Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind wrote a book, 'Lords of Chaos', about the so-called National Socialist Black Metal phenomenon, basically a bunch of idiot teenage Hitler- and Odin-worshipers who burnt a few historic chuches in Norway in the early 1990s. One the key members (a neo-Nazi called Vikernes) of this minisucle scene murdered another (Euronymous - a putative communist, according to Moynihan anyway) and, as a result, its notoriety spread, originally through tabloidy a feature article in the hillariously entitled British heavy metal magazine 'Kerrang'.
What all of the reports fail(ed) to mention is quite how small, irrelevant and pointless the whole thing is/was - just a bunch of alienated angst-ridden kids. It reminds me a bit of Morrissey's alleged racism - remember that? - in that the music press probably isn't the place to look for serious investigate journalism. (They probably should have confined themselves to saying he was an annoying git.)
Moynihan himself is an interesting - and controverisal - character. He leads a 'dark folk' band called Blood Axis. He did something with Prokofiev's Romero and Juliet, if I recall correctly, adding a Wadsworth Longfellow poem about Thor to it. Much of the claims of his alleged fascism stem from dodgy imagery, remarks in interviews with tiny fanzines (including a misanthropic remark about having looser entry requirements for the Holocaust if he was in charge) and his obsession with all things Odin.
The jury (such as there is one for such a tiny phenomenon - though various US anti-fascist groups picket his concerts from time-to-time and the SPLC has something about him on its website) remains out on whether he's just being provocative or is actually a white supremacist. He has expressed admiration for and republished witterings by the fascist/occultist Julius Evola, published work by James Mason (the American fasicst and Charles Manson supporter, not the actor), was a member of the Abraxas foundation - something described, most amusingly, as 'a neo-Nazi Satanist think tank' - and a former associate of Boyd Rice (self-proclaimed art-fascist and owner of the world's largest collection of Barbie Dolls.)
There's also a bit of this crap on shortwave radio - the last reuge of the scoundrel - along with religious nuts and the bizarre spectre of American 'patriots' selling gold.
Nevertheless, there is a little Odinist/Ásatrú subculture out there, primarily centred on 'dark folk' and heavy metal music in Norway and the US. I'll bet it scares the parents. The British end of this grew out of Trotskyism, of all things. Tony Wakeford and Douglas Pearce to be precise. Crisis, the anti-fascist/ANL/RAR punk band eventually became Death in June, which has been accused of being 'fascist'. Pearce denies it. According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia, Wakeford was asked to leave DIJ as a result of his joining the British National Party and he now describes his membership as a mistake. Stewart Home's written a fair amount about this (and also about Green Anarchism's fascism).
Ancient history, all of this. Something about irrelevant tiny groupsicles with a roneograph comes to mind... End of trainspotting.
Back in the actual past, an educated guess says you're right when you say "Christianity for being too Jewish [for the Nazis] and pushing to embrace the old White gods". The Brown Synod and subsequent Gleichschaltung were attempts to cleanse Christianity of Judaism - something of a Sisyphean task, one would imagine. No doubt it was an attempt to keep the good Christians on board but the Nazis would have preferred a 'purer' religion - hence the obsession with Odin and co.
Bonhoeffer (and I think Niemoeller) objected. The Confessing Church, they called themselves. It didn't stop Niemoeller attempting to sign-up for u-boat duty on nationalistic grounds while imprisoned - at least if my teachers were telling the truth all those years ago.
Jason.
On 2007-04-15 08:49:39 +0100 Kevin Robert Dean <Qualiall at Adelphia.Net> wrote:
> A bit off topic here. I recall reading that in some of the Nordic
> countries, there is a 'surge' of sorts of people turning back to the OLD TIME
> religion of Odin et al. A lot of that seems to be connected to the rejection
> of Christianity of ourse. I remember a trip to Oslo back a few years ago
> to a Viking museum and the tour guide had some rather unflattering things to
> say about Christian attempts to convert those barbarians. Something about
> Xtians putting snakes down peoples throats if they didn't comply and other
> pleasantries.
>
> But there is always the darker Nationalistic white-euro-pride that goes along
> with that as well. I've seen a few Nationalistic sites go off on
> Christianity for being too Jewish and pushing to embrace the old White gods.
>
> I happen to enjoy music from that region (Hednigarna, Garmarna, Mari
> Boine--please check these folks out if you can!) but since I can't understand
> the language, I just hope I don't ignorantly wind up listening to something I
> would regret later.