Black metal in Norway and the Blackpackers

What is a Blackpacker?

Italians and Greeks are known to be extra enthusiastic about Norwegian Black metal. The youth of these two countries is often very excited when you say you are from Norway. Not only because of our astonishing trolls, aurora borealis, the fisherman’s villages, or the mysterious hiking paths. It's often because they like Black metal. These are people who travel to experience the Black metal culture. Hence the name Blackpackers.

What was Black metal again?

Black metal is a subgenre of Heavy metal. The first wave of Black metal is from the 80s and is a more extreme form of Heavy metal. As Black metal people would say, more brutal.

Fun fact: In Norway, there is a little bit of history about burning down churches and sacrificing goats as a Black Metal gesture. This has pretty much stopped now and was more or less a thing of the 90s and before.

Varg Vikernes

One guy called Varg Vikernes killed a guy known as Euronymous. Varg also burned some churches and stole things. Varg follows the old Viking religion called ‘’Åsatru’’ and became very famous and made people think that this was common practice among Black metal followers in Norway. Therefore, Black metal people from outside of Norway gets the impression that radical church burners who paint their faces for weddings and acts like Viking kings are a daily experience in Norway.

Black metal museum

This is a record store in Oslo. The name is also Neseblod records which means ''Noseblood''. Lots of history is stored inside. From the 1st wave of Black metal until today. In this store, you have the option to buy, sell, and trade. If you have some merchandise like an LP or a Black metal comic book you can get some cash for it. This is a museum where you can buy the things you find. So, like a store.

Fun Fact: The place of Neseblod records was previously the location of the record store Helvete and Deathlike Silence.

Rockheim

Rockheim is located in Trondheim and is the hall of fame of music in Norway. That includes Black metal. They have a pretty neat section of the stories of Black metal and Heavy metal that took place in Norway. Check out the story about Rockheim for more on this!

Inferno festival

Every year since 2001, Inferno festival took place. Relevant nordic Black metal bands come to this festival in Oslo to play. They are known for their shocking stage performance as Black metal also is. For the 2019 show, they have arranged with Vomitory, Gaahls Wyrd, Batushka, Archgoat, The ruins of Beverast, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Avast and are obtaining more bands for the show.