The early Norwegian black metal scene is undoubtedly one of the most notorious in heavy music's history. Not only did it spawn some of the most acclaimed and influential artists in extreme metal, but it also became infamous for being involved with a wave of church arson and even a couple of murders.

The history of the genre has been well-documented in film and book format before, but a comic book seems to be a very fitting way to retell what were undoubtedly graphic events. Tales From the Black Circle is a three-part comic series written by Sam Hart (KEXP, Daily Dead, Beatdust) who works at Seattle's Museum of Popular Culture.

The stories will follow events involving the iconic black metal band Mayhem and the shadowy-doings of prolific figures Varg Vikernes and Euronymous. The comic is currently being crowdfunded over at Indiegogo.

From the Indiegogo page:

"As innovative as it was horrific, Norway’s contribution to the underground metal scene in the late 80s and early 90s left classic albums, charred churches and real corpses. While these sadistic Scandinavian stories have been told many times in documentaries and online blogs - Tales From the Black Circle is the first of its kind to tackle these tales in ghastly graphic fashion."

"Paying homage to EC’s landmark line of horror comics - Tales From the Black Circle contains three tales of true life terror - all torn out of the pages of Norwegian Black Metal history. Rigorously researched using both primary and secondary sources (roughly 50% of written material is based upon direct quotes from the individuals and interviews we conducted for research purposes), these stories of frightful non-fiction will educate as well as entertain the reader who has an interest in black metal, EC horror, music history, crime and comic books."

 

While the themes may be too grim for some, we think the sheer research and detail that have gone into these alone make it worth supporting!