This Insight will discuss the Brazilian National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) scene and its role in propagating extremist ideologies, with a focus on transnational connections. Drawing on a dataset of over 100 identified Brazilian bands (active between 1993-2024) and more than 1,000 songs, this study employs network analysis and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand how these groups disseminate narratives of hate and reinforce global neo-Nazi networks. National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) is a subgenre of black metal that merges neo-Nazism and far-right ideologies with the cultural themes of black metal, such as paganism and mythology. Emerging in the 1990s, NSBM serves as an ideological tool for neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, often incorporating ethnoracial symbolism, esoteric fascism, and Holocaust glorification in its lyrics and visuals. While its overtly racist and political nature has pushed it to the fringes of the black metal community, NSBM underscores ongoing tensions between artistic freedom and the exploitation of metal imagery by extremist ideologies. However, it is crucial to distinguish black metal as a whole from NSBM, as the broader black metal scene encompasses diverse themes, ideologies, and artistic expressions that are not necessarily aligned with far-right extremism. The temporal evolution of NSBM releases in Brazil, as illustrated in the above graph, aligns with socio-political shifts from 2010 onwards during a global resurgence of far-right ideologies. This growth reflects how neo-Nazi elements capitalised on the political climate to expand their influence. The steady production of NSBM content, despite counter-extremism efforts, highlights the resilience and adaptability of these networks, demonstrating the transnational and ideological dimensions of Brazil’s neo-Nazism within global far-right trends.
via global network: Sonic Hate: Examining Brazil’s NSBM Scene and Its Global Networks