Alex Kurtagić (born 1970) is a British artist, musician, novelist, and publisher. He is the founder of Supernal Music, an independent metal label, and various publishing houses.Kurtagic, Alex, ''The Art of Alex Kurtagic: 1989 - 2017'' (London: Spradabach Publishing, 2019) p. xi-xii Between 2009 and 2013 he was a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

speaker and writer, but in 2019, he stated that he had disengaged from political extremism.

Life

Kurtagić was born in 1970 to family of Spanish and Slovenian ancestry. Due to his parents' jobs, he spent part of his youth in South America.Lichtmesz, Martin
"Alex Kurtagić: ''Mister''"
, Sezession.de, December 2009. In 1995, he founded the

Black Metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

music project Benighted Leams, which has since released four albums between 1996 and 2006. In 1996, he founded Supernal Music. During the mid-to-late 1990s, his illustrations appeared on albums by black metal artists, such as

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic lang ...

Deinonychus ''Deinonychus'' ( ; ) is a genus of Dromaeosauridae, dromaeosaurid Theropoda, theropod dinosaur with one described species, ''Deinonychus antirrhopus''. This species, which could grow up to long, lived during the early Cretaceous Period (ge ...

, and Tormentor, among others. His cover of Dimmu Borgir's ''Stormblåst'' is featured in the book ''Heavy Metal Thunder: Album Covers That Rocked the World''.

Writer

Kurtagić's dystopian novel, ''Mister'', was published in 2009. From then until 2013, he was active as a

intellectual figure. In 2011, a collection of articles and essays was published in book form by Unitall Verlag in German translation, with the title ''Ja, Afrika muss zur Hölle gehen''. A second collection, also in German, was published by Antaios in 2013 as Warum Konservative immer verlieren. In 2019, a book collecting his artwork was published, containing also anecdotal, fictional, semi-fictional, and satirical texts. In the preface, he distanced himself from political extremism. A second novel, ''Angel'', was published in 2022.

Supernal Music

Supernal Music offered a

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

catalogue of underground music throughout the late 1990s,Keith Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Oxford: Berg, 2007) , p. 64 particularly

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

and black metal. Its later roster included bands such as Astrofaes and

Drudkh Drudkh is a Ukrainian black metal band. It currently consists of Roman Saenko (of Hate Forest and formerly of Dark Ages), Thurios (former member of Astrofaes and Hate Forest), Krechet, and Vlad. All four also were members of Blood of Kingu un ...

from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Fleurety Fleurety is a Norway, Norwegian avant-garde metal band. The band was formed in 1991 by Svein Egil Hatlevik and Alexander Nordgaren. History The band released their first demo, ''Black Snow'' in 1993. After that came the 7-inch EP ''A Darker Sha ...

and

Mayhem Mayhem most commonly refers to: * Mayhem (crime), a type of crime Mayhem may also refer to: People * Monica Mayhem (born 1978), Australian pornographic actress * Jason "Mayhem" Miller, American mixed martial arts fighter * Mayhem Miller (dr ...

from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and

The Meads of Asphodel The Meads of Asphodel are an English black metal band with pronounced medieval, Arab, punk, and progressive metal influences from Hertfordshire, England. History The band was formed in mid-1998 by Metatron and Jaldaboath. The stated aim being ...

from the United Kingdom.

Discography

Benighted Leams

*''Caliginous Romantic Myth'' (1996) *''Astral Tenebrion'' (1998) *''Ferly Centesms'' (2004) *''Obombrid Welkins'' (2006)

Bibliography

*''Mister''. Iron Sky Publishing, 2009; *''Ja, Afrika muss zur Hölle gehen''. Unitall Verlag, 2011; *''Warum Konservative immer verlieren'', Antaios (2013); * ''The Art of Alex Kurtagic''. Spradabach Publishing, 2019. *''Angel''. Spradabach Publishing, 2022.

Translations

*''The Golden Tread'' by Miguel Serrano. The Palingenesis Project, 2017. *''The Veil Lifted for the Curious, or the Secrets of the French Revolution Revealed with the Aid of Freemasonry'' by Jacques-François Lefranc. Spradabach Publishing, 2022.

References

External links

*
2005 Interview with Benighted Leams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurtagic, Alex 1970 births British bloggers British heavy metal musicians British people of Slovenian descent British people of Spanish descent Living people Black metal musicians