Hacride, Means, Dying Fetus, Psyopus, Ludicra, and yet more hipster metal
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At Metal Injection, I’ve reviewed Hacride, whose Amoeba is the first metal album this year that drives me to evangelical fervor. It’s like Gojira…but with acoustic guitar…and one song, “Zambra,” with a Spanish flamenco group! Strange, thrilling, futuristic. Also up are my review of Facedown band Means and an interview with Dying Fetus.
Hacride – FateHacride – Zambra
At Stylus, I have a review of crazy tech-spazzouts Psyopus and an interview with the world’s most underrated band, Ludicra.
Andy at Clocked in – Punched Out has entered the hipster metal fray. He says that non-metalheads shouldn’t be faulted for trying out metal, and that metalheads in turn shouldn’t be close-minded and exclusionary. Good sentiments, for sure, though the issue is multifaceted. There’s hipsters simply getting into metal. Then there’s hipsters making metal, or metal that’s not-so-metal and marketed towards hipsters. Then there’s the global effect of all this, including certain media trends and public perceptions about metal.
There’s a huge disconnect between what non-metalheads and metalheads think of metal. It reminds me of polls about the Iraq War, in which its supporters say that the US is in it for self-defense, and its critics say that the US is in it for oil or revenge. Like war, metal elicits visceral reactions, and what people say in public about it are probably rationalizations of those reactions.
In the end, I agree with Andy. I might raise an eyebrow if you’re in heels at a Suffocation show. But if you’re there at the next one, you’re in. You’ve made the commitment, and you’ve supported the scene with your ticket purchase.
In his comments on Susie Horgan’s photo book Punk Love (which looks fantastic, btw) about the early ’80s DC punk scene, Henry Rollins quotes Bobby Bird (of James Brown fame): ?I know you got soul, ?cause if you didn?t, you wouldn?t be in here.? Amen. Metal is so confrontational, anyway, that it’ll select out the false among it.
