Drummer Gylve “Fenriz” Nagell has been with the band Darkthrone for 30 years, surviving not only its transition from its original form as a death metal band with the less-inspired name “Black Death,” but also surviving the extremely bumpy early years of Norwegian black metal, when arson and murder were the order of the day. Since then, the band—a duo of Fenriz and guitarist Ted “Nocturno Culto” Skjellum (both band members share bass and vocal duties—not a problem for gigs since they refuse to perform live anyway) has released 15 albums, and their 16th, Arctic Thunder, is due next month.
With 30 years and over a dozen albums to his name, it’s difficult to argue that Fenriz isn’t a pillar of his community—an exceedingly weird community, but hey, takes all kinds. But recently and quite hilariously, he’s become a pillar of a much more straight-laced community, by finding himself elected—quite against his will—to the town council of Kolbotn, Oslo, Norway, which is Darkthrone’s home base. According to Fact Mag:
“They called and asked if I wanted to be on the list [of backup representatives],” he explained. “I said yeah, thinking I would be like 18th on the list and I wouldn’t really have to do anything. They just need a list to be able to … well, it’s hard to talk local politics in another language.”
Never underestimate the power of a cute cat, though. Fenriz jokingly shared a photo of himself holding his cat (whose name roughly translates to Peanut Butter) specifically asking people to not vote for him. Now he will be required to serve as Councilman Gylve Fenris Nagell for four years before stepping down is an option.
This shit WORKS! Clearly there needed to be more cat pics of Bernie Sanders.
It’s easy to crack jokes about the seeming incongruity of a black metal O.G. serving as a straight politician, but as musicians in public service go, I’ll take Transilvanian Hunger over literally anything by Midnight Oil all goddamn day long. And Fenriz is no slouch in other regards—he could serve exceedingly well as a chronicler of heavy metal history. He’s curated the illuminating primer compilation The Best of Old-School Black Metal and maintained a band-of-the-week blog, and honestly, I really wish he’d just write a book already. He’s even done a video lecture on the history and influences of black metal, complete with chalkboard diagrams! It’s one of my favorite things, check out part one:
We wish Fenriz the best of fortunes as a Councilperson, and we’d invite you the reader to enjoy Arctic Thunder‘s first pre-release track, “Tundra Leech.”
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The corpsepainted comedian: Black metal stand-up comedy
Black metal murderer releases terrible white supremacist role playing game
‘Ave Satanas’ - Satanic psyche rock and proto-black metal from 1967 - 1974