 According to Trafford and Pluskowski , the imagery in Viking metal draws not only from material culture left from Viking Age , but also " encompasses the broad semiotic system favored by many black and death metal bands , not least of all the exultation of violence and hyper @-@ masculinity expressed through weapons and battlefields . " However , in Viking metal this semiotic system is melded with an interest in ancestral roots , specifically a pre @-@ Christian heritage , " expressed visually through Viking mythology and the aesthetics of northern landscapes . " Trafford and Pluskowski further explain that extreme and obsessive loathing of Christianity had long remained the norm of black and death metal bands , but in the 1990s Bathory and many other bands began turning away from Satanism as the primary opposition to Christianity , instead placing their faith in the Vikings and Odin . Many artists claim affiliation to Ásatrú , treating Christianity as a foreign influence that was forcibly imposed , and therefore as a wrong to be righted . Trafford and Pluskowski state that some members of the scene were motivated to act , citing the church burnings by black metal musician Varg Vikernes as an example . They admit that while most bands or individuals did not go that far , an undercurrent of racism , nationalism , and anti @-@ Semitism continues to permeate parts of the black metal scene . On the other hand , Trafford and Pluskowski note that many Viking metal artists , including bands such as Enslaved and Einherjer , simply express interest in Vikings and Norse mythology and entirely reject the Satanic inclination of black metal , writing almost exclusively on Norse themes , without any racist or anti @-@ Semitic undertones . Hoad considers Viking metal both pre @-@ Christian and post @-@ apocalyptic — it looks to a pre @-@ Christian past and imagines a post @-@ Christian future . While opposition to Christianity drove the formation of Viking metal , some bands that play , or have played , Viking metal , such as Slechtvalk , <unk> , and Holy Blood , subscribe to Christian beliefs . 
