AUSTIN, Texas — Lady Nocturne, the founder and sole member of anonymous black metal project Broken Widow, admitted her secret identity only exists to spare her from embarrassment, sources who swear they aren’t close to the band confirmed.
“Playing black metal brings me more joy than any other hobby, but I’d rather burn down my own studio than explain Broken Widow to the normies in my life,” Nocturne said while a voice modulator. “I don’t want to deal with all the questions about when I’ll pivot to something more accessible or perform ‘Mr. Brightside’ at somebody’s wedding. Besides, if my neighbor finds out the screams coming from my basement are just me tracking vocals, he’ll let his kids make fun of my cloak again.”
Photographer Megan Gorman, who shot two of Broken Widow’s three album covers, has zero doubts about its elusive frontwoman’s identity.
“Anyone who spends five minutes at my girlfriend’s place knows what she is,” Gorman said. “Even if people don’t see the recording studio in the basement, her room is full of goat paraphernalia. She’s always lying to my family about being a DJ—like that’s any better—but what kind of DJ wears an oversized Baphomet mask? Everyone knows oversized robot heads are way more respectable. Well, everyone except her.”
Music critic Justin Calland criticized the project as yet another example of music made anonymous for the wrong reasons.
“There’s no need for artists to live double lives when the average black metal project is lucky to hit 50 monthly listeners, maybe 100 if they promote it hard enough,” said Calland, who gave Broken Widow’s last album a 3.8 Pitchfork score. “True anonymous artists shroud themselves in mystery to make listeners wonder what lies beneath the corpse paint. Lady Nocturne sends me music under her work email. I should probably talk to her about that in person, but I’d hate to embarrass her in front of the Gormans.”
At press time, Lady Nocturne reluctantly agreed to DJ her coworker’s wedding in order to evade suspicion about Broken Widow’s upcoming EP release.