The Messe des Morts (MdM) is a Montréal music festival that, according to the “About” section of the festival’s Facebook page, sets out to “satisfy those who like their metal dark and hateful!” The event is primarily organized by Martin Marcotte under the auspices of his label Sepulchral Productions. It is mainly devoted to black metal and its local scene, Québec Black Metal, a largely underground but highly developed music scene that is particularly fond of shocking themes, including Satanism and gore, reflecting a taste for non-conformity and an urge to provoke and transgress. What we will be discussing below, however, goes far beyond mere provocation. The 2016 edition of the MdM made headlines following the announcement of the participation of the Polish band Graveland, a black metal band associated with the National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) subgenre. The term “national socialist” refers to the German political party better known by its common abbreviation: the Nazi Party. National Socialist Black Metal, as its name suggests, wallows in Nazi apologetics and explores dark themes that include the racial superiority of “white” Europeans and the glorification of the Holocaust (sometimes directly and explicitly, but often obliquely or implicitly), frequently accompanied by references to paganism, Norse and Germanic gods, Scandinavian mythology. Graveland’s history is punctuated by more or less direct links with the NSBM movement.
via montreal antifasciste info: THE MESSE DES MORTS 2024: THE RETURN OF NATIONAL SOCIALIST BLACK METAL (NSBM)