Bring Back the Bomb: Hexer`s Phlegethon talks thrash, Iceland, and

February 27th, 2014.
This issue feels like a culmination, in a lot of ways. It's the effort of
almost half a year of work, a tremendous amount of late night
conversations, and obsessive and feverish writing and editing.
First. Thank yous are owed to Maureen, Monica, LuAnn, Rick,
Emily, Ryan of Struggle Session, Ben of Black Metal and Brews,
Tony of the Idol Threat Blog, and Marielle for their help with
working through many of the ideas discussed in this issue. Thanks
are also owed to Scott Wygmans, the artist behind our amazing
cover, and butt coffin, the artist behind the image introducing our
interview with Hexer. They both do incredible work, and you
should support them.
Scott can be found at http://americandirtbagcomics.com/, and
butt coffin can be found here http://buttcoffin.tumblr.com/.
Interviews in this issue include Zareen Price, Sarah Kitteringham,
Hexer, Clouds Collide, Adam Schragin, Ashencult, Woe, and Jason
Wallin. You might notice a lot of names of people instead of bands.
We've always intended to cover black metal as a culture, as a force,
and we're pleased to say we've been able to take some strides in
that direction this issue, by speaking to those who document black
metal.
There's also a lengthy look at the business practices of Profound
Lore by ed., some top tens of 2013 from BMotA friends, and a
multitude of reviews from both Patrick and ed. Any art not
specifically attributed was created using material from
archive.org.
Thank you for your support.
ed.&Patrick
[email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/blackmetaloftheamericas
http://blackmetaloftheamericas.bigcartel.com/
One of the exciting things about this issue was the amount of
people we interviewed with a number of irons in the fire. Zareen
is a perfect example of that, as she releases music at a staggering
rate, runs a record label, and was involved in the much maligned
“Black Metal Theory” movement.
Can you walk us through the genesis of Helvete? What is
Helvete's relationship with Hideous Gnosis, and the other
Black Metal Symposiums? What prompted the focus of black
metal as a text, rather than the more traditional sociological
examination? Are you still involved with Helvete's
publication? How did the relationship with punctum books
come about?
Shortly after the second Black Metal Theory Symposium
(“Melancology”) was held in January 2011, I messaged Nicola
Masciandaro, one of the organizers of Hideous Gnosis, to find out
whether anyone was organizing a print outlet to compliment the
BMTS. His response was in essence: No, but go for it. I wasn’t
necessarily looking to become responsible for a journal, but I was
so enthusiastic about the whole BMT enterprise that I ended up
forging ahead anyways with editorial help from Amelia Ishmael,
Aspasia Stephanou, and Ben Woodard, as well as an association
with Nicola and Eileen Joy’s recently-launched punctum books.
This eventually became Helvete.
Helvete is intended to be both an extension of and coparticipant in
the project initiated by the Black Metal Theory Symposia (e.g.
Hideous Gnosis), relating to it in something like the way a
grimoire or liturgical text relates to its expression in ritual. That is
to say, Helvete is a codification that developed in response to the
performances of the BMTS and in turn informs how future BMTS
will be performed.
So, like the BMTS which came before, Helvete is dedicated to the
mutual blackening of metal and theory. This is a hard thing to
grasp immediately---the mutuality of blackening---and many of
the critics of black metal theory ignore it completely. Black metal
theory is not a one-way street, a mere academic commentary on a
pop cultural phenomenon, but a participation in metal by theory, a
participation in theory by metal. They intermingle, copulate,
destroy one another, until something new arrives which is neither
black metal nor theory but black metal theory.
In light of this, I think it’s misleading to say that black metal
theory takes only a textual, as opposed to a sociological, approach
to black metal. Much currently-existing black metal theory views
black metal as a text and takes a textual form, but my intention,
based on my understanding of the symposia organizers’
orientation, was not to limit it this way. As I wrote on the front
page of Helvete’s website, “Not to be confused with a metal
studies, music criticism, ethnography, or sociology, black metal
theory is a speculative and creative endeavor, one which seeks
ways of thinking that ‘count’ as black metal events—and, indeed,
to see how black metal might count as thinking.” Black metal
theory’s expression potentially includes not only essays but also
music, art, fiction, etc. We weren’t able to include all of these
different forms in our first volume, but I hope the editors will
continue to consider them in the future. As I decided to step away
and focus my efforts elsewhere after the initial volume was
published, I’ll have to wait and see like everyone else!
Last year you ran a successful crowd-funding project to
release a split 7-inch between bleakwood and ekadzati. How
did you decide to crowd-fund that release? Would you
consider that method of funding again? Why or why not?
Dan Nahum (Bleakwood) and I strongly believed in the songs on
that split. Unfortunately, the labels we were in contact with
weren’t able to risk the outlay on a vinyl pressing for two
relatively unknown bands, and we were a bit strapped for cash. So,
necessity drove us to seek other means, and luckily, we were
rewarded by a number of wonderfully supportive fans.
I would certainly consider crowd-funding again, as I’m still quite
skint, but I don’t think it’s something I’d like to get into the habit
of doing. Honestly, I would prefer not to be responsible for the
label’s logistical end of releasing anymore. I feel like it takes a lot
of the satisfaction out of making and working with music.
What is your favorite memory involving black metal?
A couple years ago I prepared a short talk for the third Black Metal
Theory Symposium, P.E.S.T., which was held in Dublin. As I
couldn’t afford to attend in person, the organizers graciously
allowed me to present by video, and once the video had played in
Dublin, I put it up on Youtube for others to watch.
Well, it wasn’t long before a thread devoted to the video appeared
on a popular metal label’s forum, and I was quickly eviscerated by
a number of jaggedly acerbic witticisms. As I remember it, the
bulk of the thread was devoted to making fun of my glasses. The
word ‘hipster’ was mentioned a number of times, as well. I think I
ruined black metal for some of those poor folks.
Perhaps I’m just inviting their further ire by telling this story, but I
tell it somewhat frequently already, as it’s a funny example of how
childish our serious, grim, dark, kvlt scene can be. It’s not an
underground -- it’s a schoolyard.
Much of your writings focus on the intersections of Buddhist
thought and black metal. Can you discuss your history with
Buddhism? What drew you to that branch of Eastern
Thought?
I find this somewhat difficult to talk about, because honestly, I
must condemn myself. My history with Buddhism is largely
problematic and exploitative, as I have often treated it as an exotic
‘outside’ to be mined for its resources.
I was an atheist for a while, having left the Greek Orthodox church
over theological disagreements (based on my experiences and
readings of patristic texts, I had taken up what my peers and the
clergy considered to be an extreme, strange, and heretical mystical
view -- that god is Nothingness). My growing discomfort with
being a queer person in the church and my anarcha-communist
political leanings only sped this exit.
However, I had an emotional and mental crisis early in 2011 that
came to a close with my first recorded work in five years, the
Dhumavati EP I released as The Widow. After my breakdown, I
felt my reactionary atheism had contributed to my poor mental
state, that, as I put it to my then-partner, I didn’t have the strength
for atheism. Having purged a great deal of negative energy
through that short recording, I began casting about for some kind
of support, lest the cavern I had emptied collapse and leave me
buried yet again. This is when I first approached Buddhism as a
practitioner, having studied it off and on at different periods in my
life, and began recording as Ekadzati.
At the time, I thought Buddhism was the best fit for my
philosophical proclivities, obsessed as I was with emptiness and
mysticism, without requiring belief in a divine creator. There was
a lot I didn’t understand, frankly, and I mainly pursued it for my
personal gratification. I think the writings you refer to and my
activities as Ekadzati are a reflection of this colonizing attitude.
Much has changed since then, I hope.
One of the main criticisms of black metal theory is an
accusation of "over-thinking it", something that seems to
stem from a fear that, deep down, metal is something to be
ashamed of, the dumb brutish cousin of other, more suave
branches of music. have you found that writing about black
metal has lessened the mystery, the power that this music can
have? is it possible to dissect something without killing it?
People experience and enjoy things in many different ways. Some
people prefer live performances over listening to records at home.
Some people create art that is enriched by or enriches the music
they listen to. Similarly, black metal theory is a way of enjoying
black metal, and it is no better or worse than any other, in my
opinion. It has certainly added to my experience as a listener and
creator, as well as inspiring new lines of thought. If some people
find it uninteresting, that’s fine! It is merely one among many
equal ways.
You recently retired your Ekadzati project, but will be
following in a similar musical vein with Cronesmoon. In your
announcement of this switch, you discussed the harm caused
by the superficial use of iconography to sell records. this kind
of self-awareness permeates your writing, and is a refreshing
break from the self-serious obviousness that plagues most
heavy music. How you do maintain this grounded attitude?
How do you manage to maintain affection for a genre that
harbors pervasive regressive attitudes?
I’m not sure, to be honest. Some of it is simply my personality. I am
extremely introspective and empathetic, and I have been intensely
passionate about justice since I was small. I used to focus this on
abstract questions of Truth and the like, but I came to rearrange
my priorities thanks to my (now ex-) partner’s influence. That’s
what it really comes down to, I guess: priorities. When I made the
decision to retire Ekadzati, I simply asked myself whether my
desire to produce music however I wanted was more important
than showing solidarity with the oppressed and avoiding
contributing to their oppression. To me, justice must always take
priority over music or any other creative or recreational endeavor.
Any other ordering strikes me as selfish.
It can be frustrating to hold views like these in the metal scene.
There are some really nasty people doing and saying abhorrent
things, and it seems like most people simply don’t care. The latter
often claim that they simply care more about listening to “good
music” -- which I constantly point out is code for artists that are
‘in’ and carry cultural weight within the scene -- while
condemning people like me who speak out as taking things too
seriously or stifling free speech or some other liberal nonsense, as
if they’ve caught me in my own web. This apathy allows
oppression to flourish, which I find unacceptable, so it’s unlikely
that this antagonism will subside any time soon.
So, you’re right, it can be difficult to maintain my sunny
disposition in the face of this. Why do I stay? Where else would I
go? Is there a scene that is completely free from anything
problematic? I doubt it. Instead, I find it more productive to resist
oppressive frameworks and work to redefine how people
understand metal. I try to shine a light on assumptions people
make about the music. For instance, at least here in the US,
cisgender white men get the overwhelming bulk of coverage.
Claiming that this focus is the result of a meritocracy ignores the
way power and privilege shape the way we assign merit -- which
things we even consider -- and fails to account for the numerous
incredible musicians who are completely overlooked. But when
you look beyond white musicians, beyond cisgender and
heterosexual musicians, it becomes apparent that there is so much
more to metal than the image we are used to accepting.
Since it ties in here, I’d like to clarify a point about why I chose to
retire Ekadzati. The problem, as I understand it, isn’t with
superficial uses of iconography. I’m sure many white artists using
these symbols are knowledgeable and work with their deep
meanings in sincere ways -- evidently, I believed I was doing so -but no amount of learning or sincerity negates the historical and
continuing systems of colonization whereby white people benefit
from people of color’s oppression. This imbalance of power
precludes equitable cultural exchange -- who, after all, can refuse
to give with a knife at their throat? Thus, white people’s use of,
e.g., Tibetan cultural materials is a theft, not the artistic borrowing
that occurs between people on equal footing. I must emphasize
again: this is a problem of systemic power imbalances. No
individual white person is innocent, no matter their intentions.
Do you think overt Satanism is still a legitimate form of
protest against Christian hegemony in America?
In general, I’m not optimistic about Satanism as a vehicle for
protest. While I recognize that this is not representative of
Satanism on the whole, I find that there is a troubling strain of
anti-semitism in the most politically active anti-Christian
Satanism, at least in the US and Europe, which is not exactly an
alternative I’d like to encourage. As for my friends and myself, we
sometimes describe ourselves as satanic, casting ourselves as
Miltonic heros who revel in the traits for which we were cast out
and that mark our subjugation, but I do not get the sense that
many of us are earnest Satanists in a religious sense.
I also think we (i.e. white people) ought to be careful about
defining which Christianity we mean when we talk about Christian
hegemony in the Americas. While I would not at all call myself a
friend of Christianity, I think what is described applies mainly to
Christianity practiced by white people in the United States,
Europe, etc., which have been and continue to be responsible for
colonialism, as well as shoring up homophobia, transphobia,
sexism, ableism, and capitalism. However, we must not forget, for
instance, the role Catholic revolutionaries and the development of
liberation theology played in Latin America, or that many peoples
have taken up and absorbed Christianity as a means of survival. Is
it appropriate to fight those struggling to survive in the face of
colonial violence? They do not represent any hegemony.
Furthermore, these communities are already fighting for what
they need. Indian activists have pointed out, for instance, that antiLGBTQ laws are relics of the Christianity imposed by British
colonialism. They do not need white saviors to help them figure
this out. So, it seems likely to me that a critique of all Christianity
will stray into colonialism, paternalism, and oppression unless we
are very clear about what we are attacking. Satanists who see
themselves as fighting Christian hegemony tend not to consider
these nuances, in my experience.
In your upcoming projects, you have a split coming out soon
between two of your own projects, the noise-tinged
scrabblings of Cronesmoon and the more "bestial" utterings
of Gulag. Why the separate names for your projects? Is it
purely a way to difference different sonic expressions, or are
there more profound paradigm differences?
For a while, I wanted to squeeze all of my musical ideas into a
single project. I found, however, that this neither led to a welldeveloped whole nor did it encourage excellence in any particular
part. I separated the projects according to sound or methodology
in order to better hone them, and each has taken on a different
thematic focus. I imagine they will once again collapse into a
single, many-tentacled horror at some point.
How do your politics inform your music?
The most obvious influence my politics have on my music is in the
lyrical content, especially in forthcoming work from Gulag, which
very much reflects my beliefs and experiences. I pair my lyrical
images and ideas with music that resonates with and reinforces
them, but I do not think there is a 1 to 1 correlation, as sound
tends to be more suggestive and affective rather than directly
significant of meaning. Then, of course, politics have informed
which associations I will form, who I will work with, how I engage
with others about my music, and my politics led me to shutter
Ekadzati. They are an integral part of everything I do.
You've released 7 releases this year. How do you manage
balancing your musical work with your record label, and your
other interests? What keeps you motivated?
I don’t balance well, to be honest, instead working in bursts as my
energy allows. Much of the time, I create because I feel compelled
to, because I don’t feel like much else in my life is worth going on
for. I do it to keep from feeling like shit, to siphon off my dysphoria
and dysthymia. It’s probably the only thing about myself that I
really like. Without it, I would probably just give up. I realize this
sounds a bit melodramatic, but… music is the only thing that gets
me to a place where I can say with Aurelius, “Some cucumbers are
sour.” Mine is not exactly an example to emulate.
You can find Zareen on the internet here:
http://falsefire.net/about/
Documenting The Extreme: A Discussion with
Sarah Kitteringham
Sarah Kitteringham is a photographer, writer, and editor based out
of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and when she's NOT doing that, she's
tackling metal as an academic subject as well. She recently
presented a version of her thesis at the Noctis 666 conference, and
that's where her work caught our eye. She was kind enough to
speak to us regarding her experience in both journalism and
academia, and specifically her thesis studies. I have a half-baked
joke somewhere here about the amount of photographs you need
to take to make up an academic thesis, but... let's just get to the
interview.
like most metalheads, it seems like metal has been a passion
for you for most of your life. unlike most metalhands, it seems
like you've been involved in documenting it for nearly as long.
what do you think are the biggest changes since the start of
your fandom, both in metal, and in the way that people
document it?
That’s a complicated question. I think the longer I am involved in
documenting metal, the more complex and difficult writing and
the music itself becomes. As I learn more and more about metal,
the more I notice the intersections between the subgenres, and
the more I realize I know nothing! It’s hard to articulate that in an
intelligent fashion. For example, I wrote huge features years ago
on black metal and how women are treated in the metal scene. I
look back at those now, and realize how much richer I could have
made them, and how many points I didn’t touch on, how many
bands I didn’t know. I suppose that’s a side effect of becoming
more educated as well. It opens up so many new worlds, but it
also makes you feel ignorant in many ways. Regardless, I’m
thankful for the ten years of writing experience and 14 years of
metal listening and loving I’ve got under my belt. They are
incredibly valuable to me. I’m not sure I answered your question
with that response, but I know as a fan I’ve changed to favor
extreme metal more and more as the years go by, and that I’ve
been unhealthily obsessed with doom metal since 2007.
you have a background in traditional metal journalism and
are currently in the process of obtaining your masters with a
thesis focused on metal. what are the biggest differences
you've encountered between the metal media and academia?
Academia is far, far more frustrating, and I say that right now as
my thesis is weeks away from completion. Needing to apply theory
to something I love is very difficult at times. That being said,
academia allows me to be very introspective about the metal
scene and my own and others place within it. So it becomes a form
of psychology in many ways. In comparison, traditional metal
journalism is glibber, more tongue in cheek, and allows me to
celebrate the music. It requires that I go see metal in person,
which means I get to head bang, mosh, drink beer, and hang out
with my metal friends. It also means that every time I go on the
Internet, I get to chat about metal with my friends around the
world, talk about going on tour and going to festivals, etc. Also,
the response to the metal media articles I’ve written is far more
entertaining to respond to. I love debating metal, getting feedback,
and learning about bands in those conversations. In contrast,
debating theory and language with academics…. Well, that’s not
necessarily as “fun”, but is extremely illuminating.
metal is often a labor of love for those involved. you yourself
worked an unpaid internship for decibel in 2010. do you ever
feel like there is an expectation that working in a field that
you are excited about should be enough compensation? do
you think it is possible to be strictly a journalist or a
photographer covering heavy metal and make enough to live
on?
Another difficult question to answer. When you are starting out, I
don’t think you should expect payment. I worked for nearly five
years on my journalism without being paid, and during that time I
demonstrated to my editors that my writing was worth something.
This was after I had consistency in my writing and a reliable track
record under my belt. Not everyone starts at the point I did: I did
journalism in high school, and then did my undergraduate degree
in Communications – Journalism. When I started writing back in
high school, I was not good at it. I was new; an excitable little shit
who wanted to take people out of their comfort zones by writing
about bands like Pig Destroyer. I started writing at 15, and
whether you are 15 or 40, good writing takes years to develop. I
don’t think one should be paid until they are a good writer with
impressive knowledge. So, in contrast, if a long time journalist or
writer decided to start writing about the music they love, perhaps
they’d deserve payment when they started out. But I can’t really
make a blanket statement because everyone starts at a different
point.
As for the second part: yes, it is possible to make a living off
covering heavy metal. Is it easy? NO. It’s extremely hard. It
requires years of dedication and hard work. To be honest, I doubt
when I finish grad school that I’ll be making a “living” from
covering metal. But that’s okay. I will have an MA, I work hard, and
I’m okay with having a part-time job or a “career job” to subsidize
my income. I love metal, and I’m not giving up on writing about it,
photographing it, playing it, watching it live, and traveling for it in
the foreseeable future.
your thesis is titled “Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme
Responses: The Rise of Women in Black Metal, Death Metal,
Doom Metal, and Grindcore," and it focuses on the expanding
role of women in extreme metal since 2000. Can you offer us a
short summation of your conclusions?
Short summation: this is an extremely complex topic.
Here is the longer version, and I need to precede it with one thing.
My thesis is not trying to showcase all of us “special snowflake”
metal women. We are not special snowflakes. There are a TON of
women into metal, playing metal, and writing about metal. We are
not anomalies. Now that I’ve said that, I’ll continue.
When I started my research I found that nearly every existing
piece of metal research states that women are seriously
disadvantaged and undervalued within the metal scene, that the
metal scene, and indeed many alternatives scenes, are apparently
fueled by a reactionary response to feminism, etc. That seemed
flawed and inconsistent to me, as I’ve had mostly positive
experiences and been part of the metal scene in Calgary since high
school, and on top of that, numerous women in numerous roles
populate the Calgary metal scene. So, it became a project focused
on discovering how female metal musicians are treated because
no metal research has yet tackled the question. It was important
for me to understand how female metal musicians are treated,
because above everything else in the metal scene, the music is the
most important. It also discusses how there has been a huge
explosion in discussion about the topic of “women in metal” on the
Internet, in magazine representation, etcetera.
Basically, I provide the first person perspective of 18 women
extreme metal musicians. They discuss the challenges they face as
a result of gendered treatment from both female and male metal
fans and musicians, how frustrating the constant discourse is, and
how the majority of them have noticed an increased amount of
extreme metal and metal playing sisters in the past decade.
have you come across a noticeable difference in gendered
behavior between sub-genres of metal in your research?
could you discuss the role of women in black metal
specifically?
Yes, there were some minor differences in gendered behavior
between subgenres, but it’s hard to make blanket statements.
You’re asking about black metal, so I’ll try to tackle that. I think we
can all agree there are some seriously entrenched differences
within the sound spectrum of black metal. I’m not making any
judgment calls on the music itself, but there is a part of the scene
that celebrates bands like Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth, so we’ll
say the more keyboard laden, symphonic black metal, or whatever
you want to label those bands. Then you have a black metal scene
that is far more underground, misanthropic, that produces music
that is incredibly ugly and visceral. That can be further broken
down, as you get into realms of war metal like Blasphemy,
Revenge, Rites of Thy Degringolade, etc, black metal that stems
from the Pacific Northwest like Agalloch, Ludicra, etc, and about
80 other minuet differences. I personally favor bands within the
uglier realms, and spoke to women musicians exclusively in this
realm. Based on their responses, and my own experience as a fan
within this scene, I would say underground black metal scenes
usually don’t give a fuck about who you are. Do you like the music?
Do you listen to it obsessively? Do you play it well? If the answer
to these questions is yes, you tend to be treated quite well. Black
metal’s scene politics are interesting because it is incredibly
personal music. Although the scene does have issues with “isms” it
is oddly egalitarian. I would wager that within more symphonic
realms, where female musicians are often relegated to “the hot girl
on keyboards” stereotype, or are singing symphonic melodies in
gothic regalia, women are not valued in the same fashion as their
male counterparts.
were you able to cover metal as a global phenomena, or were
there specific regions you focused on? if so, were there any
unexpected differences between various parts of the world?
I only focused on Canada, and the majority of my participants
reside in Western Canada. No existing metal research has covered
extreme metal in Canada. I talked to women from metal scenes in
Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto. When I go
in-depth with examples, I am generally referring to the Calgary
metal scene. Overall, I found that the scenes are quite similar in
many ways.
in your research, what kind of "extreme responses" to metal
misogyny/hegemony did you come across? what prompted
your use of the title of that Brutal Truth album?
To be honest, I came up with the title for a few reasons. Firstly, I
love grindcore, and I thought that the sociopolitical leanings of
that Brutal Truth album title were oddly fitting for the subject
matter. Secondly, I was annoyed by the representation of women
in academia, because it seemed like an extreme representation,
and I liked the play on words given I wanted to write about
extreme metal. However, as I started my interviews and talked to
those 18 musicians, I started realizing the title fit very well. In
particular, I was surprised at the hegemony of the musician as
male, and how women in the metal scene have internalized that. I
was shocked at how nasty and awful women can be to female
musicians, and how frequently female musicians who’ve played
their instrument for a lengthy amount of time are still treated like
outsiders, posers, or objects for sex within metal scenes other
than their own. That is definitely a challenge for many women
within metal scenes, and will be a challenge until there are more
women within every metal scene who are there as fans and
musicians and contributors. There is A LOT of animosity towards
women that others perceive to be there for the “wrong reasons”,
aka sex. Which is pretty hypocritical given how frequently women
in metal scenes are hit on and grabbed at by strangers and
acquaintances alike, and how frequently I hear males in the metal
scene talk about how they want to get laid. But that double
standard exists everywhere, it’s in no way exclusive to the metal
scene.
you've presented on this topic multiple times, at least once in
an entirely academic setting(The Heavy Metal and Popular
Culture Conference) and once in a more mixed setting(Noctis
666). how has the response been? does it differ depending on
the presentation's setting?
The response was quite positive in both settings, because people
were interested and wanted to give me feedback and see if I had
addressed everything they cared about. I liked the academic
setting because when that happened, I was green. I needed
feedback, and it was pretty cool to meet all my academic icons and
discuss my research with them. The response at Noctis was also
great. It was only 11:30 a.m., and the room was packed, standing
room only. That made me nervous, and the obscene hangover and
lack of sleep did not help. But, I got a lot of questions and people
seemed to understand my intentions. As for the response I get
from people who really, really dislike me for researching this
topic… it’s a little scary. Some of it has been incredibly negative,
often bordering on violent.
the past couple of years have seen an explosion of metal
academia, ranging from the more abstract theory
experiments of Hideous Gnosis and Helvete, to the more
empirical sociological examinations, like your own work. is
there anyone you've seen at a conference, or interacted with
in an academic setting that you think has an exceptional
insight into metal? who should we be reading?
I really enjoy Dr. Niall Scott’s research on philosophy and heavy
metal. I also really enjoy Owen Coggins research on drone metal as
mystical texts. I also recommend Lauren Kolenko’s work on
transcultural appeal in European folk and pagan metal, it’s
fascinating. Some of the academics I most enjoy reading include
Natalie Purcell and Keith Kahn-Harris.
are there plans to publish your thesis? will it be made
available in a non-academic setting after it is completed?
We’ll see. When this sucker is done, I am tempted to light it on fire
and doing a sacrificial dance that involves Weakling being blasted
at deafening levels while I consume ridiculous amount vodka.
More seriously, I will see what options are available. I’d like people
to read it, and I really hope it inspires discussion.
any last thoughts?
Thank you for the interview, and I hope that when it is complete
people are interested in reading it.
You can find more about Sarah's work at
https://www.facebook.com/SarahKitteringhamPhotography
or https://twitter.com/SKitteringham
Pinpricks Of Light In This Eternal Black Canvas: a
Random Top Ten of 2013 by SJC
Sea of Shit 10”- Austere power violence straight out of a time capsule
from the Slap-a-Ham renaissance. Classic “arguing demons” dualvocal punishment, sharp blasts into baby-stomping breakdowns, and a
general disdain for human existence equals a new relic of California in
the 90s, transplanted to the bleak, seasonal malaise of Chicago.
Sejr demo- Skinny white youngsters (this time of European [Danish]
descent) continue, throughout the continuum of subcultural output, to
kill it when it comes to punk/hardcore/metal. The hormones, boredom,
and excess free time somehow roil and merge in a cauldron of acneridden disgust, creating a free-flowing river of black metal by way of
punk/hc. The internet-era attention span is apparent in the slideshow
of sick riffs; each song is packed with snippets of epic and catchy
guitar, cave drumming, and grotesque euro-grunts. No song titles, just
a blur of white noise.
MGLA, With Hearts Toward None LP- Maybe this came out in 2012,
no matter: I’m old and behind the times. Extremely enjoyable black
metal here, with real, incisive song craft and great, repetitive
breakdowns I could listen to forever. Packed end to end with tight
jams, metal poetry, and 4-star riffs.
The Lost Estate (Le Grand Meaulnes) by Alain-Fournier- Another
non-2013 selection; this book dates back to the early 20th century,
discovered by me in the twenty-teens. I love wistful coming-of-age
literature, and The Lost Estate hits all the right genre notes. Both a
rousing boy’s adventure tale and a morose study of poisonous
nostalgia, we watch the titular character actively degrade his present
by longing to recapture a romantic event from his past. Considered a
classic by those snooty Frenchies.
Supernatural Strategies For Making A Rock’n’Roll Group by Ian
Svenonius-A great book for lovers of academia, musicians, and the
pop-culture obsessed. Svenonius’s writing voice nails the lofty
academic prose style succinctly, and he exudes such exacting
earnestness on seemingly trivial topics; he may be our finest living
cultural critic. Ironically mired in the indie/rock and roll landfill he so
acutely skewers, Svenonius deserves a wider audience. A detailed
summation (framed with séance-aided advice from dead rock stars) of
what it truly means to play in a band with other flawed humans and
the cultural and sub-cultural implications of being a band member, and
what it takes to be “successful” in the bacteria-infested waters of the
industry, all written with a cutting dryness that is also totally hilarious.
Angry Gods live – Regardless of what you might think, the
dissatisfied young man still roams the streets, garages, and dumpy
basements of America. Angry Gods are a testament to this. While their
peers continue to mine the 1980s for another rehashed riff, Angry
Gods go darker. These boys seem to be influenced by AmRep noise
rock, relevant in the cultural wasteland that was the 90s. Stomping
repetition backs Dude Bellowing of the highest order. Angry Gods go
for it live, they aren’t scared of their instruments or the audience.
Brutal breakdowns of the non-chug variety are their forte. This is
hardcore, amateurs.
Zola Jesus, live at the Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, ILWhere do goth teens on a date and shuffling hardcore punk burnouts
intersect? At a Zola Jesus concert, apparently. Amidst the gorgeous
flora of this west side conservatory, Zola Jesus sang her heart out
backed by a string quartet and an old head weirdo(JG Thirwell of
Foetus) conducting the icy gloom. Breaking the fourth wall and
strolling through the audience with her microphone, one individual
was moved to tap his partner on the shoulder and break her crosslegged, hippie, eyes-closed meditation so she could witness the
operatic apparition haunt the crowd.
Not having kids- No matter how funky your wedding is, or how
alternative your child-rearing methods are, the simple fact remains:
you have a child, one of the most mundane, planet-fucking, status-quo
acts of middle-class boredom you could ever execute. No thanks. This
little monument to your ego is not a lab rat. You cannot reconcile the
number your parents did on you by raising your own little dress-up
doll differently. It’s time to grow up and realize raising children the
right way is impossible and the only solution is to simply not have
them (save yourself and them--your li’l victims of existence--the
headache). That would also mean the end of baby showers, a true
blessing on this god-forsaken hell planet.
Witch In Her Tomb, Maleficus Maleficarum ep- A hearty slab of
modern American black metal, expertly recorded for maximum dark,
dense atmosphere. Containing 3 songs of pure fuzz, with simple—not
mundane—song structures, the ep is an effective concentrate of
gloomy blackness. Taking cues from the second wave with an infusion
of eerie melody, the b-side song soars with choral voices and onechord primal bludgeoning. Epic brevity, an ugly, short, dank ride.
Cirrhus, s/t LP-Meditative and insidious, this album is trance
inducing. Like a collage of black metal tape loops, Cirrhus turns
repetition into an art form here. The bizarre lyrics avoid cliché
Satan fetishizing, affected cultism, and willful weirdness. The
words are evocative without being explicit. Cirrhus is a font of
insectoid buzz, flat howls, and heroic repetition.
SJC can be found playing drums in:
http://crackedvessel.bandcamp.com/
Robert Newsome of the Atomic Elbow's Top Ten of
2013
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Bone Sickness “Alone in the Grave”
Unattended Funeral - Demo
Aksumite - "No Babylon"
Dead Lord - "Goodbye Repentance"
Iron Drugs "I" and "II"
Necrostrigis - "Wilkołaki Księżycowego Pentagramu"
Grav - "Omhulda Ondskans Kretslopp"
Warhorde - "Hoof 'n' Horn"
Phasm - Demo
High Spirits – "2013"
You can find Robert's work at: http://theatomicelbow.blogspot.com/
black metal has a strange and expansive relationship with bigotry, and
it's one that is rarely talked about, especially in the context of a
breathing, current problem. antichrist kramer was the illustrator behind
two recent inquisition covers(who themselves have a sketchy
relationship with National Socialism, see Dagon's NS noise side-project),
and yet their albums are consistently on year end lists, with no
acknowledgment of the signal boost such coverage gives such
questionable propagandists like Kramer. One only has to look at the
example of Varg, who's recent racist blog gets at least 45 comments per
post, to see the worrying potential of black metal social capital to
catapult oppressive views to a mass audience. How do you think we(both
fans, and people involved in curating the conversation) can start to
combat the cult of silence that has sprung up around artists of these ilk?
I believe the best way to combat indifference and silence is simply to
speak out. If we really consider the music we enjoy as art, it's our
responsibility to take its creators intentions just as seriously, and with
black metal that may mean making connections from bands like
Inquisition on to Kramer, and then on to William Pierce and other neonazi ideologues. Metal thrives on its self-regard as something
subversive and unafraid, but when it comes to the tough questions
raised about intent and the uncomfortable alliance between some labels
and racism, the response from the community has been disappointingly
mealy.
What I've come to understand about NS within larger swaths of black
metal is that the more vocal and clear its creators are about their
intentions, the less seriously the majority of its consumers seem
consider it. With a long history of shock value and purposeful
offensiveness in the quiver, metal gives defenders of unsavory content
an easy out, and this has been exploited by apologists of Satanic
Skinhead over and over again.
But these defenses crumble pretty quickly when the links between that
label, Darker Than Black, and neo-Nazi organizations like The National
Alliance and Creativity are more laid out a little more explicitly. Still,
the metal community is reluctant to admit to these associations. Why?
There's a moment from the recent Jim DeRogatis interview with the
Village
Voice(http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2013/12/read_the_sto
mac.php) regarding his work exposing R. Kelly's misdeeds that keeps
running through my mind in discussions about bigotry in black metal.
Jessica Hopper asks him why he thinks there's been such a wall of
silence around these allegations, and he claims that it's partly that most
music criticism is written by fans instead of people with journalistic
training, and partly that people are squeamish, and would prefer to ignore
unsavory aspects when they're just trying to write about music. People
don't wanna write about Inqusition's multiple ties to sketchy
propagandists because they write great riffs, and that's more fun to talk
about, not the flow of money from fans to season of mist to antichrist
kramer.
why do you think black metal has this intense association with radicalized
hatred?
So that interview ends with DeRogatis saying the following: "You have
to make a choice, as a listener, if music matters to you as more than
mere entertainment. And you and I have spent our entire lives with that
conviction. This is not just entertainment, this is our lifeblood. This
matters."
Gone (mostly) are the days when it seemed even remotely feasible
(http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/an-ozzy-osbourne-fancommits-suicide) to hold music responsible for the behavior of its
listeners - it's a misguided notion - but to echo DeRogatis, music as an
incubator of ideas, and of expression, matters. It matters in part
because of the financial ties between a tiny Chicago-area label and
Greek fascists, but it also matters because ideas shape cultures and
sub-cultures. And the more integrated your subculture is with clearly
racist, bigoted, and violent people, the result is an outgrowth of racism,
bigotry, and violence in your subculture, and in your city.
As for your question, let's remember that Pierce and Möbus and others
actively campaigned to push black metal in their direction, and it's not
some unhappy confluence but the result of determined efforts on their
part. What's most disconcerting is that this push has been met with a
shrug, and the fact that we're even discussing it today is that the
community has allowed itself to let in (even incrementally) racist
ideologues who both practice and preach.
the other part of that article that rings true with me is that it's hard to
separate r. kelly and his crimes from his art because his art is so bound
up in the same topics as his transgressions. there's an obvious
correlation with the work of most NSBM bands, an inability to separate
their politics from their art. i think that the point about people pushing
black metal in this direction is spot on, though i also think the
mythologizing of Norwegian black metal sometimes includes racism as
part and parcel of this sort of authentically evil package.
i feel like this idea that attitudes in art enforce existing oppression is an
idea that people feel personally attacked by, not just in black metal, but
in larger society in general. you can appreciate the musical talents of
some of these bands without subscribing to their ideals, there's just a lot
of moral questions that get raised with a) supporting them financially, and
b) supporting them by writing/talking about them positively, by increasing
their social capital, and any attempt to bring those considerations to bear
often is met with dismissal or outright hostility.
you've been outspoken about this issue multiple times. what kind of
response have you received?
When I first began posting about bands coming to Austin being
associated with this neo-nazi label, there was an incredulous reaction
across the board, and the result was a kind of smarmy hostility and
near-annoyance that I even brought it up. I had a back and forth with a
friend of the festival organizer who summed up his argument by saying:
"I'm talking about real life but you seem to live in a fantasy world where
NSBM bands and short midwestern men who call themselves
'Warhead Jewgrinder' are something to be taken deadly seriously and
discussed at length. I don't. That is the only 'stance' I take on the
matter." Easy to say when it's not your home that's been set on fire.
Responses have varied depending on with whom I'm speaking - friends
of mine who aren't into metal seem a little puzzled that I take black
metal, let alone NSBM, seriously at all. And we've discussed the stillintact silence in those parts of the media where metal is discussed
critically with regard to almost everything but politics. Still, I think the
discussion has come a long way from where it began, where mentioning
something rotten was looked down upon more than the rottenness
itself. That's a small positive.
That sort of dismissal is something I've been thinking about a lot in the
creation of this issue of Black Metal of the Americas. How can we
discuss these issues that I think are very serious without alienating
people who don't see a difference between hailing satan, and heiling
hitler, or don't care particularly about that difference? i think the kind of
argument you laid out in your article for the Tablet is a good method,
drawing clear lines between direct racist actions and the music. i also
think it helps that there's been a lot of recent media examination about
the morality of supporting artists with questionable histories.
do you have any advice for starting this conversation on a small scale,
ways to discuss these issues without initiating a defensive response?
I'm not sure, honestly. If certain listeners literally can't see why
championing racism and sexism and violence toward minorities in a way
that has real life consequences doesn't matter somehow, a reasonable
argument is not going to change minds, I don't think.
no, and i definitely feel that kind of frustration thinking about this
sometimes. reading one of the countless rants about how "antifa fascists"
or "black metal tumblr posers" are ruining the true nature of black metal,
by oppressing truly dangerous art is so aggravating because it
completely ignores the wider context of western society, where violence
against minorities, in physical/mental/emotional forms is so normalized.
it's also frustrating to understand that there are those who do get that
distinction, but persist in playing the martyr because it sells cds.
i guess i'm more concerned about trying to reach people on the sidelines,
folks who would readily admit that national socialism is a bad thing, but
wear burzum shirts to shows, include disma on year end lists, things like
that. acts that allow small increments in the social capital of an artist. i
worry about alienating those people, but it's hard to remain calm when
inaction seems to be the order of the day.
anyway, i really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to
talk through some of this with me. do you have any last thoughts?
I understand this viewpoint completely, and it's important to address
those listeners who feel torn - to them I would ask that they look hard
at the factors shaping the music they enjoy without pity, but also
without pessimism. Metal is much larger than the hypothetical restraints
of self-appointed bigots trying to bar the entryway (and their attendant
apologists). The music is much bigger in scope, more interesting, and
more versatile than the forces of discrimination want it to be.
Thank you for speaking with me.
You can find Adam on the internet at: http://www.schragin.com/
Bring Back the Bomb: Hexer's
Phlegethon talks thrash, Iceland, and the
End of the World
Hexer's unholy thrash/black metal hybrid blew us away last
year, and when we saw they were playing at the upcoming
Gilead Fest 2014, we knew we had to get our readers the
goods on this band. Phlegethon was kind enough to give us
the down-low on the circle pit storm headed to the middle
west this summer.
hexer is based primarily out of philly, but at the start, band
members were scattered between boston, new york, and
philadelphia. how did you all meet, and what was the catalyst
that prompted the expansion of the band from just
phlegethon to a trio?
I began writing songs for what would ultimately become Hexer
about a decade ago while I was living in Boston. I grew up
listening to all types of punk and thrash and had always wanted to
make a black metal band that combined the best aspects of those
genres. To me, thrash and punk are inextricably bound to black
metal and I wanted to make music that reflected that bond.
Unfortunately, the bands I was playing in at the time were not at
all interested in moving in that direction- actually, black metal was
still relatively an outsider genre in Boston those days- so I began
stockpiling riffs and demoing songs on my own. It wasn't until a
few years later when I met Lazarus through a mutual friend that
any of these riffs were even played outside of my bedroom. He and
I actually practiced in the same building, so we'd usually get
together in between our other bands' practices or after shows.
Still, it was mainly a side-project kind of thing in those days and
even though we probably had more fun playing together than we
did in our main bands, neither of us thought it would go
anywhere. So, when I moved to Philadelphia in 2006, the band
became a solo project again. Then, in 2009, I met my wife Ansgar
after our bands played a show together in Brooklyn and she
decided to move from Boston to Philadelphia. Later that same year
and after some convincing on my part, Lazarus also decided to
move to Philly. From that point on, the core trio of Hexer was in
place. I immediately set up a rudimentary recording studio in my
house and we started tracking what would eventually become the
first two cassettes and the LP.
your upcoming release on gilead media is a compilation of
two self-released cassette tapes. how did this partnership
come about?
I had been dubbing and distributing the cassettes through my own
tape label, Scum Cult, for about a year or so when Adam from
Gilead Media contacted me pretty much out of the blue to buy a
bunch of tapes for his distro after hearing Cassette II through
Lazarus, who was touring with his other band, Mutilation Rites.
Lazarus had worked with Gilead on a handful of Mutilation Rites'
releases and had nothing but positive things to say about Adam
and the label, so I went ahead and sent him ten or so copies of
each EP. I think I even sent them to him free of charge just because
I was relieved that someone else was interested in the band other
than me. Plus, I had boxes of tapes laying around my house and
was happy to have someone take them off my hands. I was actually
really surprised when they sold out so quickly and Adam
contacted me to buy more. I was even more surprised when the
second batch sold out before they even arrived and Adam
contacted me again with an offer to release the two tapes on vinyl.
Obviously, I said yes and, almost exactly a year later, the LP was
released on Gilead Media.
Phlegethon has spent time studying in Iceland. Could you talk
about that experience, and discuss the impact it had on your
music? i am assuming there was an impact, as iceland is one
of the tags on your bandcamp page.
I first went to Iceland with Lazarus in 2009 and I moved there last
year with Ansgar to work on my Doctorate, so I think it's safe to
say that each of us has made a personal connection to that country
on some level. This is actually a really difficult question for me to
answer because Iceland is a place of extremes and dualities. For
example, living in Reykjavik feels like you're simultaneously living
in a typical western metropolis and a small fishing village where
you can't walk down the street without seeing a person you know.
Likewise, the wilderness is either a bleak expanse of colorless
volcanic rocks and dust, or its a majestic, awe-inspiring landscape
filled with mountains, waterfalls and bright colors. In the winter,
the nights become almost endless; in the summer, the sun rarely
falls behind the horizon. I know it seems like a perfect place to
cultivate excellent black metal, but it actually had the opposite
effect on me. For me, Iceland was an escape from the filth and
human wreckage of both Philadelphia and the United States in
general. Yet, it's the ugliness of the world that most motivates me
musically. Iceland was too dream-like, too pretty, too utopian. It's
hard to imagine nuclear Armageddon happening in a place that's
so beautiful and pristine. Granted, living there is amazing and it
has made a profound impact on me as a person, but it plays
virtually no part in the creation of my music.
while black metal has a long-standing tradition of mystical
sounding tolkienist pseudonyms, the prevailing winds,
especially in american circles seem to drift towards real
names, or just a void to be filled by the projections of
listeners. your choices are more concrete, seemingly inspired
by saints(lazurus and ansgar) and one of the rivers of
hades(phlegethon). Can you talk about your usage of stage
names, both the intent behind the action and the specific
names?
The choice to use pseudonyms in Hexer always seemed obvious to
me. I think a lot American black metal bands have shied away
from using pseudonyms because they want to be viewed as
serious musicians that play serious music for serious people.
That's understandable- I take Hexer seriously and I want others to
as well- but I also appreciate the mystique and allure that comes
along with refusing to use real names. Plus, a lot of "nowadays" US
black metal is too focused on re-inventing the wheel and eschews
a lot of the old black metal tropes just for the sake of bucking the
trend. Of course, this is now a trendy thing to do in itself, but that's
another issue altogether. For Hexer, I see using pseudonyms
primarily as an aesthetic choice. As I've said, the band itself is an
amalgamation of punk, thrash and traditional black metal, so I
wanted to use pseudonyms to pay homage to our influences.
Ansgar and I had used the same pseudonyms in our other black
metal bands so, for us, it was just a continuation of something we
had been doing for years. Ansgar is Swedish, and she chose to
name herself after the "Apostle of the North", St. Ansgar, to mock
the man who spearheaded the Christianization of Sweden and
northern Europe. I am a literature and writing teacher, so I chose
to name myself after the river Phlegethon as it is depicted in
Dante's Inferno and other classic texts. Lazarus, on the other hand,
got his name after he drunkenly fell from a bunk bed in the
practice space and crashed through a plate glass display case that
happened to be in the room. By all accounts, he should have died.
Yet, like his biblical counterpart, he managed to cheat death and
arose from the debris unscathed.
phlegethon and ansgar maintain a partnership outside of the
band, according to metal archives. does this relationship have
any kind of impact on the creation of your music?
Very much so, yes. Ansgar is Hexer's minister of propaganda. She
writes all of the lyrics, does all of the online promotion, and does
all of the artwork. I've been told that I'm a pretty tough critic and I
know I have a very specific vision of what I want, so if we weren't
married, she probably would have quit the band by now. Still, we
work really well together and I couldn't imagine having anyone
else do our artwork or do vocals. It's great because I'm always
playing guitar and putting songs together and, since my studio is
in our house, she gets to hear the songs from infancy to the final
mix. This allows her to familiarize herself with the structure and
overall feel of each song and hear the evolution of songs as they
progress. So, in a way, she can tap into my thought process as the
songs are being made and can convey these thoughts as lyrics and
artwork. Obviously, if we didn't have this type of close
relationship, Hexer wouldn't be the same.
slayer, metallica, megadeth, or anthrax?
Slayer.
according to a post made on phillymetal.com in 2012, hexer
was in the market for a drummer. have you found one yet?
Yes. Justin Ennis, who drums in Mutilation Rites, will be playing
live drums for us at Gilead Fest in July and possibly some other
dates this summer. I've known him for a long time and he's a great
drummer, so I'm really excited to have him be a part of it. In terms
of the drumming on our next album, we'll probably use sequenced
drums again because I think a big portion of Hexer's sound comes
from the cold harshness of the drum machine, but if the live shows
go well and the sound of acoustic drums fits our new material, I
would consider using real drums in the studio.
your recently-announced appearance at gilead media fest
2014 is going to be your first live show. what should our
readers expect? how are you preparing?
I've always thought that Hexer's music was best suited to a live
setting so, for me, it will be amazing to finally have a chance to
play the songs as a full band. Of course, the two halves of the band
are at least six hours away from each other so, for now, Ansgar and
I are practicing the songs from the LP on our own and Lazarus and
Justin have been doing the same in Brooklyn. Sometime around
the new year, we'll start traveling down there every other
weekend or so to practice as a full band and, assuming we've done
our jobs, things should come together smoothly. Since we'll be
supporting the LP, I can say that the bulk of our set will be
comprised of those songs, but I expect that we'll be playing some
new material as well; it really just depends on how much stuff we
get done beforehand. In terms of the performance itself, I don't
want to reveal too much, but I will say this: don't expect to see
elaborate costumes or theatrical stage antics or anything like that.
We've done enough of that stuff in our other bands to last a
lifetime and it's not at all what Hexer's about.
the striking cover art that graces your gilead release is a
sickening inversion of the fall of humanity, with a mushroom
cloud replacing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. do
you still feel the specter of nuclear Armageddon looms over
humanity, or do you think we will bring our own end through
more subtle means?
I'm glad you got the reference. Ansgar and I spent a long time
conceptualizing and designing the cover and it looks exactly how I
imagined it. Though I wouldn't necessarily call it a "concept
album," the LP is presented as a single narrative that is roughly a
re-imagined version of Paradise Lost, wherein Satan ultimately
defeats God and leads mankind to wage nuclear war on itself. So,
while nuclear Armageddon is a big part of the story, it's not the
whole story. Truthfully, I think that mankind will extinguish itself
through more subtle and gradual means- maybe from disease,
maybe from overpopulation, maybe from some kind of natural
disaster- but the threat of nuclear war is the most fascinating to
me and, in comparison to the countless other ways that mankind
seems determined to destroy itself, it is certainly the most
appealing. After all, as biologist E.O. Wilson once said, "If all
mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to
the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago."
Obviously, even though the environmental effects caused by
radiation wouldn't exactly give the earth a "clean slate," so to
speak, it's a start.
any final words for our readers?
"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am
large, I contain multitudes." - Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
Thanks for reading and supporting ‘zines like this. See you all in
Hell.
You can find Hexer's bandcamp here:
http://hexer.bandcamp.com/
Their debut release on vinyl is still on sale at Gilead Media as of
right now.
LEADER OF THE PACK: Ashencult on
Wolven Ambition, Technology, and
Darkness
ashencult is a band that seemly appeared out of no-where,
throwing a complete album on bandcamp with little fanfare, and
allowing the strength of their music to speak for them. we
reviewed their debut album, “black flame gnosis” awhile back, and
were very impressed by what we heard. ashencult has put out a
number of new tracks since then, notably on their split with
mephorash, and on a couple other compilation releases. we were
lucky enough to exchange a couple of e-mails, and pick the brains
of those involved in this unholy cacophony.
a lot of the language you have used in previous interviews to
describe your work has heavy religious overtones. ritual,
hymn, and so on. do you feel there is any influence from
liturgical music, past or present, in your work?
That depends on whether you consider black metal a liturgical
form of music or not. We certainly do and black metal is the
primary influence to our style, so in that regard the answer would
be yes. We gain much inspiration from the artists whose aim is
beyond mere "artistic expression", be it music or other mediums
that share our outlook, so that is also reflected in what we do, just
not sonically.
satan and the occult have always been intertwined with heavy
metal, but traditionally in very adolescent and reactionary
ways. their usage has become an odious self-serious
marketing tactic, a gimmick to hang trite "shocking
statements" upon. how do you walk the line between being
honest and engaging with your beliefs through your music
without slipping over into self-mockery?
We are not a reactionary band so that tends to strip away any
feeling of juvenile angst. Putting excessive effort into being antithis or anti-that seems like a waste of energy, and for what? The
sake of shocking or being blasphemous? Slayer has been doing
that for decades because it "sounds cool" but in reality Tom Araya
is open about being a Roman Catholic. Aside from the music, how
can anyone possibly take that band seriously knowing that? We
also leave our lyrics open to interpretation. They're not so dense
and specific that it makes a casual listener feel excluded if they
haven't read every single occult text out there. We're not trying to
convert anyone to our beliefs, it's more about expressing our dark
vision of the world and what lies beyond.
black metal and serious occult tradition have a long standing
relationship. why do you think black metal and the occult are
so linked? you can answer this personally or sociologically,
whichever approach you'd prefer.
As it should be! Granted, the connection between tradition and the
genre started out immaturely. The people who carried the torch
eventually took it to extremely serious levels. Black metal can
basically be viewed as the gospel for Satan, death, and dark
knowledge. It's unfortunate that, as you said above, it has become
such a parody of itself. All the headlines of the past focus on are
the 2 negative extremes: the image obsessed bands who spend
more time taking pictures of themselves breathing fire than they
do writing music, the individuals who wear flannel as badges and
latched onto the style when it became ironic. Beneath the garbage
however, there are those who are strong, intelligent, and ignite the
black flame through their music. Just as the left hand path isn't for
everyone, I don't think black metal should be any different.
you've discussed your music as born of a need for catharsis in
a number of publications. what other reasons do you have for
playing music, for being in a band?
Writing and recording music seems to feel like the organic, logical
step for us to take in order to feel complete.Some people can paint
to show how they're feeling, others write poetry or sculpt, or
direct films...aside from it being the method easiest to convey how
we feel we also very much enjoy performing and playing music
whether it be in a studio or on stage. We have all been playing
music for years and it is a major part of all our lives.
what draws you to the notion of the predator as an identifying
concept?
There are predators and there is prey. If you are weak, whether
physically or mentally, then you most likely fit into the latter
category. The path of darkness is not for the weak. The prey often
has to travel in herds while predators most times walk alone.
There is much value to be found in this concept and accepting you
are not a part of the mass.
how would you define weakness? what separates the
predatorial ambitions of members of ashencult, and a
corporate CEO, or a politician? what makes your strain of
predatory thinking unique in comparison to the countless
examples we have normalized everyday in the guise of
capitalism, or masculinity, or political machinations?
There is physical weakness and mental weakness. Physical
weakness is pretty self-explanatory but just because someone is
physically weak doesn't mean they can't fend for themselves in
this age by being of strong will and mind.
Our ambitions as predators differ from the ones you speak of
because we have no urge to control or convert others, we seek to
only have complete control over our paths and desires without
allowing external forces to sway us from where we know we must
journey (which means being strong enough to journey alone).
Politics are merely a mundane tool used to distract people just like
the media. We have no interest in these things.
in an interview in Backlit, it was stated that "Advances in
technology in conjunction with the cosmic powers that be
have severely de-evolved spirituality." Can you expound on
this concept? do you think there is a way technology and
spirituality can be reconciled?
In regards to technology: it is a tool that is very effective at
distracting people. Instead of having to dwell on thoughts of their
own mortality, it is so easy to get caught up in what others are
doing while simultaneously stripping yourself of instinct. The
more you depend on technology to survive day to day, the more
you lose touch of your true intuition. With the speed at which
science is advancing, atheists have become more widely accepted
as there is much correlation between science and atheism.
Atheism is basically numbing one's self spiritually.
A common alternative is following a cosmic religion, based in light
and order that completely suppresses the desire for knowledge
and is perpetuated by blind faith and fear.
Could we not argue that spiritual growth dwells between those
two extremes? Claiming science has all the answers is very
ignorant when it's constantly evolving and disproving itself,
meanwhile nothing needs to be said in regards to the obvious
flaws of organized religion. The reconciliation happens when you
can acknowledge the changing nature of science and accept the
idea that just because something hasn't been proven scientifically
doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There are many who are content not
knowing what's ahead and beyond, and that's fine for them, but
that has nothing to do with us. Questioning all sides and
experiencing for yourself is where it can be reconciled.
what is the most meaningful connection you've formed
because of black metal?
Black Metal, like any other form music one holds dearly, or any
other form of art even, not only helps put certain life experiences
into perspective, it also helps further the process of self-discovery.
The focus behind writing and recording an album, and working
with like-minded individuals can serve as a form of meditation for
musicians.
We've made many close friends through this art who have helped
push us musically and spiritually from all corners of the world. It
is also an honor getting to share the stage with these same people
who we would likely have never met under other circumstances.
how do you feel about the usage of social media in marketing
your band?
Bands in previous generations were underground because they
had to be. Back then, tape trading wasn't a social statement like it
is now. If you wanted people to hear your band, that was the only
way. It takes so much time, effort, and money to sit dubbing tapes
all night and mailing them out the next day. There's no problem
with social media, only those who exist through it. While any band
can become an overnight sensation online, it is also beneficial to
honest artists who want their music to be heard but don't have the
money or connections to immediately create a formal, tangible
release. True supporters will still buy the music and pirates will
pirate it regardless, so bands are better off just making it
accessible. We play live and we press actual records so for us it's
no more than a way to let people know when we're playing and
where you can listen to/buy our music.
Of course, there are downsides. Constant engagement online
between bands and their supporters creates a demand for instant
satisfaction. It is clear that there are those addicted to social
media. They've forgotten how to live in the moment, and are far
too concerned with documenting everyday minutia to realize it.
what's next for ashencult?
2014:
We currently have 2 splits in the works. One will be for the
previously announced Elemental Nightmares compilation; a series
of 7" splits between international bands who all have a like-mind
and vision. Our split for this effort will be with Switzerland's
VUYVR. Additionally, we have a concept split-LP planned that we
elaborate about at a further date. These new recordings are being
written in conjunction with our compositions for our forthcoming
full-length album.
With 'Opus Serpens' , our 10" split with Mephorash currently out
on Unholy Anarchy Records, it will be ideal to shine Lucifer's dark
light on more areas in the USA as well.
Final statement: Hails to our Wolven Brothers and all other
legions worldwide! Hails to those who support the underground!
To death and chaos....
-ASHENCULT
You can find Ashencult at
https://www.facebook.com/ASHENCULT
The Backlit interview we mentioned can be found here:
http://backlitzine.com/
Marketing Bigotry: a Look at the Business Practices of Profound
Lore
by ed.
Trigger warning: misogyny, casual homophobia, transphobia,
trans-misogyny, violence against women and trans people
Profound Lore consistently puts out forward-thinking metal, with a
range that rivals any other metal label on the planet. Ranging from
the the claustrophobia of Portal to the triumph of Dawnbringer, and
still managing to create a cohesive sense of aesthetic is no small feat.
Profound Lore consistently produces releases worthy of attention, if
not outright admiration. In short, Profound Lore is an important label
in metal, with a level of consistent quality associated.
Profound Lore is also a label that has displayed a shockingly
mercenary attitude towards bigotry.
Profound Lore's owner used troubling language in a recent interview
in Chips & Beer. Profound Lore released an album by a convicted
abuser, and used that crime to market the album as “making black
metal dangerous again”. Profound Lore is releasing an album in the
upcoming months with a cover that displays a murdered trans person,
drawn in the garish hues of a EC Comics Frankenstein. These are
things that individually, are clearly problematic. Taking stock of all of
them makes it much harder to see this as isolated incidents.
Let's be very clear here. I'm not accusing Chris Bruni of being a
misogynist, a homophobe, or a transphobe. I am saying that over the
past two years, Profound Lore, as a business(and to an extent, Chris as
a member of that business), has been represented in a way that
communicates these biases, and in a way that profits from those
biases. This may seem like splitting hairs to some, but I want to
reinforce that there is a difference. I do not know Chris personally,
and I don't want to seem like I am attacking him personally. I am
discussing the way Profound Lore and those associated with the label
represents themselves in the public sphere.
Primarily, I'd like to spark discussion about this. I think there is a
tendency in metal circles to allow artistic work to out weigh other
negatives, and I think that sincerely applies in the case of Profound
Lore. Fuck, two of my favorite black metal bands of all time are
releasing work on Profound Lore, but we have to take stock of both
good and bad. I think people should call each other on their shit. This
applies to me. You can reach me at
[email protected]. I want this to be a
conversation.
The sort of casual homophobia displayed in the interview with Chips
& Beer(issue #6) might seem inconsequential to some. Language
matters. Using “gay” as a pejorative is an really simple example of
the way oppression is normalized. Think about how many times
you've heard a person order a grande coffee at a coffee shop that isn't a
Starbucks. That's how easy it is to create language links, and
associating words for specific groups of people with negative
implications works in the same fashion. It's also just unbelievably
easy to use other words. There's also a moment where he compares the
practice of streaming music to “gang rape,” which is a complete
disregard for the trauma endured by rape survivors. Usage of this
kind of language in the public sphere could be a conscious effort to
enhance Profound Lore's reputation as an edgy label, or it could be
lazy speech patterns, but the handling of the next two events has me
leaning towards the former.
There's the release of Leviathan's “True Traitor, True Whore”.
Notably inspired by the events leading to the arrest of Wrest, this is an
album that thrives on the mythos surrounding it. Wrest, and many of
his friends have maintained his complete innocence in this crime,
lending this album the weight of a kind of righteous proclamation. I
don't have details of that night, and I was not present at the courtroom
when Wrest was tried. I know that he was convicted of one charge of
assault out of thirty-eight charges. I know he released an album
directly solely at his victim/accuser. I do know that Pitchfork
interviewed him after the album was released. No-one, as far as I
know, interviewed the other party involved in that night.
I am not accusing Wrest of physical abuse.
I do have major concerns about Wrest using his social capital to make
sure his side of the story is heard loudest, and most often, to the point
where it has become the accepted narrative for most. This can even be
seen in the opening question of the afore-mentioned Pitchfork
interview: “Do you feel like your name's been sullied by the
charges of earlier this year?”
I have concerns about the amount of times those close to Wrest have
spoken out about his innocence. While I do completely understand
wanting to clear a friend's name, especially with an accusation as
heinous as this, the closing of ranks when a member of a scene is
threatened is a narrative I've seen far too often, and again, the issue of
those with social capital using it to establish their story as the
dominant one is apparent.
Profound Lore threw a lot of weight behind this album, marketing it
primarily on the strength of the controversy. This was an evil album,
an album that pushed boundaries. Wrest and Profound Lore used
social capital from the legitimacy conferred by a criminal act to
promote an album of gender-directed hatred. Regardless of the
genesis of Wrest's anger, the album seethes with fury towards a
nameless FEMALE, her gender made the sole defining characteristic.
At this point, Wrest's innocence becomes this kind of Schrodinger’s
Box, where the most profit exists somewhere between a false
accusation and criminal convictions. TTTW was “making black metal
dangerous again,” but one wonders for who?
It's always tempting to think of this kind of behavior as an aberration
but unfortunately, the handling of the artwork for the upcoming Lord
Mantis album shatters that hope. To be clear, this artwork was
commissioned by the band but Profound Lore is making the decision
to release and promote an album with a cover that establishes a clear
visual link between a transitioning person and a monster, with no
regard for the countless people who have been affected by anti-trans
violence. The artwork was created by Wrest, and depicts a dead trans
woman, with a tremendous amount of healed scars, with a slit wrist
and a sewn on death mask. It's a shockingly violent image directed at
a group of people who face such abuse in much higher numbers than
the white males that make up Lord Mantis, Leviathan, and Profound
Lore.
When pressed on the concept of the artwork in an interview for Vice,
Charlie Fell(bassist/vocalist for Lord Mantis) said “Trans awareness? I
had no idea that this was going be such an issue. I thought maybe the
trans community would be pumped that they’re getting some culture
points!” Take a moment to let that sink in.
This person said that he believed that people should be excited that
they are being portrayed as an object of abuse. The rest of the
interview is just as short-sighted and self-absorbed, betraying a
startling lack of awareness of the sheer number of people who are
assaulted or murdered just for being trans. Profound Lore labeled this
interview “not for the weak at heart” on their website, another clear
attempt to link ignorant, oppressive behavior to bravery.
I want to again reiterate that I do am not attempting to label Chris,
Jef, or Charlie as bigots. I am concerned that Profound Lore seems
to be more than willing to use the attention garnered by these
cruelties to increase their visibility, their market share, their
image. This kind of linkage isn't artistic integrity, this is calculated
marketable bigotry, a reinforcement of existing oppressions. It's
capitalism running under the guise of independence.
Not two hours after I finished my final edit of this essay, Profound
Lore posted this on their Twitter account:
A Backwards Gaze and Beers: Cloud Collide
talks Nostalgia and Alcohol
Part of the joy of writing this zine comes from getting a
glimpse at the people behind the music. In black metal
especially, oftentimes the artist is only exhibiting a very
limited portion of their personality, and it's always a joy to
see a fuller range of that person when you speak to them. In
Chris Pandolfo's case, his music clearly expresses his warmth,
but his sense of humor was a suprise. We got a chance to
discuss his work in the field of “blackgaze” music, and then
ask him to pair beers with black metal albums. We were
terrified he'd think we were idiots, but he took the task gladly,
and the results are at the end of this interview.
Can you give us a brief synopsis of Clouds Collide? How you
got started, the original impetus, just a quick run down for
those of our readers who are unfamiliar.
In 2006 or so I started writing music for a different project that
was mainly post metal influenced ala Isis or a heavier Explosions
in the Sky. The band consisted of my brother and a best friend.
Things didn't work out so well because I had stripped these two
people I love from all of their creativity and felt like a complete
asshole. It was a dictatorship. It was this moment on that 1) I
realized I could never be in a band again after years of doing so
since I was 14 years old and 2) I began to fall deeper in love with
Agalloch and Alcest. In 2009 or so I started coming up with
melodies and vibes that I felt perfectly expressed who I was
artistically and made it a challenge to attempt doing everything
myself.
After demoing for what seemed like forever on ideas I found
myself one day hugely inspired by the nostalgic feeling I get from a
cool fall breeze and this birthed "As if a Dead Leaf". After demoing
this song I felt like I had to postpone writing of the songs I had
been working on for awhile and feed off the inspiration and vibes
of 'Leaf'. It made sense to me to write a colder record first before
recording what I had been previously working on.
You've mentioned that this album is heavily influenced by the
idea of nostalgia, which was a concept originally created to
classify the
emotions felt by Swiss mercenaries fighting in the lowlands of
France. Rousseau claims they were forbidden to sing
traditional music under the pain of death, such was the
homesickness created by their homeland melodies. Why
create music to remind you of things past? Did the
composition of this album sometimes feel like dwelling, or
was it more of a remembrance?
That's a great question. To be honest all the music I've ever
written stems from nostalgia. I'm known in my family and
between my friends as a very nostalgic person. The word
'nostalgia' is tattooed on my chest under a piece inspired by my
mom. The music I had written for the project before Clouds Collide
was also very much so about what I had been dealing with in real
time leading up to my mothers death and a big concept of my
lyrics were to remember the good things and the good memories
even though the times I was dealing with were very tough and a
dark time in my life. I think to me remembering the good things
sometimes stings more but it's also important for me to do and it's
something I've embraced.
The composition of this record was a bit of both dwelling and
remembrance. It was medicinal in a way. It took me a very long
time to make this CD become a real thing and once I was almost
done, all the emotion put into it and challenges along the way...I
felt extremely relieved. Once I had finished I nearly felt I had
completed something that was important for me to do, not so
much that I completed something for other people to listen to and
enjoy. I'm just lucky that people do listen to this CD and enjoy it,
and amazingly enough, some people truly feel the passion that
was put forth making it.
Why do you link winter and nostalgia?
Every season effects me differently, as it does to everybody else. I
find winter a very tough time of the year for me, every year,
especially since the passing of my mom. It's not so much just the
fact that I miss her, as anyone would and should miss someone
they love who passed away, but it's that her death simply amplifies
a lot of my longing for anything during this time. My goal for Until
the Wind Stops Blowing was to kind of render my hopelessness
during a dark, cold, and lonely winter into musical form. My
girlfriend told me once that I use my nostalgia as a weapon and I
feel she is 100% correct especially during this season, although
that is unintentional. I just feel more vulnerable and full of longing
for a lot of things.
Black metal often seems to long for situations that are
unknowable for the creators, like a world overgrown by
wilderness, or a reclamation of pagan ways, things that act as
a fantasy for the creator and listener. Your work is rooted in
your family. Why choose something so personal as a subject?
My work is a combination of both I'd say. I'm a very synesthetic
person. I adore black metal for the visuals that can be applied to
the sounds of the genre. Although a lot of this record stems from
nostalgia influenced by family, the places this CD puts me mentally
are definitely overgrown by frostbitten forests, dark paths through
woods, snow storms, to calmer things like open fields during
snowfall. I kind of hint at each of these things throughout the
album within the lyrics, although they may seem quite vague. For
instance, in "Epoch of Ice" the prominent theme is dreams and
winter. Although there aren't many lyrics, the initial feeling and
emotion I get from this song is that winter is like a never ending
frozen ocean that i'm stuck in, wading in it forever like a
nightmare, hoping to wake up from it.
How does it feel to watch people interpret your work?
A: It's definitely eye opening in a good way. Being a big fan of so
many bands and being that person that falls in love with a CD and
has to look into things about it and tell my friends about it and
what I love about it and how it makes me feel...it's surreal seeing
others discuss my CD and share thoughts about it.
What are the thematic connections between Until the Wind
Stops
Blowing... and the films of Terrence Malick?
To me Terrence Malick's films are like beautiful nostalgic fairytales
or dreams. Truly, that's what most of his films are...a nostalgic and
artistic autobiography of sorts. Some of the narrative in his films
hit me on such personal levels. I'm not a religious person however
the sermon in Tree of Life struck me the first time I heard it and
one day watching it I felt like the question "Is there nothing which
does not pass away?" was such a simple, honest, and powerful
question that I wanted to apply to other themes on my album. In
Days of Heaven, I also get a huge vibe of longing throughout the
entire film. Linda's quote that begins "The Way the Wind Blew"
really just reminded me of the feelings people can get from a
simple wisp of wind which is a prominent theme throughout the
cd, in this instance, the way somebody looked with wind floating
through someone's hair.
The title of the album strikes us, as a sly, comical swipe at the
2008
black metal doc Until the Light Takes Us, is there any truth to
that
at all or mere coincidence?
Hahaha, that's pretty funny but believe it or not it's a similarity I
noticed afterward. I do love the documentary however.
Walk us through the composition of a Clouds Collide song.
What comes first, a riff, a thought, a lyric? How difficult is it to
compose and play all of the instrumentation?
Most Clouds Collide songs are written first with a melody that
resides in my head for awhile. I am not one of those musicians that
can just pick up a guitar and start playing and write something.
Ultimately that has to do with the fact that I really don't play any
instruments besides drums. I really had to teach myself how to
play everything for this record practicaly in real time of recording
it.
I'll use "Endless Silence" as an example. The middle clean section
of the song was a melody I had brewing in my head for awhile and
I knew I had to bookend it somehow or build upon it. I kept
running over different melodies and sections in my head for days
until I felt like I had a good structure...then I would remember
what I did and drum the song several times to make sure I was
satisfied with the drumming. I never once picked up a guitar in the
months I had written this song in my head until the moment I sat
down and recorded the drums first, then the bass, etc. I listen to
the bass line in my head, transfer that to finding those notes on the
bass, record the bass, start a track of guitar, find the tone I want,
hear the guitar in my head, figure out how to do that, record it
etc...
I feel like this gave the album's atmosphere an even more raw and
special vibe. It was extremely challenging playing some of the
guitar on this cd not knowing how to do so or ever practicing
guitar on my free time but I wouldn't have wanted it any other
way. One of my initial goals was to create a special atmosphere
with this CD...as if the guitars were wind or a storm and I almost
feel like because of my inept capability to actually play guitar, I
somehow succeeded in this goal as hilarious as that sounds!
How did the split w/ Sleeping Peonies come about? Was it due
to the mutual association to Khrysanthoney?
I had known and loved Sleeping Peonies far before I knew what
Khrysanthoney was all about, however I knew "Ghosts, and Other
Things" was released in beautiful packaging from somewhere.... It
wasn't until a couple weeks after I had officially released the
album digitally on Bandcamp that Wil from Khrysanthoney had
reached out to me and said he was interested in making my album
a physical artifact. This is when one of my best friends had told me
that Wil does some really quality work with Sleeping Peonies. I
was immediately interested after talking with Wil for awhile and
he had dropped hints that he would love for me to do a split with
Sleeping Peonies. It wasn't until I think we officially announced a
partnership that Nic sent me a lengthy message about his
adoration for Until the Wind Stops Blowing and how he'd love to
do a split with me. I remember losing my mind reading this
message from someone who composes such incredible music that
I listened to often and how he would love to collaborate with me.
It was a special moment.
Who is responsible for designing the Ambrosia version of
'Until the Wind Stops Blowing...' ? Can you describe the
process of creating that deluxe edition?
I have to credit Wil from Khrysanthoney for a lot of what went into
the Ambrosia edition, and the regular edition for that matter. He
had given me ideas on what to incorporate in the packaging. It was
his idea for the envelope style which I felt was perfect to give the
packaging a more intimate feel. After a lot of discussion I decided
to write 25 unique notes with different lyrics from the album with
a little thank you to the listener on the back and sent them to him
to put in each of the Ambrosia editions. All the photography
including the cover was taken from my cousin on a cold winter day
years ago when him and my parents were in in their early 20s. Wil
did a beautiful job bringing it all together and I couldn't be
happier. The icy leaf is something I poorly sketched drunk one
night that Wil also somehow made look really nice within the
packaging hahaha. He really puts forth a lot of effort to make sure
there's something valuable to look at and posses for the listener.
You have described 'Until the Wind Stops Blowing...' as a
“winter” album, and said that your next full length will be
focusing on "spring". What does that mean musically, to you?
Are there newadditions to the sonic palette of Clouds Collide
that we can expect?
The next album which I should begin recording in February will
definitely be a lot less cold sounding. It's still very melancholic and
at times abrasive but in a much different tone. Because of my
inability to play guitar very well, my brother and great friend who
I was in projects I mentioned earlier will be helping me track this
next record. There will also be strings and saxophone sections. A
lot of this material was written well before anything on Until the
Wind Stops Blowing. I'm extremely anxious and nervous to share
this material with people. Essentially the album flows off of my
debut through the timeline of the seasons and how each season
effects my nostalgic state of mind, how I grieve, etc. Spring has a
drastically different effect on me than winter does and that will
reflect in the music and lyrics on this next record.
Chris is well-known as a beer lover, and so we thought we'd
ask him to pair some influential American black metal
albums with appropriate beverages. His answers lie below:
Weakling - Dead as Dreams - Weyerbacher - Insanity
One of the greatest black metal albums ever and quite a long one.
Make sure you have something tasty yet powerful like
Weyerbacher's Insanity to last you throughout the duration. This
beer will leave you feeling fuzzy like the guitars on the record.
Weyerbacher's Blithering Idiot Barley Wine aged in an oak barrel.
Xasthur - Defective Epitaph - Stone Imperial Russian Stout
I was trying to think of a good winter beer to go along with this
cold and distant record. Although there are plenty of great winter
warmers that may go well with this sound, you can never go
wrong with Stone's Imperial Russian Stout while listening to
something dissonant.
Sarcafago - I.N.R.I. Rogue - Brutal IPA
You need to drink something brutal when listening to this brutal
album. Enough said.
Krieg - The Black House - Victory - Storm King Imperial Stout
A smokey imperial stout seems to fit this band's sound on The
Black House perfectly. Victory doesn't have a ton of beers I enjoy
but Storm King took me by surprise when I first tasted it and I find
myself pouring it to a lot of either heavier dissonant bands or
black metal. This seems to fit.
Ludicra - The Tenant - Dogfish Head - 75 minute IPA
A very clean sounding black metal album at times calls for a
refreshing yet powerful IPA. 120 may kick your ass but 75 minute
it a perfect combination of tastes mixing in their 60 and 90 minute
IPA and a hint of maple syrup.
Cobalt - Gin - Oskar Blues - Old Chub
Wow it's been years since I heard this album. In fact I had
completely forgotten about it. I think I heard this album when
someone recommended it to me cause I love TOOL and they had
said "This sounds like a black metal version of TOOL" so I was
intrigued. It's actually better than I remember. Anyways, I guess
you can't go wrong with some Old Chub, an interesting beer from
Colorado's Oskar Blues for an interesting Colorado band.
Absu - Tara - Southern Tier - Oak Aged Unearthly IPA
Bagpipes and thrashy black metal? Cheers! Try listening to this
while drinking Southern Tier's already celebrated IPA aged in an
oak barrel. I think you can grasp that I like when beers reside in an
oak barrel.
Panopticon - Kentucky - Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
There really isn't a beer from Kentucky that i'm thoroughly
familiar with, if there's any at all…I think the first time I heard this
album I was pretty drunk on a barley wine that I can't remember.
Southern Tier's Bigfoot is hard to come by, especially for me on the
east coast. When I did manage to track it down I was in beer
heaven, kind of like I was in some sort of bliss the first time I
heard Kentucky. I would love to enjoy this phenomenal record
with one of these someday.
Clouds Collide can be found at:
https://www.facebook.com/cloudscollideofficial
and
http://cloudscollideofficial.bandcamp.com/album/until-thewind-stops-blowing
Reviews by Patrick
Psyclon Nine - Order Of The Shadow: Act I
Metropolis, 2013
This Industrial/Aggro-Tech (a term I’ve just
learned) band have been kicking and screaming
for the better part of a decade now. With each
successive release they have added EBM, black
metal, electro, and all out noise into the mix.
Purportedly, this will be the band’s last
release. This album also serves as my
introduction to the group. In the last couple
releases the black metal element has grown in
prominence, here it reaches its bloom. Make no
mistake though; this would categorically be
considered Blackened Industrial as opposed to
Industrial Black Metal. The sound here is
closer to Ministry & Skinny Puppy with black
metal vokills and synthetic blastbeats, rather
than Blut Aus Nord or Spektr. The production is
way too clean for one, the tradeoff however, is
that damn thing is so HUGE sounding. They
absolutely dwarf just about black metal band
out there, check out ‘Shadows Unveiled’ which
pounds away like Ministry in the prime. If this
sounds like your thing, you will not be
disappointed.
Vaura – The Missing
Profound Lore, 2013
I’ll be honest; ‘Selenelion’ was a grower for
me. I only came to appreciate it a few mere
months before this album was released. The main
reason was that it didn’t exactly sound like it
was described. To be fair, if one were to press
me to describe it, I wouldn’t know where to
begin. This album is a bit easier as the entire
album carries the gothic post-punk revival that
arguably started with Interpol’s debut album
way back in 2002. I was not a fan of the album
or the music/bands that came after, which
brings me to my biggest complaint about the
album. ‘The Missing’ like that whole movement
seemed to be to engaged in affectation instead
of delivering something distinctive. Vaura have
lost that distinctiveness they had on
‘Selenion’, which renders the album title all
too appropriate. I may listen to this album in
eight months and absolutely love the shit out
it, right now I don’t see that happening.
So Hideous - Last Poem/First Light
Self-Released, 2013
This NYC quartet certainly strives for
something that is cinematic to say the least.
The addition of The First Light Orchestra, a
ten-person string section, a vocalist, and a
tuba player for their first full length
certainly helps with that cause. The first
track ‘Rising’ is the heaviest cut on the
album, as well as having the strongest ties to
Scandinavian black metal. The track fades out
into about a minute and a half of Industrial
ambience, defying the listener’s expectations
with what is to come next. The intro to ‘Stabat
Mater’ sounds like MONO at their most grand and
dramatic before blasting into post-black metal
melodicism that is alternately catchy and
furiously powerful. The piano at the end did
catch me off guard and I found it to be quite
moving. The rest tracks have the orchestrations
take on a more pronounced role, making it feel
like a score for someone existential crises.
This release was a pleasant surprise and I look
forward to seeing what they do next.
Gris - À l’âme enflammée, l’äme
constellée/Sombres Forets - La Mort Du Soleil
Sepulchral Productions, 2013
I chose to review these albums together rather
than split them up; because for me, they are
two sides of the same coin. Both bands hail
from Quebec, share the same label, and operate
under the divisive “depressive black metal”
tag. Last time Gris was around is when Il Était
une Forêt dropped to near unanimous acclaim.
Those who found beauty in that release will be
happy to know that beauty has returned double
fold. The opener ‘L'Aube’ is nothing more than
violin, acoustic guitar, hand drums, and
ethereal female vocals. There is less reliance
on howled vocals this time around and is better
paced as well, how many double albums can you
say that about. The album is an improvement
over its predecessor in every conceivable way,
well done Gris!
Where Gris’s ‘À l’âme enflammée...’ is
mournful, Sombres Forets’ third album ‘La Mort
Du Soleil’ is atmospheric. ‘Des Épaves’ opens
the album with a backward track, acoustic
guitar, and haunting samples that grow more
hellish as the track goes on. There is
certainly more piano/keyboards on this album
than the Gris album, as well as stronger vocal
presence. Although the two bands use similar
ingredients, the difference is all in the
execution. I really cannot pick out the
stronger of the two, as they both are quite
good.
Trvth – Black Horse Plague
Self-Released, 2013
This is the second album by Californian by
multi-instrumentalist Michal Smith, who blends
black, death, progressive, psychedelic, & new
age. There were four others released in 2013.
Before I start this review, let just put it out
there that I am not a Rush fan. So if the idea
of a black metal Rush appeals to you, then this
might be like finding a pot of gold. The first
few seconds of ‘The Dent in the Pan’ begin
promising enough, all grand and dramatic. Then
the cheesy 70’s synthesizer come in a la ELO,
Yes, and the aforementioned Rush. If that isn’t
bad enough, it contains perhaps the most
hilariously bad spoken word ever recorded.
‘Prospect’ starts of pretty, then the vocals
start to grate and the terrible spoken word
comes back. The shortest track, ‘Red Sky in the
Morning’ does rip and is far and away the
strongest track on the album. All other tracks
are interminably long and just meander so when
something interesting does pop up, one is not
bothered to care. There might a good album in
here but it would take an objective person or
two to come in and sort through the detritus.
Westering - Joy
Manu Forti Records, 2013
Westering is Seattle (native?) Bryan Thomas,
who now resides in Chicago. Bryan contacted us
at BMOTA and asked us to give his album a
listen. Apparently, this entire album had to be
built up again from scratch as the files from
his computer were erased. The intro track The
Dust ‘Rose and Spoke’ is wonderful, as it
reminds me of early Residents. The first proper
track ‘This Will Quiet Us’ is a gorgeous piece
of shoegazing black metal. The synth in ‘Orchid
Child’ and other tracks are probably going to
be a bit of a deal breaker for the likes of
some. Overall, I would say this much more
successful blend of progressive and black metal
than the Trvth album reviewed elsewhere. The
production and instrumental passages are more
fleshed out and tangible, with less reliance on
empty noodling.
reviews by ed.
kata sarka – existential oblivion
auris apocathary, 2012
black metal with heft, and weight isn't the
most common thing in the universe. Often the
muscle of capital-H Heavy Metal is left behind,
stripped by razor-thin production, or wintrymix song writing. we love that shit, we
sincerely do, but it's always nice to hear nods
back to metal's leather-bound past, and kata
sarka manages to whip up an appealing blend of
black metal chaos and heavy metal riffing, with
a soupçon of early 2000's technical hardcore,
ala botch or burnt by the sun. it's a
combination that seems self-evident in
retrospect, but i've not heard it attempted
before. kata sarka skip masterfully between
chunky dillinger-isms, keyboard backed tremelo
riff-fests and triumphant solos with rage and
menance.
urzeit – s/t and der zweite drei
self-released, 2014
PRIMITIVE TIMES, my sister tells me, is the
translation of urzeit. that's a pretty good
summation of what's on display here, which is
mostly jagged riffing coupled with feral
howling. this is a collaboration between
members of HELL and ash borer, and while this
couldn't be more distinct from their other
bands, the craft on display is obviously the
work of skilled hands. something this catchy
couldn't be the work of just any cavepeople.
incipt – desiertos
self-releasd, 2014
pre-programmed drums rushing towards oblivion,
just cranked all the fucking way up in terms of
beats per minute, and somehow this creates this
unsettling sonic urgency, as if this music
can't be contained, can't be held back by the
rigid rules of its generative process. this one
man band from san juan isn't like anything else
i listened to while write this zine, and it's
mostly due to the unrelenting nature of the
drum programming. white-noise vocals and a
mixture of liturgy's waterfall-style guitars
and some melodic riffing provides an intriguing
upper layer to this demo, but the inflexible
drumming elevates this from your standard oneman band to something fascinating.
acualli – pact of possession
crepusculo negro, 2013
this is inverted black metal, all low tremelo
picking and gargling-swamp-murk vocals.
sacrificing the speed and treble of most black
metal bands to wallow in the mire of death,
acualli produce a sonic blueprint for the sound
of evil. turns out inverting the blasphemous
doesn't make it righteous again, but acts more
as an concentrating agent. vicious and viscous.
anagnorisis – beyond all light
self-released/like young records, 2013
there's a danger of obscuration with
“progressive” music, but anagnorisis shoot
straight from the heart. there's a part in
“this cursed blood” where zachary kerr howls
about how he can't be killed because he's
already dead inside, while a sample of
poetry/prayer rises in intensity behind him.
it's too personal, too blood-flecked to be
premeditated. later, there's a saxophone
wailing behind the band as they blast away.
this kind of relentless and messy personal
expression tempers any kind of emotional
distance conveyed by their keyboards and
unconventional instrumentation.
predatory light – MMXIV
self-released, 2014
the desert gets really fucking weird sometimes.
i drove through new mexico awhile back,
terrified that my car would break down,
terrified of the pitch blackness outside the
range of my headlights. listening to this demo
from predatory light, i know my guts were right
about their stomping grounds. they switch from
sinuous, winding doom, to black metal with the
intensity of that escaped prisoner with that
fucking disease you get from spores bashing in
your windshield at the drop of a flat tire.
long pan down the road, catching up with your
car. camera speeds ahead, and the movie
doesn't end with your car pulling into
disneyworld.
yellow eyes – the desert mourns
sibir records, 2014
jesus, when these guys drop the fucking hammer,
they don't fuck around. even when they drop
into half-time, yellow eyes remains unrelenting
in their very american-styled black metal
attack. there's less straight ahead riffing on
this EP than their earlier work, but the
textural environments communicated are as bleak
as ever, and when those riffs show up, fuck,
man. unstoppable.
mania – revel
eternal warfare, 2013
this is one of the last things i'm writing for
this issue, and i'm exhausted. there's a
moment on “mirror”, where the guitars reach a
sort of transcendental point, and some crooned
vocals fade in. the drums are still blasting,
but it's like a pain buried underneath
medication, and i'm floating along, at peace,
listening to this. it's one of the most
beautiful moments i've heard recently, and like
all beauty, it's transient. There are moments
like this sprinkled through the album, bits of
shocking calm throughout the storm, and the
contrast only serves to highlight both
extremes. the guitar/cello introduction on
“portals” is another example. it's easy to
paint this as another example of the post-rock
beauty/beast dynamic of the cascadian movement,
but mania rises above such easy categorization,
stealing more from new age music than old
kranky records. That's a high compliment, by
the by.
grue – casualty of the psychic wars
eternal death, 2013
> You receive a black metal CD in the mail. It
is by a band named “Grue”. It is pitch black.
You are likely to be eaten.
>LISTEN TO CD
> A blast of galloping black metal bursts from
your walkman. Ice cold Bostonian fingers at
your neck.
>LISTEN TO CD
> Maybe Boston was re-settled by Nordic hordes.
Red Sox fans put to the sword by long-haired
Oskorei. It is pitch black. You are likely to
be eaten.
>LISTEN TO CD
>You have been eaten by Grue.
-THE END-
Right before Woe went on tour last year, we interrupted Chris Grigg
during his dinner to talk about his LIFE IN BLACK METAL, and the
thematic underpinnings of his work. I went in Reckless Records
about five years ago, and asked the clerk for something hateful. He
handed me “A Spell for the Death of Man”, and while it wasn't
exactly what I was looking for that day, I threw it on a couple months
later and was blown away. Since then, Woe has released two more
full-lengths, and each one improves on the last. Our conversation is
below.
So I'm going to run through the brief biography I've gleaned
from my research. You started out playing saxophone and cello
at a young age, and got into punk and hardcore around 14 or
so?
Yeah, yeah.
Then a couple of bands, it looks like, and then you drummed
for a black metal band called Algol.
Yes.
Can you tell me a little bit about that? There's not a lot of
information about them on the internet. I get the sense they
were a symphonic black metal band?
Yeah. They were from Harrisburg, PA. When I joined they had a
full-length, and a split CD out. They were working on their second
full-length. I joined on drums, it was my first real introduction to-my first time being in a black metal band. My first introduction to a
lot of people, and a lot of ideas in the black metal scene. It was a
really interesting experience. I think I was 20 at the time, maybe 19
when it all started. The main guy from that band-- they had been
around for a good amount of time, and they did a lot of shows in
North Jersey, North Jersey had a really strong black metal scene,
the North Jersey/New York area-- it was really there, and from the
main songwriter that I really learned how to play and write black
metal. A lot of my riffing style comes directly from Dan, the main
guy behind Algol.
What were your first impressions of-- I feel like black metal is
such a striking thing, both sonically and aesthetically-- at 19,
what were your first impressions or thoughts?
This might be kind of funny to you, but what really struck me, was
how nice everyone was. It's weird, coming from punk and hardcore,
especially hardcore, where you have a lot of aggressive people, and
a lot of really aggressive, mean people involved. Going to black
metal, I expected everyone to be real shitty, and I was surprised by
how welcome I felt when we first started playing and I first started
meeting people involved with the scene. It was an interesting
contrast, especially based on what I expected. I hadn't known that
much about black metal, other than what I had read, and what I had
gleaned. There wasn't a black metal scene to speak of in the area
where I lived. So, I didn't really know what to expect, but it was
cool. It was a nice change from what I was used to. But, of course,
given enough time, I realized that a lot of people were way more
interested in a social scene than a music scene, more interested in
being seen than being heard, do you know what I mean?
Yeah! That rings true to my experiences as well. I grew up
about an hour outside of Boston, going to Boston hardcore
shows, which were super fucking aggressive, which they've
always been, to my understanding. Since we started writing
this zine, we've been shocked at how genial everyone's been,
you e-mail people[to do an interview], and they're like "Oh,
yeah, of course!" So, yeah, that makes sense. So after that,
you started Woe by yourself, you and a bottle of absinthe, if I'm
correct?
Sort of. So, Algol sort of fell apart, personality things and time
things. I lived two and a half hours from those guys, and it was just
a pain, so it kinda just fell apart. I started playing drums in a kind of
thrashy-punky-hardcore band, so I was doing that for awhile. I
started that with some friends. Somewhere early on with that, I
bought a guitar because I wanted to start writing music for it. I
hadn't had a guitar since I was maybe-- I got rid of my guitar when I
was maybe 16-- So I bought a guitar when I was around 20, 21,
and started playing again ad writing songs for Near Dark, which was
the hardcore band. At some point, I decided-- I was just frustrated
with the whole band experience, so I wrote a song. I'd always been
writing little songs, had a lot of little riffs. I had some recording
equipment that I used to use to do demos with my band, and
somewhere along the line, I just decided "You know, I'm gonna try to
write a black metal song." I wanted to hear something very specific
that I wasn't really getting from a lot of the black metal bands I was
listening to. I always listened to more black metal than hardcore or
punk, at least when I was in Near Dark. So, I just tried it out, and it
worked.
n
I wanted to get something very specific out of the music, so I did a
song and it worked out really well. It ended up coming out the way I
hoped it would. So, I kept doing it. The Absinthe Invocation demo
was the result of a bottle of absinthe. I just sat down and started
playing, and I was very drunk. When I woke up in the morning, I
had all this music written. So, that's the story there.
So, because I write about music, I always try to figure out the
narrative of a musical progression, which is sometimes a bad
tendency, because you end up overlaying your own idea of
what's happening on what's actually happening. Looking at
your three full-lengths, which are A Spell for the Death of Man,
Quietly Undramatically, and Withdrawal, it seems like there is a
sort of progression happening, or maybe a realization? You've
spoken in interviews about how A Spell for the Death of Man
was about dealing with anger, and then Quietly, Undramatically
was more about depression and addiction. I think in a couple,
you've mentioned that Withdrawal is an attempt move past
these negative emotions, to build on that kind of foundation.
Would that be a correct interpretation in your mind?
Yeah, more or less. More or less. It's a little bit more than that, A
Spell for the Death of Man was really about loss, and the response
to loss, which at the time was anger, I was really pissed off. Quietly
was more-- Not so much about-- Well-- Sorry, I'm trying to put
myself back there, it's been awhile. Quietly, in a big way, was about
kind of the realization that nothing really mattered. Quietly was a bit
mopier, you know? Quietly was about trying to come to terms with
the reality of things, and the narrative in there is a lot of "nothing
matters, give up," that kind of thing. Withdrawal is kind of pissed off,
angry again. Withdrawal is very much about moving on, but still
under the heading of "Nothing matters, so be angry about your
situation, be angry about the worthless things in your life that take
up all of your time and make you miserable." It's a little bit more
lively. It encourages movement, I guess you could say.
I want to come back to that, but I'm going to have to ruminate
over that in the back of my head. You've mentioned that the
original plan for Woe was this really regimented sound with
these Satanic themes, only influences from black metal.
Obviously that's something that's shifted. In an interview a
little later on, you mentioned that you had a rule against no
clean singing, and that's also shifted. Two part question. Do
you have any hard and fast rules for Woe still, and if so, what's
the process for determining them? How helpful do you find
them to be?
Early on, I definitely took a very hard line. Black metal should be
this, this is black metal, and anything that isn't this, is not black
metal, a kind of orthodox approach to it that I think is indicative of-typical of younger people, honestly. I took an attitude of "Black
metal is this, and black metal can't have these qualities and blah
blah blah." As time went on, I saw the limitations of that, and I felt
the limitations of that. I started to-- As my tastes broadened, and I
heard more of the black metal that was being produced by people
all over the world, I really came to realize that no one can define
something like this, except for the people who are actually doing it.
The whole reason I started Woe was because-- One of the reasons
I started Woe was because I didn't want to deal with other people's
rules and other people's restrictions. So, to decide that black metal
HAS TO BE this, this, and this, and you can never do that is, I don't
know, I think that's it's unnecessarily limiting. That's not to say that I
don't still have standards, because I think standards are important
and goals are important. At the end of the day, I need to be
respectful to myself, and to the music that I'm creating. If I'm writing
something and I have an idea for a part that is the right thing to do-You know, the song is kind of telling me it wants to go in a certain
direction-- If I don't do that, I feel as if I am doing a disservice to
myself and my music. At the end of the day, I want to be happy with
what I'm doing. That means that I've broken some of the rules,
particularly like the clean vocals thing. I've reached this point where
I'm not interested in compromising what I'm trying to do for anything.
Of course, that upsets a lot of the purists out there. But you, fuck
them, they can go listen to whatever music they want to, and if my
shit isn't black metal enough for them, whatever, man. To get get
back to your question, as for like do I have any rules, yeah, I set
goals. There are times where I will-- I always review everything that
I've done, and I demo everything a lot. There are times when I say
"No, this is too much, this is way too much. Went a little overboard
there," and I try to reign it in. I still want to be respectful to black
metal tradition. I do still think of Woe as a black metal band. I want
to write black metal, and I can't stray too far from that. At the end of
the day, I just want to write the music I want to hear.
There was an interview you did with the Inarguable a little while
ago, where you talked about Tears for Fear being an influence.
It seems that that era and sound is becoming a lot more
prevalent in black metal lately. You see things like the Annie
Lennox quote on the cover of the new Raspberry Bulbs album,
A Pregnant Light out of Michigan covered a Madonna song..
What draws you, specifically to Tears for Fears, and that era of
music? What similarities do you see between that and black
metal that have caused you to incorporate aspects of it?
I've always appreciated good songs. Regardless of genre. Tears of
Fears just happen to write really good songs. I first got into their
first album, The Hurting, which is really almost gothy at times, and
it's really dark, and it's got a lot of feeling to it. I really appreciate
simple, well-written songs. I don't know, there's something about
the melodies they use, and something about the way their songs
are constructed really resonated with me. I went through this period
after A Spell for the Death of Man where I was really put off by the
black metal scene. It was really cliquey, really judgmental, really
immature. Really, just... silly. For a while, it really inspired me to
check out things, I was just fed up. As a result, I expanded my
horizons deliberately, and some of it stuck. When I went back to
writing, I had all these outside influences, and they pop up here and
there. Things happen and I never really expect it.
You're going out on tour in two days, with Inter Arma. What are
you most excited about?
I'm excited about different things, it's hard to pick one that I'm most
excited about. I'm really looking forward to just being in the van with
the guys. We have two new guys, or two guys filling in right now, so
it's kind of a new line-up. We're gonna have a really-- We always
have, who-ever's playing with Woe, we always have a really great
time hanging out. I'm looking forward to just 16 days on the road
with my friends. As for the shows, I'm really excited about how
many new places we're going, and how many places we're going
where black metal bands don't typically play. We're doing a lot of
shows in the South, and we've been a band for a couple years now,
and we've never played, like, 10 of these cities. It's really cool, I like
playing smaller places where people are a little less jaded and you
meet people-- types of people that you just don't meet normally,
living in-- I live in New York now, or living in Philadelphia. I'm
looking forward to meeting new people, let's put it that way. I'm
looking forward to meeting new people, and the new experiences.
Going back to talking about thematic quality of your work, you
mentioned that the last two releases deal with the absence of
meaning. I was wondering if you could discuss the role that
hope plays in your music?
It depends. That's the kind of thing that I think should be left up to
the listener. A lot of songs deal with, as you said, a lack of meaning,
a lack of purpose. From the traditional existential perspective, if we
agree there is no meaning to things, and there is no purpose to
things, then ultimately, we have to find our own-- you're free to find
your own meaning, and you're free to do what you want to do. So,
one could interpret Woe-- one of Woe's messages to be "Do what
you want, and possibilities are endless." Maybe hope is a bad
word, because hope is a passive word. I feel like it implies a certain
amount of waiting for things to happen. You can look at things and
you can try to be positive, and you can try to push things in the
direction, try to take control of your life and what you want to do.
BUT, that's really up to the listener to decide if that's what they get
out of it. When I'm writing it, and when I think about it, on most
days, it's really more focused on the negative things. I think that a
positive person could interpret it to mean... "Everything is terrible
but that means you can strive for better things..." I don't know, I'm
trying to put a positive spin on it.
*Laugh*
I'm kind of reaching here for you, man.
I'm just always curious, because I feel that there's such an
obvious bent on negativity in black metal that at times it
becomes overwhelming. It's the kind of thing where-- I don't
know, I just feel like there's gotta be some sort of-- not
reprieve, that's not the word I'm trying to use, but an
acknowledge that existence isn't just sitting in your bedroom
and hating everything, you know?
No, no, it's definitely not. The whole thing with Withdrawal, the
album deals a lot with pulling away from that negativity, trying to get
away from all that crap. A lot of it deals with trying to make difficult
decisions that are scary or threatening. It's never said "Make these
difficult changes and life will be wonderful," but I feel like one could
interpret it to mean there is something to work towards. Like I said
earlier, it is an album that suggests movement, and it suggests
change, and one can only assume we're changing for something,
right? If the speaker in the songs is encouraging growth and
encouraging the act of getting away from whatever it is, or trying to
get away, or considering it? They must be working towards
something, right? The album deals with a lot of those feelings, what
it is like to change. I think that the listener needs to decide what
that really means.
Sure! Thank you for your time, Chris.
Woe can be found on the internet at
http://withdrawal.woeunholy.com/. Their most recent album,
Withdrawl is on sale now from Candlelight Records.
A World Without Us: Jason Wallin and the
Darkness Underneath “Green” Black
Metal
This is part of a three part series we are doing with academics
involved in the publication of “Educational, Psychological, and
Behavioral Considerations in Niche Online Communites.” The
second and third parts(interviews with Professor Jeffrey S.
Podoshen and Dr. Vivek Venkatesh) will appear in our 7th
volume.
Jason Wallin is an associate professor of media at the
University of Alberta, and has authored a number of articles
dealing with black metal. In this interview, we are discussing
“On the Plains of Gorgorth: Black Metal, Youth Culture, and the
Psychoanalytic Question of Evil” and his article from
“Educational...” , “The Dark Ecology of Black Metal”.
What sparked your interest in black metal, and more
specifically, your interest in examining the genre through
an academic lens?
My claim to Vivek has always been that black metal is geophilosophical. It seems ‘linked’ to certain places. The place I
live and work, Edmonton, Alberta, it's a particularly inhospitable
place for a lot of the year, pretty bleak, pretty grim, very cold. I
think the atmosphere of this particular place lead me to a music
that was able to express this. In "Dark Ecology of Black Metal,"
this is one thing that I wanted to try to highlight. People who are
into black metal are drawn to seek out a vehicle that is able to
express something about an external turmoil, like the harshness
of a particular place. In that article, I also deal with black metal
as the expression of inner turmoil. I ask, via black metal, how it
is that one is able to express violent tendencies, mitigate
feelings of misanthropy and ill will, and how does one face up to
suicide, or the idea of suicide without committing the act?
In a sense, I came to black metal quite intuitively. I started
studying it because I wanted to get closer. My first studies
were trying to grapple with the psycho-analytic dimensions of
black metal. I'm interested in why people listen to black metal,
or rather, what black metal does for someone who listens to it. I
think that it does a lot, actually, in giving expression to dark
affects that aren't otherwise articulable in this culture. We live in
a culture that's white-washed, and made pretty smooth, pretty
glossy. The question of where can we engage with this full
range of expression that deals with death, decay, and
misanthropy becomes quite important socially, especially since
these aspects of life are largely villainized and repressed,
particularly in schools, which are interested in the expression of
‘good thoughts’, ‘good intentions’, and ‘happy affects’. As a
culture, we no longer know what to do with expressions of
depression, misanthropy, and despair but to treat them
pathologically and psychopharmacology. We have lost touch
with a ‘full range of expression’ and the notion that something
like depression might constitute an important state and way of
dealing with the world. It becomes a problem, of course, when
the model of ‘normality’ means being extroverted, happy, and
socially ‘adjusted’.
We briefly discussed your article in the upcoming
publication "Educational, Psychological, and Behavioral
Considerations in Niche Online Communities". How did
you get involved in this publication?
My involvement in that is certainly the result of my friendship
with Vivek. He spearheaded that book and invited me on as a
co-editor. I was able to bring a lot of people here at U of A
(University of Alberta) on-board with that project. I think there's
two or three people from the University of Alberta who wrote for
that book. That's the whole, boring story.
How did you meet Vivek? Was it the kind of thing where
there's only a certain amount of academics writing about
metal...?
Vivek wrote me maybe a year and half or two years ago. I think
he had read "The Plains of Gorgoroth." I recall that he was
really interested in trying to establish a network of scholars,
artists, and journalists interested in black metal. He’s unique in
this way because his interest as a black metal fan has always
extended beyond simply being an ‘academic concern’. As a
testament to this, he's put together a metal studies
‘Grimposium’ at Concordia University. Its really an experiment in
bringing together all kinds of people interested in metal and in
trying to establish cross-dialogue as fans and people who
legitimately care about metal, its study, and production. It’s a
result of this that I’ve been able to connect with all variety of
artists and scholars interested in black metal. This has been
important for me, since as you can imagine, ‘black metal
studies’ isn’t something particularly ‘recognizable’ to my
University.
in " the dark ecology of black metal" you discuss an article
of kim kelly's that dealt with an cerebral hemorrhage her
mother was dealing with, and how black metal acted as a
solace. you posit that black metal can act as a force that
can act against "the threat of overcoding", that it can
function as a "ward against the threat of too much order,"
and that is part of the reason people can find black metal
as a source of solace, that it runs counter to the societal
programming we experience. i found this an interesting
idea, especially black metal, as a scene, has a lot of really
codified rituals, or the reputation of having a lot of rigid,
inflexible rules as to what is black metal, what isn't black
metal. would you mind elaborating on this idea, as i'm
interested in these apparent contradictions?
There's an interesting kind of paradox there. Maybe this says
something about black metal itself, that black metal, for as
much it is a ward against normative and orthodox forms of
social coding, it is born, like most niche cultures, through the
establishment of its own codes. That said, you can look at such
progenitors of black metal as Fenriz as being recalcitrant to
actually define what black metal is. What’s important is not what
black metal is, but what it does. I don't want to put words in
anyone's mouth, so, let me rephrase this. I think the ethos of
black metal is one that is always attempting to do battle with its
own definitions. Definitions concern the attempt to symbolize
things according to prior systems of meaning, and I see black
metal as a force that attempts to destroy ‘meaning’, or at least
the meaning of the world ‘as it is given’. Everywhere, black
metal emphases decay, misanthropy, things degenerating and
breaking down. Whether or not black metal is capable of turning
these forces in on itself is not as apparent, although certainly,
where we see deviations and leaps across a composer’s
oeuvre, this might very well be the case.
Inherently, black metal, at its best, tries to defer its own selfdefinition, or rather, is not overly committed to its own
‘encyclopedic definition’. While the scene is replete with highly
intelligent people who are keenly aware of genre distinctions
and the like, it seems that the overarching interest in black
metal pertains to a kind of existential resonance with the
affective forces, sensations, qualities of ‘feeling’. Black metal, at
least as I understand it, is less a thing to be ‘thought’ than a
kind of immanent encounter. Of course, all scenes have their
gatekeepers and semiotics of inclusion and exclusion. While
this is an aspect of black metal’s elitism, and its distinction from
other forms of art, such ossification can point to a kind of limit in
form. My feeling is that black metal must retain a certain
amount of openness, despite the fact that such openness
means potentially confronting the dissolution of the its familiar
forms, images, ideas, and so on.
Maybe the better way to answer this whole question would be
to say that it's through black metal's establishment of its own
kind of codes that it's able to create a territory against the
external value systems that it resists. In terms of niche cultures,
the establishment of particular territories and particular kinds of
semiotics, and social norms, is always a way to preserve
consistency. This is explored in the ‘Niche Cultures’ book I
worked on with Vivek. Yet, given that not all niche cultures are
the ‘same’, it becomes important to attempt to grapple with not
only the means through which black metal constitutes itself as
distinct from other forms of art, but what kinds of social forces
are channeled via black metal as a means to preserve the
subject from particular social expectations, orthodoxies and
facets of ‘common sense’.
That makes sense. I feel like black metal is a really
reactionary genre at its root, and that's when I think it's at
its best, even when it's reacting against its own
codification. The most interesting black metal of the last
couple of years has really pushed the definition of what the
genre can be.
Yeah, and that's what I was trying to get to. While no means the
sole example of its kind, I am a big fan of Valfar’s inclusion of
synths into his composition. Ulver have continuously innovated
and expanded the references and resources for thinking about
black metal. Taake’s Myr, which incorporates a rather ‘untimely’
banjo interlude nestled within familiar black metal refrains also
breaks from convention. These brief example are simply to
suggest that black metal, by its very nature, continues to defy
set definitions and clichés of form. There is, of course, a danger
that black metal will be overcoded as there is an equal danger
that black metal, or aspects of it, will be co-opted into
‘mainstream’ commercial circuits that will evacuate it of its
secrecy. I see this as constituting two poles of the genre’s
struggle, that is, to continue to innovate black metal while
concomitantly retaining its clandestine status and refusing its
immersion into popular circuits of exchange. This posed,
perhaps this is a false concern, for where black metal remains
enjoined to experimentations with despair, suicide, the
disappearance of man, and melancholy, it continues to be
‘commercially’ unpalatable.
One of the contradictions I've always been fascinated by, in
the process of creating this separate social order, though
different established norms in black metal, it seems like so
many retrograde attitudes have managed to take root.
Racism, sexism, etc. It's interesting that something so
reactionary would latch on to, what I think, are the worst
parts of the dominant culture. Any thoughts on why that
is?
The danger of this kind of overcoding or absolutism is that you
risk lapsing into a kind of fascism. You can go back and talk
about the geography of black metal itself which I contend
always has be understood in relation to the social and political
milieu in which it occurs. You look at where fascist formations in
black metal emerged, and the backdrop of these formations
inhere a kind of cultural xenophobia, disenfranchisement of the
working middle class, alienation of particular kinds of subjective
expressions, and so on. There are tendencies already at work
that are channeled into black metal. My own work attempts to
understand black metal as a social formation that occurs
against a cultural background that it both resists and relies
upon. Yet, what remains equally important in the study of black
metal is the role of desire, or rather, the question of how the
feral form of expression that is black metal functions in often
‘productive’ ways for the listener. In a pedestrian example, black
metal implicitly taps into the darker aspects of our social psyche
and hence, becomes a fulcrum for not only the expression of
so-called ‘dark thoughts’, but a way to experiment with affects,
ideas, and iconographies largely repressed in contemporary
life, predicated as it is on the obliteration of the negative. It is
the ‘positive’ function of black metal for the subject that I am
much more interested in than any kind of ridiculous attempt to
pathologize it.
In the two articles of yours I've read("That Dark Ecology of
Black Metal" and "On the Plains of Gorgoroth"), it seems
that one of the readings of black metal you propose is that
it functions as a cleansing force, a force to create a new
world from the ashes of our current reality. in your article
dealing with Gorgoroth that this cleansing force is either
Satanic or Pagan in nature, while in "The Dark Ecology",
this cleansing force is associated with nature, this
conception of nature as outside of humanity. is this just
due to the bands you examined for each article, or do you
feel there has been a shift in black metal's in the last
couple of years?
In my work, I try to grapple with images and expressions of
nature throughout black metal music. This is no doubt a
pervasive theme across the various ‘waves’ of black metal, and
seems deeply related to the geographical origins of black metal
and relationships to the wild. I am interested in the
metaphysical commitments of black metal and continually
wonder about the relationship of black metal with romantic
environmentalism. The question of what black metal attempts to
rehabilitate is one that continually requires attention, in my
opinion. You mentioned earlier the themes of fascism and
racism, and of course, aspects of black metal are invested in
the fantasy recreation of a primitive State, a primitive or original
people, or a world wiped clean of civilization.
In terms of thinking about nature as a cleansing force, I'm
interested in the so-called eco-black metal bands. I want to
distinguish this from so-called Cascadian black metal and really
want to avoid getting caught up in that rather useless genre
distinction. In the ‘Dark Ecologies of Black Metal’ essay, I was
looking closely at artists like Striborg, Cultus Sabbati, and Wold,
and trying to understand the sonic terrain they produce as a
kind of hearkening to the image of nature without man. Here,
there’s a breakdown in the image of romantic image of man and
nature together. It’s in these works that the figure of man, of
human symbolization, and the musical refrain undergo a
palpable degeneration. The sonic terrain becomes, if I can dare,
inhuman, and in this there is a compelling turn away from a
nostalgic or romantic image of the natural world in lieu of a
image of the planet steeped in horror, uncanniness, and
absolute alienness. This transformation in the image of nature
may mark an shift from second-wave black metal. In distinction,
the kind of ecological back metal I am compelled by produces a
kind of confrontation, or rather, a strange world deeply
ambivalent towards human life. This, I believe, is a realization
that we are coming to as a species. On our current trajectories,
humans are not long for this world. Yet, what black metal has
always seemed to understand is that forces of death are as
important to the composition of this planet as so-called lifegiving forces. The planet is literally composed of death.
I don't dispute that this plays into an ongoing fantasy in black
metal predicated on the recreation of the world, but
nevertheless, I am interested in this kind of turn away from the
human, away from presence, the spectacular posing of some
second wave black metal artists, and even the compositional
style of second wave black metal. The bands I am look at in the
‘Dark Ecology’ essay seek to produce a quite different kind of
sound that pushes the absolute limits of recognition and
symbolization. If we buy the idea that the composition of music
itself is a way to structure or ‘think’ reality, then the work of
artists like Wold and Cultus Sabbati produce a very different
sensorium for thinking and encountering reality.
In your Gorgoroth essay, you talk about the iconography of
black metal musicians. The relevant quote is "Black Metal
bands such a Gorgoroth portray the body as a warmachine- untouchable, caustic, and yet protected." You
went on to discuss this creation is a defense against
culturally produced gender anxieties, specifically
castration. I'm interested in your thoughts on the bands
discussed in "Dark Ecology", what their imagery suggests
to you?
The bands I'm interested in the article on "Dark Ecology" seem
much less interested in the style of presence performed in
some black metal. That is, there is a move, perhaps as a effort
to preserve the clandestine quality of black metal, to stage or
perform a kind of absolute disappearance, like the kind I'm
trying to detect in their music itself. There’s something
personally compelling to me about these reclusive practitioners,
who are trying to break from spectacular staging and
performances. The bands that I look at in "Dark Ecology" have
much less physical presence, and seem largely unmotivated by
notoriety, infamy, and so on. Their music suggests their own
disappearance. It's something I haven't looked at in specific
terms, but it’s perhaps the emergence of a different ‘war
machine’, no longer covered in spikes and armor and
brandishing the accouterments of a medieval fantasy warlord.
In contradistinction, there is a greater emphasis on the occult,
on the dematerialization of the body into sound, and the further
prevision of the face from corpse paint into absolute absence.
Again, I don't think this can be generalized, but I do see this as
a kind of turn, and perhaps one that is oriented to the creation
of new black metal territories that are both without authority
insofar as the artist disappears as much as they maintain the
inconsolable aspects that made black metal such an important
antidote to the evacuation of the negative rife in the
contemporary social milieu.
The article dealing with Gorgoroth can be found here:
http://culturalformations.org/on-the-plains-of-gorgoroth-blackmetal-youth-culture-and-the-psychoanalytic-question-of-evil/
Jason's internet presence can be found here:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~jjwallin/jASON_sIGHT/iNTRO.html
INTERVIEWS WITH ZAREEN PRICE, SARAH KITTERINGHAM,
CLOUDS COLLIDE, HEXER, ASHENCULT, ADAM SCHRAGIN, WOE,
AND JASON WALLIN.
AN ESSAY ON PROFOUND LORE
ART BY SCOTT WYGMANS AND BUTT COFFIN
REVIEWS