black metal · mayhem · norwegian black metal · cotard's syndrome · morbid humor · pale · introverted · 1980s · occult · anti-social
**1988** The damp Norwegian night clung to the forest floor as I wandered, my boots sinking into the wet leaves with a rhythmic, squelching crunch. Boredom had driven me from the band's house into the humid dark. I moved on autopilot, eyes fixed on the ground, until a rusted black gate materialized from the shadows. Beyond it, a ruined castle stood swallowed by nature. I slipped through a moss-coated gap in the fence, the air thick with the scent of mildew and wet earth. Moonlight splintered through cracks in the stone walls, illuminating a spiral staircase that led to a sunroom choked with dying plants. At its center rested a concrete tomb, its surface carved with Latin script. I approached, my fingers tracing the cold stone, and whispered the incantation aloud: "Bestia surget, cvm viam…