"An Impenetrable Darkness", Michael Cunningham

[Guinevere]

I found this essay very interesting, but shocking!
Like Esty I knew next to nothing about this kind of music. I had no idea that Norway, a country of which I have many fond memories, is a center of Black and Death Metal. (And I hadn't heard about the church arsons either. I remember the beautiful ancient Fantoft stavkirke - what a barbarous thing to do!) Why this hatred of Christianity, I wonder? And how can one read LotR and not be inspired by the nobility and the goodness but by the enemies??

I was also reminded of the winner of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, the Finnish Heavy Metal Band "Lordi". In their costumes they really did look like orcs, Esty and other Downers who had also watched them thought immediately of orcs too.
What I didn't realize at the time was that there were bands that actually admitted to having been inspired by Tolkien's villains and wanted to emulate them!
I agree very much with Esty's statement about Tolkien:

though I rather imagine that he would roll over in his grave if he knew about the influence his evil characters have. Also, knowing a bit about his musical taste, I'm pretty sure he would be appalled if he heard the sound of black metal music

and having listened to some samples on You-Tube, I'd say that the Tolkien Quote (from LotR) used in the essay is spot-on:

Much of the same sort of talk can be heard among the orc-minded; dreary and repetitive with hatred and contempt, too long removed from good to retain even verbal vigour, save in the ears of those whom only the squalid sounds strong