Day Tripper

True Norwegian Black Metal

by Shaun Brady

Opening reception Fri., May 9, 6-8 p.m., runs through June 7, Steven Kasher Gallery, 521 W. 23rd St., second floor, New York, N.Y., 212-966-3978, stevenkasher.com

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Extreme behavior in rock 'n' roll typically means simple acts of hedonism, rebellion and/or stupidity; tales of drug-fueled orgies and televisions launched from hotel room windows are legion. But in the early '90s, Black Metal bands in Norway took things to much further and darker extremes, burning churches — many of them medieval wooden landmarks — and even committing murder.

A lifelong fan of heavy metal, photographer Peter Beste decided that this was a scene too bizarre and visually enticing to resist. "When I finished college," he says, "I saved money and went to Norway on my own for five weeks in an attempt to photograph the people involved. Over several visits, I earned the trust of many people in the scene, and the rest is history."

That history is now represented in True Norwegian Black Metal (Vice Books, $60), a 216-page tome presenting Beste's images of the Black Metal elite. New York's Steven Kasher Gallery will celebrate the book's release with a monthlong exhibition of Beste's photos, opening Friday night.

Beste's photographs capture the horror-flick iconography of the scene, often placing the ghoulishly painted, leather-clad musicians in the barren, frigid landscapes of their Norwegian environs. While there is no shortage of inverted crosses, studded armbands and stage blood, Beste also portrays these figures in more casual environments, with sometimes startling results. As the photographer himself points out, his biggest surprise during the project was "the fact that many of them are grounded, well-spoken, educated and down-to-earth people."