Bleeding Fist Blast ‘666 Bullets in the Face of God’

Black metal is ugly music for ugly people. Jagged chords, Jesus-punching lyrics, subterranean production values and spine-tingling death rattles, all overlain with the stench of decay and lingering misanthropy -- that's what black metal is made of (if you're doing it right, anyway).

The extreme personalities behind this most extreme of metal genres are seldom what one would call 'friendly,' as Noisecreep deduced from a recent chat with Etienne 'Hellscream' Chelleri of Slovenian maniacs Bleeding Fist. We're sure Hellscream and the gang are right old teddybears once the corpse paint comes off and their guitars are laid to rest for the night. But as far as their music is concerned, they are nothing if not murderously serious. Hellscream's parting words made it all crystal-clear: "Bleeding Fist is here to stay. We will continue to playing this s--- as long as hate and evilness will rule this dying world."

Born and conceived in Slovenia in 2005, Bleeding Fist brought a refreshingly straightforward approach along with them to their band's christening. "If you look at the past, none of the so-called black metal bands had names like Gryminisyk; names were striking, straight to the core without compromises or bulls---ting about with ancient esoteric names, random demons or Egyptian mythology. That's why we are Bleeding Fist. Straight in the face -- 666 bullets in the face of god," Hellscream spits.

Eastern Europe and the Baltic region are world-renowned for their impossibly extreme slants on traditional black metal, with beginnings that stretch back to Tormentor and Root and forge ahead with the rise of newer bands like Bleeding Fist. Not everyone is entirely happy with it, though. Hellscream confides, "There were some threats made against Bleeding Fist from a Croatian radical Catholic party which recriminate us for 'inducing youth into a Satanic influence and forcing them to join some kind of occult Satanic sects,' but who the f--- cares about them?"

And as for Bleeding Fist's own unique sound, a deadly concoction of evil thrash and gutter black that they have dubbed 'chaos metal,' Hellscream explains, "This was a natural evolution in search of the darkest and extremest horizons in music and ourselves. 'Chaos black metal' is a mix of the worst and extreme that can be found in old school black, thrash and death metal. A storm collapsing your soul. A carcinogen heroin devouring your body. Of course we gain inspiration from old school black, thrash and death metal. No one band in particular gave us the inspiration. We don't want to bring something new, the world is filled with new and modern s--- which is a such cool thing for most of metal population but we want keep it old, dirty and insane, like f---ing a 60-year-old, drunk junkie prostitute ... this is black metal."

Two figures Hellscream will admit to harboring a sense of admiration for are two of black metal's most well-known and infamous progenitors -- Euronymous of Mayhem and Varg Vikernes of Burzum. When questioned about whom he felt was more influential to the scene, Hellscream decided upon "Euronymus as a musician, and Varg for the attitude."

As for Varg's recent release from prison and the ensuing announcement of a new Burzum album, Hellscream was unimpressed. "As long as can be remembered, he has maintained that he will record any more black metal albums, so this is a big f--- off. But of course out of jail he needs to maintain himself," he shrugs.