Blackhearts

No matter how far Norway's black metal scene has moved on from its brutal and bloody birth throes, the murders, suicides and church burnings that took place throughout the first half of the 90s have become the cornerstones of a lore that still exerts a pull today. This documentary explores the magnetism of Norway through the eyes of three very different international black metal bands: Greece's Naer Nataron, Columbia's Luciferian and From The Vastland, aka Iranian musician Sina. Each band is filmed making a pilgrimage to the country to play at a festival as each finds the weight of their own expectation both vindicated and contradicted by the reality of actually being there. A wry look at the enduring yet precarious power of myth, Blackhearts delves into the different psyches of its protagonists, given a particular frission due to Naer Mataron frontman Kaiadas's heavy involvement with notorious Greek far-right nationalist party Golden Dawn, a fact that Blackhearts refuses to shy away from.