Davide Maspero and Max Ribaric, in addition to carrying out their work activities respectively in the fields of graphics, web designers and publishing, are two great fans of underground music, therefore outside any commercial logic.

Black metal, reborn in the early nineties with the affirmation of historical groups coming mainly from Norway, such as Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, Satyricon, Dissection, Emperor and Dimmu Borgir, whose precursors had already been in part in the early eighties with seminal bands such as Venom, Sarcofago, Hellhammer, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Merciful Fate and also, in some ways, the very first Slayer, it is one of these niche genres that however achieved a not inconsiderable success with the public.

The events of the black metal have been well reconstructed in the book Lords of Chaos. The Bloody History of Satanic Metal [1] by the American journalist Michael Moynihan and the Norwegian writer Didrik Søderlind, from which the homonymous and controversial film directed by Jonas Åkerlund, former drummer of the swedish Bathory, later became director of video clips including the well-known pop star Madonna.
Wolves among sheep. History and ideology of National Socialist black metal [2], written by Maspero and Ribaric, deals with the relationship between musical and political extremism.

Anyone who has listened to a black metal track, built with cold, gloomy and sharp "mosquito" guitar riffs, devoid of solos, blast beat blast drum beats, icy and ghostly screaming voices, and in some cases, atmospheric keyboards that give a symphonic and classical touch to the songs, you will have realized the sonic violence of this kind of music. The length of the pieces can exceed ten minutes, thus being able to create a sad and depressing mood in the listener due to the hypnotic and repetitive harmonies and melodies.
Defining what National Socialist Black Metal is, a subgenre of black metal born indicatively in the mid-nineties, is quite complex, because if the statement of Hendrik Möbus, former leader of the German band Absurd, implicated in the murder of a fans, of a subsequent daring legal affair, owner of Darker Than Black Records, "that the groups that make NSBM are those who define themselves as such", the book that analyzes with considerable documentation consisting of interviews with musicians and holders of record labels, even the groups that NSBM do not define themselves can nevertheless be assimilated to this extremist scene.

An emblematic case is that of Burzum, the one man band of the controversial Varg Vikernes, condemned for the murder of the rival Euronymous of the Mayhem, with political sympathies decidedly opposite to the nationalist ones of Vikernes and considered by the authors to be "like it or not" the father of the National Socialist Black Metal.

The Norwegian musician, after spending his long imprisonment which ended in 2009 and sixteen years of detention, busy composing dark ambient music with a synthesizer, inspired by European classical music, has also dedicated himself to writing several books on Scandinavian mythology and even before the controversial Vargsmål (Thus spoke Varg), a personal vision of Norwegian life and society, written in 1996 in the ILA Security Prison near Bergen and dedicated: "to the Norwegian people as a whole, and particularly to those who will prove to be pagan ".
Burzum's last album before he was imprisoned was Filosofem released in 1996 and even hit the UK charts.

The volume examines practically all the bands existing in the world, it is exhaustive, unprecedented, it has also been translated into English [3], accompanied by numerous photographs - strictly in black and white - of CDs, demotapes, fanzines and groups, both on the stage that you portray in promotional photos.

Capricornus, Kristallnacht, Graveland, Grand Belial's Key, Nokturnal Mortum, Satanic Warmaster, Thor's Hammer, Spear Of Longinus, Ad Hominem, Der Stürmer (recently outlawed Hellenic group near Golden Dawn), Wotanorden, Temnozor are just some of the top names treated, but hundreds of groups are mentioned.

Evidently from a stylistic point of view the NSBM adds nothing to black metal, sometimes, the technical mastery of the instruments is not excellent - not to say approximate - the themes present in the lyrics are a continuous overlap of "Nazi Satanism" - the latter somehow heir to National Socialist esotericism -, anti-Christianity, anti-Judaism, superomism, misanthropy, paganism, mysticism of the race represented by the motto "blood and soil" and, in some cases, of the recovery of folkloristic and traditional traditions especially of Northern and Eastern Europe , which is joined by the cult of nature.

The lyrics are also often composed in the groups' native languages, instead of the ubiquitous English typical of rock or commercial metal.
While some of the interviews clearly demonstrate a deliberately provocative attitude, with delusional attitudes and statements, on the verge of psychopathology, intended to shock the mainstream metal environment with little preparation on the philosophical, historical and cultural assumptions of National Socialism and right-wing radicalism in general, on the other hand we find artists intellectually well prepared on the subject with citations of works by Frederich Nietzsche, Julius Evola, Miguel Serrano and Savriti Devi; these last two names are to be considered exponents of National Socialist esotericism, but also in some cases of Lèon Degrelle and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, a fact that may seem strange given the Christian religious references of the leaders of Belgian Rexism and the Romanian Iron Guard.

In this sense we can highlight the Piedmontese group Movimento d’Avanguardia Ermetico, with a solid philosophical training spiritually neo-pagan that proposes a decidedly high quality black metal and that arouses suggestive and evocative atmospheres of an evolvianan mold.
It may seem strange that in Italy, the homeland of fascism, the NSBM scene is not as thriving as in other European nations, especially in the East, but we can mention: A Monumentual Black Statue, Via Dolorosa, Gaszimmer and Waffen SS.

One of the tricolor labels that markets NSBM physical media and more generally of the RAC (Rock Against Communism) circuit, Oi! - the favorite musical genre of skinheads - born from the charismatic figure of Ian Stuart Donaldson (1957-1993) leader of Skrewdriver and hardcore, via mailorder, is the Black Shirts Records of the frontman of the Viterbo group Hate For Breakfast whose philosophy is well expressed by the slogan: Fuck the music ... just fascism!

As already happened with Sid Vicious, a member of the inventors of punk, the Sex Pistols, who in the 1970s had himself photographed wearing a swastika T-shirt while wandering around the Jewish quarter of Paris, the NSBM musicians present themselves to the public with this ancient symbol of Indo-European origin, outrageous for the morals of right-thinking people of all colors, or with the Celtic cross and with the usual set of studs, cartridge belts and corpsepaint.

In the last months of 2020, the Italian publishing scene sees the publication of Hatecore connection. The black soul of hardcore [4] always written by Maspero and Ribaric. The impressive research follows that developed for Like wolves among the sheep, but this time it is aimed at the NSHC (National Socialist Hardcore), a term that was coined by Sandro of Hate For Breakfast.

As the book highlights, hardcore is a musical genre derived from the ashes of punk and which developed in the late seventies and early eighties in the United States. From a musical point of view it is characterized by shorter songs, even lasting less than a minute, less technical than metal - whether it is played by billionaire rock stars like Metallica, or compared to the NSBM itself - of which it is seen as a rival and, in some way, antagonist for the young rebels who live in the often degraded metropolises.

The first steps of hardcore are moved to Los Angeles by historical bands such as Black Flag, Dead Kennedys (authors of the infamous Nazi Punks Fuck Off also made famous by the cover of the grindcore fathers Napalm Death), and then continue with the Negative Approach of Michigan, the Bad Brains and Minor Threat of Washington D.C.

From the point of view of the content of the texts it is characterized by lyrics that invoke the need for a revolt against the system and by social, environmental and animal rights issues; therefore the hardcore of the origins has a liberal, progressive and anti-racist political orientation. A Minor Threat song, covered by Slayer on the album Undisputed Attitude, Guilty of Being White has been accused of racism, when in reality the lyrics, on careful reading, prove the exact opposite.

Other fundamental formations to remember are: Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today: the attitude presented in the texts is often concretized by a healthy lifestyle, the straight edge, consisting in abstaining from smoking, abuse of drugs, alcohol and casual sex, vegetarianism, represented by the words: «Don't smoke, don't drink, don't fuck», present in the song Out of Step by Ian Mac Kay's Minor Threat.
The concerts of these bands often ended in furious brawls between supporters of hardcore, metal, and Oi! also because of the mosh, a sort of dance that involves physical confrontation, practiced in live performances, which nevertheless gives the possibility of mutual help to get up when a spectator falls to the ground. Furious fistfights also occurred due to differences of political opinion.

If hardcore has these stylistic and content premises, when can we talk about "Nazi-punk" or NSHC? Certainly the "bad teachers" are to be found in groups such as Lockjaw, Biohazard, One Life Crew, Youth Defense League, No Alibi and White Pride, heralds of an American patriotism and nationalism and, in the case of the latter two groups, of explicit references to white supremacism and National Socialism.

You can name other bands with a shock rock aesthetic: Angry Aryans, Vaginal Jesus, Ethnic Cleansing, Mudoven, H8 Machine, which already from the chosen names and the shocking images of the covers, present outrageous lyrics, openly racist, which praise to white pride and power, aimed at scandalizing, as in the case of the NSBM, the bigoted bourgeois of the progressive and cosmopolitan middle class.

The members of these "combos" come from the white working class and from the disadvantaged urban ghettos of the US metropolises, where crime, drug dealing, prostitution thrive, and these crimes are mainly committed by black and Hispanic minorities.

The Blue Eyed Devils, interviewed in the book, are considered the "godfathers" of the nationalist, supremacist, "racialist" and openly National Socialist hatecore with references to the figure of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.

The leader Bob Huber, "the skinhead professor", denies the fact that "the fascists cannot play hardcore", he is a staunch health and animal rights activist and ecologist; he never made a secret of his politically incorrect positions and had problems in his activity as a physics professor at the University of Delaware.

It is necessary to specify that by virtue of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, freedom of expression is guaranteed in every field, unlike other countries, therefore also in the artistic-musical one, therefore these radical groups are tolerated, although they themselves are the first not to incite the practice of physical violence, which exudes in the hateful words of the texts.

Magazines such as Resistance and the Canadian record label of the same name founded by the supremacist George Burdi, connected with the defunct National Alliance of William Luther Pierce (1933-2002), a true ideological reference for American musical and political extremism, spread the musical material of the bands of these genres as well as the Blood & Honor organization created by Ian Stuart.

Unlike what happens in the National Socialist Black Metal, in the National Socialist Hardcore the lyrics are devoid of any magical, religious and esoteric reference, often instead there are lyrics dedicated to the most unfortunate of the consequences of globalism which consists in the alien invasion of millions of individuals uprooted from their lands of origin that create difficulties of public order in the urban suburbs of the Western world.

After this broad analysis of the American and German scene, in which formations such as Path of Resistance, Brainwash, Moshpit, Hope For The Weak and the OPOS Records label are cited, we move on to the Italian one which already in the title of the chapter, Squadrismo Hardcore, taken from a Hate For Breakfast album, with a quote from Benito Mussolini, gives a good idea of ​​the musical militancy of these artists where the political message is prior to music.

The slogan born with the emergence of "alternative music" in the seventies in the environment of the radical right is also known that "a song does more damage than a hundred thousand flyers".

It is possible to find in the Lodi Front Towards Enemy the first movers of the tricolor hatecore that already in 1996 with the album I'm not there! they proposed stylistic and thematic solutions of this type.

Of fundamental importance is the experience of CasaPound Italia which, through the Rupe Tarpea Produzioni by Flavio Nardi, continued by the DART (Art Division), created by the youth component of the Movimento Sociale Italiano, produces non-compliant music.
Sandro, frontman of Hate for Breakfast offering a "Fascist and furious hardcore", of the Drizzatorti side project and, as already mentioned, owner of Black Shirts Records, is a tireless distributor of music as well as being a great fan, open to contaminations from also from the opposite political side as with the cover of the song La maledizione del benessere of the Milanese Sottopressione, one of the main anarchist-oriented Italian hardcore punk bands. Bad Fate, Evil Church and Carnival's Carnage are just three of the names of the hardcore squad, with musical digressions in the fields of thrash metal and grindcore.

Among the various realities that distinguish the panorama of hardcore and Italian metalcore are certainly worth mentioning: SPQR, Injusticide, Blind Justice, Still Burnin 'Youth and Bronson; the latter have millions of views on Youtube and the song Samurai d’Occidente in memory of the suicide of Dominique Venner is to be remembered. The Bolzano scene, particularly difficult due to the presence of a substantial German-speaking and Pan-Germanist minority, it is particularly lively with two groups: Andrea Bonazza's No Prisoner, considered "the most punk councilor in Italy" and the Green Arrows whose lyrics are written in English.

Zetazeroalfa, the main musical formation of the national president of CasaPound Italia, cannot be classified as exponents of the NSHC or of "Nazi-rock" - as has been instrumentally labeled by the conformist media - but of the so-called Dàje Camòn Rock.
The volume ends with an overview of the French, Eastern Europe and the rest of the world scenes, including the Australian and South American ones.

From the reading of both books it is clear how these artists place their skills in the musical field according to their political creed, often implemented with active militancy in groups of identity radicalism, at the service of an ideology considered defeated by official history and relegated. in the darkest corners of the twentieth century.

In reality it is the expression through a universal language such as music, certainly extreme, violent, aggressive and gritty, of a discomfort, mostly juvenile, but not only, which is going through globalized society and in the NSBM and NSHC has found the possibility of giving vent to rebellion towards a world and a way of conceiving life - consumerist and materialistic - to which they declared open war even at the cost of personally paying the consequences.



Note:

1. Tsunami Edizioni, Milan, 2010.

2. Tsunami Edizioni, Milan, 2013.

3. Wolves Among Sheep. History and Ideology of National Socialist Black Metal, Tsunami Edizioni, Milan, 2015.

4. Passaggio al Bosco Edizioni, Florence, 2020.

Author: Franco Brogioli