Long in the making film Lords of Chaos, based on the popular book about the early history of the original Black Metal scene in Norway will finally hit theaters and On Demand on February 8th 2019. Directed by Swedish filmmaker and one-time Bathory drummer Jonas Åkerlund, also known for videos by Metallica and Rammstein spearheaded the project along with Gunpowder and Sky, and is co-produced by VICE Studios, 20th Century Fox, Scott Free Productions and Insurgent Media. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and currently holds a 91% fresh rating over on Rotten Tomatoes. Watch the trailer below.
Lords Of Chaos is described as “the terrifying story based on real events about a dream-turned-nightmare for a group of teenagers who spiral out of control.” The movie follows the life of Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, the founding member of Mayhem who was murdered in 1993 by Kristian “Varg” Vikernes (Burzum). In the movie, Euronymous “becomes fixated on creating true ‘Norwegian black metal’ music with his band Mayhem, and creates a phenomenon by using shocking stunts to put the band’s name on the map. But as the lines between publicity and reality start to blur, acts of arson, violence and a vicious murder shock the nation.”
The movie stars Rory Culkin (“Scream 4”) as Euronymous, Emory Cohen (“The Place Beyond The Pines”) as Varg, Anthony De La Torre (“Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”) as Hellhammer, Sky Ferreira (“The Green Inferno”) as Ann-Marit, Jack Kilmer (Val Kilmer’s son) as Per Yngve “Dead” Ohlin, and Valter Skarsgard (Stellan Skarsgard’s son) as Faust. That cast is joined by Sam Coleman as Metalion, Jonathan Barnwell as Necrobutcher, Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht as Blackthorn, Lucian Charles Collier as Occultus, Andrew Lavelle as Fenriz, and James Edwin as Manheim. Culkin and Ferreira were visible in Metallica’s “ManUNkind” video, which was helmed by Åkerlund and which contains scenes from the movie.
In an interview for Ghost Cult in 2018 with first wave of Norwegian Black Metal artist Lord Ahriman of Dark Funeral, he cast doubts on the veracity of the film and whether this will bring more derision and misunderstanding to black metal as musical art form. Check it out here:
