposes here Diabolus
Absconditus, the song from that compilation release, is particularly
interesting due to the fact that the majority of the lyrics are taken directly
from Georges Bataille’s short story Madame Edwarda. Madame Edwarda was written
just after Acéphale and the Collège had collapsed and his lover, Laure’s death
from Tuberculosis. Bataille, himself was suffering from it and quit the Nationale Biblioteque to convalesce in southern France.
This was also the time that he had started writing Guilty and his Summa
Atheologica. A fertile period still steeped within the ideas we have been
discussing here. The song is a Hegelian rumination, delving into despair and an
opening up to the vision of God through the manifestation of a public whore,
thusly an exploration of transcendence in paradox. But more so, both Madame
Edwarda, and the lyrics that were written by Deathspell Omega to go along with
Bataille’s selections embody Bataille’s concept of the Practice of Joy Before
Death. Deathspell Omega turn Bataille’s quest to look into the face of death
and embody that horror as a foundational part of the experience of the Sacred. ¶
“The
unreservedly open spirit - open to death, to torment, to joy -, the open
spirit, open and dying, suffering and dying and happy,
stands in a certain veiled light: that light is divine. And the cry that breaks
from a twisted mouth may perhaps twist him who utters it, but what he speaks is
an immense alleluia, flung into endless silence, and lost there.” (Bataille as
quoted in Deathspell Omega interview with Tyler from Ajna Offensive from the
Preface to Madame Edwarda) ¶
Deathspell Omega are claiming this “practice” as a Satanic endeavor and
means of illumination. In an interview with Tyler from Ajna Offensive conducted
at the time of the release of S.M.R.C. they claim Bataille as a large influence
and quote him within the interview. The interview also contains references to
Adorno and Critical Theory, which as mentioned above also have ties back to the
Collége. For Deathspell Omega, the Orthodox path is one that moves beyond “Black
Metal” as a genre or musical style, but to reach out through all of human
endeavors to find inspiration of HIM. ¶
“All of us
went through a phase during which we were naïve enough to believe that Black
Metal was already something sacred, something holy, and fanatical as we were I
do not think there’s a single recording, not even the most obscure rehearsal
tape released during the ‘90s, that escaped our never ending need to hear and
read everything concerning this Art-form we had placed such hopes in. Eventually
we realized that the potential someone like Euronymous had underlined by
placing sovereignty as a preamble to liberty and the religious dimension as the
key to the Logos had not been materialized. No excuses were valid anymore, we
had to admit the experiment was a bitter failure, especially underlined by our
parallel exploration of fields such as philosophy, theology, of course
literature, cinema, let’s say Art and Culture to cut a long story short, all of
which made Black Metal go pale in utter mediocrity. The main problem of Black
Metal is precisely that it’s only influences, thus only perspectives, are Black
Metal, or Metal in general. Perspectives close to zero, to put it like that. ¶
Our goals are, as already underlined, directed towards metaphysical
spheres, and that obviously implies that close to the totality of the material
that fuels our reflections is of different origin than such an underdeveloped
and under-intellectualized thing as Black Metal. ¶
Let me say though that the main implication of the word “orthodox” in
this context is a proud statement of the recognition of Satan being of divine
essence, of the location of Devilworship on a religious and metaphysical level. The easy escape of using the word ideology
instead of confronting oneself with the real challenges only portrays the
terribly low level on which the major current of ‘Satanism’ is crawling. ¶
By fusing Bataille’s Practice of Joy Before Death with a devotion to
Satansim, Deathspell Omega are defining something that is fascinatingly close
in proximity to Roger Caillois’s Luciferian idea. It is hard to speculate to
what extent Caillois would identify with Deathspell Omega’s particular Satanic
philosophy, as I feel that songs like Mass Grave Aesthetics might be a bit more
focused on Left Sacred than Caillois, but the similarities in the rhetorical
call to a Luciferian elitism is fascinatingly similar. ¶
The inheritance of the 20th century is such that to define an elitism
that explores Left Sacred will be inevitably traced backed to
National Socialism. The roots that fed into both the development of the Avant
Garde and those groups critical of the West as it came to be in the beginning
of the 20th century also fed into National Socialism and what became fascism.
Thusly working backwards, to trace these Left Sacred elements from our position
in late 20th to early 21st century one cannot escape the issue. With regards to
Deathspell Omega, the strict focus on Satanism from a High Art gaze and
religiosity seems to have helped them escape from following the path that
befell another elitist rebel who came to reject the relatively low incarnation
of “placing sovereignty as a preamble to liberty and the religious dimension as
the key to the Logos” as proffered by a “potential someone like Euronymous.”
Here the well known case of Varg Vikernes found himself bedazzled by the
fascist call. The Collège, in exploring Left Sacred, found that no other
Political group active during the early 20th century was utilizing or
understood the importance of Left Sacred as much as National Socialist Germany,
Austria and Italy. The prominence placed on Western Individualism by much of
the Capitalist West lacked the collective effervescence of Left Sacred and the
critique of this hyper-Individualism could easily be summarized by the comedic
statement of everyone in unison monotonously chanting “we are all individuals.”
Though there is a deep psychological need and importance in developing a sense
of individualism, the critique by the Collège is that there is also a deep
psychological need for us to shatter this individualism and reaffirm an
effervescence through collective ritual and taboo activities. ¶
The lure of fascism within Black Metal is the lure of these deep
psychological needs being unfulfilled by society, these
same needs that were exploited in the early 20th century by fascist political
groups. What I think is important for the resurgence in the study of the
Collège is that it represents a critical reappraisal of Fascism and Left
Sacred; the false lure of the prior versus the importance of understanding of
the later in order to have a deeper understanding of why these themes reoccur
in Modern society. The lure of fascism, given the Collège’s critique, for
someone drawn to the study and exploration of Left Sacred is very similar to
Deathspell Omega’s critique of current Satanism.
“The easy escape of using the word ideology instead of confronting oneself with
the real challenges only portrays the terribly low level on which the major
current of ‘Satanism’ is crawling.” Furthermore, the critique of any
exploration of Left Sacred by labeling that exploration fascist, or that it is
dangerous to study in that it might lead to fascist beliefs is also on such a
low level of analysis as it might as well be crawling on the floor of
theoretical appraisal. ¶
The lure of Black Metal and the conflict between early members of the
Norwegian scene and their ideas of what Black Metal meant to them and where it
should lead produced many threads. As mentioned, for some, there was a desire
for Orthodoxy, but others felt the need to fully embrace Left Sacred and
internalize it, nestling into absolute nihilism and bacchanalian gestalt. Nortt
From Denmark is perhaps the best example of the development in this regard. His
Black Funeral Doom Metal was highly influential. Nortt’s moniker was, “Unholy
Light Through Death” and the aim “to invoke the spirit of the night and tell
the alluring tale of solitude in eternal darkness.” With somber, ultra slow
music played at a funeral pace, the rage of the earlier manifestations of Black
Metal was internalized and focused inward to highlight the ultimate solitary
path, the path towards one’s own death. Symbolically, Nortt stand at the
crossroads of two separate developments in Black Metal, Suicidal-Depressive
Black Metal and also a host of solo projects, also known as Bedroom Black
Metal, typified best by Malefic’s band Xasthur from California. The popularity
of these specifically Bedroom Black Metal bands and the rise of Black Metal from
2002-3 onward lead to an explosion of this style of Black Metal. The lure of
Black Metal itself began to become enjoyed as a guilty
pleasure for many people new to the genre, a taboo dark treat to enjoy, for
some it was perhaps a brief “dark” period in their life, or merely as another
way to define oneself as an “outsider” distanced from mainstream society. ¶
In response to this Nihilism and vacant tourism of trendy
investigation, yet still lured by the cathartic call of the sounds and some of
the original ideas stemming from first and second generation Black Metal, there
developed a few bands that, though inspired by the genre, wanted to distance
themselves from the politics and reactionary elements in Black Metal,
specifically the National Socialism championed by Varg Vikernes, as well as the
overt Satanic themes of Orthodox Black Metal. Taking some cues from the Punk
community yet harnessing the sonic power of Black Metal and an exploration of a
wider selection of influences outside of the genre (as mentioned above by
Deathspell Omega) Ludicra is a forerunner in this regard. Ludicra was formed in
1998 in San Francisco, California, by 2002, with their
debut release Hollow Psalms, they had coined the term Grey Metal to describe
their sound; the term “grey” to place their music in association yet distinctly
apart from, and in some way, against traditional Black Metal. Ludicra were
heavily influenced by Weakling which formed sometime in 1996-97 and released a
couple rehearsal demo tapes in 1998 and their sole true release in 2000 Dead as
Dreams. Though highly influential for many bands in this section, little was
known about them at the time and they did not make any overt statements about
their intents as a band. However, Agalloch from Portland, Oregon, (like
Ludicra) is another band that in many ways has held an arms length from the
main threads of Black Metal taking cue from the seminal Norwegian band Ulver in
exploring acoustic instrumentation along with a focus on nature and
mythological themes over Satanism. Though not specifically Black Metal,
Agalloch have been a huge impact on those bands in the U.S. that are heavily
influenced by it but seek to harness the effervescence and focus it into a
Sacred Renewal. ¶
Corvus Corax a band that started out in Colorado and then moved to the
Pacific Northwest was highly influential in merging Heathen
and Pagan themes with the sonic realms of both Neo Folk and Black Metal, their
demo in 1998 fuses both Black Metal themes and Neo-Folk instrumentation. Their
live performance with Blood Axis in 1998 opened with a torch lit procession and
leather banners, their lyrics were specifically oriented to atavism and nature
themes, thusly they might be considered the first “Cascadian” band. The later
work of the lead musician of the band Johann with his ritual performance group
The Red King was highly influential on many later luminaries in Pacific
Northwest merging engaging Left Sacred themes and ritual music performance. ¶
Sympathetic to these bands, yet inspired by different motives, a few
select groups were formed in Olympia, Washington in 2002-3. Rising out of the
Dark Folk ensemble Alethes, Echtra and Sacrificial Totem were solo projects
developed by the two main musicians behind Alethes, Exile and J. Joshua
Phillips. Where Alethes was devoted to bio-mythical exploration of nature and
man, both Sacrificial Totem and Echtra developed these themes further by
starting to incorporate elements of Black Metal into their sound. Echtra, based
on a focus of ritual performance and Black Metal
brought two un-thought of concepts together; matching of the Left Sacred
elements of Black Metal and an affirmation of the sacred and geographical
placement within the local bioregion where Joshua Phillips resided. Cascadian
Black Metal was born. Coined in particular for the first Echtra performane June
6th 2003 an event under the moniker Unburied, where Alethes, Sacrificial Totem
and Echtra performed. J. Joshua Phillips coined the term Cascadian Black Metal
when developing the flyer for this event, but it is noteworthy the influence
Alethes and Exile had as a precursor in this development, as well as a
community of friends and musicians who contributed sympathetic encouragement
towards this end. ¶
A few months after the Unburied event, the band Threnos was
created by Parker and Johnny Delacy who later recruited J. Joshua Phillips as
second guitar. They released their demo By Blood and By Earth for their sole
tour in 2004. After the collapse of Threnos in late 2004-5 Johnny and Joshua
formed Fauna, billed as “ritual Black Metal art observing the collapse of
civilization.” In many ways Fauna embody a high point in bridging the threads
of nihilism and a shift towards a Sacred Renewal through sound, art and
performance. of nihilism and a shift towards a Sacred Renewal through sound,
art and performance. From a theoretical perspective, outside of Deathspell
Omega’s return to Satanism as a High Art endeavor, the only other moment of
Left Sacred being transformed into Right Sacred and
perhaps the only real embodiment of the critique that the Collège made of
fascism (and now here, a similar critique of Black Metal) can be seen in these
specific individuals following their own path away from the exclusively
nihilistic themes of traditional Black Metal toward their own paths. ¶
In the interviews within this current issue of Amarantos, and from the
previous issue, you can read my own quest to distinguish the threads of these
Left Sacred strands within the music, lyrics and performances and moreover what
it means to both the community of musicians loosely defined as Black Metal but
also as specifically “Cascadian.” Where internally and externally the
consideration as to the meaning of such a term and mode of self-definition
speaks not merely towards nestling into these Left Sacred manifestations, but
active transformation from Left Sacred into Right Sacred; Further more, the
quest to maintain a balance of these two types of Sacred within our personal
and social lives. The presence of myth and the symbolic representation of the
Sacred that is manifested through music, performance and ritual is best
typified through Echtra and Fauna, where myth is not strictly left to the past,
but engaged with in a very directed way. Mythology is not new to Black Metal
but within Cascadian Black Metal, at its best, it feels as if the threads of
the Collège are continued forward through it. ¶
Mythology is well associated with Black Metal, most notable is Black
Metal’s association with Nordic Mythology. Delved into first by
Bathory, and then later by Ulver, Burzum, Storm, Enslaved, Unleashed and then
numerous other Viking and Folk Metal bands including Arckanum above. The lure
of traditional culture as a salve to the Modern condition or as fodder for
exploring the Occult and Left Sacred is longstanding. One of the more interesting developments in recent years has been the
Non-Western cultural and mythological exploration delved into by the Pagan
Black Metal band Darkestrah, who have released several records devoted to
exploring the Pagan /pre-Christian and historical themes of their native
Kyrgystan. Epos is a one track, 30 minute release devoted to the mythology of
the lake Issyk-Kulthat in northern Kyrgystan, a layover on the Silk Road and
where it is theorized that the Black Plague that struck Europe originated.
Another release by them delves into the history of the Silk Road trading route
through Central Asia. The logical step of focusing on local traditions in the
area where Black Metal musicians live outside of regions directly influenced by
Nordic mythology is a fascinating and welcome development in
Black Metal. ¶
The Taiwanese Black Metal band ChthoniC approach their own cultural
history in a more Cradle of Filth, grandiose style, but their commitment to
exploring forgotten and repressed Taiwanese traditional culture is fascinating.
Noting the similarity of traditional corpse paint in Taiwan to that of Black
Metal in general is an interesting association of Left Sacred and its
manifestations within a variety of cultures. The celebration of these
traditional cultures and the search for pre-Christian belief systems where Left
Sacred and Right Sacred elements were more balanced is systematic of our need
to find answers to our modern condition. Of equal importance is the need for
historical context, and the knowledge of peoples historical conflicts and the
roots of their subsequent ideas. As we move forward in time through history
from the birth of these conflicts and ideas to our current time and place, it
is important to be aware of these historical precedents. It is importance
because there is an inheritance that is passed down
with these conflicts that fuels our interpersonal, inter-cultural and
inter-societal spheres. Furthermore, these impact our personal interests and
the dynamics of our various cultures and countries beyond an analysis of strict
Left or Right Sacred manifestations. ¶
The importance of an anthropological and archaeological approach to
understanding the historical and societal relationship of Left Sacred and Right
Sacred was a driving force behind the Collège. For them, French Anthropology and specifically the French Sociology of Durkheim
and Mauss, and the study of these cultural manifestations was key to
understanding our Modern society. At that time, Cultural Studies and modern
Sociology did not exist as it does today. There was no study of Modern society
and culture like there was of so-called “primitive” cultures. The original
“Industrial Music” of the late 70’s and early 80’s, was fascinated by a sort of
anthropological tourism of Left Sacred, many artists explored the dark side of
humanity, the Occult and traditional cultural forms that also to embodied these
themes. ¶
The Industrial music of this time inspired a whole set of “Modern
Primitives.” Groups like the Temple of Psychick Youth, which was founded by
Genesis P. Orridge a progenitor of Industrial music with his work in Throbbing
Gristle and Psychick TV encouraged further Left Sacred manifestations. P.
Orridge purposefully did not lead or head the Temple of Psychick Youth (a very
Acephalic concept yes?), instead he championed and encouraged a modern
investigation into all occult practices without specific guidance by a central
figure. He was to a great extent influenced by Kenneth Grant, and especially
Austin Osman Spare, and the pioneering groups that developed Chaos Magick.
Throbbing Gristle before that had also delved deep into this Left Sacred, also
playing with elitist aesthetic forms, myth and power as radical an Anti-Art
revolutionary force. Current 93, founded by David Tibet, took these ideas
forward in different ways. Tibet along with several key people in England, and
Europe in general, worked together on several projects tracing an amazing array
of Left Sacred currents buried and overt in modern culture, recent past and
throughout the world, At times bridging Hinduism and Buddhist Left Sacred
themes with Occidental manifestations of Left Sacred. His quest to uncover and
reveal these currents was highly influential. With song titles like “Hitler as
Kalki” and others, they bridged Left Sacred and Right Sacred in fascinating
ways. Allerseelen, Crash Worship, Blood Axis and others in the 90’s would push
this envelope even further, exploring and free associating these veins even
deeper as modern research had helped unveil more and more information towards
these ends. ¶
The inheritance of the Nazi past and the shadows it cast over the 20th
century has cloaked any real investigation into Left – Right
sacred as a continuum from pre-Modern times through the rise into the
tumultuous Modern, early 20th century and to today. The result is that when
confronted with a Postmodern and politically Right wing dominated 80’s, that
was then challenged by a 90’s Left wing political multicultural critique based
in a Capitalistist driven Democracy most any threads of Left Sacred either
speak of a Ultra Nihilism, or worse, a thinly veiled neo Fascism. Books like
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke’s Occult Roots of Nazism, on one hand detailed the
thematic roots that lead to Nazism, but hidden within were also Left Sacred
social forces which lead these antecedents on a path which was later perverted
into Nazism proper and more importantly human genocide. Genocide is not exclusive to National Socialism, and the people and groups
that Goodrick-Clarke studied (and more importantly those that came before them
who influenced these roots) did not all envision, nor necessarily desire the
outcome that the 40’s brought, but it is important to state that these same
people are also not wholly innocent. What is important to note, and which would
be a critique that the Collège might make, is that the Left Sacred threads that
bubbled up to the surface when repressed by Modern society do historically lead
through into Nietzsche and Baudelaire and the beginnings of a Folk revival in
Germany, which was later co-opted and utilized in the 30’s and 40’s by the
Nazis. It is not that these Left Sacred threads always lead to Nazism, but in
this specific case it did, which is not strictly due to the nature of Left
Sacred, but because of the socio-political climate that fell into place. ¶
In the 80’s
and 90’s there was a resurgence of interest in Left Sacred when the Hippy
Aquarian idealism crashed onto the shores of selfish individualism and capitalistic
decadence of the 70’s and 80’s. It is not unsurprising that
we see the manifestation of Left Sacred in the form of the rise of Occultism in
the late 60-70’s the birth of Metal and Punk and later Harsh Noise as a
cathartic reaction to the sterile Right Sacred that was supposed to venerate
and liberate us. But within an environment of the post war “victory” of
Capitalist Democracy and Liberal Western domination and globalization where any
other positionality politically was essentially defined as Totalitarian or
Archaic this “Anthropological Tourism” of Left Sacred is far too simplistically
denigrated as thinly veiled fascism, or supportive of “Third Position”
equivocal politics. It is only in a stranglehold of idealism that is not
willing to recognize a broader range of manifestations of the Sacred that one
would be faced with a dichotomous decision of how to analyze a particular
subject matter. It is within this context that now, more than ever, we need to
make clearer distinctions and be more receptive to a wider understanding of the
forces that drive our motivations both as individuals and as a cohesive
society. In this respect, a study of the Collège is more important that ever,
being progenitors into this investigation it is crucial that we re-examine
their contributions to this end but also look further into where they were lead
astray; to note the political and theoretical climate that they were coming
from and the criticisms that they faced and also re-examine the merit of these
criticisms for continuing validity. I for one feel that the enduring
illumination in their writings and the depth of their insights into the human
condition and our modern lives is fascinating and penetrating in its insight. ¶
