Removed Forms (Until the Light Takes Us Thoughts and Ideas - Film #5)

Until the Light Takes Us, Aites and Ewell, 2008, 9.2/10
"In our contemporary society, youth are pretty much lost.  They have no direction, nobody's telling them what to do.  That is, people are telling them what to do, but the youth have an instinct telling them this is wrong, you know?  People are telling them that Christianity is good, people are telling them that the USA is good, NATO is good, our democracy is good.  But we know if not intellectually, we know instinctively, that this is wrong."
Varg Vikernes, from Until the Light Takes Us
Cut to a series of advertisements and people engaging in consumer culture, and we have a pretty good context for the film.  But it's hard to define black metal with one voice, and so we have myriad ("myriads" as Fenriz puts it) others.

"Let's make one thing clear: The world you live in is hollow.  It is plain and simple and contains only matter that in itself does not possess anything of lasting value.  The only way to create something of dignity and true beauty in this world is by looking beyond its borders, to search outside of the mundane and to enter into connection with that which lies beyond the safety of established form.  To step into the realm of liberated wilderness, of untamed fire, and of that ancient chaos for which every true and potent artist has been a mouthpiece.  There is a great abyss between this world and that place.  An abyss which very few are ever able to cross.  But by means of magic and communication with the divine there are ways to penetrate to that vast darkness, to that which lies beyond.  To build bridges and open gateways to that terrible and wondrous place that lies outside the borders of the world.  This is the way we have chosen to look upon the spiritual characteristics of our work and this is why it is divine.  It acts as a mediator between high and low, a link between two worlds, and we have chosen to call it Watain."
From Opus Diaboli, A musical documentary of Watain
Music has always been like this to me, a holy thing, difficult to break down, assess, and analyze.  I somehow lasted a full year of music theory at college, but found way too much of the learning to be tedious.  I'm not sure if music is quite as arcane as Erik Danielsson is making it sound here, though.  More quotable phrases are interesting as well, but they begin to talk about silly concepts of death, corpses, drinking blood, showing bones, animal and human sacrifice, and all of the silly things that make up a lot of modern black metal, most recorded metal for that matter, and I quickly lose interest.

The same could be said about my attraction to the anti-religious nature of Black Metal.  I find it inspiring, especially as practiced by bands like Wolves in the Throne Room.  I'm just at the tip of the iceberg here, so I'm not going to elaborate too much, but this element of BM makes me sad when I think of all of the churches burned in the name of it, all of the violence enacted against Christians at the hands of devout followers of the music.  Don't get me wrong, I fully understand the violence that Christians wreaked upon countless cultures and continue to wreak upon minds of innocent children everywhere.  We must take a more intelligent approach to try and counteract this.  Violence will breed violence.

"People don't want to be European, they want to be Finnish, or Norweigian or whatever."
From Pagan Metal: A Documentary

Until the Light Takes Us raises some incredibly good points.  Is Christianity founded upon the myths of older mystical worldviews? Is trying to create an anti-commercial scene a valid goal? Should we strive to have integrity in our artistic endeavors? That is, should our lyrics match our actions? Are there any evolutionarily salient points made here? These questions and more are worth considering in relation to "Until the Light Takes Us" but also in relation to music itself, of course including metal music, Norwegian black metal, and contemporary American black metal, especially of the atmospheric kind.

References
Film
-Black Metal University by Fenriz, Aites and Ewell (Special Feature on Until the Light Takes Us), Available, respectively, in parts 1 and 2 via Youtube (here and here)
-Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, Dunn, McFadyen, and Wise, 2005
-Once Upon a Time in Norway, Aasdal and Ledang, 2007, via Youtube here
-Opus Diaboli, Documentary about the band Watain, 2012, via Youtube here
-Pagan Metal: A Documentary, Bill Zebub, 2011 via Youtube here
-True Norwegian Black Metal, a Vice Video, via Youtube here
-Until the Light Takes Us, Aites and Ewell, 2008

Literature/Websites
-CVLT Nation (http://www.cvltnation.com)
-Lords of Chaos (2nd Edition), Moynihan & Soderlind, 2003
-Music and Dance as a Coalition Signaling System (click for full text), Hagen & Bryant, 2001/2002.

Music
-Bathory, Bathory, 1984
-Black Metal, Venom, 1982
-A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Darkthrone, 1991
-Burzum, Burzum, 1992
-Celestial Lineage, Wolves in the Throne Room, 2011
-Dead As Dreams, Weakling, 2000
-Deathcrush, Mayhem, 1987
-Diadem of the 12 Stars, Wolves in the Throne Room, 2006
-Satanic Rites, Hellhammer, 1983
-Under the Sign of the Black Mark, Bathory, 1987


The Last Films I've Seen
1. Mrs. Miniver, Wyler, 1942, 4.8/10 (See Last Week's Review)
2. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, Herzog, 5.5/10
Nicholas Cage is a strange guy.  His acting goes from good to hammy to just plain bad.  This film has him at all stages.  The story is lacking, and if this ever becomes a franchise, I would lose yet more faith in humanity.  That being said, it's rather entertaining.