Logo by Fabian van Beek (Hagiophobic)
Welcome to Curating Resistance, a new series designed to promote bands, artists, labels and more from the world of heavy music, with a particular focus on those who use their platform to promote progressive causes. For the first instalment we’ve decided to signal-boost a relatively new creation from a team of nazi-hating black metal fans. The Antifascist Black Metal Network is a collaborative effort, acting not only as a space for artists who stand against racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism or any form of oppression to spread their music, but also for music lovers to find music without the worry that the artists they discover might be fascists – something that’s always a concern when it comes to black metal.
The project’s YouTube page acts like many other music channels on the site, hosting singles, EPs, splits and albums from artists, with a particular focus on sharing the work of openly anti-fascist musicians. Thankfully, unlike some, they make sure to get full permission first. In a scene with a turbulent history of dodgy political affiliations, it’s not enough for bands in the genre to play the apolitical angle, and many who do so only do it to avoid alienating the NSBM fans in their midst. For black metal fans who oppose fascism, which is literally the bare minimum anyone should do, a channel promoting solely anti-fascist acts is an absolute godsend. Here’s hoping it goes some way to reasserting that nazis are not welcome in this genre, that it does not belong (and never has belonged) to them, and that the scene is much better off without them.
The channel has only been going for a little over a month but there’s already an impressive and ever-growing collection of music to dive into. Alongside more familiar names like Feminazgûl and Awenden, whose recent split can be found on the channel, comes exciting lesser-known underground acts. The channel has become a fantastic resource for discovering talented metal bands that deserve more attention. Thrash lovers will want to check out Void Angel, who are sending all Bandcamp proceeds to the Bent Bars Project, whilst those who prefer to see noise music and dungeon synth inspirations in their black metal should seek out Great Knife’s Horned Crest EP on the channel. Gråt Strigoi’s majestic and ferocious new record is also an absolute must, and the Order Of The Wolf and Pessimista split stacks the former’s punky approach up against the latter’s less direct style to great effect.
In short, there’s already hours of phenomenal music on the channel from a diverse range of styles all loosely tied together by the black metal genre and a shared ethos of anti-fascism, so be sure to check the YouTube page out, subscribe if you enjoy it and check them out on Facebook and Instagram as well for more updates.
To check out Antifascist Black Metal Network on YouTube, click here.
Words: George Parr
