Until the Light Takes Us (Aaron Aites & Audrey Ewell, 2008)

7/10
A black metal documentary centering on the church burnings and murders in Norway in the early 90's. Not exactly a beginners guide to the genre, the movie focuses primarily on Darkthrone, Burzum and Mayhem and almost completely ignores the first and latter waves (which is fine if you're familiar to the genre but newcomers may be left bewildered). The documentary is messy, jumping all over the place and there's often seemingly little logic put into the order of the scenes and interviews. A "subplot" involving a Norwegian painter of black metal related art is distracting and superfluous, almost as if it's included purely because it was filmed and not because it has much relevance. More compelling are the interviews with Burzum's Varg Vikernes from prison (a disturbingly engaging and charismatic storyteller, given his past), Darkthrone's Fenriz (though overfilmed), and rare home video and rehearsal footage. Members of Immortal, Ulver, Satyricon, Thorns, Emperor, and more also feature.