Music at its bleakest and most frostbitten, black metal has always luxuriated in the darkest and more ghoulish recesses of society. Every so often, however, its midnight pageantry has spilled over into real life – transcending the absurdity and ripe contradiction of so many of the ideas at play, to stress that thinness of the veil between evil intent and real misdeed.
Flicking back through three decades of bloodshed, blasphemy and very real mayhem, we chart the moments guaranteed to still send chills down your spine. Please note this isn't an exhaustive list of every dark moment in black metal, the original version of this feature was simply too gruesome to publish.
Trigger warning: The following contains stories of self-harm, suicide and hate crimes.