This is a very nice photo book.
with a good quality of photos and a good quality of the printed paper.

I was surprised at the size of this book; I wasn't expecting it to be so large. However, it's full of really amazing photography. Although I'm not the biggest fan of the subject matter, the recipient of this gift said something to the affect of "This is the best gift ever!"

this is a must-have for anyone who loves black metal.... just amazing...this book gives you an entire view of the black metal hidden scenes...

First off, what a deal Amazon has on this. Pretty much half off what a person would pay in the store.

Anyway, like the other reviews here, this book is no slouch. It's meant for the coffee table and if you don't have a coffee table then it garners an extra seat on the couch. When people visit they have to sit next to the large front cover of Nattefrost holding up his inverted crucifix. It's definitely a conversation starter.

I've been a fan of this sub-genre of metal for a while now. I'm not going to lie and say that I've liked it or even knew about the "second wave" when it was happening. I was happily listening to my death, thrash, and classic metal albums at the time. But, when I finally did discover it, I found a new form of extreme music that paralleled my tastes at the time (around 1996).

Pros: Peter Beste's True Norwegian Black Metal captures some of the most memorable photos of the scene throughout the years. My favorites are in here and it's nice to have them on hand and just sit and look at the various photos in detail. There is additional information and old reviews/interviews with the Norwegian black metal alumni near the back as well as a tribute to ex-Mayhem vocalist "Dead". I was expecting to see Dead's body (Dawn of the Black Hearts) but alas, it was nowhere to be found. I'm neither disappointed or elated.

Cons: There is an index with page numbers and names of individuals and/or bands, but a lot of good the page numbers do when the pages have no numbers printed on them! That's probably my only gripe.

Objectively, looking on the scene then and now, my opinion remains slightly mixed on the scene's ideals, chest thumping, and rebellion. On one hand, some of the pictures such as Kvitrafn of Wardruna standing in Bergen is one of the most sociological telling pictures of the 20th century. The look on the woman's face passing on the left side is priceless next to Kvitrafn's grim countenance. The lone pictures of single individuals amidst forested backgrounds, vast plains, or in front of large mountain ranges hints at an even more darker, and to a certain extent, the lonely place where these musicians dwell in their minds and hearts. Cut off from the world and insignificant when compared with the majesty of nature, they emit a feeling of solitude which only the strong-willed are able to withstand.

In other parts of the book though, we see the less majestic to the point of the absurd and just plain sad. Nattefrost seems evil and armored for battle in most of his photos. But in one (almost candid?) shot we see him lying in his bathtub, shirtless, grasping a bottle of booze, yet still trying to ham it up for the camera even though his persona has been whittled down to little than a drunken buffoon. Unfortunately I have to say that as much as I love Immortal, Abbath hams it up for the camera even more. I'd much rather see Abbath in a more grim mode ala Pure Holocaust than say...At the Heart of Winter (which is an awesome album, but the band photos...meh).

That's about it. I love this book. Frontwards and back. I'm looking forward to sharing it with my metal buds who I know will appreciate it as much as I do.

Keep those horns raised high.

When this came in the mail I was initially mainly impressed with how big it is. It's a coffeetable book because it won't fit on the f###ing bookshelf. Anyone visiting me is doomed to have to stare at the large photo of Nattefrost covered in blood on the cover because it's always sitting out. At least the stupid cross he's always holding matches his shirt. I can't say anything against his fashion sense. Flipping through the book, one finds little in the way of text aside from a few quotes, some short essays and a timeline detailing things like the birth of H.P. Lovecraft and the death of Dead.

The bulk of the book is comprised of photos, mostly of members of Gorgoroth, Carpathian Forest (though only two of the photos of Nattefrost covered in crap in his bathtub), Darkthrone, 1349, Enslaved, Mayhem and a few others. There are some photos of fans, sheep heads, houses, trees, and some unidentifiable strips of black stuff in Nattefrost's sink. The last several pages are on non-glossy paper and reproduce old interviews and articles.

The magazine articles were kind of hard to read, so I was glad I had read them elsewhere. The zine articles were reproduced well and were more fun than the magazine stuff anyway, though I'm terribly sick of reading interviews with Varg, as he tends to come off as a pseudo-intellectual halfwit. In general a nice book though, good photos, some interesting text, nice binding.

If you are a fan of Black Metal, you probably already have this, but even if you don't know and love the music, this book is still worth purchasing. The photos and presentation are gorgeous, and I was happy as hell with the book even before I reached the last few pages which offer a quick historical record of the rise of Black Metal, from a smiling Euronymous and Count Grisnackt, to the early magazine articles, burning churches and through the aftermath of the infamous homicide. Horror fans will also enjoy the images in this book; it looks like stills from the greatest horror movie never made. Truly inspirational!

....congratulations to Peter Beste, there is only one word to describe the work on this book, amazing.

Was able to purchase my book and recieve it before Borders even called to tell me they could get the book. Thank you!!

This book is a must have for anyone interested or curious about the world on Norwegian Black Metal. Beste's documentary photography takes you into a world that most of us will never get to see first hand. The timeline, Metallion essay and ephemera section in the back are all invaluable resources.

I'm sure most black metal fans are familiar with Peter Beste's True Norwegian Black Metal. We've seen the selections that are online, and maybe you've been lucky enough to attend one of the shows. I haven't.

Just got the book today after preordering it. It's amazing. The book itself is quite large and impressive. The quality of the paper and binding is good in my opinion. There are many more photographs here than what you may have seen online, and as a whole they are really impressive from a aesthetic perspective. I like the choice of quotations to go along with the work. Also includes some older photos, letters and articles documenting the Mayhem story as well.

You owe it to yourself to buy this. It's definitely a nice thing to have in your collection for anyone interesting in Norwegian BM. $40 bucks well spent!

This is an outstanding visual foray into the realm of Black Metal. The material that lies within is like which no one outside the circle has seen. There are no gimmicks, there are no yuppies and/or people who are classified as the "I wanna do it 'cause it's cool." Metallica fans need not apply.
This is the lifestyle, this is where the true pioneers of the Satanic Metal Scene are immortalized in photographs and (some) text. Enter if you dare to the Norwegian Metal Underground. Hail Victory!