your gift for today: Immortal brings teh lulz

I came across the strange story of the Immortal photoshop/Youtube meme when I was doing research on internet memes for my emerging media class.  For those who don’t know, a meme is something stupid and random that becomes very popular on the Internet for reasons unbeknownst to most folks – for example, Rickrolling or Lolcats.  The Immortal meme centers around the eponymous Norwegian black-metal band Immortal.  They are a pretty spooky bunch, as might be expected from a band in corpsepaint whose frontman is named Abbath Doom Occulta.  In the early ’90s, Immortal made one of the most ridiculous metal videos of all time for their song “Call of the Wintermoon” (click for the original video).  It’s not a bad song, but the video is one for the ages: this low-budget gem features band members traipsing around in the woods in witch costumes and making scary faces at the camera.  It’s fucking hilarious on its own.

The meme started a few years back on various heavy metal message boards; someone decided to do a funny photoshop of one of Immortal’s promo shots, in which the band is trying their best to look very scary (which, of course, makes it so easy).  The idea caught on; pretty soon, Immortal photoshops were cropping up on message boards across the web.  It was only a matter of time before people started messing with the “Call of the Wintermoon” video.  YTMND audioswaps began circulating, and a sped-up version of the video set to “Benny Hill” music soon appeared on YouTube.  Witness the hilarity:

Yeah.  The dude in the witch hat is a dead ringer for my best friend’s roommate.  However, my favorite funny Immortal mashup video has got to be this inspired bit of bewonderment, set to the Scissor Sisters:

Who says the Internet isn’t a great source of high culture and mind-expanding awesomeness?  I swear, my brain gets bigger every time I watch that video.