Wolf in sheep’s clothing: extreme right wing ideologies in Australian black metal

This paper examines the presence of extreme right-wing ideologies in the Australian black metal bands Spear of Longinus and Deströyer 666. We demonstrate how album artwork, lyrics, and live performances of these bands reflect, influence, and communicate the ideological and political opinions of band members. Our focus is on ultra-nationalist, fascist and ‘alt-right’ political views. We combine this analysis of various texts and paratexts by these bands with an examination of how these bands justify the presence of extreme right-wing and political beliefs within their work, drawing on the frameworks of reflexive anti-reflexivity (Kahn-Harris, 2007) and ‘black metal as gesamtkusntwerk’ (Lesourd, 2013). Finally, we show how fans of these band deploy their songs as political tools when commenting on social issues.