A Kickstarter campaign has been launched for Black Metal Rainbows, a “400-page, full-color” tomb on inclusivity in black metal that promises to make you look at the genre in a completely new light.
Edited by Daniel Lukes & Stanimir Panayotov, art directed/designed by Jaci Raia and published by PM Press, Black Metal Rainbows is described as “a unique collection of stunning artworks and thought-provoking writings by a wide range of 80+ writers, artists, activists and visionaries, including Drew Daniel of Matmos/The Soft Pink Truth, Kim Kelly, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy, Margaret Killjoy of Feminazgul, Laina Dawes, Espi Kvlt, Charles Forsman, Eugene S. Robinson of Oxbow, Svein Egil Hatlevik of Zweizz and Fleurety, an oral history of Dødheimsgard’s album 666 International, a Tridroid Records label profile, “Lord of the Logos” Christophe Szpajdel, and many more.”
“Black metal is a paradox,” reads the book’s Kickstarter introduction. “A noisy underground metal genre brimming with violence and virulence, it has captured the world’s imagination for its harsh yet flamboyant style and infamous history involving arson, blasphemy, and murder. Today black metal is nothing less than a cultural battleground between those who claim it for nationalist and racist ends, and those who say: NAZI BLACK METAL FVCK OFF!”
The description continues,
“There is more to black metal than meets the eye. Beyond the clichés of grimness and hate, lies a musical genre rich in creativity, humor, and all the colors of the rainbow. Black Metal Rainbows sees black metal as open, inclusive, and unlimited: a musical genre whose vital spirit of total antagonism rebels against the forces of political conservatism. Across essays and interviews, artworks and comics, this gorgeously-designed full-color book foregrounds black metal’s evolution and celebrates its long-term anti-authoritarian spirit. Now is the golden age of pluralistic black metal.”
“‘Black Metal Rainbows’ is a necessary conversation-starter, a destroyer of gates and gatekeepers. Black metal was never pure, and it has evolved and bloomed exponentially since its church-burning days of the 90s Scandinavian second wave. Black metal is a party and a carnival! It can be colorful, it can be queer and feminine, witchy and antifascist, cute and cuddly, sexy and erotic — there is even black metal porn. This book reveals black metal as a ludic, carnival realm, animated by spirits of joy and celebration, queerness and LGBTQI+ identities, antifascism and left-wing politics, not to mention endless aesthetic experimentation and fabulousness. Long live black metal’s trve rainbow!”
The book has already gained praise throughout the black metal community. Said Cynic’s Paul Masvidal, “Black Metal Rainbows? But of course! Behold a treatise of the unholiest order. These pages unravel the densely layered alchemy that is black metal, and its undeniable relationship to the rebellious queer spirit we as a community so desperately need to resurrect. Rainbow hails to all involved for digging deep and unearthing a fabulous piece of faggot witchery. May the seance begin!” Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway contends that it’s about time, saying, “Despite being there in the moment during the ascent of the Venoms, the Bathorys, and the Hellhammers, I’ve tended to fidget warily from afar since black metal partly curdled into a mess of homogenized inhumanity. So, I welcome this collective liberating howl beyond the stereotypes of icy forests and puerile hatred. Bravo!” Adds Vile Creature’s KW Campol, “Black metal is the ultimate outsider musical genre, so it makes sense that us queers and weirdos would build a home within its barren fields. Black Metal Rainbows is a necessary anthology documenting the strong anti-oppressive backbone being woven into black metal’s very fabric.”
‘Black Metal Rainbows’ has already reached nearly $14,000 of it’s $20,000 Kickstarter goal.
A trailer for ‘Black Metal Rainbows’ can be found here. The book is currently available for pre-order via Kickstarter and the PM Press website. It’s estimated that the book will be shipped in January 2022.
