True Norwegian Black Metal

Peter Beste's 'True Norwegian Black Metal' is by no means another long in depth writing on the bloody rise and now popularization of black metal music and the many interesting characters associated with it. Conversely Peter is a Houston based photographer who made no less than thirteen journeys to Norway to photograph the scenes finest both on and off stage and in some cases during there normal everyday lives.

Two hundred and eight pages deep True Norwegian Black Metal is filled with some of the finest black metal photographs you'll ever see, including members from such bands as Gorgoroth, Darkthrone, Enslaved, Immortal, Taake, Windir, Carpathian Forest, 1349, Emperor and many others too. Many of these photos find themselves being published for the first time through this book, while a few others have already been used as press photos or cover images in recent years. As far as Peter's photos are concerned, I can only say they are of the utmost quality and if you have a passion for both black metal and photography you'll surely adore this book.

While a lot of the photos are overly grim and evil as expected, what I also enjoy is that some of the photos are of the musicians in fairly normal poses, while others catch the gang partying, or just being themselves. In any case it offers a unique look at many of the musicians that have been part of the scene since the early 90's, and while Gorgoroth seems to be the dominant band photographed you can still probably hope to see your favorite Norwegian Black Metal band within this book.

In addition to the musicians photographs you'll also find some great nature/landscape shots, and, yes even a few of some churches (the ones they didn't burn down yet I'm assuming). Lastly in the back of the book is an assortment of old photos, flyer's, fan 'zine interviews, and letters from the late 80's/early 90's featuring the guys from Burzum, Mayhem, Morbid, Immortal, and Emperor, which are surely interesting to see/read, but in a lot of cases are very funny too (you'll see what I mean once you read them).

The book also measures 14.3 x 11.3 inches making it quite large and in most cases unable to fit on your book shelf, though on the other hand it may indeed serve as the ultimate coffee table book and an instant conversation started when friends come to visit.

Alongside the many photographs you'll also find a short writing from Peter Beste detailing on his voyages to Norway as well as a very in depth introduction and time line to black metal wrote by Metalion, which should be of interest if you don't know that much about the history of the genre.

As a whole I can't complain about really anything in this book, and I think if your a long time fan of black metal music as I am then you surely owe it to yourself to check it out.