Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult has long been seen as the most exhaustive literary examination of the extreme metal genre. Now, author Dayal Patterson has gone several steps further with a new ‘Restored, Expanded and Definitive edition’. Here, the author gives Paul Castles the inside track on his new tome.
ZT: Hi Dayal, Your original version of Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult is in itself considered the finest literary exploration of the genre. So at what point did you start to feel the need to revisit and redevelop?
To be honest, even before the original was published! There was a point during the creation of the original book where I was given, and reached, a maximum word count by the publisher and was left with unused interviews and had to abandon many chapters that I was planning to write. The option was to either make each chapter and interview that I’d already written shorter or to omit bands entirely, and because the whole point of the book was to be in-depth, I decided I had to omit some bands – possibly a mistake. So although I think the original book was a very decent effort, it had a lot of things missing that I always wanted to include. I also had other issues with the book, most obviously the design, and of course, it was the only book I’ve written that was not released by Cult Never Dies, so I was always hoping I could get the rights back. The 10th anniversary of the book kind of pushed me into taking the leap, taking a loan, buying back the rights and then essentially taking a year to create a new book. But I never imagined it would grow as much and change as much as it did when I made that decision. It has essentially become a new book.
ZT: Having put so much of yourself into the first book, this must have appeared a daunting prospect to try and surpass it with an even more expansive version?
If I’d known how much work it would take it would have been very daunting, but I didn’t envisage that I would add as much as I did and rewrite as much as I did when I first made the decision. Bear in mind some parts were created way back in 2009, and I’ve obviously improved as a writer during that time, so I ended up wanting to change a lot of parts already there. Then there are the 140,000 extra words written, which is more than the length of an average book in itself. Because of all this I ended up working all day 6 or 7 days a week for the best part of a year. It has been by far the most demanding project I’ve ever been a part of, but it’s also my most important creation, and it had to be perfect to justify the release.
ZT: Was the main driver to get more from some of those you spoke to first time around – or to update and refresh with wholly new content?
Both, but more the latter. I did end up talking to some of the original interviewees for new content, but it was more about talking to new people and including more bands and interviews from the last ten years. For example, the Thorns chapter originally only included Snorre Ruch and I did get some new words from him, but I also met up with Marius Vold who was in the band in the early years to add his recollections. That in turn led to me expanding the parts of the book about the Helvete store, because he was involved in that so closely. I also changed the chapters with bands like Mysticum and Fen, because I had much more and better material this time around. I also had long and unprinted interviews with bands like Immortal, Impaled Nazarene, Black Witchery, Profanatica, Vinterland/The Black, Necromantia and so on, and these are such important bands, it is really great to give them the chapters and attention they deserve.
ZT: Were there some artists who were reluctant to support the first book who had a change of heart this time around?
Not really – Mystifier would be the only exception I think, they didn’t take part in the original book but did a few interviews with me in the last years. It was definitely much, much easier to get interviews this time. So much time was spent the first time around trying to explain to bands what the book would look like and that it wouldn’t be like certain other books, because I really had no point of reference, so had to get them to understand the aims of the project and trust me. This time was completely different because every band I approached I’d either worked with in the intervening decade or they’d seen the original book. To put this into perspective, I was able to get as many interviews in late 2022 and 2023 as I did between 2009 and 2013. In a lot of cases the bands were either friends or at least friendly acquaintances and social media contacts, so I could get almost instant replies if I dropped a musician a message to clarify something or send me an image.
ZT: Were there any who still today gave you the cold shoulder?
Not that I remember. There were surprisingly few the first time around actually. The most obvious example was Deathspell Omega – I asked them to take part in the original book but they politely explained that they didn’t do interviews, which was fair enough. Thankfully ten years later Roy Kristensen of respected fanzine Imhotep – who helped a lot with proofing for the new book – did a lengthy interview with them which was published on the Cult Never Dies homepage. So we worked with that material to create a really interesting chapter on the band. I can’t think of any artists who didn’t want to take part, at least not any that were important.
ZT: They say never meet your heroes… but you must have met many. Who really surpassed your expectations?
A lot of the bands ended up being people I continue to work with and spend time with – for example, most of the bands, perhaps all of the bands, that we do official merchandise for (Ulver, Beherit, Dødheimsgard, Mysticum, Sigh etc) are people that I originally met through doing interviews. It would be unfair to single out any particular interviewees, but I can honestly say that almost everyone that I met who was involved in the book was an interesting character. But black metal is like that I think, most of the important musicians are interesting and unusual people because they are motivated by more than just making good riffs or commercial success. Maybe not so much nowadays, but most of the seminal bands predate the current scene anyway.
ZT: You were working 14-hour days for a year on the book, it must have felt all-consuming at times?
Yeah it was too much really. I’m used to working extreme hours, but this would have resulted in a burnout if I’d done it too much longer I think. But at the same time, it meant so much to me and was so rewarding and enjoyable to do, that I couldn’t really complain about it. To be able to throw yourself totally into a project like this is an amazing experience, I really lived black metal and the book for the 18 hours each day I was awake, always thinking about the book, talking to bands, writing, doing layout and so on. It wasn’t a chore at all, but of course it presented challenges in terms of remaining healthy, sane, vaguely sociable etc, and it also meant that Cult Never Dies essentially only functioned as a mail order for a year – our only releases this year are this book and the Trivax album – whereas we normally release a book every three months. That meant less income for the business and less money to print books with, and so I could only pay staff and not myself. So all that was an extra stress that had to be dealt with alongside the creative process.
ZT: While the likes of Mayhem and Celtic Frost have well documented histories, who were some of the lesser-known acts you really enjoyed talking to and learning more about?
I really went into more depth with documenting the Greek scene, not just bands such as Necromantia and Deviser, but also talking about the scene there, the labels and record stores. Likewise, it was good to be able to write more about the Brazilian scene and include sections about the US and UK scenes. I think the point of Evolution has always been to show what an international movement black metal was and is, so this book is much more rounded than the original in that sense.
ZT: Do you think black metal today can challenge and confront in the way the first and second generation of bands did in the 80s and 90s?
That’s a good question. I think it would be hard at this point to be quite so challenging and confrontational. It is probably impossible to be darker or more extreme than the bands were back then, or to be as original musically as the bands of the 80s and 90s because much has already been done. Also the criminal aspect of the 90s leant an element of danger, not merely because of the actual crimes that took place, but because back then we didn’t really know how things were going to go, whether the movement would become more extreme in a sense. But saying all that, black metal does continue to offer a challenge to, for example, organised religion, as we can see by the shameful way that bands such as Rotting Christ and Behemoth have been treated by the authorities in certain countries. I think a lot of people today like to claim that black metal doesn’t have a real-world power in that sense, but that isn’t altogether true. I have no doubt whatsoever that it encourages listeners and participants to question religious dogma, I have seen that many times with my own eyes during the last 30 years. A small contribution in the greater scheme of things perhaps, but not to be discounted.
ZT: While Norway is generally seen as the go-to for BM which other nations have really stamped their mark?
Greece, Brazil, France, Poland Germany, Sweden and Finland, and in later years, the US and the UK. Those are some of the most obvious examples, but today black metal exists in almost every country in the world, and other nations may supersede those mentioned as time passes.
ZT: How do you think the UK fares? And how is the UK right now, who are the bands you most enjoy and would recommend to others?
The UK has one of the stranger stories in black metal, and there’s actually a whole chapter about this in the book. After great successes with bands like Venom, Cradle of Filth and Hecate Enthroned, I think the UK was really barren from the late 90s until the late 2000s – there were some exceptions, Old Forest, Adorior, Extinction, and so on, but generally it was bleak. Not only were there very few notable groups, but it seemed like UK black metal fans (and even bands) really had no interest in black metal from the UK and were actually quite hostile to each other. Of course all that changed and today it is one of the stronger scenes going, with groups like Winterfylleth, Fen, Abduction, The Infernal Sea, Heathen Deity, Revenant Marquis, Trivax, Deitus, Stahlsarg, Thy Dying Light, Fellwarden and so on.
ZT: Returning to the book, how important was it that the overall feel, presentation and aesthetic of this updated edition was of a certain standard?
Of utmost importance! I disliked the original layout as it was very lazy and was determined to improve upon it and make it something very special. So I took care of it myself and instead of blowing up one album cover to fill most of a page, I carefully laid it out so that we have some 650 images within the pages. It now looks excellent and is topped off by a great cover illustration by black metal artist David Thiérrée.
ZT: Finally Dayal, for those who may not know, can you please just explain how Cult Never Dies operates, your role in it, and what it represents?
Cult Never Dies was initially set up back in 2013 to publish the sequels to Evolution of the Cult so that I wouldn’t have to work with publishers who had no knowledge or interest in underground metal. It has since grown to publish books by many other authors and to date we have published some 30 titles covering death, doom and black metal, and I think we can probably claim to be the biggest/most prolific publishing house dedicated to extreme and underground metal. We also produce merchandise for bands and release music via our label, as well as being a mail order and distributor carrying a wide range of black and death metal LPs, CDs, cassettes, books, fanzines and merchandise. I founded the company as a one-man operation and ran it that way until 2016, but I still handle a lot of editing and layout for the books and merch we create although, there are full-time staff and a number of freelancers involved (the new Evolution, for example, was edited and proofed by Alex De Moller, Roy Kristensen, Simon Ferrie and Christine Osredkar, among others). Cult Never Dies exists to record – and contribute to – underground metal history and culture and is run by devotees for devotees.
Preorder links
UK (https://cultneverdies.myshopify.com)
Europe (https://cultneverdies-eu.travelling-merchant.com/)
USA (https://store.decibelmagazine.com/…/black-metal…)
Cult Never Dies will have a stall at Damnation in Manchester on Saturday, 4 November.
