Tragic Black Metal Christ

In my last post, I said that when black metal directs it's hate against limited, specific groups, such as religious groups, it loses all it's charm. This might suprise the odd reader or two, given black metal's traditional hatred of Christianity.

Of course, I can understand that for some Satanism and Asatru (or Odinism) have a playful or nostalgic appeal. I can understand that many would call Christianity a hypocritic religion. However, most black metal invective against 'christians turds' is puerile and uninteresting. Living in a largely atheistic North-Western Europe mostly dulls Satanism's transgressive edge.

Also, I feel black metal could acknowledge the tragic dimension inherent in the myth of the crucified Christ - the bible's portrayal of the night of Golgotha is more blackened by far than the many black metal bands' music. Justin Broadrick's Godflesh and Jesu show the possibilities of making Christ's tragedy into a fine artistic strategy (an interesting issue, by the way, for another post).