In the popular imagination, few products of popular culture seem to connote so strongly with Satanism as heavy metal music. Within that genre, black metal, particularly Norwegian black metal, has been more closely associated with Satanism than any other subgenre. This is not merely due to the lyrical content or the musical and sartorial style. More than anything else the image of Norwegian “Satanic” metal revolves around the willingness among a few of the early, ground-breaking bands to carry their torches where their lyrics claimed they belonged—directly to old Norwegian churches to instigate arson and “make war” on Christianity.

In this chapter, I shall look briefly at the phenomenon of black metal and its articulation of Satanism. The virulent anti-Christianity and explicit imagery of satanic worship in the lyrics alone make it an interesting case. However, my scope will be broader. I shall compare and contrast black metal ideology with the Satanism constructed by Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan. We shall see that those who had a certain prior claim to defining Satanism have long had their own philosophy of music, and their musical preferences may differ widely from what is popularly seen as “satanic.” I shall present this philosophy briefly, and argue that although black metal partakes, to some extent, of the Western demonological tradition, its lyrics are bad examples of Satanist ideology. I will then propose that a better entry to understanding Satanist ideology through popular music is to be found in a less obvious place.