January 12, 2024
DEBUT This debut by lawyer Anthony Misquitta, writing as Ska�i, follows the band Baphomet's Agony as they are about to hit it big. They've also never played a gig longer than 15 minutes before the cops shut it down. That's Norwegian black metal for you. And no one knows the fan base like Marta, the band's manager. Add in an abundance of Satanism, regular orgies, an occasional church burning, and plenty of thrown fists, and you have yourself a band. But what happens when one of the members may be the actual Antichrist? How much of their belief is just for show, and how far are they willing to go? Like its inspiration, the writing of this character driven novel is a frenzy of flashbacks, forwards, and sideways, not intended for accessibility. The tell-all format is the right structure for the confusing writing and cutting observations of organized religion and society. Readers will not escape this book unalienated--that's the point. But for those who can stomach the vulgar and grotesque, the humor is as dark and surprising as it gets. VERDICT Extra sharp and disgustingly hilarious; you'd be hard pressed to find a reader not offended by it.--Elisha Sheffer
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 8, 2024
The pseudonymous Skadi, who shares a name with the book’s protagonist, delivers a twisted, darkly comic debut about the rise and fall of a fictional Norwegian black metal band. In a small fishing village near Oslo, Skadi manages the band Baphomet’s Agony, comprising guitarist Snorri, drummer Peter, bassist Edvard, and dead-eyed singer Suffer, most of whom have complicated interpersonal histories. Determined since she was a teenager to “demolish everything that most of you hold dear,” Skadi hopes to catapult the band to fame as a ploy to corrupt the masses. For a moment, that goal seems within reach, when the group is offered a recording contract after a harrowing gig that hospitalizes 17 audience members. Slowly, however, the opportunity unravels, with the band’s savage angsts—plus a marauding band of Christians and a group of metal snobs who think Baphomet’s Agony are posers—pulling them apart. Skadi is more concerned with ladling on maximum depravity than delivering a coherent, well-paced narrative, and the plot takes frequent detours to recount sordid interludes from the band members’ childhoods. Readers with a taste for pitch-black humor will find a few laughs; others will be put off by the prevailing tone of adolescent fantasy. This fails to strike the right chord. (Mar.)This review has been updated with further information.