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| The Gates of Hell- Neseblod Record Store |
There may not be a location in the world which is as singularly
important to a genre of music as Helvete Records in Oslo, Norway was to black
metal. Maybe not so much to the sound
itself, but definitely to the establishment of the cult following it achieved
in the early 90s, and which persists until this day. Black metal is the most extreme form of
music, with guitar riffs so fast they morph into an ambient noise, blast beats
on drums so intense they sound like a Gatling gun and vocals comprised of demonic
grows, screams and yelps. The black
metal aesthetic, at least in the early days, included musicians in corpse
paint, stages decorated with pentagrams
and an overt fascination with the occult.
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| Heavy Metal Everywhere |
If you are reading this, you probably already know what
black metal is and how it became an musical phenomena based out of Norway in
the early 90s. Although black metal did
not originate in Norway, its creed, sound and direction were largely codified
there, with much credit due to a man named Euronymous and his band Mayhem. The movement garnered worldwide attention
when members of Mayhem and their followers began the nefarious practice of
burning down churches throughout Norway.
Partially to create a headquarters for the proliferation of this cult, Euronymous opened a record store on Schweigaards Gate in east Oslo. He named this store “Helvete”, the Norwegian
word for “Hell”.
