He's a right cunt. But he's a bloody solid drummer, that's for sure.

Had to laugh when I saw that, pretty cringe worthy performance..

He stayed at my friend's house when they toured Australia.

Don't have any goss as to whether or not he genuinely is a "cunt" or not, though.

I do sometimes wonder how much of it is an act. Though guys like Hellhammer and Necrobutcher do seem like dicks from interviews. Ihsahn is positively cuddly by comparison.

I never understood the need to blur Faust's face and manipulate his voice. Chances are if you are familiar with this scene, you've seen and heard him before. Part of me thinks it was, in true BM fashion, to be more dramatic and dark, but who knows, maybe Faust requested it (he didn't seem to into dwelling on the past from memory, and seemed to exhibit genuine regret over the incident).

Also, I will never understand when documentaries like this enlist contemporary/modern artists (whichever field they may be in - installations, performance art, etc.). I watched one with Mick Harris recently detailing the early years of Napalm Death and the recording of 'Scum', and they had an annoying modern artist talk about Napalm and how they inspired his high art. It always comes across as a concerted effort to legitimise metal as art, but is so engulfed in self-parody and pretension. And it's not as if metal needed legitimising in the first place.

I've met him. He was very friendly. Chances are I've mentioned that before. It was at a Mayhem instore. He signed my cds but only wanted to know my opinion of Arcturus' The Sham Mirrors, which I had just bought 5 minutes before meeting him. Didn't bother talking to us about Mayhem, not even when my friend handed him semi-rare stuff to sign.

Another friend of mine played pool with him and said he was cool too. The owners and workers where the instore was held also had good things to say about him. The idea that he is a cunt comes mostly from some of his questionable views, not his actual manner. Maniac, on the other hand, IS an arrogant cunt, or at least was at that instore.

I've raised this issue on here before. I totally agree.There has been an increasing trend to intellectualise extreme metal since the 90s, but it didn't really crossover into the art scene or academia until sometime in the 00's.

It just seems forced and reeks of insecurity. It reminds me of Argento and Fulci fans who try to read all of these lofty ideas into their work rather than just confess that they enjoy the morbid atmosphere, the often psychadelic use of colour, and the outrageously stylized gory deaths.

That isn't suggest that there is nothing to analyse in metal, far from it, but the high minded tone taken by many of these types is pompous and completely unconvincing.