Until the Light Takes Us Blu-ray/DVD

Studio: Factory 25

Dec 07, 2010 By Hays Davis Bookmark and Share


"Norway...it's beautiful," says Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell of Darkthrone, the first of Norway's black metal bands. "It's like New Zealand, only just grimmer."

That description seems increasingly more pregnant with meaning as details unfold in the documentary Until the Light Takes Us. Focusing on the wave of Norwegian black metal bands in the early '90s that followed like-minded pioneers such as Britain's Venom and Sweden's Bathory, Until the Light sets the scene where competitive inter-band one-upmanship among a number of young musicians leads to a widely publicized murder and church burnings.

The film introduces a number of musicians who were active at the time, including some who were most infamously involved. There are first-hand accounts of scenes including the 1991 suicide and corpse manipulation of Mayhem singer Dead, and a lengthy interview with Varg Vikernes of Burzum, who was convicted of murdering Mayhem guitarist Euronymous and of burning a number of historic churches. Vikernes' segments are particularly fascinating, where the figure involved with some of the most disturbing crimes calmly delivers a lucid justification for his actions.

Directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell, who moved to Norway and lived with the musicians for several years, provide a valuable recollection of the bands and their interactions, and a compelling look at a creative environment where the darker, misguided inclinations of an influential few are alternately disdained and championed by their peers.(www.blackmetalmovie.com)

Author rating: 7/10

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Average reader rating: 8/10

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