Mayhem is the most infamous and, arguably, the most influential band of the second wave of black metal. The band’s debut album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, is widely considered to be one of the most influential recordings that the genre has ever produced. It was an album seven years in the making. Songwriting started in 1987 and by the time the record hit shelves in 1994 two of the band’s most pivotal members would be dead.

Listen to one of the tracks from the album, “Freezing Moon,” here below.

On July 8th, a French court found Varg Vikernes guilty of inciting racial hatred and exalting war crimes. Vikernes is the sole member of Norwegian black metal and ambient band Burzum and is an outspoken National Socialist (read: Nazi), anti-semite, xenophobe. He is widely known for his role in burning several churches to the ground in Norway in the early ’90s and then murdering his Mayhem bandmate Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth) by stabbing him 23 times over a contract dispute. Vikernes, then going by the stage name of Count Grishnackh, maintained that he killed Euronymous in self-defense with an explanation so convoluted as to be laughable. If you want to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, you can do so here. He was convicted for the murder and sentenced to 21 years in prison (the maximum sentence in Norway). Vikernes famously turned to the cameras in the courtroom and smiled when his sentence was read.

I am in the process of transitioning all of the columns from my personal blog over to Geeks Of Doom. I already started with Thrashback Thursday, so now it’s time for Black Metal Friday. For this column, I usually spotlight a band video or, more often, an audio link, since many black metal artists shy away from making videos.

For my first installment on GoD, I have decided to share with you all a fantastic and riveting documentary on Scandinavian black metal. Black Metal Satanica is a very thorough examination of the genre. For anyone interested in knowing more about the subject, this is an excellent place to start! Watch the full documentary here below.

Black metal is an underground sub-genre of heavy metal emanating largely from Scandanavia. There has historically been a large amount of controversy surrounding black metal due to its primary themes of blasphemy and/or Satanism and the nefarious activities of many of its most prominent musicians (i.e., murder, suicides, and church burnings).

This year has been rife with major happenings from many of the founders of the black metal genre. Metal’s most notorious band, Mayhem, released their first album in seven years, titled Esoteric Warfare. King Diamond announced his first U.S. tour in nearly a decade, including a Halloween show in L.A., which I will be reviewing [the NYC GoD crew will be at the New York show in October]. We also observed the 10th anniversary of the death of Bathory leader and the man who many consider to be the father of Scandinavian black metal, Quorthon.

If you’re a metalhead and into crafts, this one might be right up your alley.

Coming complete with a Flying V guitar, pentagram necklace, and bullet-belt; the only thing missing from this little Black Metal dude is the complete burning church playset. The awesome little figure, pictured right (click for enlarged version), is the result of an amigurumi crochet project created by the folks over at Karabouts.

The detail on this little guy is pretty stunning. The spiked gauntlets are made from tacks, the pentagram is actually an earring, and the bullet-belt is made from silver beads. The coolness of this awesome project just makes me want throw out the metal horns and growl some Satanic lyrics.

The artists behind this remarkable amigurumi are the Mike and Kara Amigurumi Design Team and you can check out more photos of the Black Metal dude (posed in front of a church!) and more of their creations at their website.