Inquisition and Black Metal`s Fascism Problem by Jonsan van Johnson

Transcription

7//16/14
Another season, another zine.
Let's run down the lightning, shall we? On
the interview front, we've got interviews
with Mutilation Rites, So Hideous,
Epistatis, Barbelith, Black Palace, and the
conclusion of our interview series with
academics involved in the publication of
“Educational, Psychological, and Behavioral
Considerations in Niche Online Communites,”
as we hear from Jefferey Podoshen and Vivek
Ventakesh.
Patrick turns in a look at a whole host of
Latin and South American black metal, and
ed. reviews a bunch of stuff while very
sleep-deprived. Jonsan van Johnson of
shamelessnavelgazing provides a look into
the problematic associations of Inquisition
(you may have seen this article on the
INTERNET. We think it's valuable to
continue this discussion, and so we're
reprinting it.) and the ever reliable SJC
offers a look at the intersections of fine
art and black metal.
On the art trip, Scott Wygmans provides
another astonishing cover, JB Roe offers up
a flay-vorful piece, and M. Foody
contributes thematically appropriate
landscape photography.
All the bones were
cribbed from a surgical manual ed. found on
archive.org.
Thanks as always go to those who shared
their time with us to help create this zine.
hails.
ed.&Patrick
Open Your Third Eye: A Chat with Barbelith
Baltimore's place in metal history has been secured as
America's gathering ground for the metal festival of
metal festivals, Maryland Death Fest. However, as of late,
the local metalheads have been making quite a ruckus of
their own. We first noticed Barbelith when they were
mentioned as part of Grimoire Record’s stable, and were
immediately intrigued by their 90’s comics-referencing
name, and beautifully anguished music. Luckily, we
were able to track them down, and interrogate them
about their artistic endeavors.
you share your name with the watchful satellite featured
in grant morrison's mindfuck of a comic series 'The
Invisibles'. it's an image that pervades the series, and
often offers a transformative experience for the
characters who interact with it. why did you choose this
name?
Barbelith presented itself to us in the early stages of the
project as both a phonetically distinct and conceptually ripe
idea. We interpret Morrison's symbol as a beacon of
awakening for the central characters of the series, offering a
tether to an external awareness outside of the societal and
spiritual paradigm that permeates that world. Our own
encounters with personal iterations of the Barbelith idea
have motivated us to seek truth and undertake the dual
processes of self-reflection and self-realization. This musical
project is an ongoing documentation of that journey.
can you discuss the formation and history of barbelith?
it seems recently, the band has become a much more
active entity. what prompted this spurt of productivity?
Barbelith began in late 2011 as a two-piece collaboration,
practicing in a room the size of a closet. We evolved into a
four-piece by spring of 2012, and in early 2013 solidified our
current lineup. We spent the first half of 2013 playing shows
in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and North Virginia, refining our
live presence and finding our place within the regional metal
community. Scheduling was tough, though, and we really
didn't have much time for regular practices or creating new
material. After we recorded our untitled 7" in August
(released this spring on Fragile Branch) we took a short
hiatus to focus on work and personal projects; once we
reconvened we were finally able to establish regular practice
sessions. Dedicating time to practice, write, and meditate
together has allowed us to grow tremendously as a singular
creative entity and as individuals.
In late 2013 Grimoire Records approached us about
recording and releasing an album; this began our
partnership with Noel Mueller, Grimoire's incredibly
talented in-house engineer. He typically knocks out fulllength recordings in just one session, but was willing to
work with us on an extended timeline, which allowed us to
really refine our new material before committing it to disc.
Recording has been an invigorating process for us,
motivating us to approach each song as a total collaboration
and renewing our enthusiasm for live performance.
morrison has claimed that "the invisibles" was an
attempt at a wide-scale form of sigil magick, designed to
create the world depicted inside the pages of the comic.
do you have any similar grand ambitions with your
music?
In a way, yes. On the last page of the Invisibles, Morrison
breaks the fourth wall and addresses the reader. This
amounts to handing off Barbelith from Morrison’s world into
our day-to-day reality. Barbelith represents something
inexplainable and inarticulable. We want to bring this
expression of human struggle into the world to help awaken
and inspire people as they attempt to push through the
collective dream state and tap into what lies beyond. The
true magic at work here emerges from a full surrender to the
unknown.
morrison's approach to the occult was eye-opening for a
boy weened on the quasi-mysticism of most heavy metal,
as he stripped most of the judeo-christian aspects from
it, and took a much more inclusive view of spiritual
forces. you've claimed your live performances have
ritual aspects.
are there other aspects of mysticism or the occult that
influence your output?
Though we avoid explicit ties to any specific esoteric or
religious factions, we use intuitive ritual to enhance the
power of our performance. Rituals are a powerful method of
focusing and setting a conscious intention; we have
experimented with many different processes for creating
and maintaining a spiritually resonant environment—sage
burning, crystal grids, firelight, and vocal drones, among
others. We are still developing our rituals, trying different
things to see what works for us. Our most consistent ritual
involves meditating together in our dark practice space
during each rehearsal.
your statement on bandcamp claims "This is not a band,
these are not people." Is your intention to present your
music as an independent object from yourselves? do you
think it is possible to channel something through a
vessel without contamination?
This project is us; it's an expression of where we are as
individual components of a single entity. On the surface,
what you hear is our communion with each other. On a
deeper level, though, these sounds are manifestations of the
sublime—the unknowable, the indescribable. Our intention
in coming together has never been to "write songs", but to
access something both within and beyond ourselves, and to
bring it into the world. In order for that to work we have to
be really honest with ourselves about what it is we’re
actually trying to express. True intention has a way of
manifesting itself in the work—whether we're completely
aware of that intention or not. We have to be aware of our
egos and the contingent outcomes of our actions; we have to
understand that we are never in complete control of any
given situation.
We have enough honest communication with each other and
with our instruments that we can make a conscious effort to
musically consider the unspeakable abstracts that lie outside
the limitations of our necessarily subjective understanding.
It's not possible to take something that lies outside of human
experience—something that essentially cannot be
understood—and channel it into a physical medium without
something being lost in translation. Our work, then, is nonrepresentational; we are more interested in creating
metaphorical or symbolic considerations of our subject than
attempting the impossible task of direct translation.
Contamination comes from the ego projecting itself onto the
work after the initial moment of creation has passed. This is
ultimately an act of bad faith; the only thing that actually
exists is the present moment. The ego wants to take the
credit, to make itself the central subject of the work. By
detaching our musical output from our individual identities,
we present the work itself and the ideas it examines as the
true focus of the project.
comics often function as a power fantasy for the reader
and the author. people have argued that heavy metal
functions in the same way, noise and fury providing a
sense of agency that might not exist in the
musician/listener's life. what sort of release or emotion
does playing this music generate for you?
It's simultaneously an emotional release and an opportunity
for purification. We imbue the songs with feeling and
thereby release ourselves; the music takes the burden from
us and retains it. This does sometimes make older songs
more difficult for us to play, as it requires us to return to that
headspace and cloak ourselves in an emotional resonance
that we don't necessarily want to feel again. It can really feel
self-exploitative to perform this emotional theatre for public
consumption; the whole point of creating these songs and
delving into those dark caverns of our psyches is to purify
those emotions and transcend them. So there are certain
songs we don't typically play live, as we'd rather perform
material more relevant to our present spiritual and
emotional states.
in other interviews, you've mentioned an band-wide
involvement with the baltimore art scene.
could you discuss this in more detail?
We are all constantly involved in projects and pursuits
external to Barbelith. Aside from our musical side projects—
Nostalgique, Quitter, Soul Glimpse, and ¥awn, to name a
few—we work with: The Holy Underground, a DIY art and
performance space; Black Aggie Press, a publishing house;
Monolith, an independent film studio; freelance videography,
illustration and design; the Transmodern Festival;
Baltimore's Artscape festival; and more. Baltimore has an
incredible arts community and we are thrilled to be a part of
it—both as Barbelith and as individual artists.
for a long period of time, baltimore's two biggest exports
seemed to be the wire, and the charm city collective. now,
through the work of grimore records and others, the
metal scene in baltimore seems to e getting a lot more
notice. how would you describe the environment for a
metal band in baltimore to an outsider?
It is what you make of it. Just like any other city, there's the
potential for scene politics to take precedence over the
music, but we try to stay above the fray and treat everyone
with radical acceptance, even if they are mired within that
superficial mindset. Our following is pretty broad, though,
and we see all kinds of different people at our shows—not
just metalheads. That said, there are lots of fantastic people
working from within the metal community to bolster local
bands and bring excellent touring acts to the city. Phil and
Noel from Grimoire are true beacons for the scene, drawing
together bands from all over the heavy spectrum under their
umbrella and getting their music out into the world. Hasan
Ali is a tireless promoter who runs multiple incredible
shows every week—on top of being one of the nicest guys in
the city. DIY spaces like the 5th Dimension or Barclay House
offer idiosyncratic, non-bar venues for shows running the
gamut from harsh noise to afropop to stoner metal.
what's next for barbelith? any final words for our
readers?
Our last session for the full-length was in May; we're beyond
excited to release it and are hashing out the details for the
vinyl release now. We're developing new material and
changing up our live sets. We're also taking steps into the
realm of improvisational and ambient music, experimenting
with new techniques and sounds, expanding our aural
palette. We don't know what the future holds but we are
truly excited about all the possibilities that are continually
presenting themselves.
You can find Barbelith on the internet at
https://www.facebook.com/barbelithmd or
http://barbelith.bandcamp.com/.
Every Hundred Feet the World Changes : Speaking with
Mexico’s Black Palace
Patrick took it upon himself to shore up a noted weak
spot in our coverage of North and South American black
metal, and went on a long research bender earlier this
year. Black Palace was one of the bands he brought to
our attention, and we’re lucky he did so. Black Palace
spoke to us through e-mail, and gave us an intriguing
look at the metal underground in Mexico City. This
interview has been edited slightly for clarity.
can you give us a history of the band? what inspired you
to start playing black metal?
The band was born in the winter of 2006. All menbers were
male, but with the passage of time, in 2009 without planning,
Black Palace is composed entirely of females until 2013.
With a self-titled Demo that came out in 2010 and an album,
The Origin of Chaos in 2011. We are preparing a new album
for this 2014. Black Palace currently is Aphrodite on vocals,
guitars and chorus by Morguen Levanus and Andraz on
drums.
Each has a different vision about that, but certainly the genre
with which we identify more each.
your band is named for the Palico De Lecumberri, a
famous prison in Mexico City. Why choose that as your
namesake? Do your lyrics deal with the politics of
Mexico?
The founding members found it interesting that the prison is
considered a portal of energy. In the beginning it was the
house of countless social fractures, most of that times
twisted were there. Many stories of torture and witchcraft
have been linked to the name. No, our lyrics are not about
political but are not closed. At any time you could make a
song about the issues that affect us that topic, This palace is
taken up as a portal into torpor by having high concentration
of negative energy.
In an interview with Spain Death Metal from 2012, it is
mentioned
that Aphrodite teaches and trains MMA. Have you seen
any similarities
between the metal scene and those involved in MMA?
I'm just practicing MMA and other sports. The truth is, I did
not quite understand where this question goes but, I think
the answer is no.
It seems like there has been a fair amount of turnover in
your band. Is it difficult to maintain a consistent artistic
vision with the line-up changes?
No, it really is not, especially when there is not the same
vision, to be honest those who are no longer here or tried to
be, is a matter of priorities, but it has not really affected us,
perhaps in the time. Although we have thousands of
member changes, we continue to disturb ears much longer.
Central and South American Black Metal bands seem to
be more indebted to the first wave of Black Metal than
European or North American counterparts, why do think
this is?
I think there's a social imaginary ... sometimes the metalhead,
sin about the traditional. Suddenly it was as easy to adopt
the idea that the past and the former is better and it should
be, and the people is closed about that. It's okay, right?
"Everyone select to rope entangled in the neck."
Do you feel a sense of isolation from the bands and fans
in North America and Europe? Do you find it hard to
reach out to people who may like your music in these
regions? How important is social media in distributing
your music?
Yes, is difficult due to the language and lack of capital, and
other things that make many a times is difficult.about the
social media distribution, I think it is important with a click
you can sharing with a lot of people that have access an
internet . Although you know, like everything has its
downside, but I compensated with the help they can provide
such tools.
We saw a clip of the band playing at 'Metro Tacubaya',
which is a train station, correct? how did this
performance come about?
Oh yes! Personally was not really agree with going to touch
the subway when commented on the idea, mainly because I
know that our genre is hard to "digest" for many ears. For
the truth, was weird gone to play for all those sensitive ears.
but overall it was a very pleasant experience because many
of our people that support us, was there. We made do a slam
on the subway (Imagine! The ball of people who are already
in a public transport, rush hour, and throw in people who
were going to see us) The people that invite us almost
canceled the event but it was great. Too bad I think the
person who invited us were not eager to put back a band of
black metal in the subway. Although many people look really
bad moralists that a band of black metal is put to play in
such a place, it was one of the best events in which we has
played. Much of the stigma comes from ignorance.
You have a new album on the horizon. What can we
expect from this upcoming record? Any major changes
from your previous work? thank you for your time, we
really appreciate it!
Sure, it's very important from the fact that the alignment
step fémina be entirely to have a couple of guys in the band
again. The new CD does not have much to do musically with
our first album "The Origin Of Chaos", all the changes that
had been BLACK PALACE for their evolution and this change
will be a strong test.
We are working more time to each song, the past work it was
actually pretty fast , from composition to recording, and
thankfully people liked it. and the copies was sold out, but
for this new album we spend a little more time. I think it's a
big change. The sound is a bit more elaborate. Thank you so
much guys! Best regards and success from Mexico!
Black Palace can be found on the internet at
https://www.facebook.com/BlackPalace666
Inquisition and Black Metal’s Fascism
Problem
by Jonsan van Johnson
It was only at the end of last year that I became aware of
US black metal band Inquisition, thanks to the appearance of their
latest album Obscure Verses for the Multiverse on numerous critics’
end-of-year lists. Upon first listening, the main things that struck
me included the oddly croaky, reptilian voice of singer/guitarist
Jason Weirbach (aka Dagon), as well as the fact that all the songs
sounded quite samey, given the ubiquity of their monolithic
assemblage of thick riffs and relentless blastbeats. Quickly though,
I grew to appreciate the band’s unique sound, and delved further
into their back catalogue. This did lead me to develop some
concerns about their material, the song “Crush the Jewish Prophet”
from Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer being the most obvious
example. If the song was an anti-Christian critique in the black
metal tradition, as it appeared to be based on its lyrics, why was it
necessary to centre Jesus’ ethnicity in the title, unless the band felt
this too was something to criticise? But, caught up in the music, I
didn’t worry too much about this.
Until, that is, I saw a thread concerning the band on a
friend’s Facebook page earlier this month. It was here that a man
named Daniel Gallant, formerly a white supremacist himself,
called Inquisition’s members (Weirbach and drummer Thomas
Stevens, aka Incubus) out as Nazis. When asked to elaborate on
this, he stated the following:
“I was a white supremacist for many years. I
have been out for twelve years. I drove the
bus for an Inquisition tour. When I suspected
they were white power, because I was driving
for my friends band Gyibaaw, a First Nations
band, I decided to prove it.
I pulled off my t shirt and there it was…my
giant swastika for them all to see…they
clapped and cheered…Inquisition (both Tom
and Jason) were thrilled.
They boasted about their admiration for
Hitler, how they loved the white power
movement, and had many friends from South
America and Everett, Washington…turns out
we had mutual acquaintances. Tom used to
hang out with the World Church of the
Creator and still boasts his admiration for the
church. Jason boldly stated he loves imagining
living in the Nazi era and wished that would
happen in America. They ranted until I shut
them down.
The band Gyibaaw were grossly offended to
the point of backing away from the black
metal scene because of it.”
I realise that not all readers will be convinced by the
personal testimony of one individual. It is a known fact, however,
that the band has associated with the white
supremacist Antichrist Kramer, commissioning him to create
artwork for the 2010 reissue of their first full length album Into
the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult. Kramer has been deeply
involved in the National Socialist black metal movement, putting
out music by openly white supremacist and/or anti-Semitic
groups on his label Satanic Skinhead Propaganda (as documented
in this article). It seems unlikely that Inquisition’s members would
be unaware of his leanings, or that they would associate with him
unless they were sympathetic to his beliefs*.
Sadly, this kind of ideological association is not unheard of within
metal, especially black metal. The subgenre has long been a
hotbed for reactionary political viewpoints, perhaps because of
the anti-modern standpoint many of its bands employ, its
reverence for “paganism” and other traditionally-minded cultural
trends that have also been co-opted by fascists, and the
reactionary nature of not only its ideological position but also its
musical form. The Second Wave of black metal started, after all, as
a reaction against death metal, with many bands deliberately
hearkening back to earlier forms of metal and forsaking technique
and polished production in favour of a “primitive” sound. It’s not
surprising that this inclination would also create room
for fascist ideology to spread- both spring from a reaction against
modernity, as elucidated in point 2 of Umberto Eco’s analysis of
the uniting ideology of fascist movements here.
Despite knowing about this trend within black metal, however, it
was still an unpleasant shock to discover that a band I enjoyed
subscribed to fascism. My immediate reaction was a feeling of
shame, and anger at myself for not having investigated the group’s
background. In the past I had made it a point to avoid music
created by neo-Nazis or white supremacists, even in cases like
Burzum where people insisted the music was good even if band
leader Varg Vikernes was a virulent bigot. I smugly stuck to the
position that I wouldn’t listen to Nazis’ music because it was shit
anyway, the product of idiotic skinheads who could barely string
two chords together. But this was confounded by Inquisition’s
technically adept, well-written and well-recorded output. I had
been simplifying reality to fit my own preconceptions.
More than anger at myself, though, I felt angry that the
band’s fascist leanings were not more widely known. This is a
group that has gained increasing media attention in recent years,
their latest album having been reviewed in mainstream
publications such as Pitchfork, but as far as I can tell metal
journalists have yet to seriously question Inquisition on their
views or their links to open white supremacists like Antichrist
Kramer. How hard would it have been for the interviewer in this
Invisible Oranges article, for example, to seriously interrogate
Weirbach about the message of “Crush the Jewish Prophet”,
instead of just accepting his equivocation? Do these writers not
care about the expression of bigoted views, as long as they like the
music? It’s hard to escape the conclusion that they don’t.
Even though I hadn’t paid for any of their music, I didn’t want to
support Inquisition in any way after finding out about their Nazi
sympathies. I eventually decided to delete them from my music
library and stop listening to them entirely. I do still find myself
asking whether this was necessary. Fascist or white supremacist
rhetoric is not central to their message or lyrics, which tend
instead to focus on the conventional black metal concern of
Satanism as expressed through astrological and cosmological
imagery. Perhaps the band is canny enough to realise that openly
expressing their views would limit their appeal or get them into
trouble; perhaps they ascribe to the wider metal world’s liberal
conviction that music is no place for politics. In any case, I usually
hold to the idea that it’s OK to enjoy art and media with
problematic elements, or which has been created by objectionable
or even bigoted artists, as long as we acknowledge those problems
and don’t shut down criticism of them. But for me, personally, a
line has to be drawn somewhere. Art created by Nazis, fascists
and/or white supremacists is on the side of the line I do not wish
to set foot in.
This is not what I would consider a hypocritical position.
Fascist ideology- insofar as it is a coherent ideology- is inherently
violent in a way other political alignments are not, rooted in the
rhetoric of destroying any element of society deemed undesirable.
As Eco notes, diversity is conceptualised in fascism as a symptom
of modernist decadence; and since fascism worships action for
action’s sake and violent struggle as an inherent part of life, Nazi
or white supremacist movements are ideologically driven to
commit violence against members of any group outside their own.
While the rhetoric of neo-Nazis and/or white supremacists within
black metal is often mainly focused against Jewish people, it is
naive to think that violence will be used solely against one group if
this rhetoric is tolerated, especially when hatred of marginalised
groups such as people of colour, LGBT people and disabled people
is accepted even within mainstream society. Even a band like
Inquisition that doesn’t openly espouse fascist rhetoric can still
cause harm to members of persecuted groups. Gallant’s story
shows how Weirbach and Stevens’ open expression of admiration
for the Nazis led to the First Nations band Gyibaaw turning away
from black metal, closing the door on an opportunity for that
group to counter the genre’s overwhelmingly white demographic
and tendency to champion or tolerate extreme right views. If we
give our money to musicians with fascist leanings, we don’t just
support them financially, we send a message to them that their
extreme views will not cause them to be criticised, that their
views are therefore acceptable. The same act also sends the
message to minority groups that we care more about music than
about making sure that fascist and white supremacist ideologies
are not tolerated or allowed to spread. In a sense, we choose our
own enjoyment over people’s safety, over their right to live free
from fear of ideologies that call for their destruction.
I urge anyone who cares about making metal a space
which is open to and safe for marginalised groups of people to, at
the very least, abstain from paying for Inquisition’s albums or live
shows. I wouldn’t want to force anyone to stop listening to the
band’s music entirely as I have done; this is obviously a matter of
personal choice. But please do consider whether it is worth it to
add to the popularity of a band that holds these views- not just
Inquisition, but any band in black metal or the wider genre who
subscribes to fascist, white supremacist or Nazi standpoints.
There’s enough excellent music out there being made by
musicians who do not align themselves with dangerous, hatefuelled ideologies.
* It is also worth noting that Inquisition’s Jason Weirbach runs a
side project titled 88MM. In the simple alphanumeric cypher that
passes for a secret code among neo-Nazi groups, this number
represents the letters HH, or “Heil Hitler”.
You can read more of Jonsan van Johnson’s work at
shamelessnavelgazing.wordpress.com.
Reviews by Patrick
Faethom – Mark of the Devil
(Self-Released) 2014
This 3 song EP from the Fort Lauderdale, Florida by way of
Bolivia troupe, comes off sounding fun mashup between
Ghost and 45 Grave. The singer Mariela Muerte is an
absolute dead ringer for the great Dinah Cancer, though she
does get down with the vokills on occasion. The title track
starts off with mock heavy metal anthem version of ‘Ava
Maria’ before it rears off into thrash and gloom delivered
tongue firmly in cheek. The second track is sung in Spanish
but you can rest assured that it’s probably goofily
blasphemous plus there’s a high-pitched
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! For those of you who dig that
kind of shit. The last track features some kind of national
anthem and a children’s choir before the proceedings get
started, the song rumbling along like some kind of sea shanty.
Nice to hear a band that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Check them out for free on bandcamp.
Luctus Hydra - DESTROYING YOUR TEMPLE OF LIES
(Pagan Forest Records) 2012
This Chilean Depressive Black Metal band has been putting
stuff out since 2009; this latest album was released back in
2012. Don’t let the depressive tag fool you the sound is
closer to Leviathan than say, Xasthur. The lyrical concerns
are that of typical anti-religious tropes, ‘Fucking Bell’, starts
off with the often done mass sample before blasting away.
‘Assassins of Christians’ shows a Death Metal influence as
well as some clean singing. For me, ‘Book of Lies’ with its
Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock guitar parts was the highlight.
Overall, the album is solid, those looking for some angry,
hate filled black metal should def check it out. Available as
name your own price on bandcamp.
Bestial Holocaust – Into The Goat Vulva
(Iron Bonehead Productions) 2012
Just take a one look at the cover art and the album title; you
just know that this is going to be some ridiculous shit. This
Bolivian group certainly does not disappoint when it comes
to that sentiment. The first track, ‘Dios Despiadado’ is so
ridiculous catchy, you will be humming it whilst you brush
your teeth. HEAVLY indebted to first wave, the whole record
has this fun, retro, riffy vibe to it. The reoccurring NWOHBM
riff that carries ‘Virgin Lust’ makes you wanna put on a
denim vest and bang your heard furiously while driving a
shitty, beaten up car. Get this now and rock the fuck out!
Thy Light – No Morrow Shall Dawn
(Pest Productions) 2013
This Brazilian DSBM released a universally praised demo
back in 2006. They returned six years later with another
release designed to give your tear ducts a workout. The
cringingly titled first track called ‘Suici.De.spair’ (say what
now?) begins with some Badalamenti like synths and
keyboard. Next, ‘Wanderer of Solitude’ begins with some
acoustic guitar with a distinctive Latin flavor, before
launching into melodic minor keys and moody synth. The
production on this album is way cleaner than any DSBM you
may be accustomed to, some may say to its detriment. Opeth
is the band that jumped into my mind a few times while
listening to this album, certainly in terms of mood and
atmosphere. Depending on how you feel about that band you
can accurately gauge how much you may or may not like this
album. I personally don’t dig Opeth anymore, so this was a
big bore to me. So much of music blended together without
any distinctiveness or memorability, you can just throw it on
when cleaning the crib.
Mystifier – 25 Years of Blasphemy and War
(Dunkelheit Produktionen) 2014
This is a re-release of the Brazilian legends first three demos
and NOT a career overview as the title would indicate.
Things kick with ‘The Witness (Intro)’, the band’s name is
croaked before the sounds of women either being tortured
or at the height of religious ecstasy. The next track ‘Mystifer’
(yep) is all distorted bass, drums, and the vocalist going
RAWR RAWR RAWR, okay there are lyrics but all I need is
that magical four letter word repeated ad infinitum. The
guitar does bust in around the halfway point, throwing down
some wicked solos. The sound quality is shitty and amazing,
it seriously sounds like it was recorded on 2-track in
someone’s pantry. Highlights from the first demo: ‘Christian
Proscription’ with its insanely catchy intro, ‘Cursed
Excruciation’ features a Goblin-like section, & ‘Satans
Aberrations’ with its concluding maniacal laughter. The
production values are slightly upped for their second demo,
perhaps a move to 4-track in someone’s closet? ‘The Sign of
the Unholy Cross & The Cult Continues’ combines pieces
from their first demo, note the catchy intro from ‘Christian
Proscription’. The first track on the third demo; ‘My Gloat &
Osculum Obscenum’ features some hilariously dated flanging,
‘An Elizabethan Devil-Worshippers Prayer-Book’ (my
nomination for best song title ever) is a great mid-tempo
rager, while the rest of the tracks whip by at a furious pace.
Get to bandcamp and check out these South American gems.
Slaughtbbath – Further down to the Depths
This Chilean horde has been playing “Barbaric Black Metal of
Death” since 2002. This album is actually a compilation of
re-recorded material from throughout their career. This is
some raw, vicious shit whose primary intention is to lay
waste to your face. One thing seems clear when listening to
the album is that only the first two tracks, ‘Bestial
Descension’ and ‘Day of Eternal Torment’ have gone through
the re-recorded process, as there is a decline in sound
quality. However, this type of music actually benefits from a
filthier atmosphere, since they are indebted to second wave
black metal than most other South American bands. Which
makes one wonder, why re-record those first tracks in the
first place? In the end, they sound a bit odd compared to the
material after. In any case I am looking forward checking out
other recordings from this fine band. Name your own price
on bandcamp. Get to it!
Glorious Night - Espectro Perverso
This is the first album by the Argentinian blackened death
metal group. Though there is more going on in the mix that
that description would conjure. The first track ‘Destrucción
Aberrante’ starts off with a bit of tech metal and the kind of
keyboards employed by symphonic black metal bands. Then,
the weird synths that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Sigh
album kicks in. Growled death metal vokills, more of those
cheesy keyboard sounds, some primitive drumming, and a
proggy bit at the end, this is all the first track mind you. I
would usually applaud a band or being overly ambitious or
even over reaching. Yet, ‘Glorious Night’ hasn’t seemed to
fuse all the disparate elements into something powerful, not
to mention forceful. The main problem is the reliance on
those cheesy keyboards really bogs down the compositions.
Trading those keyboards for more weird synth bits or more
ambient pieces would be a step into the right direction. As
well as taking more time to develop less generic, clichéd riffs.
Free download on bandcamp.
Dark Blasphemer – Drowning in Depression
As of right now, this is only release by the Argentinian DSBM
group. ‘Intro’ as most albums of its ilk begins some moody
synth with distant heavily reverberated guitar, which males
the next track so surprising. Raw and filthy as fuck, ‘Eternal
Sleep’ doesn’t sound like most DSBM out there. In fact, it
sounds like straight-up dirty-ass black metal. The vocalist is
quite good, sounding at times like a Transformer dying and
gasping for air. ‘Sure, Hate & Spirit’ and ‘Black Warrior’ are
melodic but they aren’t particularly mournful either.
‘Blasphemer’ is hate filled, even when ‘Dead Emperor’ gets
symphonic at times it lets up the intensity. This was
definitely one of the biggest surprise listen of the year. Go
and check it out free on bandcamp.
Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise
(Dark Descent Records) 2014
With this record and the equally amazing record by
Emptiness, Colorado’s Dark Descent Records is shaping up to
be the label to go to for your dark Avant weirdness fix. The
first track ‘The Bright White Nothing at the End of the
Tunnel’ starts off with what sounds like someone detuning a
piano with shards of broken glass before Eddie Van Halen
comes in playing a Captain Beefheart cover, backwards. Yes,
bands like Gorguts and Deathspell Omega are probably the
two biggest touchstones. However, this Canadian horde are
not beholden to their influences and are certainly they’re
own entity. ‘Where I End and the Hemlock Begins’ sounds
like a WAY more fucked up, weirder version of Oranssi
Pazuzu. One can hear the Ligeti influence during the intro to
‘Gasping in Darkness’ while the instrumental Eternally
Falling’ sounds like a much darker, abstract A Silver Mt Zion.
Not to ruin everything for you, but the last two tracks will
destroy your world. Run and go pick this up right now!
The Darkest Frame: Black Metal as Fine Art
By SJC
Whether the underground trolls like it or not, black metal is
making its way into the upper echelons of high art. As the
underground attempts to keep its claws in the precious
culture it created, the stubborn purists ironically thrust the
subculture even further into intellectual circles. Intentional
or not, black metal invites ponderous introspection and
academic discussion. The corpse paint, sensational ritualism,
self-mythologizing, fierce tribalism, and pretentious
(sometimes nonsensical) presentation through interviews
and records, all of which is ubiquitous in black metal, only
draw the museum crowd closer.
Intellectuals are always ready and willing to step down from
the ivory tower in order to process and parse obscure,
cultish subcultures with a striking aesthetic. On a recent visit
to Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, I spotted a copy
of Dayal Peterson’s Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult in the
gift shop. While certain parties believe that black metal
should only be accessible through a dank, torch-lit dungeon,
there are parallels between black metal and fine art.
Similarities can be found when reading a lofty, fauxintellectual interview with a black metal band and viewing a
mannequin wearing a hockey mask with egg beaters
protruding from it deemed “high art” by the gate keepers.
The pretension and singular resolve of both creates a link.
And this link shows why academics and artists are
appropriating and being influenced by the black metal
aesthetic. No matter the resistance, black metal invites
intellectual discussion and artistic adoption through it’s own
attempts at lofty myths and exclusivity.
Although I can’t confirm it, I doubt Albert Mundrian’s
Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and
Grindcore is available in many museum gift shops. What is it
about black metal that intrigues the intellectual set? While
dudes in sweat pants bellowing about corpse mutilation has
yet to make a dent in the hallowed halls of modern art, black
metal has found some slim inroads. Which brings us back to
the mannequin analogy. There is no wink or tongue-in-cheek
element to Isa Genzenken’s gaudily dressed mannequins,
just as there is no nudge in Darkthrone’s early album covers
and music (namely the classic trilogy of A Blaze In the
Northern Sky, Under a Funeral Moon, and Transilvanian
Hunger). An unabashed earnestness and self-seriousness
exists in these works. The staid presentation of the
seemingly tawdry by both the contemporary artist and the
black metal musician may seem cartoonish or laughable to
the uninitiated (or the initiated, for that matter), but the
subjective straight-faced presentation of both is
inspirational art to the true believers.
The film A Spell to Ward Off Darkness (co-directed by Ben
Russell and Ben Rivers) is a prime example of the melding of
high art and the black metal aesthetic. Ben Rivers has an art
film pedigree, his 2 Years At Sea a mostly wordless,
supposedly documentary chronicle (although Rivers admits
to staging and directing certain scenes) of a hermit going
about his daily routine in the highlands of Scotland. Shot on
16mm, the film is grainy and meditative, and establishes
Rivers as a top-notch avant-garde filmmaker. With A Spell...
he and Russell use an abundance of black metal themes, both
implied and explicit. From the lettering of the title—which
looks like a black metal logo—to the trailer—which uses a
Liturgy song and has shots of striking Finnish landscapes—
Rivers and Russell are undeniably using traditional signifiers
of black metal art.
The extremely loose narrative of the film begins with
obnoxious humans shuffling around and generally idling in
an Estonian commune. Here we get glimpses of the film’s
protagonist (Robert AA Lowe), who is the main link between
the three distinctly different sections, mingling with neohippies yammering about trance music, playing their own
brand of bad music, discussing bath house sexual adventures,
and living on the fringes of society. This section of the film is
particularly interminable in its new age hippie banality. Even
boring hippies are self-centered, it seems. Whether the
commune scenes are repellant and mundane by design is up
for debate; whatever the motivation, the contrast between
the first and second sections of A Spell... is stark and fitting,
as the second section shows the main character in complete
isolation, perhaps driven to seclusion by the commune and
its inhabitants.
The second section finds Lowe wandering the Finnish
forests alone, reading in a secluded cabin, rowing a boat
through a placid lake, and generally posing for what could be
a series of black metal album covers. His clothes defy
modernity, as do the moldering expired pop culture
magazines littered in his forest hovel. His archaic rucksack,
suspenders, and general plain dress displace him from
contemporary society, a man existing solo in a verdant
void—the goal and thematic concentration of many black
metal bands. Rivers and Russell take their time here, with
long, uncut shots of Lowe passing his hand over water
dripping down a stone wall, hiking, and communing with
nature. The compelling monotony and natural majesty, the
Finnish setting, and the isolated figure at odds with
contemporary culture all evoke and mirror a strong black
metal aesthetic. The conclusion of this section is a long,
unbroken shot of Lowe’s cabin ablaze, perhaps a final clean
break from the attendant trappings of secular society. The
flaming cabin pierces the darkness surrounding it, and Lowe
stands idly by, observing the fire.
The cut from the burning cabin into the third section of A
Spell… is to total blackness, and the trademark-buzzing
guitar is the lone sound on the soundtrack, followed by the
helicopter chop of blasting drums. For a good few minutes,
we get only the riff and blackness, a perfect visual
accompaniment to the bleak sounds. We now find Lowe on a
stage in Norway, wearing corpse paint and playing in a black
metal band (with the new wave pedigree of Hunter-Hunt
Hendrix of Liturgy on second guitar, Nick McMaster of
Krallice on bass, and Weasel Walter of the late Flying
Luttenbachers on drums).
According to the Internet—always a reliable source—the
group is called Queequeg, and Rivers’s and Russell’s
unorthodox shooting of the show is brilliant. Shot in one
long take, up close and personal with the band, the camera
onstage with the members, weaving around them as they
churn out second wave-inspired black metal. You can see the
sweat pouring off McMaster, the red of Lowe’s tongue in
contrast to his painted face, all shot live, in winding close-up.
The camera rests momentarily on each member, and then
eventually leaves the stage, circling the venue and passing
through the audience of passive metal heads and
concertgoers. While most concert footage cuts from
wide/close-up shots of the band to wide/close-up shots of
the audience, Rivers and Russell seek to personalize and
deify this sonic ritual, with an extremely intimate,
continuous view of a group sweating it out on stage and an
audience seemingly reverentially watching art take place,
not just taking in a gig.
The affecting third section stands in defiance to and is the
inevitable conclusion of all that came before. From a select
group living on the fringes on society, to a lone man
exploring eerie solitude, and finally, the modern soundtrack
to complete alienation: black metal. As the show ends, we
see Lowe backstage, methodically washing off his corpse
paint and then wandering back into the dark, a solitary
figure on the empty streets, alone again.
A Spell… is the antithesis of 1349/Satyricon drummer Frost
stabbing a couch in an art gallery in the documentary Until
the Light Takes Us. Rivers’s and Russell’s appropriation of
black metal feels natural and genuine, not like an Alice
Cooper-esque staging for high society dabblers. And, again,
while some may claim any appropriation of their sacred
black art is blasphemy, A Spell… simultaneously dilutes and
enriches black metal. If high art can adopt black metal as a
means to produce more engrossing, substantial work like A
Spell…, it may be time to cede a section of the basement to
the high-minded artist
Hymns to the Sacrifices of Modernity:
Amy Mills from Epistasis Speaks
Human beings struggle with change. It's easy for us to
grow complacent, to grow comfortable. it's important to
have things that shake us out of that rut. The music of
Epistasis exists in that uncomfortable newness of
modernity, hewing to old traditions(the use of brass
instruments, a lyrical bent towards futurism), while
shrieking their allegience to the glistening future to
come. Offputting and challenging, Epistasis presents
their music on their terms, and it is up to the listener to
accept the onrushing regime. Amy took some time out
of her busy schedule to speak with us, and it's greatly
appreciated.
Epistatis recently had their first release on Crucial Blast.
How did that relationship come about? How do you feel
about the reception that album has received?
A friend of mine suggested I send the recordings over to
Crucial Blast and he ended up loving it. I’ve been extremely
happy working with CB and the reception the album has
received. I haven’t read a negative review so far.
In previous interviews, you've mentioned the lyrics are
written by a friend of the band named Theo. How did
this arrangement come about? Do you attempt to
internalize or re-interpret these words while
performing? Do you know why Theo focused on postWWII surrealism as inspiration?
I’ve known Theo for a number of years. For the most recent
record I wanted to start doing vocals, but I cannot write to
save my life. Theo is an excellent writer and I’ve always
respected his work. For live shows I memorize the lyrics and
perform them the same way each time. I can’t speak to his
creative process or inspirations.
Your live performances were starting to incorporate live
video projections created by jessica lynch earlier this
year. how did this partnership come about? what do
you feel this adds to your live performance?
Jess is my girlfriend going on 5 years now and we have
collaborated on video/music work in the past as well. I’ve
always found live video projection to create a very engaging
live show and it allows the audience to make connections
between the visuals and the music.
you're a guitarist in couch slut as well. from the few live
performances on youtube, couch slut seems to be a
much more direct outpouring than the complex work of
epistatis. how has performing in that band affected your
growth as a musician?
It’s certainly allowed me to get my guitar technique in good
shape, and it’s allowed me to think about writing riffs in a
different way. I’ve been able to appreciate simpler ideas
much more.
why and how does modern classical music affect you as a
musician who writes black metal? do you have any
thoughts on why so many black metal artists claim
modern classical music as a touchstone?
Modern classical music is just a part of me at this point since
I grew up playing and studying classical music. It’s
impossible for me to avoid its influence in what I write. I’d
say a lot of people who are writing more dissonant black
metal are most likely drawn to the energy and tonal
language of modern music. I think the dissonance and
aggressiveness of some modern composers can be compared
to certain forms of black metal.
what kind of trumpet do you play? are there any kind of
effects you use while playing? what prompted your
decision to include trumpet in epistatis? can you talk
about the process of composing trumpet additions to
another band's work, such as your playing on the psalm
zero record?
I play a 1934 Olds French Model trumpet. It’s a somewhat
rare trumpet, and one of the first “modern” (such as Bach
trumpets etc) designs seen in trumpets. For effects I mainly
use some reverb and delay in some spots. I also have a
volume pedal and looper. Trumpet has been my main
instrument for 19 years so after I got into heavier music I
was interested in trying to incorporate it in a way that wasn’t
gimmicky or corny. For Psalm Zero I didn’t compose the
trumpet parts, Charlie did. He approached me about
recording a couple trumpet parts for 2 songs and I was
happy to. This was the same for the Castevet record as well. I
think a lot of people who are writing metal or heavy music
are drawn to the potential cold sounds a trumpet can
provide.
you're a visual artist in addition to a composer. do you
find that you work with similar themes across your
artistic work, or are there different thematic concepts
you grapple with based on the medium?
I’d say a lot of my visual work tends to be on the “darker”
side, but it also is off in a lot of different areas. I’m still
exploring most ideas that come to me until I really find a
project to spend a significant amount of time on.
You spent time as a studio intern at Menegroth The
Thousand Caves Recording Studio. What was that
experience like? Did it have any effect on how you
compose/create your music?
I was there for a couple different sessions. I wouldn’t say it
changed how I compose, but I certainly learned a lot about
recording heavy music. It was a great experience, Colin is a
wonderful guy.
you've composed music for a theatrical performance of
Trojan Women. what was that experience like? were
there any unexpected challenges during that process?
It was an interesting experience, I’m not sure I’m cut out for
theater scoring. The hardest part was not knowing time
lengths for each scene that needed music. So a lot of the stuff
I wrote ended up being open ended or improv based. Some
things I was able to figure out once we started rehearsing.
new york has been a hub for american black metal for
quite some time at this point. do you have any thoughts
on why that city in particular has proved to be such a
fertile ground for black metal? what do you find
inspiring about your surroundings?
I think it just draws smart, creative forward thinking people
and they all start working together. New York has a rich
history of heavy music so people that are interested in that
come here to make new music. It’s a very rich creative scene
and there are a lot of other bands doing interesting things,
which drives everyone to create their best work. I don’t think
I could meet a group of people more unique or talented than
those who are making music in NYC.
what's the plan for epistasis in 2014? any other final
words for our readers?
We’re hoping to get some out of town shows soon (we’ve
had some scheduling issues/conflicts). We’re working on
some new material as well and hope to start mixing in some
new songs to the live sets.
Reviews By Ed
botanist – VI: flora
the flenser, 2014
jesus, we’re at number six already? we’ve had our eyes on
botanist since his first release on tumult records, and we’ve
been consistently impressed by his growth(EVERY SINGLE
PUN INTENDED) since then. flora finds otrebor and co.
inhibiting a more contemplative realm than the fury and
urgency contained on previous releases. chords ring and
sustain, providing a sense of serenity even as otrebor’s
vocals growl and rage in the distance. there is a moment on
“rhizophora” where otrebor approximates the angular
articulations of insectoid buzzing among tones that conjure
up the depth and majesty of the ancient californian forests.
excellently realized moments like this are found everywhere
in this album. highest recommendations.
rotting sky – sedation
grimoire cassette culture, 2014
the marriage of noise and black metal has proved to be more
fertile than the Goat with a Thousand Young. rotting sky pair
airplane engine choppiness and synth drones with
incredibly precise distorted guitar for an incredibly
suffocating mechanical effect. this haze of abrasion lifts
occasionally for brief moments of melody, a glimpse of light
in all the grey. with these small bright spots, rotting sky also
nimbly side-steps the danger of monotony, and provides
each song with a distinct motif. these guys are going to be a
band to keep yr eye on.
barghest – the virtuous purge
gilead, 2014
barghest shares members with thou, and that’s certainly
evident in their ground-scrabbling black metal attack.
there’s a lot of low-end here, ranging from the tone of the
guitars to the guttural belly-shrieks that serve as vocals.
there’s a sense of inexorable fullness here. where most black
metal bands are sharp knives, barghest is a slowly tightening
clamp. they’re not fast, they’re not pretty, but they are
crushing.
petrychor – makrokosmos
self-released, 2014
petrychor always struck me as a competent trafficker in
cascadian trappings, but this album, holy fucking shit, my
friends. tad piecka mixes the pulsations of distant stars,
ghostly orchestral interludes, and electro-mechanical
percussive elements with expansive black metal landscapes,
and the result is simply stunning. there are moments of
cynic-like new wave clean singing over guitars keening static
that are just aching with loneliness. while petrychor still
hews to the cascadian playbook, the revamped context of
space provides a number of intriguing places for his music to
go. highly recommended.
mamaleek – he never spoke a mumblin’ word
the flenser, 2014
is it strange that the rest of the world has seemed to catch up
to mamaleek? their approach to electronic black metal
echoes through california, and can be seen in the aforementioned rotting sky, and their label-mates wreck &
reference. this is not to say we do not need mamaleek, or
that their sound has been usurped. this new issuance from
the brothers continues their strange blend of world music
and oppressive black metal anchored by digital percussion.
it’s hard to ascribe motives to this mysterious duo, but to me,
this combination evokes the simultaneous pressure of the
ability to connect with people all over the world with the
constant battle to maintain connections with yourself, those
immediately close. consider this another essential release
from black metal’s answer to jandek.
Racism, Consumerism, and Black Metal
Tours: A Frank Discussion of Black Metal’s
Cultish Appeal with Jeffrey Podoshen
Welcome to the second installment of our series of
interviews with metal academics involved in the recent
publication "Educational, Psychological, and Behavioral
Considerations in Niche Online Communities.” Jeffrey
Podoshen has written extensively about dark tourism, and
the application of that concept to black metal, and recently,
he has published a series of articles about the way
communities are built within black metal circles. we talked
to him while he was in southern florida, and while our phone
connection might have been the worst, speaking with him
was a true pleasure.
Right now you're a professor at Franklin & Marshall
College, you were a professor at Rutger's for a little bit-I still am. I'm an adjunct at Rutger's, but I'm full-time at
Franklin & Marshall.
Oh, alright. Looking at your profile on the Franklin &
Marshall website, you have your research interests as
"dark tourism, equity theory, consumer behavior, and
materialism." Would you mind explaining what inspired
you to examine black metal through dark tourism, and
you do have an article on consumption in black metal
coming out soon, what was the impetus to examine that
niche scene through those lenses?
That's a good question. I was always interested in dark
tourism, since I was a doctoral student. A lot of that stems
from an interest in concentration camp tourism, Nazi artifact
tourism, Nazi museum tourism. Pretty much anything that
had to do with World War II and Nazism and fascism, I had
an interest in. It was actually part of my doctoral
dissertation. I looked at tourist perceptions, thoughts, and
feelings on concentration camps. It just kind of snowballed
from there. Dark tourism, at the time, was in it's
infancy. Over the past five years, maybe six years, there's
been this interest in academia about it. I started writing
dark tourism articles related to holocaust tourism. I saw
some parallels when I was getting more involved in the
metal scene, specifically the black metal scene. I grew up in
the 70's and the 80's. I was certainly a fan of thrash metal in
the 80's, and Judas Priest and Maiden in the early part of the
80's. As I kept going to more shows, and as I started to get
much more into black metal, I started to see some
parallels. At the same time, there was a viewing of "Until the
Light Takes Us", pretty much when it came out, on campus at
F&M, and of course I went to that. A bunch of students were
into it, and I'm watching the film, and I'm like "This is pretty
fascinating stuff," because Inferno was starting to grow...
Inferno, I guess, is becoming much more commercialized
now. I don't know if Vivek told you, we were talking to
Fenriz, who was at Inferno, but not really AT Inferno last
year. He was bartending at the bar two blocks from Inferno,
and he's talking about how it sucks now, and stuff like that,
but he's bartending two blocks from it. There are a lot of
parallels in terms of the fascination with what happened in
Norway. What really caught my attention was the black
metal bus tour. I thought to myself "This is dark tourism." I
was fascinated by that, and I was more fascinated by that
fact that Anders Odden stopped doing the tour rather
abruptly, for a variety of personal reasons which I can
understand. For awhile that was the thing to do, go to
Inferno, and take the black metal bus tour. There was a huge
demand for it. It kind of snowballed from there. I saw some
interactions between the two fields. I reached out-- I read
about Vivek on the Decibel magazine blog, and I reached out,
and suggested we collaborate on stuff, and the rest is
history. We have the book chapter, we have a paper coming
out on marketing theory, we have a paper under review in a
psychology journal that actually talks about-- psychology
journals will do cursory level work on metal once in awhile,
it's all about community building. Our paper was about anticommunity building. People who are really into black metal
aren't about making friends, going to shows, making
friends. It's actually not really that much of a community,
not like you might see at other types of shows. It snowballed
from there, so we have four or five projects going on that
look at this kind of stuff.
I did manage to track down a copy of your article on
dark tourism and black metal, and in it, you posit that
dark tourism, for some people, seems to be an attempt
to simulate the head space of the people who are
associated with that landscape or site. Do you think that
the spread of racist ideology can be linked at that kind
of attempt at simulation? You've got the fore-fathers of
the second wave espousing these fascist ideals, do you
think that would account for their popularity within the
black metal scene?
That's something I've been looking at a lot the past couple of
months. I'm not quite sure I would say that. You have
people who engage in simulation who are interested in black
metal, horror films, things like that. You're looking for some
kind of sensory excitement that you're not going to get in
your daily living. By actually being able to go and see where
some of these events happened, you have this closeness, this
unique dynamic that you're not going to get sitting and
listening to records in your home. You are walking the walk
that these folks walked.
Now when it comes to racist ideology, I think we're looking
at something that's rather separate. I've been reading Varg's
blog over the past year or so, and honestly, most of the stuff
he does is simply rehashed Nazi propaganda. There's really
very little that's new there, to be honest. I don't see the
same thing happening there. When I read some of these
postings, I see postings from angry people that maybe are
just angry, and they're not maybe even that big into black
metal. Maybe they're looking for something that actually
doesn't have to do with the art or the music, but something
that's racist in nature, and have latched on to Varg. A lot of
people don't realize that things that things people said in the
90's-- If you read any of the old zines, like... I was going
through the old zines I had sitting around, and I'm reading
these interviews from Satryicon and Hellhammer
(presumably Jan Axel Blomberg, not the band - ed.), and I
can't imagine Hellhammer saying the same things he said
twenty years ago. I think he's matured a bit. Certainly Satyr
isn't talking about foreigners like he did years ago. I think
you're gonna get angry people, you're gonna get people who
are ostracized, and black metal is another outlet. It could
just be as simple as they like the metal of black metal more
than they like listening skinhead punk.
If we could talk a little bit about the process you guys
used to write your latest article? It sounds like you
analyzed a number of forums and blogs, and attended a
number of festivals. The article is interspersed with a
personal essay by David Perri of Bravewords.com. I had
a couple questions about those research methods. The
forums and blogs you looked at, you mentioned
previously you'd been looking at Varg's blogs, were the
majority of them open-ended metal forums? Did you
investigate explicitly racist or fascist spaces online, or
was this more of a look at how these ideas spread
through a general populace?
That's probably a better question for Vivek, as he's more of
the online guy for this paper. I'm always looking at anything
I can get my hands on, and if you look at the more
"commercial" racist blogs like Stormfront, they're not big
fans of black metal, for obvious reasons. If Nazis and KKK
members are into their pseudo-Christianity, then they're not
going to be big fans of quote-unquote satanic or antichristian black metal. We'll look at whatever we can to try
and get a sense of the community itself. A lot of these black
metal communities that are online-- they start up and then
they go away quickly, or they disintegrate into something
that no one wants to visit. So, it's difficult.
I'm more of a field researcher. I do more in situ type of
research. I'll go to shows--I mean, I'm going to shows
anyway, I've been going to metal shows for a awfully long
time. I'll make observations. We have a variety of social
science frameworks to make observations, or interview fans
or artists. I've met tons of interesting people. In the Philly
area, the New York area, I see the same people over and over
again, which is pretty cool. Even in Scandinavia, you
make these connections with folks. It allows access that the
average researcher isn't going to have access to. I don't think
that the average person researching or writing about black
metal is a fan of black metal. I love black metal. I listen to it
everyday. I've been listening to black metal for years and
years and years. I'm able to interact with fans who have
been listening to black metal for years. I think it brings a
unique feel to research perspective. We're going to see more
of that in terms of getting out there, interacting with folks,
trying to discern some theory from our actual interactions,
that's where I'm heading with this.
So I noticed there's you, Vivek, David, and Kathryn
Urbaniak working on this paper. It sounds like her role
in this paper was to attempt to eliminate the bias of the
context you mentioned, working on this from the
standpoint of a black metal fan. I confess, I'm not
familiar with how that process would work? What's the
process of trying to eliminate bias from the type of field
work you were describing?
The key thing to keep in mind is you have three people who
are really into metal. Vivek and I are in our 40's, we've been
listening to this for an awfully long time. It's our lifestyle. I
listened to my first metal record in 1980, and I've never
stopped. I'm passionate about it. I've been to many shows,
and I have half of my hearing left, and I wouldn't trade that. I
think Vivek is the same way. Vivek and I could go to any
metal show in any city, and probably have a pretty good
time. So, we're gonna have inherent biases that are disposed
towards being rather favorable about the scene itself, and
about the artists, and about the music. It helped to have
someone to temper, or maybe add just another set of eyes on
the data. This is just good practice in general, as a social
science researcher. Having someone else there who's not
close to the data is really only going to help you in making
your interpretations. Not everyone does it, but when you
can have that person, it really adds an additional layer of
credibility, an additional layer of generalizability. When
you're doing interpretive research, the thing to keep in mind
is that we're not trying to prove anything. We're not
writing hypotheses and then trying to prove them, like a
hard science paper. It's our interpretations. We always need
to temper our interpretations, and remove as much bias as
we possibly can. I do that in other work as well. If
I'm particularly close to something, I'll try to have someone
else who's not involved in that particular scene or area take
a look at my work, or actually help me do research. That's
where Kat came in, she's not into the black metal scene. I
think she listens to U2, so it's probably good to have her take
a look at this stuff.
We did briefly talk about Varg's blog. One of the things
I've been struggling with lately, as someone who writes
about this music, is the role of a journalist, a fan, a
blogger, whatever, what role they have in giving-promoting certain artists. It's something you run up
against in black metal, there are a lot of people in this
scene into sketchy things. In cases like Varg's, do you
think thesocial capital he's gained from being involved
in Mayhem, Burzum, being in top ten black metal
releases, do you think this social capital has lead partly
to his popularity as a racist blogger? I know that you
previously mentioned that some he reason people are
latching on to him is just because he's blogging about
that subject. That being said, do you think that sort of
continued journalistic coverage, as a fore-father of this
scene, allows him more reach than he might have had if
this coverage didn't exist?
Oh, of course. I think Varg knows what he's doing. I think he
knows that he's getting attention. I think Varg knows he's
selling his records and selling his books based on this
attention. People can call Varg a lot of things, but certainly
when it comes to the business of being a black metal
businessman, he's pretty shrewd. Do I like the fact that he's
popular? I don't. I don't particularly like Varg.Don't get me
wrong, I've asked Varg to participate in interviews. He won't
do it. I want to be as objective as I can, but if you don't grant
me an interview, there's only so much I can do. Varg is a
complex case. He's a character who I think is really into Nazi
ideology. He made some pretty crazy claims about who he's
descended from. His latest thing is about autism, and autism
is a hot button. He talks about how he's on the spectrum, his
wife is on the spectrum, his children are on the spectrum. If
you read the blog, a lot of these people, when he comes out
and says, hey, i'm autistic, a lot of these people come out and
say i'm on the spectrum as well. I'm a little hesitant to
believe everything he says. I wonder if it's another kind of
hot button issue that he's using, another angle to enhance
his popularity. How many people do you see at a black metal
show wearing a Burzum shirt or a backpatch or
something? The numbers are pretty significant. You can
make the argument that maybe Burzum hasn't produced
good music in an awfully long time, though I actually like
some of the songs that have come out in the past couple of
years. At the end of the day, he still has to make money. He's
still producing music, and honestly, he wants to sell it. He's
not doing magazine covers unless he wants to sell his
music. That's the reality. Very few black metal artists, they
can say they're not in it to make money, and then they do
things that indicate they're actually capitalists. Varg's an
interesting case, I think he enjoys the publicity, and if you
read his blog, he's very detailed about what happened, and
he uses the repetition of "i was in my underwear" and "my
wife was manhandled" and he keeps going on about it. He's
doing this for the publicity. I think that's what he's always
been about. I think that's what it's been about from day one,
when it comes to Varg Vikernes.
When you confront artists like him about that, they'll say
“I'm following what Quarthon(of Bathory) did, keep people
guessing, I do one thing and say another. That's the way that
we do this.”
No, I think Varg knows what he's doing.
That's an interesting point, it's fairly frequent where
you'll see a black metal musician do or say something
controversial, and then immediately distance
themselves from it, but it's always conveniently when
there's a new record out, or something like that. It
almost seems like there's this kind of Schodinger's box
of "Am I a racist, or someone who's assaulted
someone?" Are these things true or are they not? That
air of mystery, that sweet spot where you haven't been
nailed down is probably the optimal record selling
point. You have an article coming out about
consumerism in black metal, do you touch on that use of
ambiguity as a selling point at all?
In the article coming out, just a little bit. We use the example
of Taake. I can listen to his records all day long. I think that
he is an amazing artist, but at the same time he does things
to incite, the whole inverted cross, having a swastika and
playing in Germany. He might do things at shows that are on
the borderline of being perceived as racist. If you look at the
lyrics from some of his songs-- he's controversial. At the
same time, I think that Hoest, when it comes down to it, is
about selling records. I think that Hoest, at his very core, is
about making amazing music, and selling amazing records. I
think he uses evil and death and inverted crosses and
swastikas as accoutrements that you might find in a horror
film. His music is about death and evil, and what could
be more evil to a population of the western world than
inverted crosses and swastikas? I think that's part of his
persona. His corpsepaint, his tattoos, his half-skull-- because
he sees himself as being half-dead-- I think it all comes
together. It works particularly well. He's a visually
appealing artist, and he's a gifted musician. People love
going to see him. Our article touches a little bit about that
aspect, but the article that's coming out is actually more
about dystopia than anything else. Viewing black metal as a
dystopian kind of consumer culture. It's the antiutopia. Norway and Scandinavia are seen
as this Utopian paradise. The reality is that Norway is hardly
a Utopian paradise, and Scandinavia is hardly a Utopian
paradise. They have the same problems that we have in
other parts of the world. Black metal is a reflection of
that. That's more the crux of this paper.
With black metal, there's so much mythology around the
Second Wave. Our zine is concerned North and South
American black metal. I feel over the last couple of
years, we've started to see a distinct, not only sonic
landscape, but also a distinct ideological break. You
have bands like Wolves in the Throne Rooms, who are
almost a post-Kaczynskian Cascadian Utopists, or bands
like Liturgy with their conceptual, "art-school"
offerings. Has your research dealt with the evolving
nature of black metal? The warring ideologies that was
popping up? Or has your focus been mostly on the
legacy of European Black Metal?
I'd say we're probably more focused on Europe now than
anything else. I think that's because our research is still
really in its infancy. We're tackling it piece by piece. I'm
super excited that this year's Maryland Death Fest includes
Inquisition, and some other bands I've never had
the opportunity to see. There have been more shows on the
east coast of american black metal bands. it's kind of
interesting, there is a pretty significant difference between
the scenes. I think probably much of the future is going to be
in North American black metal. I'm just seeing that now,
where some of these bands that were relatively unheard
from the Philadelphia area a couple years ago are now
gaining traction. Unfortunately, a lot of the record stores
are basically non existent at this point, so you have to search
a bit harder, and find more people out there to build your
network and hear about these bands. It's a pretty good time
to be a fan of black metal, whether it be Europe or North
America. I don't know much about what's going on in South
America, to be honest, but I think it's a pretty exciting time.
Jeffrey Podoshen can be found online at:
http://www.fandm.edu/jeffrey-podoshen
To Make Things Good Again: Vivek
Ventakesh and ed. discuss Black Metal’s
Online World
Everyone knows the NWN forums are a hive of scum and
villainy, but if you want to know WHY they’re so bad,
Vivek Ventakesh would be the man to ask. Known as the
“Professor Death Metal”, Vivek’s work on the creation of
niche communities online has been fascinating to watch.
This is the third, and final installment of our small series
of interviews, but it’s a doozy. This interview was
conducted before Grimposium, which was conducted on
April 11+12, 2014.
There was an article in Decibel about your work that
mentioned that the genesis for studying heavy metal
forums was based on a conversation you had with Blake
Judd about the way people would interact with him in
person vs the way they would interact with him online?
That's right.
Obviously, Blake is a polarizing figure for a number of
reasons, but I was wondering if you could go into more
detail into that conversation, and what about that
conversation that made you want to do more research
on netnographic studies of metal?
I was dealing with netnographical, as well as theoretical
debate with a number of my colleagues in the field of
education as to how one might go about observing online
interactions. One of the reasons I was interested in looking
at this is my contention that people think and form
memories and form mental models and understandings and
analyze differently when they're interacting with text, with
multimedia, as opposed to when they're interacting face to
face, or with books. I was interested in how cognition and
how learning specifically can be influenced by the media that
people are using on a daily basis, especially in the developed
world. One of the things I was reading about was this whole
notion of netnography, which basically is a social science
developed methodology of looking at online interactions and
forums, text-based online interactions and forums, and
trying to contextualize the role of various individuals are
leading discussions, how peripheral participants manage to
participate. Unlike in a physical community or learning
environment where it's difficult to be a peripheral
participant just by lurking, from a physical standpoint, but
you can do that in an online environment fairly well. So, I
was interested in how metal forum users were using forums
and text-based methods to argue about issues related to
metal, to discuss album reviews, to discuss genres, to do
genre-splitting exercises, and eventually, how they would
also interact with major player in the scene, major stakeholders like producers of music, record label managers. I
found that in the metal scene, and this may be changing now,
there were very few boundaries drawn between the
producers and consumers. It was easy to look at the metal
scene as a broader unit of analysis. As I was doing this, I was
planning on going to the Nachtmytism show. I think they
were opening for Kreator, I think. I shot Blake an e-mail, I
had been in touch with him by e-mail as I had bought some
CDs from his Battle Kommand Records website, which was a
label he was running awhile ago. So I shot him an e-mail
saying, listen, I'm interested in pursuing an area of research
that may or may not be relevant in the context of extreme
metal, and I just wanted to know if you'd have time to chat
after your show. He was very responsive, said, yeah, sure, I'd
be happy to talk with you. That's how I got to meet him, I
approached him after the show, bought him a beer, and we
got to chatting. At that point in time, Myspace was heavily in
use, and he was speaking about how he felt guilty about not
interacting with every single fan who was responding on
Myspace. He was looking to perhaps create an automatic
software that would automatically message people who
asked for contacts on Myspace. He felt people would be able
to get some kind of connection with the band, even if it was
an automated message. I'm a computer scientist by training,
so I was telling him a bit about how he could have a bank of
text that would sound like something a metal musician
would say in response to a fan. You could randomly choose
one of those and respond to people. The conversation was
very brief, but it struck me as very important that metal fans
and metal artists are able to bridge that gap fairly
well. That's how I started looking at the forums that are
mentioned in that initial Chapter that I wrote about
technocracy and democracy in online forums, especially with
metal users. My contention is that we're doing very little in
developing online learning environments by promoting a
more democratic way of resolving issues. I think was makes
forums particularly successful are the roles of moderators
and technocrats. In a sense, this isn't a new concept. Most
political scientists will speak` to how technocracy has saved
governments that are corrupt, that have been eroded from
the inside, most recently Italy. There's definitely examples of
how this has worked, but I'm surprised that in the
educational sciences and educational psychology, we're just
not using data that is present in longitudinal contexts, like
forums, to supplement our knowledge about cognition and
learning.
You've recently put a book out dealing with the idea of
applying lessons learned from niche subcultures,
specifically niche subcultures represented online. could
you talk about the process of putting that book together?
Absolutely! That book is the culmination of a number of
connections I made after the Decibel magazine article came
out. Two of my closest friends and collaborators, Jeffery
Podoshen and Jason Wallin, I met them through interactions
on Facebook and via e-mail after the Decibel article came
out. Both Jason and Jeff have been instrumental in pointing
out to me how questions surrounding the behaviors, the
psycho-analytic elements, and the consumer cultural
elements of interactions in online environments, it can't be
answered by just one discipline. To be arrogant and look at
it from an educational standpoint, or a marketing standpoint,
or a philosophical standpoint would be doing disservice to
the academic world. The book itself was born out of that,
the conversations I've had with Jeff and Jason. Jeff and I
ended up writing two articles just by communicating online
and via phone before we actually made any physical contact
with each other, before we met each other. Jason and I have
become fairly close as a result of our ruminations
surrounding what he calls "the dark ecology of black
metal". I wanted to put together a collection of articles that
spoke to the interdisciplinary nature of niche
communities. Being the chief editor of the book, I was able
to propose a section on metal studies. It compliments really
well some of the other work presented in the book. We have
a section on art education, we have a section on feminism
and gender subjectivities, a section on activism, and another
one that deals entirely with virtual environments. Because it
deals with fringe elements -- I don't like to use the word
subcultures because there's a negative connotation with it-- I
think of them more as fringe scenes. I thought that metal
studies would be a good place, a good scene to investigate.
Putting together the book was a wonderful exercise because
I got to collaborate with Jason in terms of editing the book. I
collaborated with a graphic computational and design arts
expert, Jason Lewis, and an art educator, Juan Carlos
Castro. The four of us were the editors of the book, and
those sections actually reveal what we've come to know in
the past few years about niche online communities and how
these interactions take place. The metal studies section is
something I'm particularity proud of because Jeff and I were
able to put together a piece on aspects of racism, which is
something I'm particularly sensitive to. I have several
research projects that are focusing on how we can curb hate
speech on online media, so that chapter rose out of that. It
was also sort of an ode, a way for me to describe some of the
origins of heavy and black metal as they relate to sociocultural elements. I was also able to bring in a very good
collaborator and friend, David Perri, who is a journalist who
writes for Bravewords.com. He wrote a really nice reflection
on his perceptions of black metal and racism, which we
incorporated into the chapter. The other person who
deserves important mention is Jason Netherton, who is the
bassist and vocalist for Misery Index. He is also completing
his PhD in Media Studies. Jason wrote a really nice postscript for the section on metal studies where he calls into
question the whole notion of metal communities. It's going
to be great to have all of these people who I mentioned at
Grimposioum. In a couple of weeks time, we'll be launching
our book, but it'll be nice to have them there, to focus on
their work, and to have them lead some discussions around
what they see the future of extreme metal to be.
My next question is actually about David Perri's essay in
that article. I feel like that's something I rarely see in
academic literature, a sort of personal reflection
interwoven with case studies and research. What led
you to add that additional point of view, and how did
David get involved in that project?
David and I have known each other for the better part of ten
years now. He's from Montreal originally. We got to know
each other through the Montreal scene. He's one of the more
articulate and passionate persons that I've known in the
metal scene. We get along very well because I think David's
one of the few people who agrees to disagree with me on a
number of issues. He has this really nice capability of
putting me in my place, which not a lot of people are able to
do. The honesty David brings to discussions about extreme
music is very refreshing. David and I are both fans of old
school death metal, and he tempers, in me, a lot of the
elitism that I tend to subscribe. I'm fully aware that a lot of
the work that I do, and what I've become as an an academic
lends itself to a fairly elitist framework. I'm comfortable to a
certain extent with that because this is a passion I am lucky
enough to explore through my work.
Looking at this chapter, I wanted it to be more than a
detailed account of the ethnographic work I'd engaged in. I
thought that peppering the piece with personal reflections
from a person who has been an integral member of the
Montreal scene would be a good way of working through
it. When I received his essay, it was so compelling that I
didn't want to tear it up into individual parts, or use
elements of the essay as a unit of analysis. I thought I could
weave it into the narrative. I don't know how good a job I've
done of that, and how incongruous the language
seems. David's written a very personal reflection that I've
tried to weave into various components. He talks about his
perceptions of black metal where he feels a sense of shame,
and he comes to a set of mores and rules that he applies in
terms of what artists he would want to support. That is
something I wanted reflected, maybe because of who David
is as a writer. I was very pleased that he wrote such an
honest essay. I know it took a lot out of him. He read the
essay several times after we produced a final version. I
wanted him to be comfortable with what was being
represented, at the end of the day, he's not anonymized, his
name is attached to it. He has to be comfortable with the
way he's representing himself, and the way he's being
represented as an individual who is being analyzed in the
study as well. I'm very proud of that, and the liberty one has
in including these kinds of pieces in an edited book is very
refreshing to me. I had the chapter peer-reviewed by two
people, and I was pleased that the reviews were positive. I
wanted to be sure that we followed proper procedure before
putting the chapter into the book.
You briefly touched on the sometimes elitist nature of
academia, the distance from ground-floor analysis or
criticism. When you're writing a piece like this-- I read
the article, and just started reading the article you're
publishing in Marketing Theory-- both of them deal
heavily in racism in black metal, which seems to me to
be a particularly compelling but also frustrating subject
to cover. When you're writing these articles, what is the
end goal you have in mind, given that most peer
reviewed journals are behind a pay wall?
There's a couple of things. One is that I've been asked before
about I how I feel about commodifying metal for a
mainstream purpose like academia. My response to that has
always been that I've drawn from the extreme metal scene to
such a large extent that I can't disassociate myself from it,
even in my work. My office is a mausoleum of death and
black metal posters, paraphernalia. I have a vinyl player in
each of my offices. I live and breathe the metal lifestyle even
as I'm working. I say this because extreme metal afforded
me the opportunity to do something fringe in the
academic. The publishing of articles in Marketing Theory,
we're hoping to have one in a fairly well-known social
psychology journal soon, to be able to publish a book and get
the publishers to agree to have a chapter on metal studies
that deals with sensitive topics, those are ways in ways
people are right when they're saying you're making it
mainstream. at the same time, I'm a tenured professor in the
department of education, and I can tell you that making the
case to my colleagues that the work that I'm doing-- My
bread and butter work is in technology-- but the work I'm
doing now in black metal and metal studies has very little
apparent links to education. The closest link one would
make is by tying myself to Jason Wallin's work, and surround
myself with looking at how one can improve curriculums, so
we can be more inclusive of the negative aspects we tend to
avoid in our society, at least.
Metal's given me the opportunity to be a fringe member. Yes,
the publications that I work on are behind pay walls. We
managed to convince Sage to keep the Marketing Theory
paper free for the next couple of months while Grimposium
is being held and also for the duration of the Inferno Festival
in Olso. I'm the opening speaker at the Inferno Music
Festival. They have a conference that's associated with it, so
we're hoping that the paper stays open for that period so
people can have access to it. Then we can see what the
publishers want to do in terms of allowing me to have a copy
on my site so people can download it and read it.
The paper themselves are difficult to read for a nonacademic audience because they're intended for theoretical
and methodological discussion. What i like to do is talk
about my work to stake-holders like yourself, journalists. To
be able to host a symposium next month where I'll be able to
speak to these issues in terms that can me connect this to
people in the metal scene, that's something I'm looking
forward to.
My commitment to this runs both ways. I am a slave to the
system, I am an academic, and I want to continue being an
academic because it has allowed me to pursue something
that's very close to my heart. Right now I'm able to find that
boundary between academia and spreading the gospel of
extreme metal. That boundary is slowly blurring, right? For
Concordia University to be so pleased about holding
Grimposium, to fund the entire event with a research grant,
that really shows how forward thinking they are and how
they're willing to allow me to blur those boundaries. But
you're right, there is a difficulty in reaching a much bigger
audience with the way I'm currently writing these articles.
One of the things I'd want to do is write a book about
reflections as they're contained within the extreme metal
scene, reflections on racism. We've got a project that we'll be
beginning soon on how to develop curriculum to counter
hate speech, so how we could perhaps test some of those
ideas out in the extreme metal scene would be interesting.
It sounds like a lot of your research has been based on
European black metal. Have you been able to take a look
at the way National Socialism has mutated in American
Black Metal scenes? The type of hate speech peddled by
Satanic Skinhead is wildly different from the stuff you'd
see from some of the Norwegian bands. I was wondering
if your research had touched on that at all, or if you had
any thoughts on the different regions concerning black
metal.
I would be dishonest if I even attempted to answer this
question, as I haven't really listened to that music, and I
haven't had the time to sit and down and analyze those
differences yet. My work has been mainly focused on
looking at the socio-political and the multicultural policies
that are influencing some of the lyrics and commentary
being made in Scandinavia by extreme metal artists. In
speaking to the public, and speaking to artists-- trying to
speak to artists, I'm not always successful on the latter-- I've
been trying to look at that from the standpoint of
Scandinavia.
I definitely need to know more about how black metal that's
orientated towards Skinhead culture is being discussed. I
would need to do more research before I could answer
that. It's not easy for me to see those difference yet, but I'm
quite sure that the conversions are going to be very
different. The irony we found in analyzing hate speech on
some white supremacist websites is how people tend to,
people tend to think of everybody who is not like themselves
as the other. everyone's fair game. you insult by race, gender,
people being overweight or not, everything becomes fair
game. While my interest is trying to curb that kind of hate
speech, it's also interesting for me to see how people are
able to other one another in such a variety of ways, and how
that leads to a different form of hate speech.
One of the major points that I took away from the article
in the Niche Community book is you spoke about
"reflexive anti-reflexivity". You'll see the ironic use of
swastikas, or the famous example of Darkthrone calling
people Jewish with a negative connotation, and then so
often they'll back away and claim they don't care about
politics, or they're ironic. It's so rare that you see any
real repercussions from actions like that, Darkthrone is
still on every important black metal band list in the
world. Why do you think people get a free pass,
specifically in the black metal scene, from hiding away
from their "shocking" statements?
It's tough to pinpoint why that's the case. When you look at
somebody like Varg, and what he's been up to, I find it
difficult to tolerate some of the racism that he spouts on his
blog. The French Government tried to take action against
him sometime last year, as I remember. It's difficult for me
to pinpoint why that's the case. Is it cultural, is it something
to do with the extent to which an argument for free speech is
being tolerated, where it might not be tolerated in a different
legal context? I think you need to separate the reaction
from fans and the scene and the legal and political
ramifications of someone behaving in that way. Jeff and I
have talked about this often, and we write about it. What
we're trying to do is link that to elements of literature, to
elements of policy making, to elements of
consumerism. Nobody should be getting a free pass, if it
were up to me. The education needs to begin from the
ground up, and maybe therein lies the problem. It's maybe
societal in nature. You can see it across different paradigms
in society, different cross-sections. We choose to work in the
Scandinavian sphere because that's something that
interested us and we have some background in it, but I think
we're looking forward to exploring this in a broader context
as well.
There are some really strong examples of that in
American black metal, like Antichrist Kramer, the
gentleman who ran Satantic Skinhead, who distanced
himself from that record label, but does record covers
for Inquisition. Nobody talks about that! It kind of
boggles my mind, this is a man who put out straight nazi
black metal for years, and now, no one mentions it. It's
befuddling.
I can't disagree with you on that. To what extent should we
be policed, to what extent SHOULD the scene be policed, is it
an internal affair, there's a lot to be discussed here.
Absolutely, absolutely. One final question. You
mentioned that you were interested in trying to combat
hate speech online in an educational context. Do you
have any preliminary thoughts on how people can
accomplish that? What are effective ways of doing
so? In your article for Marketing Theory, you talked
about about people attempted to do that in certain
forums they were banned, or dismissed. That's been an
experience I've seen when someone tries to bring up a
potentially problematic issue with a musician or a piece
of music. So, I was wondering how much research you'd
done, what you'd be able to share on that subject?
I can't share too many details right now as we're still
finalizing some details for this project that I'm leading. I can
tell you that it has to --what we're trying to do is bring
community members, teachers, student groups, we're trying
to get them to be able to take the perspective of others. I
think one of the things we need to be mindful of is
perspective taking. Teaching people how to adopt other
people's perspective is a very important element of
combating hate speech. The other thing is to allow, in a
certain case, a certain sense, allow technocracy, forum
moderators, people to take charge of online interactions,
allow them to set rules which can forbid these kinds of
actions from taking place. A lot of times self-policing works
better than a rule set out by an appointed authority.
We want to increase awareness. That can make a huge
impact. We want multiple stake-holders to be attacking the
issue from a variety of standpoints. We can't control hate
speech by creating curricula, or by creating instructional
strategies that force perspective taking down on others. We
have to be able to impart it in a graceful and gentle
way. That's something that comes to mind immediately as I
speak about it. As I said though, I still need to iron out a few
details before I can speak about how the project is going to
unfold, but that should happen fairly soon.
Could you give us a quick overview of Grimposium, since
that's coming up shortly?
Grimposium is really my offering, a ritual offering, and most
likely a one-time offering that I'm going to be making to the
extreme metal scene. I'm inviting filmakers, musicians,
journalists, creative writers, visual artists, as well as
academics who are looking at metal studies, to come into
Montreal on April 11-12. They'll spend two days discussing
the status of the extreme metal scene. I'm very proud to
have been able to bring together a good cross section of
people I admire, and who's work I admire, and who have
influenced my academic activities. Initially this started off as
a way to bring together people from the academic world
who were looking at extreme metal, but it soon became clear
to me that if i was going to make a dent in the field, I would
have to bring in people who were actually involved the
creation and propagation of the scene. Albert Mudrian, of
Decibel Magazine, the editor-in-chief is coming. Jason
Netherton, who I talked about earlier, will be coming down
to launch a book that he's written on the history of death
metal. Dan Seagrave, renowned cover artist will be here to
present his stuff. Several filmmakers from Ontario. There's
David Hall, who does metal documentaries. Visual artist and
currator, Amelia Ishmael, who is also editor in chief at
Helvete, she's coming down to display a curated video
event. It's fairly eclectic. We're hoping to leave people with
an unforgettable experience. The thing that is exciting me
the most is there are three big concerts happening the week
they'll be here, and most of us will be at all three of
them. We're going to Carcass and Gorguts the day before
Grimposium begins. On the first day of Grimposium, I'm
renting a school bus and we're going up to the Quebec
countryside to watch Voivod play at a cultural center. On the
last day of Grimposium, there's a UK heavy metal band that's
been resurrected called Satan. They're playing at a really
small club in Montreal. It's going to be a pleasure to wrap up
Grimposium proceeedings and discussions with some good
metal. That's where we're at right now.
It's a celebration, but a serious one.
Vivek can be found online at @SatanRules616. We’re
not kidding.
Conception and Creation with Brandon
Cruz of So Hideous
Patrick hipped us to So Hideous, and their adventurous
blend of black metal with avant-garde classical music.
After some early research, we discovered the Brothers
Cruz were no strangers to high art/metal mashups, and
our interests were peaked to an uncomfortable degree.
New York continues to be one of the ever reliable
melting pots for black metal, and So Hideous are serving
up a particularly tasty mix.
As an introduction, could you talk about how So Hideous
got started? I know you and your brother played in
other bands together, and it sounds like you've been
playing for awhile. What brought you to playing this
kind of music at this point, and how did the band form?
So, essentially it started off, like all of it does, this particular
project anyway, as one person bedroom music. There was
definitely more drone and ambient in the beginning. It was
supposed to be orchestral, and even more post-rock and
instrumental. It wasn't until halfway through-- you're
unsuccessfully trying to audition people-- this is about
2007. Trying to get people to hear what you are, but at that
point you don't have the proof, there's nothing tangible for
people to grab on to. You just kinda sound like this crazy
person saying "Well, if I get you to yell on top of this
orchestra, it's gonna sound great, but not in this sorta corny
Castlevania symphony sort of way, but in this real visceral
and emotive, taking cues from different genres way that
we've been striving for." We started off, and it was just me,
and I started adding people through the wonderful use of
Craigslist. You get people of varying quality until finally, I'd
say a few years later, you start to look to home, and to who
you have. My brother, Etienne, Danny, they had previously
played in a death metal band, Regain the Heart Condemned,
whose sensibilities were completely different from what
mine were. Through fortune, we all reconvened and we hit
our solid stride with the line-up now. At that point, even
with them being on it, the majority of the songs were already
raring to go, and it was more once they jumped on board,
they brought their stylistic-- The way Danny plays was a bit
more complex than who we previously had on board, and it
kind of opens up a palette, so you can say, hey let's
experiment with this. Increase the BPM, let's get a little
more aggressive, and see where it takes us. If it doesn't
sound good, it doesn't sound good, but it's worthwhile to
explore. Here we are, about four years after that.
You briefly touched on that you write most of the
music. It's my understanding that you write it mostly on
piano, and then when the compositional framework is
done, you bring it to the band, and you work into a piece
for the full band. Could you talk about that process? Has
that changed since the line-up solidified?
I think the template is still the same, but perhaps being more
open to outside influences has increased. Once you're
starting something, you're really really pressured about it,
cuz you're like "I gotta get this sound that I hear
out". Eventually you get to the point when people have been
on board for X amount of time, it starts to become theirs as
well. As previously stated, they can add their sensibilities,
their takes to it. We can yay or nay it, or veto it. For the
most part, the largest template comes from the piano
recordings, or the demos and the sheet music. We try to
reverse engineer it into us being the four-piece. It's funny,
with Last Poem actually, with the whole record, the
orchestra parts were written before the band parts, so it was
more about turning those into rock songs, rather than the
other way around. The sheet music was written out well
before we had even finished it as a band. So then it was
more like "How do we fit this into 160 BPMs and have it
make sense?" I'd say the template is the same, but the
communication increases, and you make it more of a healthy
relationship instead of a benevolent dictatorship. It doesn't
really go anywhere after that, and you stop growing.
You mentioned the orchestral elements in your
music. Those are all written by you.
Yes.
What's your history/experience with classical
music? How much of that informs that music you're
working on now?
After I got my degree in journalism, I went back to school to
try to get a Masters in scoring, composition, etc. About two
years into that, it has just become too expensive. I was
already 50 Gs in the hole, and life calls, and you have to
work. It was always unfinished business for me. For awhile,
all of us were self-taught. There's a point where you actually
want to learn the foundation, I wanna do that. I was able to
get a couple of years of the formal training. You have
Harvard-y kind of dreams, you know? We're gonna score
film, make it a little more epic and move beyond the scope of
playing in our dingy rehearsal space and being in a band. I
think it's alright to have those lofty ambitions, but even
when you can say "How can I use all these things I like?"
because ultimately it's not just about metal, that's just
reducing everything you listen to! People don't only watch
horror movies or they don't only eat certain types of
food. Well, there may be some people, but those are extreme
cases. We try to just take everything we like, and ultimately
if it works, it works. I think the chief aim, like I said at the
beginning was to have this orchestral element with this very
caustic-- a guy breaking down in the middle Bach's Mass in B
Minor. That was always like the mantra we had in
rehearsal. If we take away the blast beats, we take away the
distortion, even if we stripped it down and made it a fucking
hip hop instrumental, or even just broke it down into a
classical score, does it still have the same resonance? Are
they good songs, without all these kinds of fallback token
sort of packages that we can have in metal? Ok, we'll step on
the RAT pedal and everyone will cheer because there's a big
noise. Behind it, is there anything there? That's what we're
aspiring towards. Hopefully we can continue, and like
everything else, improve a bit.
You brought up how you guys would like to score a film
at some point. I came across a New York Times article
from 2005 or so(It's actually 2006. here is the
link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/20/arts/dance
/20jone.html?_r=0 -ed.) about Regain the Heart
Condemned, the metal band you were in previously, and
how you ended up collaborating with Bill T. Jones/Arnie
Zane Dance Company. Could you talk a little bit about
how that happened? Did you get any kind of increased
profile from that association?
The interesting thing about that, and this was actually more
in tune with what Chris and Etienne were doing at the
time. I was only helping them out with keys in that
band. They sort of stumbled into it through a friend of a
friend. Actually, the idea behind was it was to not have them
alter their music in any way, but to juxtapose really really
beautiful serene and high-brow pieces, because people do
make that kind of distinction, this dancing is high-brow, and
this is trashy noise. The show was not really about blurring
those distinctions, but to have them exist along side each
other. They were able to tour the world behind it. As far as
So Hideous, we actually joke all the time that it would make
more sense for us to be doing stuff like that. As of yet, we
still have yet to break through on that frontier.
You have actual orchestral musicians playing the pieces
on your album. It's not a shitty keyboard
with presets. In a previous interview, you've mentioned
you have a friend who hooks that up. How much of a
connection do you feel you have with the New York
classical scene? There seems to be a lot of interplay
between that and black and drone metal as of late. Do
you feel a connection there?
it's been my experience that they're still very segregated. If
you're fortunate enough to stumble upon people open to
different things, and lending their talents to different stuff,
not just collecting a check-- That was a huge piece which is
why sometimes the records took so long to come out. We
did our first EP in 2009, and that was only three songs. Our
second was 2011, and there was so long in between because,
aside from having our lives, we had to save up money even it
it was for a string quartet, octet, even if it was smaller
ensembles, that was completely coming out of pocket. No
one was doing anyone any favors. Eventually, you develop a
rapport after you've recorded with people a few times. Noah
Gall, who is the violinist that I had collaborated with when I
tried to put this band together, before it was even So
Hideous. I had some passages, and when everything
solidified a few years later, I gave him a call. As I usually do,
right before, when I'm like "Hey, dude, I need so-and-so, and
this time we're gonna expand to double the players, and
double the brass," and he's very quiet for a couple of
weeks. Then he comes back to me with all the contact
information and where we're gonna show up, and what
studio. It's a really a blessing.
This really isn't the Post-Punk scene in the UK circa that 80's,
where people are just playing shows and "Oh yeah, I'll come
see you." It's more like recording, one and done, let me hear
it when it comes out.
You recently signed to Prosthetic Records.
Yes.
One of the things that is so striking about your earlier
work, including Last Poem/First Light, is that it doesn't
sound like a self-released album. Part of that is
obviously the care that you take when composing your
music, and also the orchestral ensemble. It sounds very
professional. Do you feel like you have more flexibility
now? Are there some ideas that you'll be able to realize
now that you have the backing of a fairly major metal
label behind you?
As of right now, we still want to try to make the sound more
expansive. Eventually, you can't do it, it's gonna get so
bloated and fuckin' ridiculous, the weight will collapse on
itself, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. On top
of the exposure, and on top of being associated with a
premier label, it definitely helps you out with touring,
different types of revenue streams that we'll have access to
going forward. That absolutely factors into to "Well, guess
what? This time we'll get to spend more than five days in the
studio, and we won't have to rush the orchestra out." That
last record was ready to go, on the shelf for a year, because
we had to get the funds together to finish the orchestral
parts and to finish the mastering. Those concerns, they'll
still be there, since we obviously have a niche market. We'll
seek to expand, but you have to know where you are and
what you're working in and what sort of framework, what
you're gonna get out of it. It still takes maybe a little bit of
stress off, and you can still look to the future and say "We
can dream a little bit bigger now".
The original name of So Hideous was So Hideous, My
Love, which is a name shared with a short documentary
about Dario Argento. I feel like one of the defining
aspects of his films are the soundtracks. It's a very
distinctive feature of his work. Have there been any
films or soundtracks that have influenced you musically?
With the Argento connection, Goblin from Suspiria, it's
unbelievable what they're doing with the synths, all the
arpeggiation, and that stuff may actually seep its way into
the next record. We're trying to expand, and move away
from the guitar-bass-drum setup and open things up to the
Nord synths and all the other stuff we play around with in
practice. I'm always showing the guys Hans Zimmer stuff,
because I love the big percussive-- even if it's for the tent
pole blockbusters-- this guy has been able to slip four chords
for twenty years, and have those military drums with the
brass at the bottom end, it's inspiring. Also a lot
of minimalist composers, Arvo Part, he's huge for the me,
with the way the guy can just stay in the triad. He's another
one, he's been able to slip in A minor for like, forty
years. There's always something new he finds into it. It's
not bullshit or technical stuff, he's just finding the pure
notes. It's inspiring, whether or not we want to continue to
play in the style that we are, whether it be metal, or
experiment and move away. These artists show you that no
matter what you're doing, no matter what you're playing,
you can arrange a good song and use these chords that
resonate with people, it's gonna work.
Any last words? Any upcoming projects or tours we
should be aware of?
We are going to be touring in the summer, but that will be
announced shortly via Prosthetic and our Facebook. We are
currently writing the next record, which we hope to have out
next year, with a larger ensemble. We're trying to shake
things up a little, which is always exciting, terrifying, you
name it. It's a good time for us.
So Hideous can be found on the web at:
https://www.facebook.com/sohideous
Selling Swords and Writing Riffs: George of
Mutilation Rites speaks about his past, and
the future of Mutilation Rites
Mutilation Rites is a monster of a band, melding burly thrash swagger
with blistering black metal speed, and George Paul was their
appointed spokesperson when we talked. George has a
thoughtfulness in his voice, and I hope we were able to capture that in
this transcription. Also, he is the only black metal musician we’ve
chatted with that actually had a job involving swords.
You're originally from Boston, right?
Yeah, I am.
Were you involved in playing music there? What prompted your
move from Boston to New York?
I was in some crappy bands in Boston, I went to Berklee School of
Music, I grew up in Boston. I ended up leaving and I worked at the
renaissance festivals for three years, selling swords. I stopped playing music entirely. I was living in Philadelphia while simultaneously
doing Ren Fairs, and went to Maryland Death Fest and saw Justin,
who I knew from Boston. We used to play in bands. He had a new
black metal band. I ended up moving to New York while I was on tour
with them because their bass player quit. Ended up in New York,
and now Mutilation Rites turned into what it is now.
Mutilation Rites has released vinyl with Gilead Media, and you're
on Prosthetic Records now. Could you talk about the advantages of working with a larger label in comparison to selfreleasing music?
Working with a larger label you end up getting a lot more connections. They've put us in touch with Skeletonwitch, and we did that
month tour with them which was really nice. They got us on a show
with Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death. You just end up networking
more. The nice thing about dealing with Gilead for smaller releases,
like vinyl, there's more attention to detail, which is pretty important to
us because we like having very nice looking vinyl.
You've mentioned in other interviews that you see yourself as a
guitar player first, and a lyricist and vocalist second. I know you
started originally with Mutilation Rites as their bass player, how
did you end up doing vocals? I was also wondering what you're
trying to communicate with those vocals if the words are meant
to be obscured?
I was just a fill-in bass player when I joined Mutilation Rites. The original guitar player ended up moving out of New York, and I switched
over to guitar since I'm a guitar player anyway. I just playing bass
because they need a bass player. We ended up kicking out our old
singer, and it was kind of one of those things where you can find a
stand-alone singer, but I'm of the opinion that stand-alone singers,
unless you're incredible, it ends up coming across a little corny onstage. I ended up doing vocals because we needed someone to do
vocals.
In terms of lyrics, I don't know. I've never been a creative writer. I always just played guitar growing up. I've never written anything. So, I
was kind of put in this position where I need to be writing lyrics, you
know? I just don't feel very confident about my lyrics and I never really thought lyrics were a priority in music. For me, anyway. I grew up
listening to death metal, I'm not going to take very much away from
reading Cannibal Corpse lyrics.
I have a hard time explaining this.
There's a middle ground I need to find, where I feel that lyrics are unimportant but I also don't want to come across as pretentious. We're
trying to figure out a way-- I think we're going to print lyrics on the new
records, but I'm still debating with myself if I feel confident enough to
put them out there.
Do you see vocals as more of a rhythmic device, then?
Yeah, absolutely! It would silly to be a instrumental band. With the
way my vocals work in the band, honestly, I have lyrics but if you read
along with them it's pretty unintelligible anyway, just because of the
way I deliver lyrics. It's definitely more of a rhythmic thing.
I've read in previous interviews that playing live is sort of a catharsis thing for you guys, a combination of the volume and the
music, that it's a release. What do you get out of recording music?
You definitely get a different perspective on a song than when you
originally wrote it. We'll all sit in a room and feel like we have a part
down and practice it over and over, but you'll never really understand
the song as well until you record it, and you figure out exactly what
every little nuance of what everyone else is doing during that one part.
That's always fun. It re-invents the song again. Before you go into a
studio, you're playing a song how you think it is, and then you record
it. Afterwards, you're trying to figure out how to make yourself sound
exactly like the song you just recorded. It gives you a little perspective on it.
You've also spoken about how when you're touring, in the van,
oftentimes you need to take a break from listening to metal because you're playing sets every night. Could you talk about your
favorite tour listens? You also mentioned listening to a lot of
podcast, any recommendations?
Honestly, we end up listening to podcasts more than anything
else. Uhh Yeah Dude(http://www.uhhyeahdude.com/) which is an
hour long comedy podcast. We'll listen to Dan Savage, we'll listen to
sometimes BBC news and stuff like that. Usually it's Dan Savage and
Uhh Yeah Dude.
In terms of music, I don't know. Usually the stereo in the van is so
crappy. We'll end up listening to the MC5 or the Hellacopters, or Herb
Alpert. Stuff like that. Pretty laid back stuff.
We've spoken a bit about your association with Gilead Media. Mutilation Rites is playing the upcoming Gilead Media Fest
this summer. Your drummer is also in Hexer, and you see you
guys are playing on the same day. Is he doing any kind of preparation for playing two sets in the same day? That seems like it
would be very difficult. Is there anything you're particularity excited about at that festival?
Well, Hexer is actually a project that me and my friend started when
we were living in Philadelphia. Well, actually, if you want to go all the
way back, it's my friend's project that we started working on together. I started doing all the drum programming. His wife does all the
vocals on the recording. So, I sent the record to Adam from Gilead a
while back, and he liked it, and ended up releasing it, and brought up
the idea of us playing live. So, my friend is a teacher, and he's living
out in Martha's Vineyard now, and he's going to come up, and we're
gonna practice with Jeff, and Mike from Mutilation Rites, who will play
bass on the tour, and we're gonna travel out and do that. Just to
make things easier, everyone's gonna use our backline while on the
tour.
Gilead Fest is going to be fantastic. Last time we played, it was one
of the best shows we ever played. It's not like most festivals. It has a
way more intimate feeling. A real sense of community, you feel like
you know everyone there. It's not like going to MDF where it's just a
total shit-show. I love Adam, I love helping him out in every way I
can. I'm really excited. I'm excited to see Loss again, excited to see
Inter Arma again, see Bastard Sapling, Thou, the Body.
I know Mutilation Rites has gone through a lot of line up changes. It's my understanding that the most recent one was the addition of Ryan Jones on bass, formally of Wetnurse. Could you
talk about his integration into the band? Your upcoming album
is, I believe, his first recorded appearance with the band, should
we expect anything different from his inclusion?
Yeah, it is his first recording with the band. I feel like the line-up
changes are finally, finally done. We finally have someone who's
committed, thankfully. Ryan is fantastic. He does a lot more vocals
on this recording. There are a lot more vocals, he does a lot more
death metal vocals on the recording. He contributed a lot to the new
recording, and being a sound engineer himself, he knows exactly the
right sound to bring it. I'm excited, I'm really excited about the new
record coming out, and Ryan being in the band, and all that.
Mutilation Rites can be found on the internet at:
http://mutilationrites.com/
Interviews with Barbelith, Black Palace, Epistasis,
Jeffrey Podoshen, Vivek Venkatesh, So Hideous, and
Mutilation Rites
Features on Fascism in Black Metal and High Art/Black
Metal
Reviews
Art by JB Roe
Photography by M. Foody

Inquisition and Black Metal`s Fascism Problem by Jonsan van Johnson

Transcription

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