The Dark Queens of Norwegian Music. Part II

The band Madder Mortem from Nord-Odal, whose lead singer is Agnete Kirkevaag, is also influenced by gothic culture. She believes that there are so few women in metal music because they do not give music the absolute priority in their lives:

- A lot of women aren't ready to fully dedicate themselves to music, to put it above everything else. Because if you want to make really good music, accordingly, you will have less time to sit at home with your lover. So you have to be willing to accept certain rules set in that environment. You have to carry your burden and do your part. Only then can you really compete with men in this genre.

According to Agneta, to add to that, women have to learn how to act macho by imitating the men who perform metal music:

- Standing on stage, you have to act like a queen and yell, "Here I am! AHHHHHHHH!!!" Women aren't very good at that. And if you don't dare to act that way, it's going to look like showing off. Like you don't belong here. In other genres, like rock royalty free music, for example, it's considered acceptable if you just stand on stage and look at the floor and act a little shy. But if you're playing heavy metal, you'll look like an idiot if you're shy, Agnete declares. She believes that there are already more female bands that are starting to get it.

- Take Zeenon, for example. That's a real metal band. Their sound is getting better and better, and I'm very happy about that.

Zeenon from Oslo was the first real female metal band. It was formed in 1995 and released 7 albums which were financed by the female members themselves. The band has opened all the original Inferno festivals at Rockefeller Hall.

Gro Narvestad, one of the organizers of the Inferno festival and a former music columnist on the Norwegian radio station NRK P3, believes that the bad reputation of metal musicians is totally unjustified: "I would not say that metal is a purely male genre, it is much more loyal to women than hip-hop, for example. But I guess there are a lot of reasons why men prevail here. It's a shame that so many people think that metal and black metal are the same thing. And that all the lyrics of this genre are about a confused fascist in prison. But I understand that people have this misconception because the reporters who write music reviews often don't know anything about the genre themselves.

Women in metal have not yet created any alternative to the established aesthetics of the genre, instead they decided to follow the well-trodden path and follow the laws set by men. But while female instrumentalists in metal bands are still rare in Norway, the number of female vocalists is steadily increasing. Here are some examples: Agnethe Kjølsrud of Animal Alpha, Anita Auglend and Ingfrid Stensland of The Sins of thy Beloved, Kristin Fjellseth of Crest of Darkness, Sfinx and Sareeta from Ram-zet, and Liv Kristine Espenæs, formerly of Theatre Of Tragedy, who is now pursuing a solo career. The popular comic book series "Nemi" undoubtedly contributed to the fact that many girls became more interested in heavy music, especially gothic metal. And even more of them started listening to bands like Evanescence and Nightwish, whose lead singers are women. Perhaps the next step will be the conquest of the black metal scene?

To be continued...