The story of the early Norwegian Black Metal scene is one that has been told many times and from many different points of view, and that I have more than a familiarity with from reading articles in Kerrang, Metal Hammer, Terroizer and other magazines. One version I haven’t read is Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind’s book Lords of Chaos on which this, Jonas Åkerlund’s film, is based.

From the off it’s clear this takes a very different, in some ways controversial, but to my mind refreshing, approach, telling the story as almost a teen drama. This feels far more true to the ‘characters’ involved rather than the often over reverential and serious written accounts.

As we meet Euronymous (Rory Culkin) he comes across as a fairly run of the mill, middle class, rebelling teenager, dying his hair black and playing loud music with the teen movie aesthetic highlighted by the use of his voiceover leading the story.

Even as his band, Mayhem, becomes a more serious prospect and, as the film has it, he invents this harsh new guitar sound, it still feels largely upbeat with one party scene where he and Dead (Jack Kilmer) apparently debut their ‘corpse paint’ feeling remarkably close to the opening of Mötley Crüe biopic, The Dirt – certainly an interesting comparison be it intentional or not.

A big part of this comes with the choice to cast mostly young American actors in the roles rather than Scandinavian actors and, while this has led to some complaints, stylistically it makes perfect sense.

It also means that, as the darker side of the story begins to manifest – it’s probably no secret that it goes on to involve suicide, church burning, hate crimes, nazism and murder – it is all the more shocking as it contrasts with the lighter more fun, and at times genuinely funny, atmosphere of the teen movie.

As it goes on there is no shortage of humour, sometimes at the expense of the characters and their ridiculous situation but more often in not such a mean spirited way, except maybe when it comes to Varg Vikernes (played by young Jewish actor Emory Cohen, seemingly cast as much to annoy the real life Vikernes as anything else, though he does a good job) who is painted, at times, as a somewhat ridiculous figure though at other points he is genuinely a scary presence.

Along with the humour, and almost counteracting it, is a streak of what could be called horror but to my mind that does it a disservice as we get a very frank and suitably brutal depiction of some events.

This is hinted at in the first Mayhem performance we see as Dead slices up his own arms and bleeds on the audience but reaches it first crescendo as we see, in a kind of uncomfortable detail I don’t recall seeing on screen in this way, his suicide.

This is then followed by a pair of murders which are shown in equally disquieting specificity but despite this it doesn’t glorify them like it easily could.

Instead it counteracts the glorification that had come from many of the articles I had read in the past that painted them as mythic occurrences – here they simply seem like brutal stupidity on the part of young, debatably poorly socially adjusted, men.

This does present its own set of issues as we are clearly, at points, dealing with issues of depression and extremism that are never explored in a totally meaningful way. In terms of the story though they never have a chance to dealt with before the relevant characters either die or are incarcerated and this particular chapter of an obviously largely tale ends.

Musically it’s an interesting affair as there isn’t actually that much black metal in the film.

While one of the reasons for this may well be around the musicians not wanting their music used I also suspect it may because it would make the film so much harder to digest for anyone not already accustomed to the particularly harsh sounds.

This means we get a more interesting sonic approach that is more atmospheric and, thanks to a few tracks from Sigur Ros, brings a particularly unique Scandinavian feel that is in many ways possibly more fitting than a barrage of Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor, et al would be.

Lords Of Chaos then is a film that is likely to cause (and I believe already has) its fair share of controversy but for me it is about as fair and accurate a portrayal of this story you’re likely to find, particular in how it characterises its protagonists as, largely, teenage boys and young adult men with all the usual issues and baggage that entails just turned (appropriately) up to 11.

As a whole though it is compelling, funny and shocking in equal measure and certainly feels like it lives up to its opening title card of ‘This story is based in lies, truth… and what actually happened’ in the best of ways.

I saw Lords Of Chaos as part of Clameur Du Cinéma’s (I’m sure some film fans will get the pun) series of monthly screenings of non-mainstream films so this came with a great little introduction from Guernsey musician and film fan Brett Stewart (complete with Bathory t-shirt, a band Åkerlund’s drummed with for a time) setting the scene and giving some nice context to the film.

You can find out more about Clameur Du Cinéma’s screenings on their Facebook page or website and if you’re in Guernsey they’re well worth checking out.