Watain and the Problem of "Man-Children" in Extreme Metal
Why has modern black metal become so cringe? A deeper look at Watain, a perfect example of Peter Pan Syndrome amongst "modern metal" musicians...
If you were to point to a band that is a perfect encapsulation of every wrong with modern black metal - i.e. clowns dressed up in homo erotic makeup, pretending to partake in “devil rituals” and playing stupid mallcore music - the first band that would come to mind, immediately, is Watain.
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What is Watain? Started out by one Erik Danielsson, more on him later, as a copycat Dissection band - Danielsson even copied the biker gear attire that Jon Nödtveidt made famous - the band would eventually rise to prominence in 2010, when they recruited ex-Dissection guitarist Set Teitan and proceeded to rip off Dissection latest, and worse, release “Reinkaos”.
What strikes me with Watain is mainly two things.
1) They always, and I do mean always, get promoted by the media for some reason. Some failed Pitchfork writer, Dayal P., even wrote an entire book (!) claiming Watain invented Black Metal with Euronymous (!) in the eighties. Back in the real world, Watain was founded in 2000, and the name even comes from the track “Watain” by Von, which wasn’t released until 1993 on the “Satanic Blood” demo. At the earliest.
2) They are just cringe. No two ways about it. A perfect display of “man children” who never grew up, and clinged to black metal - and “devil worship” - as something really deep and significant, despite all the original Norwegian bands laughing at the notion of “serious satanic rituals” and such nonsense. In a way, all Watain is doing is providing credibility to the late 90s reporting on a “satanic Inner Circle” based in Norway. Maybe this explains point 1).
The Cringe of Euronymous (Black Metal)
Much like modern black metal bands, Euronymous loved to indulge in the cringe. He famously dressed up as a “vampire” at least a full decade before the shitshow that was the Twilight movie trilogy.
Wikipedia provides a quick description of the “Peter Pan” Syndrome:
The supposed psychological phenomenon of immaturity among some men, who, like the fictional character, remain childish or childlike and fail to assume appropriate adult social roles and responsibilities. [see also: Man Child, Man Baby]
Popularized by Dr. Dan Kiley, in The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up (1983).
How this doesn’t apply to Watain… for those who don’t know about the “inner demons” of the frontman Erik Danielsson, he is surprisingly candid in his interviews. See here: Erik Danielsson, Black Metal’s Joel Osteen (Demonecromancy Blog).
These are people who never grew up past the stage of “dressing up in Halloween costumes” and pretending to be “devil worshippers” in their mothers basements.
In the case of Watain, though, there is perhaps something more sinister at play.
On Infernus, Gorgoroth, "Neo-Nazism" and Homosexuality?
Is Gorgoroth a NSBM - or “Neo-Nazi White Supremacist KKK Racist” as the media gratiously labels them - band? At first I was taken aback by this question… they almost never write songs about Adolf Hitler, WWII, Germany, 1488 culture, the Third Reich, werewolves, or anything even close to what people traditionally associate with the NSBM black metal scene
I recently noticed many “heavy metal journos” going out of their way to promote Watain at any chance they get, making Danielsson the “face of black metal” - something he isn’t, and can never be.
They tried the same thing with Gaahl of Gorgoroth in the early 2000s, before he was outed as a closet homosexual and a NS fetishist. There was even an entire documentary, by Vice Media I think, called “True Norwegian Black Metal” and it was only about the Gorgoroth twinks. No mention of Burzum, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, etc…
Perhaps something similar is at play here. The goal being to make black metal look as ridiculous and retarded as possible in the eyes of normal metalheads. And Watain sure fills the two categories perfectly. Why would the media want to do this? Who knows… but Watain are perfectly playing their “roles” in this little game.