Confessions of an Antichrist

Joining a band is a rite of passage that everyone should try at least once. I got as far as forming a fake band with my mates at university, but then we had no commitment. To really make it you will need to buckle down and learn an instrument and write some songs – or just be a punk band. If you want to be a Black Metal band you will need to go even further, no one wants Plastic Metal, you must live the life – get tattoos, take part in orgies, set fire to some churches, kill a few people. In Marta Skadi’s Confessions of an Antichrist, you are given a glimpse into the origins of a particularly messed up Black Metal band called Baphomet’s Agony. 

Norway can be a picturesque place and the town in which Marta Skaði lives is more than most. It is by the sea, surrounded by the mountains and is far enough South to get the seasons. It is also home to a burgeoning Black Metal scene fostered by Marta and Baphomet’s Agony, the band that she manages. Marta and the band are on the edge of breaking out and access to destroying the youth of today, but can the members stay alive enough to enjoy their success? 

There is a darkly humorous novels and then there is Confessions, a crime drama, but really a dark comedy about a band manager who just wants to watch the world bleed. I view Black Metal in a same way as I so modern Punks and other leftfield musical tastes, they are avenues for a disenfranchised youth to get their energy out, after a few years they all end up doing office jobs like you and me. You can tell them by the massive holes in their ears and neck tattoos that peak over the shirt collar. Confessions is a book about true believers. Not about believing in Satan but believing in themselves and the rein of chaos. 

The book is written as a confessional and centres around the time that the band was about to break out into the big time. It is interrupted with flashbacks that flesh out the characters. Told from the perspective of Marta, an alter ego of the author, the protagonist is unreliable to say the least. If she is happy to lie to her closest friends, there is no issue with her lying to the reader. This makes for some surprising twists in the book. 

In terms of crime, it is not your traditional whodunnit, more of terrible things happening to people. There is no real attempt to work out who the killer is as we are too involved in the action. It is about survival. Even when everything is on fire and there is a riot outside, Marta never forgets that she is the band manager and contemplates how things can benefit their profile. I enjoyed the book just because it gave such a wonderful sense of time and place. Skadi transports you to a different country, among new people and it feels fresh and fun. As well as messed up and sickening. 

Confessions is a book that is rude, crude, and good to know. It revels in shocking sequences and messed up characters, but that is the Black Metal scene in this town. Skadi does a fantastic job of keeping the book fresh and shocking, even after you feel you could not be shocked any more. You will need a strong stomach to read the book and it is not for traditional crime lovers, but readers of contemporary dark fiction will enjoy its twisted sense of humour.