Germany occupies two contrasting roles in the book: it is part of the cultural landscape associated with the Wild Hunt, and the home of a Black Metal scene that briefly entered national view through crime and press coverage. The account links German folklore and the scene’s historical imagery without treating them as the same phenomenon.

Folklore and the Wild Hunt

In its discussion of the Oskorei, the book places Norway within a wider Scandinavian tradition and connects the legends to German folklore, where they correspond to the Wild Hunt, also known as Wotan’s Host. The name Oskorei is described as meaning the terrible ride. In the cited account, the riders are associated with midwinter darkness and the return of the dead at Yule; people might be carried away if caught outside after dark. Cross-shaped gestures, crosses placed above doors, and steel above stalls were described as protections. The book notes the connection between Wotan and Odin, a link that helps explain why Varg Vikernes might feel an affinity with the legends he characterized as a demonic-Odinic death cult.

An Underground Black Metal Scene

The German Black Metal scene is presented as less well known than its Norwegian counterpart and, for the most part, genuinely underground. Its visibility changed briefly after the night of April 29, 1993, when members of Absurd committed a violent crime. The book compares their example with actions associated with Bård Eithun and Varg Vikernes, while distinguishing the German group’s exploits from the greater drama and notoriety surrounding the later Grishnackh-Euronymous affair. The comparison frames the German scene as smaller in number but capable of making its point through actions that risked public derision and imprisonment.

Historical Imagery and Public Attention

In the fall of 1994, the German weekly Der Spiegel brought the scene into national coverage with an article in its Youth subsection. Its presentation paired an illustration from the fanzine Infernus—corpses in battle gear—with a photocopied image of an SS ceremony from the Third Reich. The juxtaposition made the scene’s use of violent and National Socialist imagery central to the article’s framing.

The book also records an interview discussion in which Satanism and fascism are linked through their aesthetics. Blanche Barton described National Socialist Germany’s anti-Christian force, spectacle, lighting, and choreography as part of its appeal to some Satanists, while also saying that Satanists should be judged individually rather than by race. Anton LaVey likewise identified aesthetics as the principal common ground. In this account, Germany matters not merely as the scene’s location but as a historical reference whose political imagery could be adopted, contested, and used to shape how the scene was understood.