Year of release: 2013 (original) / 2018 (russian language edition)
Label: Metal Star
Metal Star continues to replenish the bookshelves of the adepts of extreme metal. While Dayal Patterson temporarily set aside his series, densely sitting behind the writing of the biography of ROTTING CHRIST along with the musicians of the band, Metal Star is preparing for the release of the expectedly scandalous folio about the most dangerous metal of our time - the National Socialist "Black Metal".
The original (Italian) version of the book came out in 2013, and by now has already turned into a rarity. It was also released in other languages - for example, in French and English - but for obvious reasons it was not widely covered in the media, because pathetic cowards calling themselves extreme metalheads, are afraid to write even about absolutely neutral research work on such an "uncomfortable" topic. Those few reviews that caught my eye were something about "The book is bad, because it's about the Nazis." You know.
In fact, despite the theme and pretty provocative cover, the book is not propaganda in any way. More likely, even on the contrary. Nor is it a condemnator, but the authors in the course of the story form the conclusion (quite true) that most of the NS-scene consists of brainless clowns who in no way able to influence the status quo. The approach to writing of Maspero and Ribarich is different from what Patterson uses. They also cite many direct quotes from musicians, but there are only a few full-fledged interviews, and they are taken in separate chapters. The authors set out to describe the whole "NSBM" scene of the planet, and they did it perfectly. Attention is given not only to music (which, in this case is secondary, to tell you the truth), but also to extraneous influence, which gave this music a certain ideological content. Ribaric and Maspero have consistently tracked the development of the right idea in the work of composers from the very origins (in particular, Wagner), through timid flirting with swastikas on the early Black Metal scene, and to the full unfolding of the music style, which is commonly called "NSBM". Along the way, a huge archival layer of various occult-Nazi publications is being raised, the history and activities of various political movements, right-wing musical groups and militant groups are described. In general, the picture is more than complete. I note that the authors are well versed in the musical question. Although they have a slightly perverted basic understanding of Black Metal, they repeatedly prove why a particular formation is "NSBM", the other is not, and the third, though not being "NSBM", has a huge impact on the style. Separate chapters are devoted to the ideological antipode of "NSBM" - the so-called "red anarchist Black Metal", as well as to right-wing hatecore and its main representatives - Ethnic Cleansing, Vaginal Jesus and Mudoven. The chapter on the hetkore, I must say, the chapter about hatecore is perhaps the most rancorous and exciting in the book. The story of how Ethnic Cleansing recorded a seven-inch "Hitler was Right" is just freaking funny as hell! t's worth a lot of effort not to reproduce it here, it's too beautiful!
Describing the world "NSBM" scene, the authors operate not so much with separate groups as with local scenes (nothing is missing, not even Africa and Malaysia) and their peculiarities. Awareness of Maspero and Ribaric, to put it mildly, amazes. n addition to titans of style and smaller names, they sometimes mention formations that you will not even find on Discogs and Metal-Archives. In fact, the research work was carried out tremendously. Throughout the book, the authors try to maintain a serious facial expression and apply a scientific approach, but still in a couple of places they can't do it anymore. Usually, it happens during a brief description of the next formation that made (or tried to make) a contribution to the development of the style. Do not judge them for it. People who thoroughly listened to the recordings of masters like Vorak deserve a medal for courage. Readers from the ex-USSR, I think, will be pleased to learn that the chapters on post-Soviet national-socialist metal are among the largest and most detailed in the book. No wonder, because here the right-wing scenes are indeed the leading in the world. Finally, the well-deserved attention is paid to BlazeBirth Hall, ТЕМНОЗОРЬ and Stellar Winter, M8L8TX and so on. There is also a short overview of Belarus. Perhaps, more can be said about our local bands, but but it's about today, and in 2013, many of them were either in their infancy or did not exist at all.
Despite the five-year gap between the release of the original and the Russian-language version, the information in the latter is quite topical. Something just invariably, something is already inscribed on the tablets of history, and the most important changes that have occurred over the years, I tried to note in the form of additional notes in the translation. Translation, it should be noted, was difficult - the style of writing is quite heavy. Therefore, it is unlikely that the book can be run through. In any case, it is too big for this. The Russian version as a result takes 600 pages, and the overwhelming majority of them is occupied by text. There are also many pictures, but they are not large. The relevance of "Wolves among sheep" is also incredibly high in the context of the awkward struggle for political correctness in metal, which is being conducted recently by degenerates from Metalcucks and other shitty media. Even if for some unbelievable reason you are on the side of the angry leftists, it will still be useful for you to read this volume: at least to understand what exactly leads you to unrestrained rage.
The Russian language version of the book is issued in quantity of only 488 copies in two formats: a special version, packed in cardboard slipcase (88 pieces) and regular version, without slipcase (400 pieces). All copies are hand-numbered. You can order it here.
English (UK) 
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