Not to be confused with metal studies, music criticism, ethnography, or sociology, Helvete: A Journal of Black Metal Theory is a speculative and creative endeavor, one which seeks ways of thinking that count as Black Metal events — and indeed, to see how Black Metal might count as thinking. Theory of Black Metal, and Black Metal of theory. Mutual blackening. Therefore, we eschew any approach that treats theory and Metal discretely, preferring to take the left-hand path by insisting on “some kind of connaturality between the two, a shared capacity for nigredo.”
Issue 1: Incipit includes: Zareen Price, “Dilation: Editor’s Preface” — Janet Silk, “Open a Vein: Suicidal Black Metal and Enlightenment” — Timothy Morton, “At the Edge of the Smoking Pool of Death: Wolves in the Throne Room” — Elodie Lesourd, “Baptism or Death: Black Metal in Contemporary Art, Birth of a New Aesthetic Category” — Amelia Ishmael, “The night is no longer dead; it has a life of its own” [featuring artwork by: Alexander Binder, Gast Bouschet and Nadine Hilbert, Ibrahim R. Ineke, Alessandro Keegan, Irena Knezevic, Allen Linder, Gean Moreno, and Nine Yamamoto-Masson] — David Prescott-Steed, “Frostbite on My Feet: Representations of Walking in Black Metal Visual Culture” — Daniel Lukes, “Black Metal Machine: Theorizing Industrial Black Metal” — Joel Cotterell, “This is Armageddon: The Dawn Motif and Black Metal’s Anti-Christian Project”
ISSN# 2326-683X
I absolutely adore the Helvete series. In spite of the purist “don’t talk about Black Metal” polemics, this is required reading for the elite. Among the many titles about there these days exploring the esthetics, philosophy and history of BM, this one is all the more relevant and sacred because it is immersive. I’ve referenced this work and been inspired by in producing my radio show, “Hurlements sur la toundra”. It is most definitely a hellsent blessing. Long live the cult!