Page:Black Metal, Literature and Mythology. The Case of Cornelius Jakhelln.pdf/5

Nordicum-Mediterraneum Icelandic E-Journal of Nordic and Mediterranean Studies similarities and differences between desire and remorse in human nature.‟ Musically and lyrically close to both Neonism and Gebura Muse, Pills for the Ageless Ills was followed two years later by In Harmonia Universali, which contained Jakhelln‟s first direct reference to Nordic mythology. The second song of the album, in fact, is entitled Mont Blanc Providence Crow, and deals with a bird-like figure which can be clearly identified with Odin‟s raven Munin. Following Jakhelln‟s typical „cosmopolitan‟ taste, this crow dwells on Mont Blanc in France, and acts as an „observer to the Midgard of Men‟, controlling mankind. The band also shot a music video, which is a very good example of Solefald‟s „red music with black edges‟, with its juxtaposition of harsh, black metal passages with Hammond organ and clean vocals. Red and black are also the main colours featured in the video.

From this point on, Jakhelln‟s interest in mythology grew and came to involve his entire artistic production. In 2004 and 2006 he published two other books of prose and poetry, intended to continue the quadrilogy started with Gebura Muse. The first book was entitled Yggdraliv. Quadra Natura 0011, a title which points at the tree of life of Nordic mythology, Yggdrasill, and is a sort of rewriting of the myths of creation, life and fall of the world. As in Gebura Muse, one of the main characters is an emissary of a deity (in this case Odin) named Adamat, a robot made up of wrecks. Interestingly, the phrase rødt for ild + svart for død („red for fire, black for death‟) serves as the opening line for the book and repeats the symbolic pattern which was already present in Solefald‟s albums. The following book, entitled ''Fagernorn. Quadra Natura 0111'', is divided in two parts, the first consisting of „songs‟, or kvad by the Norse god Loki, and the second of a series of poems. The poems attributed to Loki seem to tell the story of Jakhelln himself, who travelled from Oslo to Paris in order to study philosophy, and found a completely new world down there. In any case, Jakhelln did not limit this reuse of mythical material to poetry alone. A significant effort was also made by Solefald. Between 2005 and 2006, the band released two albums, entitled ''Red for Fire. An Icelandic Odyssey part I'' and ''Black for Death. An Icelandic Odyssey part II''. The juxtaposition of the two colours (which, as we have seen, have long been present in Solefald‟s aesthetics) is here endowed with both mythological and pagan connotations: red and black do not only symbolize fire and death, but also form the colours of the infernal lake in which the wolf Fenrir is chained. Moreover, they are also the key-colours used in the pagan ritual of the Winter solstice. The albums narrate the story of an Icelandic scald named Bragi. Although the name may recall both the Norse god of poetry and the scald Bragi Boddason often quoted in Snorri‟s Edda, this character seem to have little in common with them. In Red for Fire, Bragi is seduced by Disa, the White Frost Queen, wife to King Haukur. Wanting the queen for himself, the god Loki bans Bragi from Iceland and accuses him of having raped the queen, which makes Bragi an outlaw. Bragi has then to travel restlessly through Iceland, until Odin encourages him to travel back to Reykjavík and get his revenge. In the booklet of Black for Death, the story continues, but the narrator is Loki, who reports on Bragi‟s return to Reykjavík and on his death, which takes place together with king Haukur ‟s demise. Musically and lyrically, Red for Fire and Black for Death were quite puzzling for most Solefald fans. Solefald dropped most of the unconventional elements of their music and stuck 29March 2009 Volume 4, number 1