“In the musical sphere, the gothic is not usually associated with the black metal scene, but rather with genres such as goth rock, darkwave, and post-punk. For example, Mick Mercer, an expert and prolific writer on gothic music, did not include Immortal in his encyclopaedia of goth-related bands and performers, titled Music to Die For (2009). Further, the concoction of the ‘gothic black metal’ sub-genre signifies the conventional separation of the 2 realms (the gothic and black metal). Notwithstanding these categorizations, this study suggests that Immortal’s lyrics represent a distinctive and situated form of gothic that reshapes traditional gothic tropes through Nordic and heroic themes.”
“Even within the narrow boundaries of the black metal genre, the gothic, the Nordic, and the heroic can appear as discrete entities that do not necessarily cross each other’s path. For example, the ‘heroic’ component can be inspired by historical or mythological deeds set in different geographical regions, that are not necessarily ‘Nordic’. Some popular black metal bands in this spectrum include SuidAkrA (Celtic mythology), The Elysian Fields (Greek mythology), and Melechesh (Mesopotamian/Sumerian mythology). Further, in bands defined as ‘gothic black metal’ (such as Cradle of Filth and, to a certain extent, Moonspell), dark beauty, vampirism, and horror are prominent themes, while ‘the North’ and the ‘the heroic’ are rather marginal and sporadic references. On the other hand, Immortal merge such themes in a cohesive and original style, here defined as Northeroic gothic.”
“This study is delimited to Immortal’s first 4 studio albums: Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (1992), Pure Holocaust (1993), Battles in the North (1995) and Blizzard Beasts (1997). After these albums, Demonaz, guitarist and lyricist of the band, was diagnosed with a severe form of tendonitis, which prevented him from playing in subsequent releases of the band (http://www.immortalofficial.com). In an interview published on the webzine Chronicles of Chaos, Abbath, discussing the 5th album of the band titled At the Heart of Winter (1999), their first release without Demonaz in the official lineup, declared: He [Demonaz] offered to write the lyrics and I had a bunch of proposals to the lyrics, inspirations for the lyrics, but he’s the expert so I gave him all the credit for it. […] He will probably be working with me when it comes to lyrics in the future; I will do more myself, I am getting more trained now, I am getting better in English, to form sentences in the form of verses (http://www.chroniclesofchaos.com/articles.aspx?id=1-223).”
“The author decided to focus on the lyrics of the band in order to analyse the construction of Immortal’s own mythology, which is made more evident and explicit in the textual form, even if it is, by no means, limited to it.” Estudo auto-reconhecidamente forçado.
“In the article, songs are conventionally represented as [number of album-number of song]. For example, ‘At One With The Earth / Alone With Light In My Eyes’ [2-4] is an excerpt from the 4th song of Immortal’s 2nd album (see Appendix A). When the author cites song or album titles, this is plainly expressed in the text or as a complement to album-song numbers in brackets. For example, ‘Frozen By Icewinds’ [2-4, song title].”
“‘Gothic’ spaces or figures have […] always been symbolic locations into which groups of people can ideologically ‘throw’ what they would like to regard as ‘other’ than their desired current condition […] or what they want to see as the ‘true’, but now lost, foundations of their cultural positions (a return to primordial origins sometimes viewed as positive alternatives to – or at least forgotten roots of – the present world).”
“By celebrating the imaginary kingdom of Blashyrkh, Immortal construct their own gothic space from a ‘Northeroic’ perspective: a physical and spiritual site enshrined in a mythical North in which natural and supernatural forces recall a glorious past of epic battles amidst coldness and darkness. In this realm, darkness and the supernatural world are overarching gothic themes that permeate all elements. It is here advisable to note that it is not the author’s intention to oversimplify gothic themes to ‘darkness’ and ‘the supernatural world’. These 2 motifs emerged from the analysis as prominent themes of Immortal’s lyrics, but they are not intended to encompass the richness and subtlety of gothic preoccupations and research, nor to limit the band’s conceptual gamut.” Pouco convincente.
“This dark heroism, however, does not represent the ‘chivalrous’ deeds and aspirations of the heroes of classic gothic works, such as Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) or Richard Hole’s Arthur, or the Northern Enchantment: A Poetical Romance (1789), the later rich in Norse references. It shows instead a beast-like pride and lust for battles and tragic endings in the mournful eternity of frost” Ou seja, tem PORRA NENHUMA de gótico.
“Far from being a mere geographical space, a cardinal direction, or a background setting, the North appears as an idealized place in which the natural world and the freezing climate define and permeate all elements.”
“In this colossal, freezing, and inhospitable place, the solitary outsider finds a realm to dwell in. The black metal persona, an individual standing apart from the rest of society, amplifies a typical trait of the Norwegian personality, that is a tendency to value solitude. In Immortal’s lyrics, this solitary (and voluntary) outcast experiences a deep and intimate connection with nature and its freezing climate (‘At One With The Earth / Alone With Light In My Eyes’ [2-4]; ‘Alone On The Mountainside / Breathing The Clearest Winds’ [4-6]), as they shape and influence each other”
“In the descriptions of nature, the abundant use of blurry and indeterminate words, such as cloud, fog, mist, nebula, shadow and twilight contributes to creating a gothic atmosphere of mystery, liminality, and suspenseful stillness, which gives rise to a sinister contrast with the ubiquitous storming of winds and blizzards (‘A thousand black clouds storms’ [1-3]; ‘At The Stormy Gates Of Mist’ [3-7], song title) and evokes a Nordic rendering of the sublime of the wilderness. In these descriptions, nature emerges as a pervasive, enigmatic, and powerful principle that permeates all elements, protecting, hiding, and isolating these majestic lands, and their unearthly creatures, from the rest of the world.”
“A powerful gothic symbol that connects the leading themes of Immortal’s lyrics is the raven: its colour is black (darkness), it can usually be found in cold regions (coldness), and it is a bird (natural world) with strong symbolic and mystical overtones (supernatural world: ‘Our Sacred Raven’ [3-1]). The raven also symbolizes the kingdom of Blashyrkh (‘Ravenrealm’ [3-1]; ‘Blashyrkh…Mighty Ravendark’ [3-10]; ‘The Elder Raventhrone’ [3-10]) and war (‘A Ravens Claws Lifted Towards The Sky / In A Sign For The Norse Hordes To Ride’ [2-2]). This unity of elements, which is a significant feature of Immortal’s lyrics, is also a fundamental quality of the gothic: a liminal locus in which the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural, life and death, light and darkness, are blurred, suspended, and fused in ghastly settings and tragic figures.”
“By further narrowing down the examination to smaller units of the discourse, the analysis unveiled one of the most original and fascinating elements of Immortal’s lyrics: an extensive use of closed compound words (2 or more words joined together in a single word) that merge the gothic, the North, and the heroic in striking unitary figures. Most of these compound words are neologisms, which is arguably inspired by the Norwegian language, which is very productive in the creation of 1-word compounds.
In order to understand if the integration of creative compound words (neologisms) was an original characteristic of Immortal’s lyrics, or, instead, a common feature of contemporary Norwegian black metal bands, the author also analysed the English lyrics of the first 4 studio albums of 3 of the most influential bands in the genre: Darkthrone (Soulside Journey, A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Under a Funeral Moon, and Transilvanian Hunger), Emperor (In the Nightside Eclipse, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, IX Equilibrium, and Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise), and Mayhem (Deathcrush, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Wolf’s Lair Abyss, and Grand Declaration of War). A total of 6 closed compound neologisms were found in Darkthrone’s lyrics (darkside, dreamking, fullmoon, goathorn, soulside, and tombworld), 4 in Emperor’s lyrics (blacksword, fullmoon, nightspirit, and nightsky), and 5 in Mayhem’s lyrics (bloodswords, deathcrush, gutsfuck, necrolust, and posercorpse). On the other hand, the lyrics of Immortal’s first 4 studio albums feature a total of 66 compound neologisms (some of them used across songs and albums), which makes this characteristic a unique trait of the band and a structural feature of their artistic production, functional in the construction of their distinctive style.”
“One of the most fascinating closed compounds found in the analysed texts (and the only occurrence of a verb + verb form) is ‘Dreamwatch’ [4-4]:
In The Forthcoming Breeze
With Tempted Eyes I Dreamwatch Dying Suns
In this context, ‘dreamwatch’ can be interpreted as a liminal verb suspended between dreaming and watching, which echoes the transitional state of the scene, surrounded by a forthcoming breeze (it is not yet there), awaiting with tempted eyes (which denotes intention, desire, and anticipation, but not yet action) the faith of dying (in flux from life to death) suns (the use of the plural contributes to an aura of indefiniteness and mystery). By creating and pervasively using closed compound words, a multiplicity of meanings is condensed into evocative symbols and representations that are gothic not only in their motifs, but also in their synthesis of such elements in hybrid and liminal figures.”
“The expressive power of the compound words created by Immortal seems to have influenced and inspired several heavy metal bands. An explorative analysis of band names (considering exclusively bands in the black metal genre whose first release was subsequent to Immortal’s use of the neologisms) revealed a total of 55 bands from 26 countries whose names could have been derived from 23 of the 66 closed compound neologisms found in Immortal’s first 4 albums (see Appendix D). Of course, this preliminary analysis does not demonstrate the direct origin of such band names, but it suggests that future research could be directed at investigating the cultural influence and generativity of Immortal’s themes and compound neologisms in the black metal scene and beyond.”
Appendix A
Tracklist of Immortal’s First Four Studio Albums (1992-1997)
[1] Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (1992)
[1-1] Intro
[1-2] The Call Of The Wintermoon
[1-3] Unholy Forces Of Evil
[1-4] Cryptic Winterstorms
[1-5] Cold Winds Of Funeral Dust
[1-6] Blacker Than Darkness
[1-7] A Perfect Vision Of The Rising Northland
[2] Pure Holocaust (1993)
[2-1] Unsilent Storms In The North Abyss
[2-2] A Sign For The Norse Hordes To Ride
[2-3] The Sun No Longer Rises
[2-4] Frozen By Icewinds
[2-5] Storming Through / Red Clouds And Holocaustwinds
[2-6] Eternal Years On The Path To The Cemetary Gates
[2-7] As The Eternity Opens
[2-8] Pure Holocaust
[3] Battles In The North (1995)
[3-1] Battles In The North
[3-2] Grim And Frostbitten Kingdoms
[3-3] Descent Into Eminent Silence
[3-4] Throned By Blackstorms
[3-5] Moonrise Fields Of Sorrow
[3-6] Cursed Realms Of The Winterdemons
[3-7] At The Stormy Gates Of Mist
[3-8] Through The Halls Of Eternity
[3-9] Circling Above In Time Before Time
[3-10] Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)
[4] Blizzard Beasts (1997)
[4-1] Intro
[4-2] Blizzard Beasts
[4-3] Nebular Ravens Winter
[4-4] Suns That Sank Below
[4-5] Battlefields
[4-6] Mountains Of Might
[4-7] Noctambulant
[4-8] Winter Of The Ages
[4-9] Frostdemonstorm
Appendix D
Closed Compound Words (Neologisms) in Immortal’s Lyrics and Subsequent Names of Black Metal Bands Band names in the black metal genre have been retrieved in June 2014 from the reference heavy metal website “Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives” (www.metal-archives.com).
Battlelust Sweden
Blackstorm USA
Blackwing USA
Blackwinged Russia
Darkshine France
Darkshine Italy
Demonstorm Indonesia
Demonstorm Mexico
Demonthrone Finland
Frostdemonstorm Greece
Frostdemonstorm Chile
Frostmoon Eclipse Italy
Frostmoon Eclipse Germany
Frostmoon Norway
Attack of the Northern Frostwinds Colombia
Frostwind Germany
Dying Fullmoon Germany
Fullmoon Poland
The Mystic Fullmoon Poland
Fullmoon Rise Russia
Mystical Fullmoon Brazil
Fullmoon Promises Italy
Mystical Fullmoon Italy
Cold Fullmoon Czech Rep.
Midnight Fullmoon France
Fullmoon Dweller Mexico
Fullmoon Mist Sweden
Fullmoon Night Chile
Bloodred Fullmoon Taiwan
Goathrone Greece
Goatmoon Finland
Moonfog Ireland
Moonfog Darkness Russia
Moonfog Hungary
Ravendark’s Monarchal Canticle Brazil
Raventhrone Canada/Austria
Underdark Ukraine
Wintercoffin USA
Winterdemon Finland
Wintergate Germany
Winterhorde Israel
Wintermoon Brazil
Cryptic Wintermoon Germany
Wintermoon Finland
Wintermoon Poland
Wintermoon Estonia
Spiritual Wintermoon Greece
Wintermoon Mexico
Wintermoon Germany
Wintermoon Spain
Wintermoon France
Wintershadow Spain
Winterstorm Spain (2007 origin)
Cryptic Winterstorm UK
Winterstorm Spain (2010 origin)
Seclusão Anagógica 