Krogans

Fuh fuh fuh. I haven't thought much about music lately. I downloaded the Mass Effect 3 demo yesterday and I'm excited to play the shit out of that. I love science fiction and Bioware (Mass Effect, KOTOR, etc) is absolutely one of my favorite video game companies.

I might see Morne and Tombs in Boston at the end of the month, work permitting. Generally, I'm kind of indifferent-leaning-towards-skeptical of most "post metal" type bands but I think those two are generally pretty good. I also just finally found that most recent Tombs full length. I might give it a spin anticipatorily.

When speaking of Morne, I can't help but unravel all of the previous works of arguably the most well known member, Jeff Hayward (ex-Grief, ex-Disrupt, Noosebomb, et al), who's been a fixture of New England's metal scene for a long time. It seems like a rarity for one to be part of so many great bands. Usually you have to be Rogga Johansson.

So! One such band is Abhorred for whom Jeff Hayward played bass for at least one release. This group was interesting. The easiest description of them would be a very rhythmically tight, thrash-oriented blackened death metal band. Some years ago, I downloaded None Shall Be Spared off their myspace. They have a full length out that I, to this day, have still never listened to, so my impressions come chiefly from the EP, which I will be disseminating the link to. Oh, there I go ending my sentences in prepositions.

None Shall Be Spared is rock solid and another release loaded with good riffs. I especially love the galloping, palm-muted riffs of "Dispossess and Annihilate" and their interplay with the kick drum. I also really love how right at two minutes and about ten seconds, the drum pattern switches up from a thrash beat on top of rolling kick drums to a half-blast. Never-ending headbanging ensues.


This was a really cool band. I encourage you to check them out.

Fuck yeah, man.

-W.F.

This Horrifying Force

While listening to the new Skeletonwitch, I can't help but imagine during the writing process, they turned up the Dissection and Emperor knobs. I've enjoyed this a LOT, thus far. If you listen to "The Infernal Resurrection," wait around for a spell and you'll hear this one winding riff that you'd swear came straight out of Samoth's asshole. The only missing thing is some synth strings mirroring that. Great surprise, I didn't even know the Witch was putting out a new album this year until relatively late in the game.







Support

What a magnificent group. I'd love to see them play again. Football calls.

-W.F.

Please Don't Sweat the Afterlife

I fixed my goddamn computer, finally.

Last month, I had missed my bus. I was waiting to catch it in town to see a battle of the bands between a Slayer cover band and a Pantera cover band (featuring $3 Geary's drafts). I was already pretty tired but I decided it was worth the effort to get out and hope the Slayer cover band would shy away from all of their crappy late 90s groove songs. I fucked that up and misread the schedule and gleefully watched my bus go by the opposite side of the street only for it never to return, as I was unaware at the time that it was on a weird route. Anywho, that was the first night I could really feel Fall in the air. Fast-forwarding to now, it is absolutely that special time of the year where I start revisiting all the really depressive shit in my library. I had considered discussing Kold by Solstafir HOWEVER this was recently covered in the always insightful Trial By Ordeal, in a brief blurb which does more justice to it than I think I could.

Another favorite that I found around the same time in 2009 is the one-off, self-titled album by Miserere Luminis. I had an evening show around the time this came out and I would typically play at least one song a week and try (and fail) to pronounce their name and song titles.




Briefly -- Miserere Luminis emerged out of the rich Quebecois Black Metal scene as a sort of supergroup formed by Gris and Sombres Forets, two projects (three people in total) that I was already a fan of. Especially Gris. ML brings to mind the phrase of something's quality being greater than the sum of its parts. Eschewing the raw, claustrophobic sound of Gris, Miserere Luminis wouldn't sound out of place in a symphony hall. It's an enormous, orchestral album that thrives on a frigid, expansive atmosphere. It has moments of tranquility, scorn, and panic all during the course of single songs. It's eerie. It's gorgeously orchestrated. The setting I'm about to use is a little cliche but imagine stumbling through a forest in the dead of winter, following some ghostly, despondent wails. Finally, you discover an amphitheater and a bunch of dudes are playing black metal with a composer...who's also a bear. And that bear wants to die. Bet you didn't see that coming.

No, but with all glibness aside, this is a rare piece of work that seemed to slip by oddly unnoticed. This is another one of those albums that is best listened to A) Alone and B) with no other external distractions. Do not, do NOT just download this and listen to it while you play Xbox. This is crushing desolation. This is an eternity of solitude. If you can listen to "Senectus" without throwing yourself from a building, you don't have a heart.





The band is broken up buy BUY this. I'm not sure exactly how available copies are. It may be an import only deal.

Lunar Misery(?) .rar

The search for a sell-out job where I wear a tie continues.

-W.F.

Curse You All Malware!

I picked up something streaming a game...that is, when I downloaded a plugin. That was dumb. I'm still working to resolve that. This ain't my computer nor have I accessed my music therein for a good while, which has forced me to retreat into records and CDs in lieu of browsing Mediafire Records Inc.

I'm redoubling my efforts to reclaim my Free Music/Blogging Machine, in the mean time, here's what I'm listening to. Perhaps you'll find something you like. Also, remember the time when you listened to music exclusively in physical formats? Fascinating how things change

Ugh

Well, I meant to write about that Wolves in the Throne Room show from about eleven days ago but I didn't get around to that before I left for North Carolina. That's good, though. Right now that idea seems neither personally enriching to write about nor interesting. Here's a bullet point list regarding shows in from the tenth onwards...

PTL

Thou is (/art) heavy as fuck in person. Also, I experienced that thing first hand where the front-person is completely normal looking guy until the music starts and he gets this feral look in his eyes. Awesome.

Falls of Rauros is great. I wasn't aware of them before I went to college in the South but they're actually directly from my hometown. They're, to me, distinctly "American" sounding, sort of like Agalloch --especially their use of real riffs, huge, triumphant leads and folk influence. Sweet. I wish they didn't play first.

I came up with this analogy. Maybe this will resonate with you, if you like beer. The band that ended up playing before Thou is a Coors Light Band. For a second they are refreshing but once you stop to dissect their qualities, you find a band (or beer) totally devoid of character, and you're loath to drink more beer at all.

Wolves In the Throne Room has super nice gear. Oh shit, also this show was outside, behind a building, in case I failed to mention. They played a really amazing set. It would have been perfect if there weren't these two idiots who evidently payed $12 to come to the show to piss me off and try to talk over the quieter song parts right near me. I got out of the show and talked major shit.

GSO

Thou played "Smoke Pigs" and I caught them in a basement, with Bay of Pigs, who were fucking KILLER. (Hmm, recurring pig motif.) I greatly prefer that to when I saw them days earlier, to the tune of the backs of dozens of heads.

Wolves in the Throne Room played the same setlist. Crap, oh well. They sounded enormous in a club.

The openers (Megaton Leviathan) were totally tedious even before they lit herbs, which outraged my allergies and banished me outside to blow my nose.

I'd never listened to Mount Eerie, but they were really excellent.

Anywho...

Back to reality, back to Portland. Here's what I've been listening to lately. Try to deny the power of the chorus here.





Listen to this older Falls of Rauros album, if you know what's good for you.

"Ahhhhhh Ahhhh Ahhhh Ahhh Ahhhhhhhhh....AHHHHHHH AHHHHH AHHHH, AHHHHH AHHHH AHHHHH! OHHHHHHHHHHH"

Also, cough up some dough for some starving artists and buy a shiny new copy of their newest full-length. It will grout your tiles, if you know what I mean.

Fall of Big Cartel

Suck it, world!

-W.F.

Fired

Nearly a week ago, in the middle of my shift I got fired. I can rationalize this to myself perfectly well that this is a small setback, which it really is. It's still kind of upsetting, though. There's part of me that thinks only dicks fire someone out of the blue like that but then there's the part of me wondering what I could have done to avoid this. Part of their corporate policy is not divulging the exact causes for termination, depending on the case, I guess, and, frankly, that's more frustrating than any other part of this. So, I've been sort of down but this is also a chance for something better, because that old place drove me crazy, anyway. Fuck it, whatever.

While I still thought I had money forthcoming, I bought a cab.and then I moved it to my basement by MYSELF!

Anywho, part of my plan to cheer myself up involved forcing myself to go out and see the Wolves in the Throne Room, Thou, and Falls of Rauros show.

To be continued...

-W.F.

In my own local paper

The Black Twilight Circle is the shit and I was really surprised to find an interview with Volahn in my local free paper. If you're so inclined, you can read a rare interview online HERE.

The theme of this issue itself is the Big Four (Anthrax fucking sucks. There, I said it.) and overall the content was pretty insightful, if not a little guilty of mystifying those golden years. While on the one hand, yes, Slayer, Megadeth, and Metallica were in the right places at the right time to have an enormous cumulative impact, I think it's a little something -- not fatalistic but some close synonym, to accept that every current and future metal band will be somewhat consigned to a place of futility where they will never reach the same astronomical heights of influence and importance as those major bands did. Yes, conditions are different now, with a completely pervasive mass media and a seemingly limitless number of bands coming out of the wood works but, I think completely ruling out the eventual appearance of a band or bands who's sound could resonate so vastly, even outside of the core of the metal underground, is not a position I can wholeheartedly embrace. Instead of laying down and humbly bowing at the altar of the Big "Three," as quixotic as it sounds, I think we should be taking those lessons and applying them to build something better. There are thousands of ways this could be written off as too idealistic to be feasible, but come on.

Anywho

Here's a compilation from the Black Twilight Circle. They deserve their own post but that will wait.

Ritual Kaos

PEACE
-W.F.

This Is Happening Right Now

I have a few days off and I've been avoiding sunlight. The above album has received strangely little attention as far as I can see, besides a blurb in Decibel. Sometimes, I read Decibel. Well...

This is The Konsortium. All of the members are masked and they go by numbers, but unlike Slipknot, listening to them wont permanently damage your metal cred........or your credibility in general. The only known member is Teloch, who's done live stints in Gorgoroth, Mayhem, and 1349. While the project of this Norwegian scene veteran has a lot of similar trappings to the aforementioned groups, this may be closer to later-Enslaved, but less meandering and annoying (but hey! You may like newer Enslaved and maybe I'm totally missing the point on this matter).

The Konsortium, though...



...right, the Konsortium, on the one hand is both, at times, blisteringly harsh and bottom-heavy (not unlike Gorgoroth or 1349) while also managing to seamlessly drift into weirdo progressive moments and integrate all kinds of vocal styles, harsh and clean, which is damn impressive. It's often the weird proggy moments that have the most sticking power when I listen to this band.

Often times, "progressive" bands fall into what I refer to in my mind as "jigsaw song syndrome," where disparate pieces or styles of music are haphazardly thrown the fuck into each other for the sake of mixing things up. I don't like it. As an example, while I have a cozy, warm place in my heart for Between the Buried and Me*, who were a crucial crossover band that led me to listen to more extreme metal back in high school, on Colors, which is an album I'd still ultimately recommend, there are a lot of moments where disparate song pieces are jarringly matched together, such as a (I wish I was joking) country-style porch jam in the middle of a triumphant song bridge. Fuck.

None of that shit, here. I encourage you to konsort.


Weirdo Prog Shit


-W.F.



*Okay, speaking of: I don't know what kind of self-delusion the admins at the Metal Archives have to muster up to to say "Nah, that band isn't as "metal" as S.O.D. or the Cro-Mags" Yeah fuckin' right.

Job for a Manboy

Well shit, I've been busy. My internet is now repaired. In my spare time, when I wasn't dredging up things worth putting out in blog form or slamming hundreds of beers in single sittings, I got a job. Finally. The cushy, magical life of a student had not afforded me a money-job for about my last calendar year of study and it feels good to be on the clock, doing sometimes-stimulating things while thinking about all the videogames I want to play later. With jobs come more tattoo money. For about the first four days of work my arm was swollen right the hell up around the elbow (or "swellbow," as they call it in the biz) and it looked weeeeird and made my smoothie-craft slightly harder (that damn job..). Whatever, though. Jobs shmobs

Let us take a minute to enjoy an instant classic from 2001. If you are like me, you were probably watching a lot of Dragonball Z when this came out and didn't know fuck-all about black metal. Yes, whole episodes of grunting and yelling in place of dialogue, in fact.


Bam! I hope this shit is in your collection. Tara is the fourth in Absu's catalog of mythological thrashing madness, this album dealing with Celtic mythology (ergo: bagpipe interludes). While it doesn't have my favorite Absu song title ever ("An Equinox of Fathomless Disheartment") it does however have maybe their best songs, if not truly excellent songs. Much like my shift today, it's a frantic and chaotic, yet with great precision (unlike how I do anything at work because I'm the new guy who sucks at everything). And it's weird. Also there is at least one (1) shrill "Angel of Death" falsetto yell. Every album should have one, minimum. So, if you're interested in this American thrashing riff-machine, I'd start here, at least to get the chance to hear Proscriptor's amazing drumming. The. Fucking. Man. That's what a real drummer does.

Download and then buy. In whichever order.

"She Cries the-uh Quiet Lay-hay-hay-hake!!"

-W.F.

I'm Losing Scene Points

"A lot of people don't take metal seriously as art, and a lot of people don't take art seriously as ethics. That's fine, I guess -- but as for myself, I do both. These days, when people detect ambition in someone they leap on that person like hyenas. The label "pretentious" is unquestioned as categorically damning. But I think musical culture could use a whole lot more pretension, if anything. It suffers from false, dishonest humility, and from a lack of ambition to be more than either entertainment or a badge of identification with a group"
Guy from Liturgy, re: critical firestorm

I'm in what feels like the lonely position of liking Liturgy (not to be confused with the startlingly uninteresting Brodequin+Matti Way BDM band. Seriously, how did this winning formula fall flat??) as a concept and a band. Last year I stumbled across the first full length, managed to make it out to Charlotte, NC to see them, talked with the dude for a minute, read the manifesto, etc. and I did, and still do, find it all pretty interesting and entertaining. (I haven't listened to the new album as I keep forgetting to do so, but that's unimportant) As a band, the way Liturgy both embraced and bent the thematic and musical conventions of black metal was equally interesting -- here's this gang of urbane Brooklynites playing a fluid, amorphous take on Second Wave black metal about rapturous spiritual transcendence (eh, pardon the reduction there). It may be the way they have one foot in and one foot out that makes them so impossibly incomprehensible and offensive to the seemingly endless wave of anonymous (and otherwise) critics.

So, during these past few months two things have happened: 1) Liturgy has blown up, big time, and 2) They've attracted an enormous barrage of criticism, ad hominem attacks, you name it. In a way I saw this coming but I guess the sheer volume of it has turned out to be equal or greater to to how much press coverage the band has received, and I suppose I expected neither to reach such heights.

Since the sole purpose of a blog is for one to feel entitled to privilege their opinion over others, I'm going to take a stab at this and say that by and large all the criticism of this band, to me, seems to completely miss the point. I'm not trying to force anyone to like Liturgy as it's not important to me whether or not they are liked but rather I'm moved to speak on how Liturgy has been received and I believe that it says a lot about metalheads in general.

First, forgive me if you dislike the band and you have a more nuanced opinion on the matter, clearly this is less directed at you. To me, the recurring phenomenon at work here seems to be either an inability or a flat out refusal to even try to understand the band and if you want a good example of that, look no further than the inane comments on that Brooklyn Vegan page. I'm not saying this band is a gang of geniuses or anything but they are definitely unique in some aspects, so don't kid yourself. So anyways, the guy likes to talk about the band and the concept, and that seems to bother many people...very well, but is he really the first musician in recent memory to do this? Really? In this case, to me it seems like people can't stand the idea of a hip, philosophy major talking about his art, because if it were Chris Tucker instead, no one would be making such a goddamn stink.

So, first of all, I sense a failure to approach Liturgy objectively, generally speaking. To me, it seems like who Liturgy is (Hunter Hunt Hendrix) is far more important than what Liturgy does. I'll return to this point.

The recurring line is that the band (the guy, rather) is pretentious, which, first, I can concede to, to a certain extent and if it is off-putting, I understand but yet, what is the alternative? Again, not to strike a false dichotomy and pardon me if I am making a textbook generalization, but by eschewing Liturgy completely in favor of what we consider appropriate/"right"/"true" for metal (aesthetically, thematically, musically, etc), doesn't that strike a dogmatic tone? If so, does extreme metal really need dogma? I get it: being a metalhead for me comes with a sense of pride and I feel very protective, which is why nu-metal, obvious poseurs, and the larger portions of Victory Record's roster piss me off a lot and send me on the defensive BUT there's a difference between determining what is false metal (which sometimes feels extremely important, weirdly enough) and creating a artistically stifling environment.

If black metal, or extreme metal in general, is going to continue to grow as an art form, it needs to continually rejuvenate itself. I'm not saying the Liturgy is the future of black metal or anywhere even remotely close to it but rather, they are just one piece of it and somehow, someway, their artistic contribution has some value whether you like it or not, just like how somewhere in the midst of all these almost-universally-godawful deathcore bands that I hate, there is undeniably some value in that music as well, whether I like it or not.

I stand by this, as poorly phrased as it may be.

-W.F.

Worshipping the Witch/Vacuuming My Apartment For the First Time

Shit. I'm moving out of my apartment right now and it is a major pain in the ass. Thus always is moving, though. Seeing as I'm taking so much time out of cleaning and packing to play Pokemon Pearl (because I'm 22), I might as well talk a moment to plug an album I enjoy.

Skeletonwitch is a personal favorite but is often misunderstood across the board. To people who only got into Black Metal last year vis a vi Wolves in the Throne Room (and don't get me wrong, I love that band), the sheer volume of riffs and heavy metal leanings turn them away. This is Black METAL, though. Lazy music journalists in the past have lumped Skeletonwitch into with the neo-thrash/crossover explosion, which is damn-near insulting, considering how that music phenomenon is entirely contingent upon strip-mining the cultural, aesthetic, and musical idiosyncrasies of the 80s-early 90s.

Speaking of retro-thrash: Fuck that. It's 2011. Thrash metal's impact and vitality was the product of specific musical and cultural contexts. That's why Destruction and Slayer started playing groove metal in the nineties and why Metallica became a hard rock band. Because 1987 came and went.

Ahem. And to others, The 'Witch is too tongue and cheek, thereby undermining their dark message and making a mockery out of extreme metal. That, too, I think is foolish. Musicians are real people, nothing more, nothing less. Acknowledging the suspension of disbelief in metal goes wayyyyy back, even before Bathory.


But, those are the opinions of others. I, too, have opinions. With that disclaimer out of the way, Beyond the Permafrost is a brisk, varied and highly enjoyable listen.


Where Skeletonwitch gains points for me is in their tight, concise riffing. They waste no time flexing their technical skills and instead sink right into catchy melodies. The Judas Priest influence is there, as well as Slayer (good Slayer, mind you).* The songs run the gamut from all out assaults ("Upon Wings of Black," "Vengeance Will Be Mine") to the more grandiose and triumphant (like the title track. Grandiosity is a plus). Generally speaking, it's fast, catchy songs with excellent black metal vocals and really clear production, which seems completely suitable. Strangely enough, the sequel, Breathing the Fire's production almost feels a little too rough in comparison.

Last December, my radio station managed to bring Skeletonwitch and Withered (sans Landmine Marathon) through Greensboro for their tour and it was easily my favorite show of last year. They played excellently and it was really great not being the only person up front shrieking lyrics about wicked demons and murder at the stage. They all seemed really cool. No rock star attitudes or any of that bullshit.

If you dig the album, pick it up, or, perhaps some sex-positive merch.


(*I suppose that kind of brings it full circle when you think of how Priest Show No Mercy is)

[LINK]
"We've played a few songs about killing.....now here's a song about DYING!"

SFL/LLS Music Podcast, Vol. 1

Here just in time for the Tribulation, when all of us lost souls will be tormented in fire and all the good Christians will be beamed up into the heavens, is the first edition of this fine blog's podcast.

Remember, when you die, the only place you're going is straight into the ground. [LINK]


-W.F.

We interrupt our regular broadcast...

This is bizarrely tailored to my interests. Some people may gripe that this makes a mockery out of black metal but I would counter back that it's no where near as damaging as, say, "Call of the Wintermoon" or the nihilistic shut-ins that often inhabit your standard metal forums.


Vegan Black Metal Chef

I'm holding out for a recipe that uses tempeh. Mine always turns out flavorless, no matter what I cook it in.

Also, round two with the sink. The old vinegar and baking soda trick couldn't liberate my pipes. Coming in with the big guns.

-W.F.