Do You Hate Black Metal?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Sternodox, Nov 25, 2015.

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  1. jiffypopinski

    jiffypopinski Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    That's a killer album! I love "Greyfield Shrines"... all 30 minutes of it! :pleased:
     
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  2. Kakkai-Kuainen

    Kakkai-Kuainen Forum Resident

    This is one of my favorite albums of any genre, really excited to see it posted here. You'd probably love the likes of Nahvalr, Darkspace and Velvet Cacoon if you don't already.
     
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  3. Tom Infinit

    Tom Infinit New Member

    Black Metal initially demanded to be hated. ;)
    (not talking about protoBM bands of the 80s but the first big wave of 91-94 that really defined the genre - standards that should be valid until this day but sadly the pseudo-major labels took over in the past years and watered down the genre)

    BM is a genre you have to know very well to get through to the real thing - that has music, content and history right. what is included in the mainstream Metal press is the stinky tip of the rotten iceberg, the average stuff signed by the ´majors´ (for Extreme Metal standards), and that´s the more uninteresting thing, as usual. the Metal press sadly got corrupt in the 90s (trading reviews and interviews and coverstories for advertisement money) just like the big Metal labels. I miss the independent feel of the 80s and early 90s in Metal (and the shadow that kept Black Metal out of the spotlight until the late 00s).
     
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  4. Tom Infinit

    Tom Infinit New Member

    thse bands are bad ripoffs of the norse 90s sound, with shoegaze twist and a retarded view on the genre. I mean, like Hardcore Punk, Reggae, politically loaded 60s Free Jazz or religious contemporary ´classical´ or other styles, you have to respect the history and understand the genre, act respectful with the tradition, not jump on a bandwagon, copy some far away stuff and act like jokers. sometimes it´s good that a genre has it´s very content, codes, values and roots - as it contributes to the whole thing. sometimes we want total art, not just melodies and songs.
     
  5. Jose Jones

    Jose Jones Outstanding Forum Member

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    I'm glad I could keep Black Metal happy then. :)
     
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  6. Sternodox

    Sternodox SubGenius Pope of Arkansas Thread Starter

    Can't say much about the others because I haven't listened to any of them, but you're totally wrong about Wolves in the Throneroom. I think they've completely respected and understood the likes of Ulver, Beherit, and others. Even Burzum. Great stuff!!!
     
  7. Tom Infinit

    Tom Infinit New Member

    I don´t really understand how one could mention these - partly opposing - bands in one sentence.
    except one thing, all of these were revolutionizing the genre each on their own. and they all presented things so new and exciting at the time, things that weren´t done even remotely similar before these bands brought it to the table. something WITTR are completely devoid of.
     
  8. Sternodox

    Sternodox SubGenius Pope of Arkansas Thread Starter

    Only way I can explain it is I get the exact same atmosphere. Or feeling. Or whatever ... from all these bands. Distance, solitude, loneliness, alienation, unconnectedness. And I thoroughly enjoy each one.
     
  9. Kakkai-Kuainen

    Kakkai-Kuainen Forum Resident

    It's weird that you say this but your post before bemoans these newer bands for stepping out of the usual "black metal sound" to mix in shoegaze elements. Don't be so tied down to history; there is very good black metal being made nowadays.
     
  10. jiffypopinski

    jiffypopinski Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    I am indeed familiar with those bands! That Nahvalr album is insane.... creepy as hell! The Darkspace albums are all fantastic as well! Great taste my man! :thumbsup:
     
  11. jiffypopinski

    jiffypopinski Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    Woah! Black metal police in the house! :cop:
     
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  12. Sternodox

    Sternodox SubGenius Pope of Arkansas Thread Starter

    Listening to Dissection right now on Klipsch Fortes. Pretty dang loud.
     
  13. Jimmy Agates

    Jimmy Agates CRAZY DOCTOR

    In answer to the original question...yes I do hate it!!
     
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  14. slayerhatesusall

    slayerhatesusall Well-Known Member

    I used to be huge into it, nowadays I don't listen to black metal nearly as much but still enjoy listening to many black metal albums.
     
  15. Sternodox

    Sternodox SubGenius Pope of Arkansas Thread Starter

    I completely got outta metal for 10 years. Listened to almost nothing but Miles Davis, King Crimson, & Frank Zappa. Back into it again. Big time.
     
  16. jiffypopinski

    jiffypopinski Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    I get like that sometimes. I listen to a LOT of jazz... and Crim and Zappa as well! Right now I'm heavy into minimalist composers like Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Eliane Radigue, etc as well as doom, black metal, Japanese psych/noise and stuff like Big Brave, Julia Holter and Circuit des Yeux. Last night I was spinning an awesome album from a band that is usually classified as a black metal band doing post-punk... the great Hateful Abandon:

     
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  17. Kakkai-Kuainen

    Kakkai-Kuainen Forum Resident

    Approved for cool guy with great taste
     
  18. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    I dare you to like this :

     
  19. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    I prefer stainless steel or brushed aluminum to black metal.
     
  20. Sternodox

    Sternodox SubGenius Pope of Arkansas Thread Starter

    Here's a review of my favorite black metal album. I wrote it right after Deathspell Omega's Fas was released.

    Although this is primarily a review of Deathspell Omega's newest release, it can also serve as a brief intro for those unfamiliar with the band. The descriptions of the preceding works can also serve as reference points leading to a better understanding of Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum.

    Deathspell Omega's first full-length, Infernal Battles, was released in 2000, and consists of primal, minimally-produced, Darkthrone worshiping, black metal. Splits with Finnish warlords Clandestine Blaze, the bewildering one-man German black metal project Moonblood, and the French Les Légions Noires stalwarts Mutiilation followed. The equally raw and bleak Inquisitors of Satan, released in 2002, ended Deathspell Omega's first phase.

    After what had gone before, nobody expected what the band would wreak with its 2004 release, Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice, the first of a trilogy concerning divine will, Man's inherent perdition, and the inevitability of his eternal judgment. That release displayed a band that had leapt so far ahead of its previous incarnation as to be almost unrecognizable. Lengthy song constructions filled with dense, macabre melodic musings tangled with joy-crushing powerhouse black metal while lyrically invoking the mysteries of God, Satan, and Man's tragic and unwitting role in the eternal battle between righteousness and evil.

    This concept was alluded to on three releases that followed: From the Entrails to the Dirt (2005) a three-record split with French hordes Antaeus, Mutiilation, and Malicious Secrets, further consolidated Deathspell Omega's reputation as a black metal band that is challenging the genre's status quo. In 2005 the band released the EP Kénôse, a collection of songs so disturbing in their dark beauty that larger numbers in the metal community finally began to take serious notice.

    Also in 2005, Northern Heritage released Crushing the Holy Trinity, a very limited three-record set (1,000 copies) containing the efforts of six bands, each of which got half a record. Side one, entitled "Father" featured a nearly 23-minute opus titled "Diabolus Absconditus." With this composition, Deathspell Omega left every other black metal band in the stylistic dirt and freed itself from the constraints of a genre that had grown largely moribund. "Diabolus Absconditus" was a revelation! Deranged riffing, a five-minute acoustic interlude that sounded like hellish jazz, impossible time changes and bizarre, angular chording revealed that this Franco-Finnish ensemble was single-handedly inventing an elite of black metal trail-blazers, creating music that nobody had thought to formulate before.

    Now comes Deathspell Omega's latest opus, Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum (loosely translated from the Latin, it means "By divine law, go ye cursed into eternal fire"). Simply put, it is phenomenal; quite possibly the greatest metal release I've encountered in a decade. It's beyond good. It's revolutionary. Lyrically, the band has transcended juvenile Satanic flirtation and embarked upon a fervent and erudite exploration of universal theology. It will take multiple listenings (and perhaps a few reference excursions to the Bible and Dante's Inferno) to fully comprehend the message Deathspell Omega is attempting to impart. In a nutshell, for those impatient souls, the message is this: Hopelessness.

    Like the last four offerings from Deathspell Omega, this release begins quietly, with a song titled "Obombration," featuring an ethereal and nebulous choir chanting over soft neoclassical musings. It's not long, however, until chaos erupts with DsO's trademark uber-heavy arpeggios lumbering about like a Satanic Pink Floyd. Mid-tempo drums anchored by a subdued double-bass rumble mark time while a sample of something that sounds like a foghorn permeates the gloomy atmosphere. This fades out after a few minutes, replaced by more mournful chanting, which eventually succumbs to silence.

    The second track, "The Shrine of Mad Laughter," erupts suddenly with a furious blast-beat attack, harkening back to DsO's past releases, before segueing into a convoluted maze of bent, angular riffing and drumming that's nearly impossible to comprehend, much less tap one's foot to. DsO's drummer, whoever he or she is, is a monster and gets better with each release. The percussion is metal, jazz, psychedelia, anti-music, and sheer power, all rolled into one pummeling amalgam of rhythmic insanity. The song ends with more quietude, a formula repeated throughout the album. This is a very jarring set of tunes. One is constantly jerked from the ambient interludes to the rampant black metal salvos; it is unnerving and emotionally draining.

    Track three, "The Bread of Bitterness," contains psychotic layers of guitar, dozens of them, augmented with something that sounds like a calliope, creating what, at times, sounds like circus music from Hell. There is an innovative mix on this cut - a male choir follows Aspa's delirious vocals, hovering just beneath the surface, a very rewarding and slightly frightening listening experience with headphones.

    The fourth track, "The Repellent Scars of Abandon and Election," features an insane call and response wherein a very evil sounding voice whispers each line, after which Aspa screams it in a demented sermonizing vocal style. After a minute, it switches and the whispers echo Aspa's lines. Then it all starts to overlap until voices are bombarding the listener from all directions in an anarchy of screams, whispers, howls, and moans. Very intense and harrowing! About two-thirds of the way through the song this madness suddenly abates and a slightly de-tuned piano offers a discordant melody line for a few bars before the madness begins anew.

    Orchestral samples and layered choirs permeate the next song, "A Chore for the Lost." More screaming, more musical bellicosity, more superb ensemble playing, more incredible black metal.

    Finally, it ends with a short reprise of the first song.

    In its execution, Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum is jubilant and celebratory. It's crushing and evil. It's suffocating and dense. There are so many musical ideas thrown about that it's difficult to capture them all in one, or even several, listening sessions. Make no mistake - this is definitely black metal. The music contains the requisite tremolo riffing, hyper-kinetic blast-beast drumming, and scorched earth vocals that linger between a death metal growl and a traditional black metal screech. But there is so much more. The drummer flirts with jazz, psychedelia, thrash, doom, and a half dozen other styles, and masters them all. Mikko Aspa has one of the most distinct voices in metal. It's bombastic, scary, demonic, enunciated, and is instantly recognizable after just one listen. Hasjarl's guitar playing is also first rate. He peppers the tunes with shimmering, serpentine leads and light-speed riffing. His style is, at times, a black metal version of Joy Division - hovering beneath the melody, setting up the kill, waiting for the chance to attack. His inventiveness and technique are astonishing.

    I must reiterate that Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum is the finest, most impressive black metal release I've ever heard, and the best metal album in any genre I've acquired in the past decade. Deathspell Omega is quietly revolutionizing the Metal universe and I anticipate the third installment of the trilogy like I've anticipated nothing else in this style of music. I suggest you order this album immediately and see what metal can be. Deathspell Omega is the savior of black metal.
     
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  21. Baby Driver

    Baby Driver Forum Resident

    thanks. I'm checking out this album right now.

    one thing though; it's not black metal. it is far too diverse and technical to be classified as such. black metal is a lot like punk rock. you can market yourself as punk rock, dress like it.... but first and foremost there are rules to how the music is performed. stray outside of that and it is no longer punk rock. ditto black metal.

    I'm not saying that this isn't great music, there's a lot to take in and ill be giving it a few spins before I make up my mind.
    it's death metal though, a genre with far greater scope for innovation and technical prowess. I hear more elements of Morbid Angel than I do Bathory.
     
  22. DLeet

    DLeet Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chernigov, Ukraine
    I don't hate it but I cannot say I like it. Especially when the duck which got a cold starts croaking into the mic trying to scare children. And when there's too much noise and the drums go into helicopter mode with bass drums. It has its fine moments though. I highly recommend Desanctification by Blut aus Noord. Great stuff there.
     
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  23. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    According to Encyclopaedia Metallum : Deathspell Omega; Black Metal (1998-2002), Avant-garde Black Metal (2003-present)

    There aren't rules per se; how could The Stranglers be punk rock otherwise ? Or Wolves In The Throne Room Black Metal ? You are talking about stereotypes.

    That's what attracted a lot of fans of the genre in the first place (me included) so if you don't like those elements you prolly like some aspects of the genre but not the genre as a whole which is fine.

     
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  24. Matheusms

    Matheusms Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brazil
    My problem with the genre is more on the ideological side than musical. Many scandinavian bands go far beyond the usual nihilistic lyrics and are openly neo-nazi. It's not uncommon to have right-oriented metal groups but nazi is a stretch that is unacceptable to me.
     
  25. Sternodox

    Sternodox SubGenius Pope of Arkansas Thread Starter

    Respectfully disagree. DsO refer to themselves as black metal. Miko, the lead singer, heads the black metal label Northern Heritage. DsO may not sound like Darkthrone or Bathory, but black metal has evolved and become a much broader spectrum of music than it was in the Second Wave. I definitely hear elements of death metal there, like you mention, but the lyrical philosophy, the riffing, and the entire atmosphere screams black metal to me. In most everything you read about DsO, they're referred to as a black metal band. Cheers!
     
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