Peter Beste

In the last two decades a bizarre and violent musical subculture called black metal has emerged in Norway. It's roots stem from a heavy blend of horror films, extreme heavy metal music, Satanism, pagan mythology, and adolescent angst. In the early-mid 1990's, members of this extremist underground committed murder, burned down medieval wooden churches, and desecrated graveyards. What started as a juvenile frenzy came to symbolize the start of a war against Christianity, a return to the worship of the ancient Norse gods, and the complete rejection of mainstream society. Beste spent seven years photographing this insulated and secretive community.