Watain, photo by Vincent Lichtenberg
. . .
Is it just me, or has it been a terrible year for black metal? I look back at this year’s posts tagged “black metal”, and they are numerous, but they delineate small triumphs. The year’s biggest black metal record, Watain’s Lawless Darkness, came with much fanfare and fell with a whimper, at least to my ears. Oddly, my favorite black metal record this year will likely be 1349’s Demonoir – and I consider it more interesting than good. Listeners seem to have ignored it, with last year’s Revelations of the Black Flame disaster fresh in their minds. These are the giants of the field, and their footing is unsure.
To be sure, black metal-influenced metal has never been stronger. The Profound Lore roster (Ludicra, Agalloch, Krallice, Castevet, The Howling Wind, Cobalt) is proof. Musicians are taking black metal’s sound and running far with it. Black metal is coloring every other kind of metal – thrash, death, sludge, doom. Even hardcore punk and indie rock are getting “blackened”. But for the real stuff, the state of the art seems more bleak than black.
This begs the question of what “real black metal” is. I don’t think of it in formal terms. Some say that black metal requires Satanism, but that definition is too narrow. It knocks out Burzum, Absu, Immortal, Xasthur, and other possessors of the dark energy that I associate with black metal. To me, black metal is a “know it when you hear it” proposition. It is a feeling. That feeling is deep and dark, and it comes from the total package: sounds, visuals, lyrics, attitude. Just having tremolo picking, blastbeats, and corpsepaint isn’t enough.
The “real stuff” seems to be in short supply now, despite an overwhelming glut of releases marketed as “black metal”. Perhaps this is due simply to the ravages of time. This happens to most popular music: an initial explosion of creativity, a fertile first few years, then dilution and decline over time. I recently read two eloquent commentaries (here and here) on the film Until the Light Takes Us, which recently came out on DVD. Among other things, both lamented the fact that things just aren’t the same now. The world has co-opted black metal for its own ends. True practitioners still exist, but they remain obscure – perhaps willfully so – in a sea of pretenders.
. . .
. . .
This sense of loss resonated with me when I read Decibel’s recent Black Metal “Hall of Fame” issue. (Order it here.) It has in-depth features on classic albums by Immortal, Burzum, Venom, Darkthrone, Emperor, Satyricon, Enslaved, and Rotting Christ. Despite my misgivings about its silly Immortal cover, it turned out to be essential and enlightening. Much – perhaps too much – has been made of the church burnings and killings in black metal’s early days. Those antics never interested me. The actual music, its messages, and the (non-criminal) people behind them have always interested me more. So this Hall of Fame issue fills in historical gaps that the tabloid press has left. Taken as a whole, it paints a more complete picture of what went on in the early ’90s.
To an extent, my own personal development colors my perception of black metal today. I am not a misanthropic loner, so that kind of energy that emanates from so much black metal does not resonate with me. Also, my atheism has become more defined, so that I find Satanism as false as the construct that spawned it, Christianity. This came to a head in my interview with Erik Danielsson of Watain. He is intensely spiritual, so I asked him about atheism. For me, his dismissal of the position reinforced the importance of not supporting Satanism. I am not in the business of supporting false things. The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. (See, e.g., the US Democratic Party.) So I am much more circumspect now about my support of black metal.
But the real stuff still holds great power. The Decibel issue spurred me to revisit those classics, and I found them just as magical as when I first discovered them. In particular, Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger astounded me with its purity and strength of feeling. It had been a while since I heard it, due to being turned off by countless Darkthrone clones. But the real thing remains undiminished. It still gives pause to atheist me. Maybe there are mystical forces out there. Maybe humans can tap into them. That “maybe” is part of black metal’s magic. Too bad it’s virtually impossible to find now.
. . .
Very much agree with all of this.
Also, Watain is basically Spinal Tap.
What about:
Woe (Quietly, Undramatially)
Grave Miasma (Realm of Evoked Doom)
Ash Pool (For Which He Plies The Lash)
All real-deal Black Metal bands that put out great records this year.
???
That was pretty excellent.
But Cosmo, maybe it is virtually impossible because you are looking for it in bands like Watain. Watain was great and I hate to sound superficial, but as soon as I saw the high-end multiple color contacts pics used to promote their latest album I knew this wasn’t the same band anymore. To me, the quality of most metal still remains in the crevices. Bands age too quickly.
Personally I could care less what these bands promote or say. I can’t understand a word they are saying anyways. I love black metal because it is impure and in your face and sonically appealing and exuberant, not because I identify with a belief or whatever they think they are promoting.
i agree with you whole heartedly…and it’s why i think bands that take from other genres to make something new will always be the more interesting ones in my opinion…that goes to originators of “black” metal to whatever genre…Bathory (or Celtic Frost, or even Mayhem at the start) played “metal” but with outside influence of occult/satanism…there was no real “black metal” except for the Venom album title…and the same will go for bands like Krallice who i think are AWESOME, but what do you call what they play? i guess check back in 20 years and Decibel will have an issue chock full of like bands with an easy cover sticker genre label lol…
great article! agree with most of the posters, the most interesting things are being done by bands who take ‘black metal’ as the building blocks of their sound but then head off in dramatically different directions. So I think black metal is still an interesting genre, but more for hearing what bands do with it, then in finding ‘pure’ black metal!
Excellent article. Personally I’m not the biggest black metal fan, although I do enjoy numerous such bands and number one or two of them among my favourite bands. I think black metal in its truest form is dying away. There’ll always be bands stay true to the genre’s origial ideals, but there’ll never be another record like Translyvanian Hunger or In The Nightside Eclipse. The most intriguing bands are the ones trying to push the genre a little more, e.g. Krallice, Wolves In The Throne Room, etc. Its not black metal as we know it, but times have changed.
Bands like 1349 and Watain really don’t look like they’ll be able to make the step up to claim the throne from the old guard – much as how in the mainstream there’s no credible ascension to take over from Iron Maiden, Metallica, etc. Sad as it is to see, those trying to hold on to former glories, will probably get left behind by the evolution of black metal – though I’m sure there’ll be those that will contest that view.
There’s been a lot of good BM or BM-influenced material recently in my opinion. And I’d say that BM-influenced is still BM, as long as the feeling is the same. But then I love the new Watain (and I don’t care how it’s promoted or anything, I only listen to the music). It’s actually one of the most cohesive, narrative, really album-like BM record I’ve heard this year. I’d add the new Burzum, 1349, Negura Bunget (both releases), Imperium Dekadenz, Twilight, Black September, Deathspell Omega, Arckanum, Ash Pool…
I’m… going to disagree with you and everyone who has commented, Cosmo.
I don’t draw a line between Ludicra and Bathory, genre wise. Personally I see genre as a spectrum, not defined lines, so to me this has been an excellent year for black metal thanks to Ludicra, Kvelertak, Melechesh, Enslaved, and others.
So things are not the way they were in the early 90’s in Sweden/Norway… big whoop. The context of the world has changed so much in sixteen or seventeen years that of course the music must change with it. That doesn’t mean black metal’s power has lessened, only transformed.
And no, I don’t think satanism has anything to do with the appeal.
Then again i like Lawless Darkness and Asassins about as much as I like The Tenant and Codex Necro.
I think that reports of black metal’s demise are greatly exaggerated. I mean, thank the Dark Lord that we don’t still have a thousand thousand Darkthrone clones running around these days trying to carry the torch of the early 90s! Music evolves. Black metal is no more dead today than rock and roll died when the Beatles broke up. It is different, though. I mean, you think black metal is dead in the year that Deathspell Omega released the final installment of their trilogy, an album that is getting rave reviews from every quarter? Yes, black metal has changed. Lines between genres are blurring, and I think this is a good thing. Like Michael mentioned Grave Miasma above, but they have a strong doom metal influence too, and their doomy black/blackened doom metal to me is endlessly fascinating. I guess if bands aren’t keeping it “pure” anymore, then some people (especially unreformed Scandinavian second-wavers) might argue that means black metal is dead, but frankly, I think that black metal would be even deader if it had never changed.
I mean, with all that said, I do see what you’re saying in this post, and I’m not saying I entirely disagree. I just remain very excited about a lot of the music being put out today under the black metal banner. A lot of it is quite good. And I love Demonair by 1349. As a lot of black metal these days is increasing Drudkh-like (which I love, by the way), I see them moving more and more in a sort of Deathspell Omega direction, harsh, dissonant, with no hooks, but very powerful music.
Black metal is one of the genres that continues to excite me more than any other personally…this year I`ve been thrilled by A Forest of Stars, Winterfylleth, Deathspell Omega, Withered, Woe, Old Corpse Road, Enslaved, Drudkh, Burzum, Blut Aus Nord, Sigh…most of my favourite releass this year are black metal albums.
@pestilential mists re: Watain = Blackened Spinal Tap.
Yes, thank you!
The new 1349 hasn’t drawn me in — maybe it’s all those unnecessary filler pieces in between the songs.
The various Scandinavian BM groups out now seemed to have figured out how to walk the ice-encrusted line between “commercial” and “kvlt”. Meanwhile, the true BM Underground still seems to be based in France.
Ergo, Deathspell Omega tops my Black Metal(-esqe) list these days — even if they’re not sulking around in the snow and in the forests, wearing sad panda paint while playing with their +3 Longswords.
//TB
Wow…who knew “evil” whined so much! Things change…genres shift, adapt, and (gasp) grow. The currnet crop of “it’s just not the same” smacks of 80’s hardcore dinosaurs complaining about hardcore “being dead” because it had morphed into something they no longer recognize. To that and to this I can only say…congratulations on becoming your parents!
Wqtching
And to think we’re likely to get more material from Blut Aus Nord, WITTR, Primordial, Absu, Peste Noire, etc. in the years to come, I’m not sure how one can say black metal is dead or dying.
Wow…who knew “evil” whined so much! Things change…genres shift, adapt, and (gasp) grow. The currnet crop of “it’s just not the same” smacks of 80’s hardcore dinosaurs complaining about hardcore “being dead” because it had morphed into something they no longer recognize. To that and to this I can only say…congratulations on becoming your parents!
Watching Until The Light Takes Us was strikingly similar to watching American Hardcore. Boring old people painfully lamenting being out of touch and outgrown, people who at one time adhered to no rules whining about people not following the rules, not coloring in the lines.
Sorry about that double…working from my fancy phone today!
Is it a coincidence that what many here are calling out as the year’s best black metal albums are largely made by artists (with the notable exceptions of Drudkh and DsO) who have dispensed with the “mystique” aspect of black metal, i.e., the naturalistic Nietzchean trappings, etc.? You see virtually none of that coming from the likes of Woe, Ludicra, and Krallice — and that’s to the good, because I think it would be ridiculous for bands born in huge American cities. You could smell the false miles and miles off.
Probably there is some Old World/New World dichotomy at work in all this.
To be sure, there are bands like Wolves In The Throne Room (disclaimer: not a fan), but their continental mysticism-via-”Walden” schtick always rang a little hollow to me, maybe thanks to the sub-”Nightside Eclipse” riffs. I think Liturgy is closer to getting that vibe right from the U.S. perspective coming at it as they do through Ives, etc.
I’m with everyone who is excited, rather than worried. I think the incorporation of other types of music into black metal (and vice versa) is a good thing. It adds to the overall musical vocabulary, and it’s not like the “blackening” of other types of music has yielded one thing – I’m equally impressed by Ludicra, Agalloch, Anaal Nathrakh, Infernal Stronghold, Tombs, Wolves In The Throne Room, and Alcest as examples of black metal, and they sound nothing alike. Call it hybrid vigor. Genres of music that remain orthodox (or provincial) get stale quickly – my favorite example is straight-edge hardcore, which is about as orthodox as it gets on multiple levels. It doesn’t get interesting until it breaks out of very specific conventions. When it does it yields some really great records (the last ones by Verse and Have Heart come to mind) but that doesn’t happen often enough. We don’t need more Darkthrones or Mayhems or Emperors or Marduks or Gorgoroths – that’s been done. Long live the new flesh.
(Watain have never grabbed me, and after the interview with the singer I have even less interest in them, and I think I like the idea of what 1349 is doing more than I do the end product. Gonna go listen to “No Nation On This Earth” by Primordial again because that’s the real inheritor of Emperor’s majesty, and “Fuck Thou Shalt Culture” by Infernal Stronghold because that’s the real inheritor of Mayhem’s rawness.)
Really?? Really?? No good black metal came out this year. What a load of shit. Apparently Deathspell Omega, Burzum, and Woe were missed along the way? Also your list of black metal like bands seem very black metal to me. I think its good that the lines are blurring. So stop whining and enjoy the fact that there are great bands making great things and stop whining about the has beens.
I am not a huge fan of the classic black metal sound and tradition, but I love the evolution of the genre. I can appreciate that purists despise this type of progression, but I am definitely not Kvlt, and from that perspective, I think it’s been a fantastic year for black metal, or at least black-rooted metal. I have massively enjoyed the 2010 releases from Nachtmystium, Enslaved, Watain, and especially the records by Ludicra, Melechesh, and Agalloch (I still put them in this category despite Cosmo’s objections). Plus, the monstrous Goatwhore has been touring their blackened asses off and destroying just about everything in sight.
So I suppose I disagree with the premise of this post. But hey, that’s why I.O. is such a fun blog/community. It’d be lame as fuck if we all agreed.
Cosmo, never stop writing. It gives me goose bumps.
Krallice wins best album of 2010 withtheir S/T debut last year. Just saying.
The new Inquisition wrecks everything mentioned on this page. There have been a lot of other great releases with bands like Nightbringer, Deathspell Omega,Dordeduh, Enslaved, Panopticon, Petrychor, Twilight. If youre going to narrow down a pretty big genre to only its most trvest and basic form then of course you’re going to get a lot of the same and of course it’s not going to be as good as the early 90’s.
I see no reason to lament the demise of Black Metal. The albums and experiences of that scene will never go away. That’s the beauty of the past.
That said, I think you stated rather clearly that black metal influenced music is stronger than ever. Commenters refuting your claims missed that.
I’m happy with the way Black Metal has influenced today’s metal. At this point, genre tags such as Black Metal are really only useful for organizing music collections and describing music with words. Describing the new DsO with the term Black Metal is ludicrous, but I’ve got no other genre tag to give it. Maybe the music journalists can get on that. I mean, they gave us terms like grunge. I’m sure most of the others came from the media as well (Rock, Heavy Metal, Pop, Alternative, etc.)
surprised you wrote an article w/ this slant, to be honest. i agree w/ the poster who said black metal is a spectrum. that sums it up. whether on the left or right, it’s still black metal. and if it never grow it would literally be stagnant. nobody wants that. if it never grew we wouldn’t have all the amazing bands mentioned by posters here (like Agalloch winning decibel’s best album of the year and watain picking up the second spot and triptykon taking #3).
like the other poster who mentioned hardcore… i love gorilla biscuits and youth of today but i don’t need to hear bands that sound like that in 2010. and if hardcore never evolved there’d be no GB or YOT, they’d all still sound just like the Flex Your Head comp. thank fuck they branched out and we ended up w/ bands like Burn and Inside Out coming out, too.
anyway, i don’t think bm is in a bad spot at all. i don’t think people should look at it like “traditional” black metal or whatever. it’s just a spectrum of sound.
what about BLACK ANVIL? new record is sick. and they SLAY live.
i just think it’s not giving credit to the black metal bands mentioned if you’re saying they’re not “real” or “true”. Agalloch and Ameseours are amazing black metal bands.
sidenote: i saw watain in 08 and i’ve seen them in 2010 and both shows were un-fucking-believable. if i wasn’t an atheist i’d say they were religious experiences. i saw 1349 in 08 and 2010 and they can’t even be discussed in the same sentence as Watain when it comes to live shows.
I’m going to join the chorus of people here not lamenting the demise of black metal. As I understand it, the second-wave black metal that came from Norway in the 90s was already a mutation of an earlier sound pioneered by the likes of Venom, Bathory, et al, which was in turn a mutation of traditional heavy metal tropes and conventions. The second-wave stuff has proven to be an especially compelling and durable mutation, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the be-all end-all of the genre (or even the subgenre).
What’s more, some of my favorite records from Norwegian bands are the ones that deviate from a rigidly codified black metal sound. Immortal’s _At the Heart of Winter_ and _Sons of Northern Darkness_, for example, sound great to me, in part because they incorporate elements from trash and NWOBHM into their aesthetic. I think you can see this tension between wanting to stay “true” and wanting to innovate /hybridize in some of the comments in the Watain and 1349 interviews. Black metal musicians from other countries (e.g., the U.S. [Krallice, Absu] France [DSO, Neige’s various projects] and Japan [Sigh]) don’t have the kind of scene baggage that the Scandavian bands do, and are thus able to take the sound in new and interesting directions without having to constantly apologize for doing so. That’s a good thing for the genre and for heavy metal in general.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m guessing that most of us here are adults who enjoy black metal for aesthetic rather than ideological reasons. I’m okay with leaving the obsessive concern for “purity” to corpse-painted teenagers desperate to fit in, aging has-beens living on nostalgia, and moronic NSBM-types who believe they’re part of some master race.
I don’t know… black metal for me is a touchy thing. I like that some bands are able to take it in new directions, and I think its natural – most of it, though, I have a hard time getting into. I guess it boils down to not being patient enough with the material.
Although, recently, I “discovered” Darkthrone, and I cannot get enough. I always knew who they were, and had the song “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” on a Peaceville comp, but never went any farther with them then that. Despite being into the Norwegian scene for some time, I just never went down the Darkthrone road.
And that Watain guy… sounds like he never left his teenage mentality.
If you think black metal is dead, you obviously haven’t heard the new Inquisition album yet. Those guys are definitely carrying the torch and then some.
The new Inquisition does kick ass indeed, not that this would be a shock to anyone. It only comes out next year though, right?
Hahaha…Josh…
People have beat me to it: the new Inquisition rules.
for some reason, these last several weeks have been nothing but black metal. as a personal challenge, i listened to every darkthrone album (even Goatlord, har) back to back, in chronological order. brutal endurance run!
for shits and giggles, I recently listened through Dimmu Borgir’s latest. i recommend it to anyone who wants to feel like black metal SHOULD die. but other than some of the bigger/populist bands making predictably cheesy albums, i think there’s a ton of great stuff happening as the genre expands. no genre can exist with just copycat soundalikes, its the evolution and exploration that keeps it fresh and enjoyable. all the newer, black-metal-fusion bands are keeping that spirit alive.
The real spirit of black metal that gave so many of those classic albums (by the Norwegians or otherwise) their original impetus and defining beauty/melodic concentration was dead by about ‘94 or so. ‘95? Using the developed aesthetics of black metal, as agreed upon then and pushed forward through various levels of evolution, it’s still entirely possible to make great black metal albums that sound good, that hit all the right notes, that are motivating and enjoyable…but there’s no spirit, dark energy or any kind of real conviction left in them. There ARE bands that still play with this kind of concentration and belief, a kind of naive simplicity that codes for “authenticity” and feeling, real emotion, but they’re rare as hell and the truth is that music like this – truly creative, expressive, original music – has to fight against every main stream of the immediate exploitation of one’s merest whims and immediate reactions in our dumbed-down, materialistic, shallow, insensitive musical climate. Everyone knows what killed black metal: the internet. Too much information, too little isolation and room for original thinking/reactions, the increasingly pervasive skepticism regarding any kind of narrative involving belief or strong feelings about anything, too many voices, too much talking…not enough listening…
“New arts destroy the old.”
-Ralph Emerson
First of all, where’s Helm when you need him? I miss that guy’s posts…
Secondly, “Watain is Spinal Tap”=brilliant, haha! Now appearing with Beezlebub’s Unholy Puppet Show! With 10% more animal blood!! Gimme a break…If your schtick means more than the music..well, you can see how I feel about it. As far as BM as a genre, again, that corpse has been humped to death, and only a *few* bands have enough creative juices to breathe any life into it. Death metal, as a template, has much more of a jumping off point into new territory than all metal genres–it’s not inhibited by a set tempo (it can be as fast or as slow as you want), you’re freer in production values, and less constrained lyrically, followed by doom (Candlemass’ first albums rocked)and then thrash/speed. Death metal serves as a far better building block–BM’s been ripping off punk and hardcore for 20 years–I can name a dozen hardcore/punk bands way better than fucking Watain–plus they have an IQ and social consciousness too. Just cuz you quote Anton LaVey and pee pentagrams in the snow doesn’t make you evil. Just a douche.
I think Death Metal is ripe for a reboot of sorts, along the lines of what happened first to doom and most recently to black metal; a spinoff sub-style that is at once slavishly true to certain core principles of the genre but also not afraid to dispose of the bullshit (e.g. misogynistic violence). Portal, Ulcerate, Mitochondrion and Gorguts are a few examples that come to mind of this new vanguard. Long may it live.
@Nicholas McMaster
Agreed, which is why you seriously need to spread “The Beauty of Reason” around. Giving them out to people at Krallice shows (like you did for me in Montreal) isn’t enough. I’d seriously place it among the finest death metal records of the last 5 years. I’d also point to acts like StarGazer as vanguards of a potential new movement, which I’d love to see. Death metal currently seems to be dominated by a self-content “underground” made up of identical chugging acts and the Youtube kids.
Ha, thanks a lot, Alex. I’m going to set up a basic website soon just for it as a standalone release.
Agreed on StarGazer, though I’m most stimulated by acts (like Mitochondrion) that avoid outright prog–StarGazer is phenomenal, but the fretless bass puts them firmly in that camp, in my opinion.
The “underground” and Youtube types like Meghan the Metal Queen are a different sub-style that holds no interest for me: it seems like “technical” metal acts (the faceless, obscura, blah blah) have merged with the audience for deathcore (as many acts, like suicide silence, are more shitty tech death than deathcore at this point), existing in a comfortable semi-mainstream pocket that I’ll just call “Summer Slaughter” for short. It’s interesting how this all blurs as the snowglobe settles: see Decapitated (who are genuinely revelatory at times, their groove notwithstanding) headlining the summer’s laughter tour this year. I’m not sure Vogg sees a distinction between him and the Faceless, which is interesting because to me one represents unbridled creativity and the other total stagnation.
@Cosmo,
You could apply this line of thinking to almost any branch of metal. Grindcore, well we’ve got Napalm Death but we also have a bunch of ass-hats recording stupid shit with drum machines. Yet ANB, Kill The Client and others continue to make good music. Death metal is especially troublesome. Asphyx, HOB, Cannibal Corpse, Immolation and some bands on the Ibex Moon roster continue to make excellent music. You also have talentless hacks that know one lick and base their whole reputation on a sick album cover. The magic is still there, you just need to keep looking.
Regardless of time period there have been magical albums, medicore ones and outright duds. Black metal didn’t seem to take a nose dive this year even if you are pining for the mid-90s. I loved Krieg’s The Isolationist, the new 1349, new Deathspell Omega and a few others. Sure, there are tons of derivative bands out there. But the fate of the discerning metal fan has always been to wade through sub-standard shit to get to the good stuff. It was the case when the albums you referenced came out and it’s the case now. There will always be art and there will always be those trying to make it and failing horribly.
I am looking forward to reading some of these pieces in the special Decibel although I wish it came with my subscription.
Happy Turkey Day to the IO family.
@Nicholas McMaster and Alex_P:
If “The Beauty of Reason” is to death metal what Krallice is to black metal, I’m in and then some.
I don’t much about Watain but that picture of them is pretty laughable.
I have nothing to add to Cliff Evans’ post, which summarises my opinion perfectly.
My top ten this year (similarly to last year) is looking like containing mostly albums that fall closer to black metal than any other sub-genre, even if none of them are actually Black Metal by the narrow definition. This makes black metal an unqualified success to my eyes, at least.
And now that I’ve gone back and read the interview with Watain, I am sure that they are very laughable.
of course things aren’t the same now??
everyone from those days either went to jail, died, got burnt out and started doing acoustic stuff or is Dimmu Borgir?
. . I don’t know why i put those question marks there.
You are forgetting about all of the excellent black metal indluenced boise acts which have come out over the last few years: Locrian are my favorite and have had two very strong releases this year. Blue Sabbath Black Cheer have been releasing material for the last few years and are great. Gnaw Their Tonuges has kind of trailed off since 2007, but he releases EPs and albums all of the time.
Watain sort of look like KISS for a world jaded because KISS already exists.
But in a way I guess that makes sense.
Nothing brings the comments out like a good ol’ black metal discussion…
Without getting into the debate over the blackened shark jumping, I totally identify with having reservations about liking music that focuses on Satanism or mysticism…not because it’s evil, but because it’s silly. I don’t have a problem with the LaVey school, but that is not the angle most bands take. Would be stoked to see a further discussion of metal that doesn’t insult the listener’s intelligence with supernatural tripe. There’s plenty of real shit to be grim about…
I disagree, there have been quite a few good black metal releases in 2010.
There is this great black metal record by an artist going by the moniker of Brulvanahtu. His 2010 album is called Last Living Dream. One of the best black metal records I have heard in a while.
Cosmo: dude! sorry to be so blunt and all, but seriously, what’s with this whiny “looky-heah-ma-i’m-a-gettin’-older-an’-my-BM-ain’t-what-it-wuz-back-when” tr00 purist crap (which, in spite of what you may have heard elsewhere, ain’t exactly what ya’d consider in keeping with a rigorously metal attitude, ya know)?
as per yer query?
first and foremost, fuck PURITY in all things. but most especially in some dim-witted “woe iz i for mine dayz be dark und my knights kold” excuse of a metal sub-genre (not that most of the other m s-g’s are any better in that respect, but still…).
secondly, the latest Watain thing rocks both mightily and righteously–and i could give one flying, black leather-studded fuck, re: dude’s take on Satanism, Christianity, faith, hope, and/or Charity (that brazen no-account hussy of a hairy-assed yob!). what’s most pertinent there is that dude believes he “believes” his own claptrap (hey, just like in virtually all art ever made anywhere. well, whaddya know, Joe?). and he does. or at the very least he conveys as much by way of his chosen persona (“gasp! you mean metal dude’s may not actually walk the walk as they talk the talk? say it isn’t so!!!!!!”). i mean, cripes, man, but that interview y’all ran on Danielsson was by far the most entertaining, thought-provoking, life-enhancing, death-dealing, and simply edifying shit i’ve read all year (tho much woe be as per my impoverishment in that area, tr00).
thirdly (uh where wuz i agin’? oh yeah…), “pure-fuckin’-black-metal-from-the-Stygian-depths” or not, you seriously need to take Nachtmystium’s new one into consideration. i mean, shit is not only fierce, but fiercely addictive. plus watching Judd broaden his BM horizons has, thus far, been nothing less than a “gas gas gas.”
in short, i reiterate: fuck purity!!!!!!
\m/ ^_^ \m/
Hey Cosmo, I don’t think I saw you there, so if you indeed didn’t, you really should of seen Watain live last Friday. It certainly was a reaffirmation of everything Black Metal should be. (and apparently Decibel thinks highly of it based on the leak of their top 40 and I can only imagine Terrorizer is going to give it a medal).
Lawless Darkness takes the medal for comedy album of the year, yup.
My original post appears to have gotten lost somewhere all up in the interwebz, possibly because it was faaaarrrr too long.
But generally I’ve found this to be a great year for Black Metal. And that’s discounting the “blackened” or post-black forms of BM.
I also am surprised by the amount of shit Watain are getting, as i’m not sure I fully understand the reasoning behind it.
Either way when I publish my End Of Year Review it will most likely vindicate my opinions. Or villify me forever. Whichever is best.
It’s just you Cosmo.
RE: Watain.
The poster who mentioned how the Internet has killed much of the mystique of BM is right on target.
Pre-Internet Watain they would been a band that would folks would heard crazy rumors about in cheap-o `zines, word-of-mouth, and in interviews with bigger bands mentioning Watain. Few folks would know or care about their world outlook/politics/wtf-ever. And for the few folks that actually owned their CDs and demos (no MP3s back then, of course), they would love or hate their stuff based on the music *alone*.
But those days are gone: the two-headed cat with devil horns and a penchant for human flesh is out of the Bag of Infinite Holding, and any band of their ilk will have the entire Internet peering down on their every song/move/quirk/performance/bowel movement. Welcome to the 21st century boys and girls.
As such, if I was to base my opinion of Watain *ONLY* on their music, I’d give it a half-hearted thumbs up, no more. How do you say “meh” in Swedish?
But the fact that I do know — thanks the Internet — that they are a bunch of buffoons with a needlessly OTT and smelly stage show, and that they do have some rather questionable views re: tolerating NSBM (for example).
That baggage (for me) means they just aren’t worth getting bothered over; Watain’s stuff just isn’t so great IMHO that I can overlook their Grade-A Dumbass-ery.
//TB
I think all of you singling out Watain for their silliness and beliefs sound like a bunch of sheep. Have you ever seen another metal band? For fuck’s sake….They are ALL silly. In one form or another, being honest and excited about something as theatrical and trap-filled as metal is going to be silly. I think the worst part is that no one ever bothers asking Watain about their music. If you think they suck, that’s fine, but going on and on about how they take the ridiculousness cake is small minded and at this point, fashionable. I think that’s the biggest problem with people and their fucking music now. They will tell you all day long about how great so and so bands are, but would be absolutely incapable of having a conversation about the actual music itself. I for one, really love Watain, because I love their music. I can remember song structure, melodies, dynamics, etc. I know that shit puts me in a pretty small minority, but I will just say that some of us are listening to music. As in, the MUSIC.
word!
Black Metal simply became another genre for people to try to categorize music. it used to be the alternative to all forms of corporate rockish music and the last genre based on ideology and personal involvement; it is no more. The industry swalloed the genre like it did with everything which manages to sell a few thousand copies. Sad but true.
Real Black Metal still exists, you just don’t read about it in Decibel magazine.
New Svart Crown.
New Deathspell Omega.
That’s black metal enough for 2010.
[b]Amjad Faur[/b] — I think one reason that many IO readers in particular are “singling out Watain for their silliness and beliefs” is because of all the fallout after Cosmo’s interview with Erik on this very site. I don’t think IO has had an interview quite like that before or since. Couple that with Watain’s recently elevated presence in black metal’s “collective consciousness” (I’ve never seen them get this much attention before) and you’ve got an easy target for criticism.
I think all of you singling out Watain for their silliness and beliefs sound like a bunch of sheep. Have you ever seen another metal band? For fuck’s sake….They are ALL silly.
Can’t speak for the rest of the flock, but I’m singling out Watain for their silliness and beliefs because they’re useful as a visible example of a larger thing – the problem with staying traditional/true/kvlt/whatever when the moment that created that idea of black metal has passed.
There was a time when what Watain does was black metal – nicely positioned between the fundamentalist rawness (true fucking black metal) of bands like Darkthrone or Ildjarn and the grand symphonic approach (supreme black metal art) of Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, or, yes, Cradle Of Filth. At least, that’s as far as the music goes. They’re theatrical the way Mayhem (Dead’s self-mutilation, pig’s heads, etc.) or more recently Gorgoroth (crucified people as backdrops, more severed heads of farm animals) were, with the blood and the fire and the whatnot. Like I said above, KISS for a world in which KISS is no longer shocking.
So they basically sit almost at the median point for traditional black metal as a style of music. And like black metal bands who have gone before, they use theatrics to communicate their message (Satanism in this case) and are equally theatrical in interviews – to the point of being pompous and, like you said, silly. Once upon a time, these were both perfectly fine, both for black metal and metal in general. I just think it isn’t necessarily a good thing to either be satisfied with this or to champion it.
Black metal is moving out of this traditional phase – other forms of music are picking up elements of black metal, and black metal is picking up elements of other forms of music, to the benefit of both. It lends a specific type of austerity and grandeur to other types of music, and other types of music widen black metal’s palette to express the things it always did on an emotional level. Traditional black metal served its purpose, but it doesn’t have to be that anymore – it can be something else, it can grow as an art form.
Just as black metal doesn’t have to be traditional, metal bands in general don’t have to be silly – silliness in metal takes many forms, and I think it generally undercuts metal as a form of music. Sometimes it’s a fine line between clever and stupid – some bands can get away with things that are just silly in other bands (and black metal gets this a lot because the potential for silly is soooooo fucking high with things like the clothing and corpsepaint, etc). But generally, the over-the-topness of metal is something I think we either unironically embrace as fun or are just habituated to. I have to take a good long look at old pictures of Celtic Frost before I realize how stupid they look to an outside observer because their records are so great.
Still, I don’t think the sillier aspects of metal are necessary for good music to be made, and might be holding metal back as an artform. The backlash against “beardos” is part of this – these are bands who are, let’s face it, generally only guilty of playing music drawn from metal without bothering with any of the usual metal tropes. They’re playing metal or metal-derived music without being silly. I think that’s a good thing for metal and music in general.
So to make a long post incrementally longer, Watain are a highly visible (because of critical support as well) example of a status quo in black metal, both musically and aesthetically. That’s fine, except I’d argue moving past all of that is a good thing and as a result they seem sort of quaint, maybe a little embarrassing.
no silliness = no Zep, Sab, etc. = no thanx
besides which, silliness has always been (and remains) a seriously under-valued M.O. for a band/artist in just about any arena (save outright comedy, maybe. and hell, come to think of it, even Chaplin had his haters in that respect–as well as in others, admittedly). me, i’ll take the silly likes of the Marx Brothers, three stooges, classic WB cartoons of the ’30s-’50s, Spike Jones et al, over just about any profundo-mysterioso-serioso horseshit extant. same goes for bozos such as Kiss, Alice Cooper, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Funkadelic, and, yes, even Watain–who, what with their ludicrous colored contact lenses, buckets o’ blood, and other knee-slapping gimmickry, should damn well realize that we’re in on the joke (i.e., we’re not laughing at them, we’re laughing with them–some of us are, anyway). none of which renders their music any more, or less, powerful, btw. but still.
Cliff,
Man, I appreciate your thoughtfulness on the subject but I have to whole heartedly disagree about Watain representing the status quo of black metal. For me, most of the shit released every week on Moribund represents the status quo. Those bands are playing the same Gremlin guitars through the same Peavy practice amps and often mindlessly rehashing a compositional laziness that has no business be celebrated. Watain, whether you think they are shit or not, are playing SONGS that have obviously been considered and show an attention to detail that is utterly bereft in lots of black metal and metal in general. I really am not just a pathetic Watain fanboy reflexively defending them, I just think it is patently absurd to pretend that they somehow represent something that other bands (that we all openly love) don’t. That guy who said in a post something about how that photo above of them was laughable… Jesus, I just wonder, “Did you start paying attention to metal today?” And for anyone who has a problem with all of the bullshit in Erik’s interviews, if you’re going to start judging what you listen to based off of what dudes have to say in interviews, holy shit, you better prepare to absolutely fucking PURGE your record collection. At least Erik offers something that apparently gets people to wiggling their dicks and get upset. Most metal guys have fuck all to say about anything. Seriously, go through all of your old Terrorizers, read that shit from cover to cover and then go back to your albums and start doing some serious thinking. Fuck.
I have to whole heartedly disagree about Watain representing the status quo of black metal. For me, most of the shit released every week on Moribund represents the status quo. Those bands are playing the same Gremlin guitars through the same Peavy practice amps and often mindlessly rehashing a compositional laziness that has no business be celebrated. Watain, whether you think they are shit or not, are playing SONGS that have obviously been considered and show an attention to detail that is utterly bereft in lots of black metal and metal in general.
I think that being the status quo is something independent of being good or bad. By no means is Watain a bad band, just one sitting right at the midway point between the two different aesthetic camps from which pretty much all black metal has sprung. Maybe “prototypical” would be a better word than calling them the status quo. Their music doesn’t move me, but I think that’s more a matter of my taste than their ability.
My point was more that I think they embody an approach to black metal that’s been expanded past, both musically and in terms of presentation. It seems laughable to some not because of any musical or technical shortcomings, but because it seems like a relic of a time when the only thing metal could be was silly and/or theatrical, when all presentation was over the top, when all interviews were pretentious grandstanding or neanderthal grunting, when that’s all that seemed possible. That’s not all that’s possible anymore, so it seems a little dated and silly to some people.
In unrelated news (so as not to keep picking on black metal), I would like to call for a moratorium on death metal bands using (Adverb) the (Totally Unrelated Noun Or Adjective) as a template for album titles.
Seriously, it’s like motherfuckers are pulling pages out of a thesaurus at random.
Squishing the bioluminescent.
I’m now going to approach this with a bit of seriousness.
Maybe some people don’t, but I take to heart the notion that certain artistic philosophies can be found in art of all sorts, even Rock/Metal/Black Metal. Certain movements/philosophies in particular seem to be pinpointed in this discussion we are having include Romanticism and Realism. These fields of thought have and do overlap, so there’s no suggestion that elements of either are void in the other or that there isn’t art with some of both. However, it’s generally understood that Romanticism and Realism are opposed to each other (think of it like two political parties).
Now to a certain extent it would seem Cosmo and Cliff Evans are arguing that Metal/Black Metal should embrace a certain modern realism (or perhaps even post-modern, which is what I would classify Liturgy and Krallice as… and for reasons including that are about as far from Black Metal in spirit as you can get).
With Cosmo, I think you’re only partially tied to this and really it’s only because of the Atheist part (though the mention of things as silly is a big part of what I’m going to mention further). I think I mentioned in person that I’m an Atheist as well and take it rather seriously. So there comes the issue of contradictions, an Atheist enjoying Satanic or Pagan art. Richard Dawkins and other high profiled Atheists have already answered this in part regarding how they respond to Christian artwork. For the most part they responded saying that as Atheists the art (paint, music, architecture) is still beautiful in all its aesthetic qualities (to compare to this discussion, that would be saying while I disagree with band X’s beliefs I still adore their music).
Regarding the meaning/philosophy behind the artwork there’s two considerations. First, Dawkins mentioned he sings christmas carols and other songs during the holidays even though he’s certainly no Christian. This makes sense though since art always is dependent upon the subjective experience of the consumer/recipient/observer. For Dawkins those carols are less about Christ than they are about tradition, family and memories of good winter time cheer/joy. Second, when someone outside of a religious tradition views that tradition’s stories/tales/messages to be able to view those as myth/story still can give one insight and need not be absolutely ignored as “silly rubbish”. Unfortunately not too many of the New Atheists follow this and they often act like Christians discovering some ancient pagan tribe, where they dismiss the tribe’s beliefs in full stock as rubbish. Here’s were it should be stressed that to circumvent this path, one would do well to look at the writings and recordings of Joseph Campbell. Story and myth have a real power over the human mind. In the case of Watain’s satanism, reflecting upon Campbell has already helped myself as an Atheist. Watain (and quite a few other bands) embrace what they see as the destructive side of the universe and make note of it in other cultures (such as the hindu Kali), but since they are rooted in the West the most prominent language is a western one (a Christian dynamic, which not only calls upon the Bible, but also the further myth making/telling of western culture such as Dante’s Inferno and Paradise Lost, which have added to the mythology on matters the Bible never touched upon). The spirituality of Watain is a worship of the awe inspiring power of destruction of the universe. The mythological power of god(s) destroying cities/worlds to supernovas exploding and black holes sucking out light itself. To partake in the worship Watain commits is to meditate upon the fact that all things die, all things decay and all things burn to ash…. and upon such awareness that everything we know can burn out like a flame upon a short wicked candle we embrace it in drunken ecstasy.
Now getting back to Cliff Evans and the whole Romanticism vs Realism matter. Metal, almost more than any other genre of music (except for folk music and romantic era composers-like Beethoven to Wagner) embraces Romanticism. Further, Black Metal is an even further embodiment of it. One need only look at a wikipedia explanation of Romanticism to note how much of that tradition has been quoted into Heavy Metal’s mythology along with how much Metal and Black Metal embrace its ideas. Romanticism is also the bedrock of Gothic and Horror fiction. Where would Metal be without Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley & E. T. A. Hoffmann? Writing songs about fantastical stories/myths and presenting it in a visually dramatic manner may seem silly, but I would say that’s the unfortunate consequence of a mind rooted in a modern Realism, where myth and story can be viewed only at a skin level. Again, I would point toward Joseph Campbell to show how for example something so far removed as tales of King Arthur’s Round Table still has relevance and meaning to a modern person.
I’ve touched on it before and wont go into too much detail, but where Metal does get an influence of Realism is through Punk/Hardcore (obviously not all Punk/Hardcore is Realism, otherwise The Misfits and The Cramps would be a bit of a problem). This is where Metal get’s part of it’s political and social commentary nature in it’s more blunt forms (again, Romantic art often is critical of the world, but it does so in symbolism and metaphor).
And to finish it, I think I have the answer to Cosmo’s question of what defines Black Metal. Indeed to say it only must be Satanic excludes Burzum, Immortal and far too many other bands that so many feel truly are Black Metal. Rather, Black Metal is Romanticism. Find any definition of the movement and it fits perfectly with what Black Metal is. The lone individual. The melancholic. Horror, terror and awe. Embrace of nature and against modernization/industrialization. Morality dictated by the individual’s inspiration rather than society’s mores.
I’m amazed by and thankful for the range and depth of responses.
I think many of the bands people have mentioned as black metal wouldn’t think of themselves as black metal. That intention doesn’t matter in the most important concern (good music vs. bad music), but it can be helpful in outlining what one seeks in music/art.
TheWolf – I’ve never called Watain “silly”, and I don’t think of them as such. I think they are serious about what they do, but only sometimes successful at it. After experiencing a boring live show and an inconsistent discography, it’s hard for me to equate them with the universe-shredding aesthetic you ascribe to them. Overly slick production hobbled Lawless Darkness, and when terrestrial concerns like technology intrude upon art, its cosmic reach is limited.
As for romanticism vs. realism, you are right in that I skew mostly realist. I’m sure that bothers those who think of metal in a romantic light. But I don’t position myself through “-isms”, and I wouldn’t care about metal if I didn’t appreciate its romantic aspects. Realism and romanticism come in a million flavors, and they have interacted and intersected throughout history. The way I see metal is probably more American than anything else, with a framework of a dog-eat-dog world and functional existence. Take what one needs from art – sometimes that is realist, sometimes that is romantic, and sometimes that is both.
Regarding Watain, I think then it’s only a matter of personal preference. And there’s no real accounting for why this happens. Lawless Darkness isn’t my favorite album of theirs, but I still think it’s great and the two performances I’ve witnessed this year have if anything bolstered my liking of the band. I can’t really think of a band in existence today that is more of an archetype of Black Metal than Watain. There’s a thousand possible reasons why someone likes something and not something else (for example I think Panzer Division Marduk is possibly Marduk’s worst album) and they’re not all conscious reasons. It is telling though how high Watain are on Decibel’s top 40 this year and all the buzz so far is that they’ll be #1 on Terrorizer (considering they were given a rare 10/10). Then again, a reader’s poll would likely elect something far more mainstream.
Insightful article; I whole-heartedly agree.
That’s an interesting comment thread. TheWolf, I write extensively on the Romanticism and Modernist (and not ‘Realist’, which in terms of philosophy means very little) dynamics of Heavy Metal at my new HM-oriented blog, here : http://poetry-of-subculture.blogspot.com/
Since you seem to be of somewhat the same mind on the subject, you may find it worthwhile.
Writing songs about fantastical stories/myths and presenting it in a visually dramatic manner may seem silly, but I would say that’s the unfortunate consequence of a mind rooted in a modern Realism, where myth and story can be viewed only at a skin level.
I don’t know that I agree with the idea that a presentation of romantic or mythical ideas is inherently silly to me (as someone who also tends to skew modernist and is for that matter also a committed atheist) nor that visually dramatic presentation is also inherently silly (though I suspect my personal threshold there is pretty low).
As I tried to mention somewhere in the bales of words I’ve devoted to this so far, I think one of the good things about black metal making its way into the larger musical vocabulary is its restoration of ideas of horror and awe and majesty to extreme music. And when it connects with something larger and more resonant, it’s extremely powerful (for me, prime examples would be the first three Ulver albums, early Emperor – especially that bit in “With Strength I Burn” when Ihsahn sings “the wolf is no longer free”, I get fucking chills at that part – and more recently Primordial, to whom I was introduced through this blog). I’d never say black metal has to be a specific thing, that’s anathema to me. I’m just trying to articulate why specific bands might evoke specific negative responses in some people, using Watain as a high-profile example.
It’s not so much that I think all black metal should be modernist (or post-modernist, though explicitly, self-consciously post-modernist approaches to any art either resonate strongly with me or make me want to punch everyone involved, with little middle ground) as it is I tend to respond most strongly to romantic ideas expressed in modern vocabulary because that is my vocabulary. I am a product of the modern age, so it is modern vocabulary to which I am most connected and which produces the strongest responses for me.
From this perspective, something like Watain’s presentation (leaving aside the music for a second because I’m not sure there’s anything systematic about it that leaves me cold, it just doesn’t grab me where some similar bands do) doesn’t work for me because, romantic though it is, I don’t respond to it as tapping into something larger and more mythical beyond music (which I’d argue the whole point of a romantic approach is, though someone who actually identifies as a romantic can feel free to correct me) as much as tapping into the myth of metal itself – I don’t respond to Watain as avatars and celebrators of the destructive as much as I do avatars of metal, which I’d argue is a popular culture approximation of the larger forces Watain seek to invoke. As such, with the leather and the spikes and the blood and the pyro (all handed down from Venom and KISS, who were more showmen than sincere priests for some larger force), I think they’re limiting themselves, and maybe even subverting their own intentions a bit by setting their sights low. As romantic as the underlying ideas might be, I’d argue that their aesthetic is pretty modern in a way that trivializes what they’re trying to do. Another example that comes to mind is the video for Emperor’s “The Loss And Curse Of Reverence”, which starts out just fine, until it cuts to Ihsahn in the forest with a guitar and a spandex shirt and the most ridiculous armored shoulder pads you’ve ever seen. Any feeling of mystery and power the intro built up is gone. For me, any power or mystery or awe Watain might build up with their music dissipates as soon as you see the photos of them on stage with all of the props, or you read an interview with the singer which seems less like a dialogue and more like him hitting all the appropriate black metal signifiers and talking points in the equivalent of our shamans coming out in cheap Halloween masks and going “booga-booga.” Like I said about 8 grillion words ago, my threshold for romantic presentation going over the top is admittedly pretty low, but it seems to me that more often than not, what are supposed to be grand, romantic gestures fall flat due to the paucity of imagination or amateurishness attached (there’s a reason there are multiple “stupid black metal video” montages on YouTube).
A quick survey of recent death metal album titles also leads me to amend my previous statement – you don’t even need the conjunction, just using the (Adverb/Adjective)(Semi-related/Unrelated Noun or Adjective) form captures all of it. You could do an automatic death metal album title generator pretty easily.
With all due apologies to those whose well-studied and thoughtful responses I am completely ignoring due to their volume, I might just cheerfully add the following thought:
The degree to which one feels that the “real” spirit of black metal is lacking in recent years would seem to depend in large measure on one’s tolerance for orthodoxy. I’m currently spinning Sargeist’s new album, Let The Devil In, and while nobody’s going to accuse them of putting a fresh spin on the genre, it’s got that thing that I would call je ne sais quoi if it wouldn’t make me sound like a dick.
I hear it, and think, “Yes, of course, I’ve heard this before.” But designating it as such mentally allows me to then listen to the album differently than I would something like, oh, I don’t know, Shining’s (the Norwegian ones, not the fucking obnoxious Swedish mopeheads) Blackjazz. The prior expectation of orthodoxy or heterodoxy does (and probably should) color the way I hear music, particularly when it’s a genre with a long, winding history.
That being said, in my own listening habits, I certainly tack back and forth between craving things like the orthodox blasting of the Finnish scene or some other great Darkthrone rip-off on the one hand, and the most cutting edge, avant-garde, barely listenable nonsense like, oh, let’s say Ehnahre’s Taming the Cannibals (we’re outside the realm of blackness now, but the point stands).
Sometimes one craves orthodoxy, and sometimes not; this natural oscillation should not be taken as a comment on the health or decay of some presumably ‘pure’ essence, already a stinking hulk of atavistic arrogance. And, though it’s surely been said, taking Watain’s current output as representative of black metal’s ‘orthodoxy’ is folly.
Oh, and as an addendum, I remain staunchly convinced that 1349’s Revelations… is a fantastic album that the unwashed heretical masses ignore to their great loss.
“Real Black Metal still exists, you just don’t read about it in Decibel magazine”
Nail on the fucking head. I’ve heard plenty of mindblowing black metal recently, and in fact I’m more on fire about the genre right now than I ever was. But I had to look beyond big metal blogs and glossy music mags to find it. And yeah, I had to use a tape player for most of it.
I’m so tired of the whole “I really like black metal, but not the Satanic-theatric-OTT-violent-rotting-smelly kind” attitude, especially when it’s prelude to waxing orgasmic about some diluted-as-fuck USBM crap.
Does thorough enjoyment of metal (black and otherwise) occasionally require suspension of disbelief on the part of the listener? Yes. Is that a small price to pay for getting to rock out to the greatest music on the fucking planet? Absolutely.
Also, 2010 has seen excellent black metal (and related subgenre) releases by the following bands: Aldaaron, Arckanum, Blasphemophagher, Burzum, Chelmno, Dark Tribe, Darkthrone, Deathspell Omega, Hellish Crossfire, Satanic Warmaster, Stielas Storhett, Vitsaus, and yes, Watain.
Also also: John is awesome.
Praise it brother, praise it!
aw shucks…thankin’ u.
listen to Slagmaur, fairly original band and greatly outside of the great mid-life ideological crisis black metal seems to be going through, so therefore they are never mentioned everywhere, remain very underground and exclusive, like most black metallers wiwlfiehgliehgal blahaglh albhalbhaglhabglh blah blah blah blah blhag
Not to be all “leave Watain alone, you guys!” but I gotta agree with grimfrosties, TheWolf and the minority of posters on this one. Goddam, It’s like, do you guys (who most definitely ARE sheepishly shitting all over them just because you read that interview) really and truly like metal?
I bet most of you had never even actually heard Watain’s music before you read that piece and decided you hate them too. If you had seen them live or at least heard the album Casus Luciferi or the track Waters Of Ain off of Lawless with some really great headphones, without any hype or understanding of the bands politics or personalities prior to forming that bias, you probably would be on my team right now. If not, then I call bullshit on you truly liking Metal as a genre. Cool, fine. move on and find something else more “adventurous” that you think will impress your friends and make you more interesting. Heavy Metal (Black or otherwise) IS escapism, theatrics, and a certain level of pomp.
Black Metal isn’t dying as far as good bands and output go. If anything, there are more now than ever before. but the trend IS dying. Or at least it’s about to. Too many ultra cool guys got on board with it and now they want to call it dead right at it’s zenith because they know the radio-friendly bands (see Kvelertak) are coming to suck it dry and they don’t want to be there still claiming allegiance to it when that finally happens full scale and the trend spirals down quickly (it will.) So now everyone’s all, “uh, yeah… Death Metal or whatever is awesome but Black Metal is totally dying.” It’s just like saying something is “so last year.” Fuck that. Watain is great (if you actually, really, like metal and not just for pretend) and Black Metal is still awesome.
@RiigorMOrtiis, those radiofriendly bands sucking it dry came around a long time ago already. Right after the artistic peak of 92-94. Most black metal after 1995 is either blatant commercialism or an artistic afterthought. That doesn’t mean it can’t still kick ass from time to time.