Dissection, Jon Nödveidt and the Misanthropic Luciferian Order

Now that the MLO is back in the news for completely unrelated reasons, I did a bit of research on Dissection, the band, and its frontman Jon Nödtveidt (RIP) and his relation to the Misanthropic Luciferian Order (MLO for short). Bear with me for a while as it is a bit of a wild ride.

It's about the ties of the MLO, a so-called satanic association which now is called Werewolf Legion, which strangely enough has ties to Swedish far-right parties (some of its members have been arrested).

I only started listening to black metal towards the end of 2011 and I never really looked too deep into Dissection when I started listening to them because they really weren't one of bands that everyone points to as being NS/NSBM-adjacent/or generally sketchy. But after finding a few bands that were new to me that ended up being very close to NS, I figured I would look into Dissection just in case.

My initial search pulled up the incidents where one of their ex guitarists, Set Teitan, gave a couple nazi salutes while playing for Watain. Also the members of Watain are weird AF, like a mix between homoerotic cosplay and actual fascism and real life National Socialism. Very weird.

There was also the incident where Nödtveidt and his friend "Vlad" stalked and killed a gay Algerian man, Josef Ben Meddour, in 1997. This was investigated according to the Swedish police both as a homophobic hate crime, but also as "gang related activity" (Organiserad Brottslighet, which is basically the equivalent of "Organised Crime" in the UK and USA).

One gang that got my attention was the Werewolf Legion, since wolves have always been a theme for Dissection. A particular picture of the Werewolf Legion "wolf tattoo" was on the arm of the vocalist for Dissection, Jon Nödtveidt.

Jon Nödtveidt was a member of the MLO. The MLO was a legitimate theistic satanic/fascist cult founded in 1995 that preformed ritual sacrifices, and later on they changed their name to The Temple of the Black Light. In case you're not familiar with Jon (I was not, in 2011, when I started my journey), he was arrested and sent to prison for hate crime killing in 1997, along with his accomplice "Vlad", another member of the MLO. They got caught because "Vlad's girlfriend" told the police about the killing in 1998, after an argument.

"Vlad" whose real identity is unknown, despite being convicted (many people suspect it is really Tobias Kelgren, who conveniently disappeared around that period), makes me think that it is indeed gang related and his identity was protected in exchange for information on other gang members.

Of course it's possible that I'm wrong, and indeed some parts seem like a stretch. But if you look at the whole picture, and Dissection's obsession with crypto-NS/gang related symbols (wolves, tridents, biker chains, etc) you can see that it makes sense.

Didn't read :)

Holy sh... the wall of text.

To address some of the points...

I don't know if wolves and tridents are necessarily associated with the Misantropic Luciferian Order per se as many other Swedish black metal bands have used them in their shows.

Also Jon Nodtveidt wasn't the most mentally stable individual. He was diagnosed as schizophrenic and bipolar. Usually gang members are if not cold blooded, at least somewhat capable of premeditation no? That doesn't seem to be the case with Nodveidt.

Yeah Nödtveidt wasn't the sharpest tool in the box. However.

I don't know if wolves and tridents are necessarily associated with the Misantropic Luciferian Order per se as many other Swedish black metal bands have used them in their shows.

That's only because they got said imagery from the MLO directly. See:

But since it becomes a 'chicken and egg' question as to who influenced who, knowing that many MLO members also had ties to the BM scene, I'd give you this point.

Usually gang members are if not cold blooded, at least somewhat capable of premeditation no? That doesn't seem to be the case with Nodveidt.

If he was convicted for murder specifically, and not homocide or manslaughter, then he was automatically determined to have acted with premeditation. At least according to Norwegian laws, not sure how it works in Sweden.

Unrelated, but I also came to the conclusion that Demonecromancy and Antekhrist are either a continuation of, or the direct successor of the Misanthropic Luciferian Order aka Temple of the Black Light, if anyone is interested in hearing about that kind of stuff lol

Jon Nödtveidt being involved in some criminal activity does seem sus. I mean, Nödtveidt literally believed that Fenriz killed Euronymous, and kept sending death threats to Darkthrone throughout the 90s. Peaceville kept receiving menacing letters and didn't understand, until Fenriz (or Nocturno I can't remember) just told them to ignore it.

Even without that misunderstanding, just judging from his interviews, he doesn't seem like a criminal mastermind. More like a criminal dupe, if anything.

@Joker: lol at 'homocide'

About this.

I mean, Nödtveidt literally believed that Fenriz killed Euronymous, and kept sending death threats to Darkthrone throughout the 90s.

It does make sense if you consider Dissection was running cover for Varg Vikernes? Perhaps they had a reason to defend him as he was also a fascist?

I also read that Dissection was one of the few bands that were really into Satanism where other black metal bands just saw it as a way to shock and draw attention.

@Cradle: Legit typo. I meant to say homicide. But homocide works as well in this case, as the victim was a gay man.

...

It does make sense if you consider Dissection was running cover for Varg Vikernes?

There is no evidence whatsoever that Nödtveidt even knew who Varg Vikernes was... despite going on and on about how he was "well acquainted" with the Mayhem bros, and even "close friends" with Euronymous.

He was ever making stuff up to sound important - common behaviour amongst the late comers - or simply delusional. Anyway, he wasn't exactly a smooth operator or criminal genius by any stretch of the imagination. Quite the contrary. He appears to be the only one who took the devil worship bait seriously. I can't even imagine the amount of contempt the Norwegian BM scene had for this guy.

Perhaps they had a reason to defend him as he was also a fascist?

Again, politics aside, what would be the purpose? Varg has already been arrested and convicted by the time they started threatening Darkthrone. It's more of a case of someone with questionable IQ reading bits and pieces of the story and using his diminished intellect to patch together some nonsensical story.

@Gandalf: According to some, including his parents, Euronymous himself wasn't quite the sane man either.

According to Hellhammer, Euronymous was "cracked in the head" (meaning mentally unstable). Perhaps Jon and him found some kind of kinship?

@Golden Eye: The difference is that Euronymous made some good music. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is peak black metal. State of the art songcraft. What did Nödtveidt ever do besides cheapening the genre with some Maidencore slop, before turning into literally Pantera with Reinkaos?

Also worth noting that no members of Mayhem, much less Euronymous, had ever heard of Nodtveidt or Dissection in 1993. The Somberlain was released well after Euronymous' passing.

That calls into doubt any talk of "close friendship" between Euronymous and Nodtveidt. This is especially true if, as you say, Nodtveidt thought that the Darkthrone members were the ones to kill Euronymous and not Vikernes.

Watain is also associated with the Misanthropic Luciferian Order, as is Demonecromancy and Antekhrist. As for Watain specifically, Erik Danielsson (the vocalist) was said to have been "recruited" into the far-right/NS The Temple of the Black Light by ex-Dissection guitarist Set Teitan. Watain is known to wear Absurd t-shirts live, and do roman salutes among other sketchy things. They even call their shows "Temple of Watain" in reference to TotBL.

@Charter Satan: My friend nobody cares about Watain in the current year. They are a product of 2010 media astroturf campaigns that hilariously ended with the Sieg Heil gate at Wacken.

Please stay on topic, particularly you two. This thread is about Dissection and the MLO only. If you want to start a feud about has been bands, start your own thread in the appropriate forum.

In addition to the well known cases of Dissection, Demonecromancy, Watain and Antekhrist, there is also Dark Funeral. It's common knowledge that the founder David Parland aka Blackmoon tried to have Ahriman aka Michael Svanberg kicked out because of his views and his affiliation with the NS scene (Temple Of The Black Light amongst others).

Mod Edit: It's almost as if you completely disregarded the message posted right above. Can you even read? ^^

Temple of the Fl-sh Light yeah. Never saw bands as overhyped and overrated as those of the orthodox BM "scene" - to the extend that it isn't just a giant Century Media astroturf. Dissection had a few semi-decent albums before going head first into mall goth territory à la Dimmu Borgir with Reinkaos. Watain and Dork Funeral never had any good albums, ever. As for Demonecromancy, Fallen From the Brightest Throne is some okay Phantom clone. Just barely. Otherwise the entire "scene" is cancer, avoid.

All I know about Nodtveidt is that his grave gets vandalised every two or three years by gay rights groups. They write grafiti all over it and write stuff like John is getting (expletive) in hell... yes they write "John" as in English. Usually it's around August 13 the day he died IIRC (I sometimes confuse with Euronymous who also died in August).

Fun fact, he (Nodtveidt) is buried next to where I live. The Hässelby / Hässelby Vällingby communal cemetary, part of the greater Stockholm metro. It's actually a Christian burial site ironically. There is a school and a church nearby.

@Vlad: Respect the dead!

Did you read this about Jon Nödtveidt and the MLO?

"In 1997, Nödtveidt was convicted as an accessory to the murder of a man in Sweden, a crime that was reportedly linked to occult rituals [...] victim of the crime was a homosexual immigrant, Josef Ben Meddour [...] both Nödtveidt and his associates of Dissection were suspected of going into homosexual neighbourhoods late at night."

Source: The Most Controversial Events in Black Metal History.

Basically what they are saying is that Jon Nödtveidt and "Vlad" (identity unknown) were originally charged with "ritual murder" in association with the occult - likely the MLO - but when police discovered they would routinely engage in "gay hunting", ie intentionally going into gay neighborhoods to pose as gay men themselves, they were forced to modify the charges to include hate crime. But they never said it wasn't "ritual murder". The latter doesn't invalidate the former.

Weird?

When I first read MLO I thought it was a backronym for My Little Poney and then I read the article and realised I was right.

Is there a good metal band or album that ever came out of the so-called 'orthodox black metal' movement? Didn't think so... it's like they attract the worst of the low-IQ loser crowd. Basically the ICP of black metal.

Nodtveidt is a cautionary tale of what happens when you attract the low-IQ moron tard corral to your scene. There was even a story about how the Mayhem dudes got him drunk and promised him he could be the next Mayhem guitarist if he could play Freezing Moon drunk. The idiot never got that they were pulling his leg and actually went on stage and played (they were in an open mic bar). Cringe.....

Yeah I often wondered why Nödtveidt had this type of immunity totem for so many decades while all the wimps in the scene were making a fuss about Vikernes, Famine, etc., and even bands like Goatmoon, Horna or Warkvlt are getting harassed even though there's comparatively nothing wrong with them