Jason Kiss
Introduction
As of 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation distinguishes a new category of terrorism known as Nihilistic Violent Extremism. Terrorists who fit this classification are described as “individuals who engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad, in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability.”[1] Such a classification is broad, and may be ascribed to a plethora of terrorists with seemingly different underlying motivations. Ted Kaczynski, influenced by the philosopher Jacques Ellul,[2] for example, sought to disrupt the modern technological world by sending bombs through the mail. Even Kristian Vikernes, also known as Varg, which means “wolf” in Norwegian, an influential black metal musician from the band Burzum, could fall under this broad classification due to his antisocial threats on the internet and stockpiling of weapons.[3] All of this presents important questions: Does this type of terroristic activity qualify as “active nihilism”? And, above all, what precisely is active nihilism?
Passive Nihilism
Friedrich Nietzsche, in The Will to Power, originally his unpublished notes, makes the first distinction between active nihilism and passive nihilism. For him, the twofold character of nihilism is embodied in either an increase or a decrease in the power of the spirit:
“Nihilism. It is ambiguous.
- Nihilism as a sign of increased power of the spirit: as active
- Nihilism as a decline and recession of the power of the spirit: as passive”[4]
This distinction marks a departure of sorts from how Nietzsche referred to nihilism as a reign of reactive forces rather than life-affirming forces in his published oeuvre. The philosopher Gilles Deleuze recognizes this problem and does not address active nihilism at all, since it is not a fully developed idea in Nietzsche’s original canonical works. He instead relies on the concepts found in Nietzsche’s earlier writings, which he considers more comprehensive. As such, following Nietzsche, he makes an entirely different distinction of nihilism than the active versus passive dichotomy; it is a kind of metamorphosis from negative nihilism (ressentiment), which leads to reactive nihilism (valuelessness) and ultimately transforms into passive nihilism (resignation).[5] Active forces, for Deleuze, are not nihilistic, since they affirm new values. The end result of nihilism in this context is the age of the life-denying “last man,” which corresponds to passive nihilism.[6]
Thus, we have a clearer idea of what passive nihilism is, based on what Nietzsche meant by it as elaborated by Deleuze. Passive nihilism is embodied in the cowardly last man as outlined in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The characteristics of this last man are portrayed here in Nietzsche’s prose: “They are sycophants and snivelers and nothing more. Often too they give themselves charming airs. But that has always been the cleverness of cowards; yes, cowards are clever!”[7] The last man here is not only a coward but also deeply hostile to those who are exceptional. As Nietzsche writes from the last man’s perspective: “We want to exact revenge and heap insult on all whose equals we are not.”[8] Here, Nietzsche presents the last man as someone who is solely satisfied with comfort and materialism, who actively resists anything that might challenge that contentment. As a representation of passive nihilism, the last man lives a life of meaningless conformity and lacks genuine ambition, which verily corresponds to what Nietzsche outlined as a “recession of the power of the spirit.”
A modern interpretation of the last man as exemplifying passive nihilism is often seen as fatalism, or at least as behavior that resembles fatalism arising from a belief in nothing. Brett Stevens, author of Nihilism: A Philosophy Based in Nothingness and Eternity, addresses fatalism in relation to nihilism and states that “most give up and fall into what is called ‘nihilism’ but makes more sense when referred to as ‘fatalism,’ namely the belief that nothing means anything, that nothing can be done, that no value can be found, and that nothing can reverse the decline.”[9] This fatalism as a result of a belief in nothing is certainly the mainstream interpretation of what is often meant when people mention nihilism, such as how nihilism is depicted in the movie The Big Lebowski.
However, when this fatalism is taken under the influence of philosophical rigor, as exemplified by the often-called nihilist Emil Cioran, it results in a resignation from life, not unlike how Nietzsche viewed the last man, but taken in extremis. The fatalism in Cioran’s thought was so pronounced that he viewed not only life as meaningless, but also as fundamentally not good. As he put it, “If I used to ask myself, over a coffin, ‘What good did it do the occupant to be born?’ I now put the same question about anyone alive.”[10]
Thus, passive nihilism, in the sense Nietzsche intended, is the peripheral nature of the last man: a life devoid of excellence which is entrenched in comfort and conformity, a form of life-denial rooted in championing the mediocrity of the crowd. Taken to its extreme, passive nihilism culminates in total life-denial, where life itself is something to be scorned and gotten rid of. This is where it resembles the fatalism that most people misconstrue as nihilism as a whole.
Active Nihilism
Deleuze, in his tripartite metamorphosis of nihilism (negative, reactive, and passive), doesn’t concern himself with how to transform this nihilism into what Nietzsche referred to as an “increased power of the spirit.” That is not nihilism for Deleuze. It is primarily the esotericist and traditionalist Julius Evola who sought to flesh out a pathway of active nihilism, to overcome the dilemma of nihilism with a positive variation. The Deleuzean negative nihilism stage that embodies ressentiment leads elsewhere in Evola’s active nihilism.
The activist nihilist, according to Evola, is he who faces “the problems of modern man without being a ‘modern man’ himself; he belongs to a different world and preserves within himself a different existential dimension.”[11] The Deleuzean negative-reactive-passive metamorphosis of nihilism doesn’t apply here because the active nihilist is detached and not exhausted by the modern world. They are nourished by their inner strength. It is this specific type of character, which Evola describes as exceedingly rare, in whom “the possibility opens of a new interpretation of the adventure of mankind wanting to be free, and of this crisis that is the consequence of this adventure. Thus arises the idea of a trial, and of destructions that are simply the consequence of not being equal to it, or, as one might say, not being equal to one’s own action.”[12]
Here we see that the action of the active nihilist goes beyond the individual in an ordinary sense. Through inner strength that is revealed in the face of destruction, the active nihilist remains untouched by the life-denying condition that shapes the passive nihilist. The “trial” which reduces most nihilists to a passive condition is instead affirmed and overcome by the active nihilist. This indeed personifies what Nietzsche specified by active nihilism as “a sign of increased power of the spirit.”
One Foot in Existentialism
Evola’s description of active nihilism, like Nietzsche’s, is still ambiguous. However, his statement of “mankind wanting to be free” sheds some light on why active nihilism has one foot in existentialism. The “wanting” to be free, as in desire for freedom, indicates an existential lacking of some kind; a “hole” needing to be filled, as the existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre would put it.[13] Moreover, Evola explicitly uses the word “existential” in speaking about active nihilism.
Like nihilism, existentialism begins from the perception that life has no inherent meaning. Unlike most forms of nihilism, existentialism centers on the creation of meaning within this meaningless world. In this sense, active nihilism appears close to existentialism because it also involves a process of creating meaning. The inner world of the active nihilist becomes more pronounced and more powerful than the external pressures of modern life; it is that inner world where meaning can manifest. The significant difference here is that active nihilism does not affirm human freedom nor free will. There is no actual “freedom” in the “wanting to be free;” it is merely an unfulfilled desire that can never be satiated. The active nihilist is unbothered by this because Nietzsche regarded the world as fundamentally deterministic and free will as an illusion.[14] It is at this juncture that active nihilism and existentialism diverge. Existentialism bases its thought on human freedom, while active nihilism does not. Therefore, Sartre’s existential proclamation that “man condemned to be free”[15] has no bearing in active nihilism.
Active nihilism, if it is to be genuinely considered existential, requires a clear definition of the standing of what truly constitutes existentialism. If the creation of meaning is the true core of the existentialist school, then active nihilism is certainly existential, as it creates new values by dismantling the outdated and dilapidated ones; it has what Sartre would call a “nihilating” characteristic. However, if the creation of meaning is not the central element of existentialism and freedom is truly its foundation, then active nihilism cannot be regarded as sincerely existential.
Counter-Nihilism
On October 28, 2025, the Philosophy department at the University of North Texas hosted the talk “Redemption, Destiny, and Love: On Rosenzweig’s Nietzsche” by Swedish Nietzsche scholar Hans Ruin. During the talk, Ruin highlighted some of his favorite excerpts from Thus Spoke Zarathustra and discussed how poetic and life-affirming the text is. He explained that Nietzsche addressed the dilemma he identified as passive nihilism, which is represented by the figure of the last man, and argued that Nietzsche himself should be understood not as a nihilist in the manner that Nietzsche meant it, but instead as a counter-nihilist. It is in this counter-nihilism that allows for the creation of new values that is antithetical to passive nihilism.
This raises an important question: are active nihilism, as expressed by Evola, and counter-nihilism, as described by Ruin, actually the same phenomenon? Even the work Ruin cited, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, can be considered an early proto-existentialist text. The figure of the Nietzschean last man brings about existentialist concerns with the absence of inherent meaning in life. It is Nietzsche who countered the nihilism embodied by the last man by basically embracing exceptionalism, a new kind of “value.” Moreover, with how poetic Thus Spoke Zarathustra is, it can be argued that Nietzsche saw meaning in the world, albeit suppressed by the mediocre masses.
According to Evola, “Nietzsche considered himself the first perfect nihilist in Europe, because he has already overcome nihilism, having lived it in his soul – having it behind himself, beneath, and outside himself.”[16] Nietzsche’s period of holding passive nihilism in his heart, according to Evola, was only a transitional stage in which he passed through to counter his earlier passive nihilism with his later life-affirming active nihilism. He saw his prior nihilism embedded throughout the weak world around him, which he sought to challenge. Moreover, Nietzsche’s effort to counter life-denying nihilism with life-affirming nihilism corresponds with Ruin’s notion that Nietzsche was a counter-nihilist. For this reason, it is difficult to see counter-nihilism as significantly different from active nihilism.
Active Nihilism as Expressed by Black Metal
Black metal is perhaps the most potent expression of nihilism in contemporary culture because it has expressed both active and passive nihilistic sentiments for nearly forty years with no sign of slowing down. It is not a tongue-in-cheek presentation of nihilism like the one found in The Big Lebowski. The aesthetics of black metal music are typically marked by a strong anti-commercial attitude, intentionally poor production often described as lo-fi, stage makeup known as corpse paint meant to make performers appear frightening, and vocals delivered in earsplitting shrieks that can be difficult to enjoy if one is not accustomed to them. These genre-defining elements create an atmosphere saturated with robust antisocial energy in which nihilism can promptly manifest through the art form.
Moreover, it is no secret that black metal has a fanatically nihilistic lineage that the Federal Bureau of Investigation would deem as Nihilistic Violent Extremism. In the early 1990s, the Norwegian black metal scene was pushed into mainstream consciousness because of its history of suicide, murder, and arson. Burzum’s Vikernes, the chief figure in both murder and arson cases, claimed that the black metal movement had collapsed into what he called “nihilistic shit.”[17] However, Vikernes is most likely referring to the passive form of nihilism, not the active form, because even his own lyrics express sentiments that can be considered active nihilism, with its poetic verses that wouldn’t be out of place in Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra:
“When night falls … she cloaks the world … in impenetrable darkness.
A chill rises … from the soil … and contaminates the air.
Suddenly… life has new meaning.”
“Dunkelheit” from Burzum’s 1994 album Filosofem.
Much of Vikernes’ lyrics allude to nature, and it is clear that he drew significant inspiration from his time outside. This reverence for the natural world can also be found in other noteworthy black metal bands. The Swiss band Samael explored very nihilistic themes in their early material. On their 1994 album Ceremony of Opposites, a very affecting expression of active nihilism appears in the song “Crown.”
“Always standing, I am a tree
Awaiting the lightning”
There is a great deal of active nihilism contained in these nine words from Samael. The phrase “always standing” indicates an unbroken will. “I am a tree” conjures the shedding of the frailties of the human condition and an identification with nature itself. It bears a state where one is ultimately not different from the natural and uncaring patterns of existence. Finally, “awaiting the lightning” affirms the inevitability of death without fear, to love one’s own fate, that the final hour should be voluntary and vital, which mirrors Nietzsche’s notion that one should “die at the right time.”[18]
Another black metal band with a particular fondness for trees is the Ukrainian outfit Hate Forest. Metal Archives describes the band’s themes as “Nietzscheism, Mythology, Mysticism, Nature, Darkness, War, Hate.”[19] Notice that “Nietzscheism” is the first description here; the band even has a 2005 compilation album entitled Nietzscheism. Despite the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, which has directly affected their home city of Kharkiv, the band has remained surprisingly active. Their album, Against All Odds, which appeared this year, concludes with the song “Courage.”
Other noteworthy black metal references to Nietzsche and nihilism include the Norwegian band Gorgoroth and their album Twilight of the Idols, which directly references Nietzsche’s book of the same title. The Finnish band Impaled Nazarene with their 2000 album Nihil. The French band Antaeus released their 2000 album Cut Your Flesh and Worship Satan, which includes the track “Nihil Kaos.” The Australian band Destroyer 666, with their 2000 album Phoenix Rising, which concludes with the song “The Birth of Tragedy,” is another explicit reference to a Nietzsche book. These are only a few examples of the presence of Nietzsche and nihilism in black metal, and there are many more, including a whole subgenre called “Depressive Suicidal Black Metal” that embodies the passive and fatalistic form of nihilism espoused by Cioran.
On our side of the pond, the Texas black metal-adjacent “Necroclassical” project Goatcraft portrayed nihilism as in part existential. The 2013 debut album from Goatcraft, All for Naught, featured nihilistic and existential song titles such as “Infinite Death,” “Vestibule to the Abyss,” and “Consciousness is a Disease,” the last of which is a direct quotation from the existentialist Miguel de Unamuno from his work The Tragic Sense of Life.[20] Moreover, Lonegoat, the sole-musician of Goatcraft, considered his form of nihilism as an extreme form of realism.[21] It was a year later, in 2014, with emergence of the Goatcraft sophomore album, Blasphemer, where Lonegoat affirmed active nihilism not unlike how Evola illustrated it: “‘Written and recorded from July to November 2013 under the influence of William Blake’s paintings and theological observations, the album represents my quest to reconcile the mystical side of GOATCRAFT with its nihilistic side.’ sole-member Lonegoat explains.”[22]
It is in music, particularly black metal and music adjacent to it, where nihilism is not merely theoretical but actively lived in, which reflects the ontological side of existentialism. The inner strength of the black metal musician, to acknowledge the horrors of the world and channel that into creativity, is an active form of nihilism. The music itself thus becomes an expression of inner strength in the face of destruction, a resilience reaffirmed time and again in seemingly endless forms of expression.
Amor Fati as a Characteristic of Active Nihilism
Samael’s lyric “I am a tree awaiting the lightning” parallels Nietzsche’s concept of amor fati, also known as a love of fate. In Ecce Homo, in the section entitled “Why I am So Clever,” Nietzsche expounds on this love of fate: “My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it – all idealism is mendaciousness in the face of what is necessary – but love it.”[23] Here, we can draw the same conclusion about active nihilism as Evola did: active nihilism is being untroubled by the modern world. The inner strength of the active nihilist is harnessed even when the external world is ruled by the last man. It is in this inner spirit that power is increased, which allows one to fall in love with that final strike of lightning, not as a resignation from life – for that would be an attribute of the passive nihilist – but as a means of bringing into totality the significance of one’s own creative and uninhibited life-affirmation in the presence of ultimate destruction.
Active Nihilism as Dionysian
Much like black metal, which is saturated with references to nature, Nietzsche saw something similar in the Dionysian form of the Greek Tragedy: “It is as though in these Greek festivals a sentimental trait of nature were coming to the fore, as though nature were bemoaning the fact of her fragmentation, her decomposition into separate individuals. The chants and gestures of these revelers, so ambiguous in their motivation, represented an absolute novum in the world of the Homeric Greeks; their Dionysiac music, in particular, spread abroad terror and a deep shudder.”[24] Moreover, in contrast to the Apollonian, which represents the social order of the modern world, Nietzsche believed that the Dionysian breaks social illusions apart. As he put it, “Wherever the Dionysiac voice was heard, the Apollonian norm was shattered.”[25] The contrast between the two opposing forces is sharp. For Nietzsche, the Apollonian brings about mere appearances of stability, while the Dionysian tears through those appearances to the highest degree. The Dionysian discloses primordial truths of existence that reside underneath the illusory layers of the last man’s social conditioning.
Evola would understand this Dionysian destruction as a creative force of active nihilism; as a life-affirming force that destroys illusions not out of despondency but in order to clear the ground for the possibility of new meaning and values. This is precisely what finds conduit in black metal, where the music confronts the dull shallowness of the modern world. It pulverizes the life-denying comfort of the last man.
Terrorism is Merely Epiphenomenal of Active Nihilism
Burzum’s Vikernes, one of the few black metal musicians who has engaged in terroristic activity, can be regarded as an active nihilist because of his apparent increase in spiritual power expressed through his music. However, the vast majority, as in 99.999%, of black metal musicians have never engaged in terrorism. Their nihilism is expressed through the music itself. Black metal’s active nihilism spills into the real world as terroristic violence only on very rare occasions. For this reason, it is more accurate to see terrorism as something epiphenomenal to active nihilism, a byproduct much like the whey left behind after milk curdles, rather than a distinguishing feature.
We can see a similar pattern in other forms of terrorism, such as the kind carried out by Islamic jihadists. Jihadists do not define Islam, and the presence of violent extremists does not determine the essence of a tradition, whether it be religious or philosophical. In addition, many individuals who might fall under the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Nihilistic Violent Extremism classification, such as Ted Kaczynski, held ideologies that fall outside active nihilism. He believed that unrestrained technological progress was the degradation of the natural order, which is a belief that is clearly distinguished from the attributes that characterize active nihilism as outlined above.
Conclusion
In the end, active nihilism is best understood not through the extremely rare actions of those drawn to terrorism but through those who face the world with lasting inner strength. Active nihilism is shown wherever the individual confronts destruction without retreating into the comforts of the last man. Its manifestation is clearest in those who create new meaning and value by standing firm in a world that would prefer cowardly and materialistic resignation. This is why black metal remains such a powerful medium for understanding active nihilism. The form of art does not wait for the modern world to conform to it, for it never truly will, because the modern world is governed by the craven last man.
Thus, the kernel of active nihilism is realized in the life-affirmation of completely embracing the totality of one’s own deterministic trajectory in the face of certain destruction. Violent terroristic acts may possibly emerge on the peripheries in the real world, for example, through maniacs such as Vikernes, but terrorism is not the essence of active nihilism; it is merely a very rare byproduct. The essence of active nihilism is, as Nietzsche originally outlined, the increased power of the spirit. Active nihilists do not seek shelter from the coming storms. They power through in an apathetic world and stand as the trees awaiting the lightning.
Bibliography
Anon. “Goatcraft – the Blasphemer CD – Metal Odyssey.” 8merch.com. 2022. https://metalodyssey.8merch.com/product/goatcraft-the-blasphemer-cd/
Anon. “Hate Forest – Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives.” 2025. Metal-Archives.com. 2025. https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Hate_Forest/2234.
Anon. “Neo-Nazi Musician Arrested over Terror Plot.” Al Jazeera. July 17, 2013. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/7/17/neo-nazi-musician-arrested-over-terror-plot.
Anon. “Varg Vikernes (Burzum): ‘I No Longer Play Metal Music.’” Lambgoat.com. 2025. https://lambgoat.com/blog/358/varg-vikernes-burzum-i-no-longer-play-metal-music/.
Cioran, Emil. 2012. The Trouble with Being Born. New York: Arcade Pub.
Deleuze, Gilles. 1983. Nietzsche and Philosophy. New York: Columbia University Press.
Evola, Julius. 2018. Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions.
Kaczynski, Ted. “Ted Kaczynski’s Letter to Jacques Ellul.” The Ted K Archive. https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/ted-kaczynski-s-letter-to-ellul.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 2000. Basic Writings of Nietzsche. New York: Modern Library.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1990. The Birth of Tragedy; And, the Genealogy of Morals. New York: Anchor Books.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1968. The Will to Power. Edited by Walter Kaufmann. Hollingdale. New York: Random House.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 2015. Thus Spoke Zarathustra : A Book for All and None. Cambridge: University Press.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. 2019. Being and Nothingness. Atria Books.
Stevens, Brett. 2016. Nihilism: A Philosophy Based in Nothingness And Eternity. Australia: Manticore Press.
Unamuno, Miguel. 2018. Tragic Sense of Life. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Vitale, Alberto. 2013. “GOATCRAFT, ‘Sono Un Nichilista, Ovvero Una Forma Estrema Di Realismo.’ – Metalhead.” Metalhead. April 30, 2013. https://www.metalhead.it/interviste/goatcraft-sono-un-nichilista-ovvero-una-forma-estrema-di-realismo/
Ware, Jacob. 2025. “Nihilistic Violent Extremism and American Counterterrorism.” Just Security. May 21, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/113463/nihilistic-violent-extremism-american-counterterrorism/.
Footnotes
[1] Ware, Jacob. 2025. “Nihilistic Violent Extremism and American Counterterrorism.” Just Security. May 21, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/113463/nihilistic-violent-extremism-american-counterterrorism/.
[2] Kaczynski, Ted. “Ted Kaczynski’s Letter to Jacques Ellul.” The Ted K Archive. https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/ted-kaczynski-s-letter-to-ellul. Kacynski notes that he read Ellul’s The Technological Society six times.
[3] Anon. 2013. “Neo-Nazi Musician Arrested over Terror Plot.” Al Jazeera. July 17, 2013. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/7/17/neo-nazi-musician-arrested-over-terror-plot.
[4] Nietzsche, WTP, p. 17.
[5] Deleuze, p. 151. “[…] negative nihilism is replaced by reactive nihilism, reactive nihilism ends in passive nihilism. From God to God’s murderer, from God’s murderer to the last man.”
[6] Deleuze, p. 152. “Negative, reactive and passive nihilism: for Nietzsche one and the same history is marked out by Judaism, Christianity, the reformation, free thought, democratic and socialist idealology, etc. Up until the last man.”
[7] Nietzsche, TSZ, p. 37.
[8] Nietzsche, TSZ, p. 77.
[9] Stevens, p. 145.
[10] Cioran, p. 18.
[11] Evola, p. 35.
[12] Evola, p. 34.
[13] Sartre, p. 794. “[…] the obscenity of the female sex organ is that of all gaping things; it is a call for being, as all holes are, moreover; in herself the woman is calling for a foreign flesh which, penetrating and diluting her, must transform her into a plentitude of being. And conversely the woman feels her condition to be like an appeal, precisely because she is ‘holed’.”
[14] Nietzsche, WTP p. 354. “Freedom of will or no freedom of will?—There is no such thing as ‘will’ it is only a simplifying conception of understanding, as in ‘matter.’ All actions must first be made possible mechanically before they are willed. Or: the ‘purpose’ usually comes into the mind only after has been prepared for its execution. The end is an ‘inner’ ‘stimulus’—no more.”
[15] Sartre, p. 73. “What we should note here is that the freedom manifest through anguish is characterized by a constantly renewed obligation to remake the Me by which the free being is designated.”
[16] Evola, p. 35.
[17] “Varg Vikernes (Burzum): ‘I No Longer Play Metal Music.’” 2025. Lambgoat.com. 2025. https://lambgoat.com/blog/358/varg-vikernes-burzum-i-no-longer-play-metal-music/. “Black metal as a movement turned into nihilistic shit […].”
[18] Nietzsche, TSZ, p. 53. “Many die too late, and some die too early. The doctrine still sounds strange: Die at the right time!’ Die at the right time: thus Zarathustra teaches it.”
[19] Anon. “Hate Forest – Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives.” 2025. Metal-Archives.com. 2025. https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Hate_Forest/2234.
[20] Unamuno, p. 29. “Apart from the fact there is no normal standard of health, nobody has proved that man is necessarily cheerful by nature. And further, man, by the very fact of being man, of possessing consciousness, is, in comparison with the ass or the crab, a diseased animal. Consciousness is a disease.”
[21] Vitale, Alberto. 2013. “GOATCRAFT, ‘Sono Un Nichilista, Ovvero Una Forma Estrema Di Realismo.’ – Metalhead.” Metalhead. April 30, 2013. https://www.metalhead.it/interviste/goatcraft-sono-un-nichilista-ovvero-una-forma-estrema-di-realismo/. Italian to English translation: In the CD booklet, you include quotes from Celine, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Marcus Aurelius, Cioran, Ernest Becker. What led you to include their words? I am a nihilist, that is, an extreme form of realism. Since I don’t have texts on which to express my concepts, I thought it would be appropriate to include some thoughts from philosophers whose ideas I agree with. Some people may understand it, others may think it’s garbage, and others might not even look at them. They are there for a specific reason.
[22] Anon, “Goatcraft – the Blasphemer CD – Metal Odyssey.” 2022. 8merch.com. 2022. https://metalodyssey.8merch.com/product/goatcraft-the-blasphemer-cd/. To be clear, in the spirit of Kierkegaard’s pseudonym “Anti-Climacus,” “Lonegoat” is a former pseudonym of mine, Jason Kiss, the author of this paper.
[23] Nietzsche, Basic Writings, p. 714.
[24] Nietzsche, BOT, p. 27.
[25] Nietzsche, BOT, p. 35.
