Until The Light Takes Us Documents Black Metal Underworld

The Norwegian black metal scene has become one of the most infamous music genres of the past century since reports of church burnings, in-feuding and murders in the late-1980s and early-1990s began filtering to the outside world.

In truth, much of its back-story has eventually overshadowed the music. Average people with no inkling towards such an extreme, vitriolic sound can still name or recognize many of its contributors. That's thanks to no shortage of press, books, mini-documentaries and other media dedicated to exploring what the fuck went on in a once-miniscule scene that's blossomed into a cultural phenomenon, money-making venture and legendary era.

Hell, over the past year, it was reported that Twilight star Jackson Rathbone was tentatively slated to portray Burzum mastermind Varg Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnackh) in the forthcoming silver screen rendition of notorious non-fiction book, Lords Of Chaos.

Still, with all this hyperbole, no one had endeavoured to pick up a camera and film a factual account of the Norwegian black metal scene.

Enter Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites, two American filmmakers who are garnering their own column inches with said investigative report. With Until The Light Takes Us, Ewell and Aites broke through the inner-circle of the scene's old guard to create the first-ever feature-length documentary on Norwegian black metal.

CHARTattack scooped up the opportunity to find out what the heck these two were thinking.

CHARTattack: How did the concept of creating this documentary come about?
Audrey Ewell (AE): Through a friend who owns a record store.

We weren't particularly into metal. We liked indie rock, experimental and other forms of music. Our friend sat us down and forced us to get into black metal.

As people who didn't care for it before, we were compelled by it and found it had parallels to other forms of music that we are into that we weren't expecting. It challenged our own preconceptions about metal. We got into it because we're obsessed about music so we ended up researching a lot about it, learning about the history of the crimes.

One thing led to another, and we wanted more info than was out there. We originally just wanted to rent the documentary that we thought would have been made about it, but it hadn't so that got the wheels turning. We did it ourselves.

So, you two weren't initially black metal enthusiasts. This scene's fans can be passionate. Do you want to make something that appeals to them or introduce black metal to the greater world?
AE: The good thing about this is that because it has so many extreme elements, it allows to you both make a film that can be viewed as entertainment — and certainly be viewed with interest to the people who are already into it — but it also allows you to explore other ideas once you have the framework of this really compelling story there.

For us, it was never a matter of either or in terms of audience. It was always about the film we wanted to make and the story we wanted to tell.

We knew fans would either love it or hate it. We thought they'd love it because we get to show these intimate portraits of people they've never seen this way.

It also allowed us to delve into other ideas and explore the things that we find interesting in black metal. Those ideas are what make it more accessible to people other than fans. We're dealing with ideas and societal structural issues that go on in the world and not just within the black metal scene.

How difficult was it to break into the circle? The Norwegian black metal scene can be tight-lipped.
Aaron Aites (AA): It varied. We got hooked up with Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell [Darkthrone] through his label and when we met him, he agreed to do it on the spot.

With Varg, it was eight months of writing back and forth with him saying stuff like, "Even if you make the exact film I would make, I still won't participate," so it took a long time to even get to meet him. Once we did and he could ask questions, he was eager to do it. Then they were forthcoming.

They can also be protective of revealing thoughts.
AA: The film hinges on those two guys, and they were eager to tell the story in their own words. It wasn't much of a problem. They saw it as an opportunity to set the record straight. There was little resistance.

AE: Sometimes it was hard for them to revisit those times in their lives. This isn't a story to them. This is what they went through. These events transpired around them and their friends were involved in it. Whereas other people look at it as a fascinating story, it was their lives. Sometimes it was emotional, difficult or tense going through these memories and retelling accounts of what happened in their lives.

It sounds like after spending time with these people, you've developed personal connections, yet they always portray being opposed to that.
AE: Yes. These people are so unique and different, it impacts our view of the music on an individual basis. We do have a lot in common with some of them.

Fenriz, in particular, we found it easy to talk to and get along with him. We talked about all kinds of things, not just metal. He's got a lot of interests that gel with ours. We were able to develop some very complex relationships with a lot of them.

I will probably always love Darkthrone regardless of what they're making. It's not really black metal anymore, and it doesn't matter because I have so much respect for the guys in that band. It's different now that we know them.