Queer satanism in Danish heavy metal

This project investigates, how the Copenhagen based band Mercyful Fate, as an indication of the early black metal scene, could become an important contributor to the heavy metal of the 1980’ies.

The project hypothesizes that this could happen as a result of the bands – and the black metal genre in general – significant drive towards artistic innovation, which managed to negotiate metal music’s genre conventions, not least in regards to the presence of hegemonic masculinity.

Originating in musicology and anthropologically informed global metal studies, combined with perspectives from the social sciences regarding gender and queer research, the projects seek to investigate what role masculinity, gender, place and not least queerness have played in the development of Mercyful Fates drive towards artistic innovation.