HAMILTON HELLE, Una; BROWN, Lotte (eds.)
Becoming the Forest #3 – Treading the arboreal pathway through the backwoods of black metal
Becoming the Forest is an arts and music publication which looks at the relationship we have to our surroundings. It is part of a long running arts project by Una Hamilton Helle which is inspired by how the Northern hemisphere’s dense spruce forests defined the aesthetic and philosophy of the musical subculture of black metal. Since its inception in the late 80’s, the genre has become entangled with this topography through its imagery, mythology and lyrics. Its focus on the natural world, heritage and atmosphere forms the starting point for an exploration in zine form that stretches beyond the musical genre, resulting in a project that wishes to both highlight and counter the anthropocentric interpretation of the world.
The third issue includes specially commissioned essays, interviews and illustrations by historians, cultural critics, plant researchers, artists and black metal musicians. It’s pages include contributions about the birch tree as seen in Russian folklore and art history; a meeting of indigenous knowledge and the biological sciences when researching plant behaviour and sentience; the oak forest as a cultural projection screen in German nation building and the collaged results of a trip to a remote Norwegian cabin surrounded by the voices of our non-human neighbours.
The Celtic tree alphabet of Ogham runs through the issue, as do forest landscapes, magic sigils, spirit songs, tree mythology, lycanthropic end times and interviews with an international host of bands whose music is intricately linked to the places they exist within. [publishers’ note]
Contributors: Monica Gagliano, Tom Jeffreys, Lotte Brown & Una Hamilton Helle, Johannes Zechner; interviews with Hulder, Vemod, Crom Dubh, Turia, Grift, Malokarpatan; artworks by Lotte Brown, Fia Cielen, Una Hamilton Helle, Danny Larsen, Sverre Malling.
Published by Het Bos Antwerpen, 2019
Design by Blue Firth
Periodicals / Magic / Love / Ecology / Music & Sound
