Adapted from the 1998 book of the same name, the film is a historical fiction account of the early 1990s Norwegian black metal scene told from the perspective of Mayhem co-founder Euronymous.

It stars Rory Culkin as Euronymous, Emory Cohen as Varg Vikernes, Jack Kilmer as Dead, and Sky Ferreira as Ann-Marit.

In 1987, young guitarist Euronymous forms black metal band Mayhem, the first of the genre in their country of Norway, with Necrobutcher on bass, and Manheim on drums.

Euronymous recruits Varg as bassist, along with a guitarist called Blackthorn and Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar, to record Mayhem's first album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.

After a wave of church burnings and the murder of a gay man by Faust, police begin to link members of the local black metal scene to the crimes.

Helvete is shut down, and Varg is arrested as prime suspect after an interview with a Bergen newspaper in which he boasts about his responsibility for the crimes, though he is soon released due to a lack of evidence.

Euronymous reveals that the skull piece necklaces were fake and that his violent, anti-authority mindset is merely a persona he has adopted for the sake of the band, angering Varg.

Originally, Japanese director Sion Sono was set to direct a film based on the book, with Jackson Rathbone starring as Varg Vikernes.

The screenplay was written by Hans Fjellestad (who was earlier reported to be the film's director as well[6]), Ryan Page, Adam Parfrey (the book's publisher), and Sono.

[14] Rory Culkin said that he had lost faith in the film coming out in the years between the first announcement and even cut his hair he had grown for the role, only for two weeks later to get confirmation on production starting.

[15] Hungarian black metal band Bornholm served as consultants for the film, helping teach Culkin and the other actors the techniques for their playing to look believable.

[15][16] Vikernes, who had already expressed criticisms against the book, stated in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel in 2016 that when approached by the filmmakers, he, along with Mayhem and Darkthrone, denied the rights for their music to be used in the film.

[21] Jack Kilmer's performance as the band's frontman Dead has received praise for being the most accurate portrayal in the film, with the exception of one scene where he has a cat hanging from his room.

The website's consensus reads: "Lords of Chaos presents a grimly compelling dramatization of a real-life music scene whose aggressively nihilistic aesthetic spilled over into fatal acts of violence.

"[21] Robert Ham of Consequence wrote that "Instead of courting [the black metal] audience, or trying to find some middle ground where [Åkerlund] celebrates the music while rightfully disparaging the actions of some of its worst figureheads, he punches down with a smirk and dismisses the birth of a genre as the product of misspent youth.

"[34] Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times summarized, "Ultimately it all adds up to a hodgepodge of styles and attitudes with hardly any insight into what made this corrosive clique so magnetic to its adherents.

"[35] Attila Csihar, in a January 2019 interview, stated that the official opinion of the current Mayhem members regarding the film and its creators is a "big fuck you".

[38] Vikernes harshly criticised the film as "made-up crap", objecting to being portrayed by a Jewish actor and to plot elements, calling the depiction "character murder".