''True Norwegian Black Metal'' is a 2007 5-part

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

produced by VBS/''

Vice Magazine ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, ...

''. The documentary mainly covers some aspects of the life of

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

vocalist Gaahl, renowned for his work with

Gorgoroth Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. It was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, who is also the only original member remaining, and the band have since released nine studio albums. Gorgoroth are a Satanic band and have ...

Synopsis

The documentary mainly covers some aspects of the life of

vocalist Gaahl, renowned for his work with

and

Trelldom Trelldom is a Norwegian black metal band, formed in 1992. Line-up * Gaahl - Vocals (also in Wardruna, Gaahlskagg, Sigfader, God Seed) *Sir - Bass (also in God Seed) *Valgard -Guitar Discography *1995 ''Til Evighet…'', Head Not Found *1998 ...

Production

It was produced by Peter Beste for ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

''. Principal photography took place in January 2007 over a ten-day period in various parts of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

including

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, Espedal, and Dale. The documentary is hosted by Vice-

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

correspondent Ivar Berglin who also served as translator. During production in January 2007, it was reported that Gaahl was under investigation by Norwegian Police for his comments in '' Metal: A Headbanger's Journey'' (2005), which had been broadcast on Norway's Lydverket NRK 1 on January 24, 2007, where he said 'church burnings are things that I support one-hundred percent, and they should have been done much more and will be done much more in the future'.

Reception

In April 2007, the five-part series entitled ''True Norwegian Black Metal'' aired on

VBS.tv VBS.tv was an online television network owned by ''Vice Media'', and later absorbed into VICE.com. The network produced original, short-form, documentary-style video content under the auspice of VICE Films. Subject matter included humanitarian ...

. ;Accuracy The documentary was criticized by ''Rock'nBalls'' for misreporting information, as well as introducing the misconception that Gaahl spends most of his time in seclusion, when in actuality he lived in a flat in

, often socializing in bars.ROCK 'N BALLS , , , Webzine Metal-Rock
/ref> Gaahl himself described the story about his tenure at school and a schoolmate who allegedly committed suicide as being 'five different stories rolled into one fictional story', in that the memory of producer Rob Semmer was incorrectly mixing up several anecdotes.