"There is a way that seems right to a man..."

"... but its end is the way to death." - Proverbs 14:12

I stumbled upon a five part documentary(link at the bottom of this post) about the Norwegian Black Metal band, Gorgoroth, and more specifically, their vocalist, a man called Gaahl.

On a superficial level, this series really exemplifies a few of the reasons why metal is an inherently un-Christian movement. Putting aside whatever arguments are made for its status as music, the ideas which lie behind metal, and more specifically, Black Metal, are really awful. Members of Gorgoroth freely admit that Satanism is at the core of this band, and at the core of Black Metal. Gorgoroth itself is blantantly anti-Christian. A quote from Gaahl: "Christianity is based solely on stolen souls and lives. So, of course, every trace of them should be erased." The music of Gorgoroth clearly has an agenda, according to the members themselves, and that is to create fear and change the minds of their listeners to reflect the Satanist ideology that is at the center of the band. "The band is spreading fear, and we use that fear to create change and to also get our ideas across," said . "[There are] few bands around with a Satanic message, it's all about the music ... we are not about that, we are about the message."

Gaahl views himself as a Biblical goat, one with free will, unlike the sheep who follow God. This leads us to the humanism that motivates Gaalh. As the documentary begins to examine Gaahl more closely, we see a man whose ideals are more or less the height of humanism. He utterly rejects God, saying that God is within Man. When talking about breaking away from religion, he says, "You will be allowed to focus on the god within yourself, because that's the only true god, the god within everything. That's the only thing that, for me, is worth calling god. It is the highest spirit of everything, and not this control freak that is telling you, you are not supposed to do this, you are not supposed to do this ... God is within man, God is within nature, and nature will always grow, that's the force of all life, to grow."

Gaahl constructs his own morality. He has multiple convictions for violence, one of which involved torture. Gaahl apparently felt it necessary to teach one particular man a lesson for attacking him, and so he restrained his attacker and beat the man for hours, supposedly collecting the man's blood in a cup. He says that this sort of thing is "punishment," meant to teach others a lesson, and has apparently done this on multiple occasions. When Man is given the status of a god, rather than God's image, this is what can happen. If I am a god in my own right, what's to stop me from constructing my own ideas of right and wrong, however contrary they may be to the urgings of my own conscience, and then carrying them out upon others, regardless of the consequences? In a way, that's what Gaahl has done. In a broader sense, Gaahl embodies the reasoning of Man as he fights against God's sovereignty. Although we are loath to admit it, we are all Gaahl in our heart of hearts, however extreme an example he may be. The grace of God, the work of Christ, and the strength of the Holy Spirit enable us to rise above our sinful natures and follow Christ. Praise Yahweh that this is so.

Note: Concerning the video series, I recommend that you watch it to understand the full scope of what I've discussed here. There are some very poignant aspects of this story that I really can't describe. But, also be warned that there are some graphic images of stage props used at Gorgoroth concerts, for example, and also instances of foul language. Just be aware. I still recommend that you see all five parts, it's very interesting, albeit disturbing.

Here is the link: True Norwegian Black Metal