There is no shortage of documentaries on the infamous Norwegian black metal scene, but it seems until now there has yet to be one that gathered together the figures that truly mattered on film, and got the key players in the movement to speak without censoring themselves. Filmmakers Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites have pulled off the nearly impossible task of penetrating the inner circle of a very secular scene with their new documentary, Until The Light Takes Us. Moving from their homebase of New York city to Norway for two years, Ewell and Aites have not only put together what looks to be the most cohesive and fleshed out documentary on the subject, but have also made something that is much more beautiful to look at than it's counterparts, which all seem to suffer from a VH-1 Behind The Music asthetic.

The fact that Varg Vikernes, of the one man band Burzum, incarcerated for years after being found guilty of arson and murder, appears in the film is no small feat. He has, until now, refused to take part in any of the aforementioned films on the subject. As co-director Ewell put it "Making a black metal documentary without Varg is like making a Rolling Stones documentary without Mick Jagger."

While one may or may not appreciate the genre of true black metal, one thing is for sure, the sociological apsect of the movement is as deep as anything that has occured in rock and roll. Moving from the psuedo Satanic stance of its origins to a Nationalist movement as the teenaged progenitors grew to manhood (yes, the original true black metal scene is completely male dominated) there is a lot of material to mine here for Ewell and Aites, both visceral and intellectual. Until The Light Takes Us is sure to blow many people preconceived notions to hell (or Valhalla, take your pick) with it's engrossing tale of anti-Christian activism and extremely articulate interview subjects. I for one am seriously looking forward to seeing Until The Light Takes Us in its entirety.

Screening Dates and Trailer after the Jump.