‘Wolves of the Krypteia’: Lycanthropy and right-wing extremism in metal’s reception of ancient Greece and Rome

Abstract

Metal’s pervasive (were)wolf motifs are key hermeneutics for the reception of classical antiquity by right-wing bands. Continuities of lupine themes and romanticization of Sparta and Rome exist between fascist Germany and Italy, contemporary far-right political and pagan organizations, and bands that combine these two subjects in a unique but consistent way. Also inspired by Nietzsche, Evola and social Darwinists, bands such as Der Stürmer, Kataxu and Spearhead trace their biological and spiritual ancestry to Sparta, emulating their lycanthropic militarism and racial terrorism. Bands such as Hesperia, Diocletian and Deströyer 666 utilize Roman wolf iconography to promote the destruction of civilization and return to ‘natural’ hierarchies. Like their fascist predecessors, these artists perpetuate patriarchal and racist distortions of both lupine behaviour and ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Such constructions nevertheless extend from the resonance of both wolves and classical antiquity with metal’s common themes of transgression, hypermasculinity, elitism and nostalgia for premodernity.